spider man | the m0vie blog

337. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (#19)

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and with special guests Graham Day and Deirdre Molumby, This Just In is a subset of The 250 podcast, looking at notable new arrivals on the list of the 250 best movies of all-time, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Sixteen months into his career as Brooklyn’s one-and-only Spider-Man, teenager Miles Morales is reunited with his old friend from another universe, Gwen Stacy. However, Gwen brings word of a team of multiversal spider-people headed by the mysterious Miguel O’Hara. Miles quickly discovers that things are not as he expects, and that membership of this team may come at too high a price.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 19th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: animated, belief, comic books, coming of age, defund the police, deirdre molumby, god, graham day, male bodies, miguel o'hara, miles morales, multiverse, Oscar Isaac, podcast, politics, sony, spider man, spider-man: across the spider-verse, Spidey, superhero, The 250, The Talk | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is Sweeping Web-Slinging Wonder”

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching movie and television reviews on The Escapist. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be joining a set of contributors in adding these reviews to the channel. For the moment, I’m honoured to contribute a five-minute film review of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was released in cinemas this weekend.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: animation, comic book, comic book movies, gorgeous, review, spider man, spider-man: across the spider-verse, the escapist, wachowskis | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Across the Spider-Verse” as a Superhero Story About Parenting…

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it seemed like a good opportunity to delve into what the movie is about, particularly what it has to say about parenting.

Perhaps reflecting the aging demographic of superhero movie fans, a lot of recent superhero films – from Thor: Love and Thunder to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – have been about parenting. However, Across the Spider-Verse stands out from the crowd because it’s a film that is rooted in the question of what it means to be a good parent, particularly to an exceptional child. It’s a warm and humanist fairytale that argues that the best thing parents can do for their children is to prepare them for the outside world and to listen to them when they speak.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: across the spider-verse, Adulthood, children, coming of age, fatherhood, growing up, Gwen Stacy, into the spider-verse, miles morales, motherhood, parenting, spider man, superhero movies, superheroes | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On the Unfulfilled Promise of “Into the Spider-Verse”…

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist this evening. With the premiere of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it seemed like a good opportunity to consider the legacy of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse five years after it was originally released.

The influence of Into the Spider-Verse can be keenly felt on animated films like The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. However, it’s strange that the movie has had no real impact on comic book adaptations. Despite early adventurous comic book adaptations like Hulk, Sin City or Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the modern comic book blockbuster has demonstrated a lack of visual experimentation that feels very much like a betrayal of the source material. What’s the point in making a comic book movie if it can’t be as visually inventive?

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: animation, blockbuster, Comics, epic, films, live action, Movies, spider man, spider-man: across the spider-verse, spider-man: into the spider-verse, spider-verse, superhero storytelling, superheroes, visual style | 1 Comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Into the Spider-Verse” as a Postmodern Superhero Remix…

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse this weekend, it seems like as good an opportunity as any to take a look back at Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Into the Spider-Verse is arguably the best superhero movie of the previous decade. A large part of the film’s appeal is that it is a superhero movie built around the understanding that its audience has seen other superhero movies and understands the classic beats of the superhero origin story. As such, it can speed them up and slow them down, iterate over them and subvert them, using the audience’s familiarity to create a postmodern meditation on the very idea of Spider-Man.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Conventions, in the frame, meaning, memes, memetic, Narrative, pop culture, postmodern, rhythm, sony, spider man, spider-verse, storytelling, tropes, viral | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Your Feature Presentation – “What Worked and Didn’t Work in Spider-Man: No Way Home”

Posted on December 26, 2021 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a new pop culture podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard and KC Nwosu or the first episode. With the recent release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the recent Marvel Studios productions.

Filed under: On Second Thought, Podcasts! | Tagged: a marvellous escape, a marvelous escape, escapist, escapist magazine, hawkeye, jack packard, kc nwosu, spider man, the escapist, your featrue presentation | Leave a comment »

266. Spider-Man: No Way Home – This Just In (#8)

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guests Graham Day, Luke Dunne and Bríd Martin, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This time, Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Peter Parker returns home from a school trip to discover that his deepest secret has been revealed to the world: thanks to the villain Mysterio, now everybody knows that the teenage is the vigilante known as Spider-Man. Peter races to put the genie back in the bottle, but discovers that his plans might have unforeseen consequences.

At time of recording, it was ranked 8th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: brid martin, culture, fandom, graham day, jon watts, luke dunne, marvel, Marvel Studios, Movies, podcast, spider man, spoilers, The 250, Tom Holland | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On Willem Dafoe as the Stealth MVP of “Spider-Man: No Way Home”…

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. This weekend marks the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, so it seemed like a good idea to take a look at the movie. In particular, its best and most interesting performance.

No Way Home marks the return of several classic villains from early franchise iterations. Among them is Willem Dafoe, returning as Norman Osborn from Spider-Man and Spider-Man II. It’s a wonderful reminder of how Dafoe codified a lot of the modern comic book movie supervillain, establishing a template that has rarely been equalled in terms of quality across the ensuing decades. However, it’s to the credit of No Way Home that the film manages to use the character of Norman Osborn in a way that enriches and explores the villain.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: green goblin, in the frame, peter parker, power, responsibility, spider man, spider-man: no way home, the escapist, willem dafoe | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Spider-Man: No Way Home” As An Unlikely Divorce Movie…

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Darren

I published a new column at The Escapist yesterday. With the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at the film.

No Way Home is technically Tom Holland’s sixth film the role of Peter Parker. So it’s interesting that No Way Home effectively puts his version of the character through the standard narrative beats of a Spider-Man origin story. In many ways, No Way Home feels like it’s a movie that is aiming for a clean start and fresh break. It also feels like something of a divorce movie between Sony and Marvel Studios. The movie opens with Aunt May dumping the director of Iron Man, and the film seems eager to announce that it is living its best life. The first thing that it does is to hit up some of its exes.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: comic books, continuity, escapist, marvel, sony, spider man, spider-man: no way home, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Spider-Man: No Way Home Is the Year’s Best Nostalgia Play – Review”

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching movie reviews on The Escapist. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be joining a set of contributors in adding these reviews to the channel. For the moment, I’m honoured to contribute a three-minute film review of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is in cinemas now.