Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Luke Dunne, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.
This week, we’re continuing a seasonal tradition of talking about Star Wars movies: Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Growing up on the rough streets of Corellia, young and reckless orphan Han learned the hard way that he has to fend for himself. Escaping to a life in the Imperial Navy, Han stumbles into a daring heist. Joining a team of galactic outlaws, the young man finally finds his place in the universe. Crossing paths with new friends and old lovers, the dashing young rogue finds himself on course to become the man that he must be.
At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
I was thrilled to be invited to join the wonderful Michael and Stephanie Little for an episode of their new podcast, The Spookies Podcast.
It was a fun conversation, if a little bit chaotic. We got to talk about everything from Aquaman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: Way of Water, through to the state of the Star Wars brand, and even to the differences between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
You can listen directly to the episode below or by clicking here.
I am doing weekly reviews of Willow at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the legacy sequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.
Willow is very obviously a show steeped in the fantasy and the blockbusters of the eighties, reflecting the originl film on which it is based. However, the show is rooted much more film in that era than it might appear. As the show approaches its middle point, it becomes clear that showrunner Jonathan Kasdan has built Willow as an extended metaphor for familial dissolution, tapping into the themes of divorce and separation that permeated so much pop culture during the decade.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.
This week, we’re finishing up a season focusing on the work of one particular director: Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland: A World Beyond.
As a young boy, Frank Walker discovered a secret society of geniuses who lived apart from the rest of the world in the hopes of creating a better tomorrow. However, Frank was soon cast out, and found himself increasingly disillusioned with the future. At the same time, a young woman named Casey Newton finds herself drawn back into this web of secrets and possibilities. Can Frank and Casey save the world? And Tomorrowland?
At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
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 review of the first season of Andor, which can now be streamed on Disney+.
I am doing weekly reviews of Andor at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the Rogue One prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.
Rix Road brings the first season of Andor to an end, closing the cricle by bringing the primary cast back to where it all began. It’s a fascinating and compelling way to close out the season, underscoring how much these characters have changed by bringing them back to their starting position. Rix Road is a breathtaking and impressive season finale to what has been the most consistent run of Star Wars ever produced.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
I am doing weekly reviews of Andor at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the Rogue One prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.
With Daughter of Ferrix, Andor gears up for its season finale. So it seems as good an opportunity to talk about one of the more underrated aspects of the show. Andor has garnered a lot of attention for its writing and plotting, but the show is also one of the best directed shows on television, with its visual language as important to communicating its themes as the dialogue and exposition.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist last week. With Andor continuring to be very good, it seemed as good an opportunity as any to talk about the show’s unique aesthetic, and how that relates to the original Star Wars.
Andor manages to thread a very fine line. It takes the audience to places that were largely unseen in the original trilogy, from prison planets to remote highlands to sprawling urban centres. However, it does this in a way that manages to feel faithful to the aesthetic of the original films. It does this by embracing the culture and aesthetics of the era around those movies, embracing a version of the science-fiction world that feels very much in step with seventies cinema. The result is something that manages to feel both part of the larger Star Wars universe and also something new to it, while remaining very contemporary.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
I am doing weekly reviews of Andor at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the Rogue One prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.
Nobody’s Listening! continues the third arc of this first season, largely built around Cassian Andor’s trip to the penal facility on Narkina 5. However, the episode also builds out from that idea, suggesting that Andor isn’t the only character on his show to be trapped. In their own ways, the various other leads have also been imprisoned by the Empire, locked in depressing and suffocating situations with no tangible possibility of release. Andor argues that all of its characters live in cages, some are just nicer than others.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
I am doing weekly reviews of Andor at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the Rogue One prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.
Following on from the bridge episode Announcement, Narkina 5 kicks off what looks to be another three-episode arc for the show. Written by Beau Willimon, the episodes digs deep into one of the recurring fascinations of Andor. The show is fascinated by the ideology of the Empire, but that extends beyond its imperialism and fascism. Indeed, like a lot of the work of showrunner Tony Gilroy, Andor suggests that the evils of this organization are a manifestation of late capitalism, and the way in which that ideology is designed to drive competition rather than collaboration.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
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