superheroes | the m0vie blog

335. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (#135)

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guests Graham Day and Luke Dunne, 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 week, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.

A shocking and unprovoked attack on the community of Knowhere leaves Rocket fighting for his life. His old friends, the Guardians of the Galaxy, embark on a mission to save his life. In doing so, they find themselves journeying back into a past that he has never discussed and heading into conflict with a mysterious figure known as the High Evolutionary.

At time of recording, it was ranked 135th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: chris pratt, disney, graham day, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, guardians of the galaxy vol. 3, high evolutionary, imdb, James Gunn, luke dunne, marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios, outrage, podcast, pop culture, rocket raccoon, superheroes | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Shazam! Fury of the Gods Proves that Lightning Doesn’t Always Strike Twice”

Posted on March 19, 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 Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which was released in cinemas this weekend.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Comics, david f. sandberg, dceu, escapist, review, shazam!, shazam! fury of the gods, superheroes, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On What Kevin Feige Doesn’t Get About “Superhero Fatigue”…

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. Last week, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige made an argument that he could never understand the idea of “superhero fatigue”, referencing the diversity of genres and stories in superhero comics.

Feige’s response was interesting for a number of reasons. Most obviously, it was technically correct. Comic books are incredibly flexible in the kind of stories they tell and the way that they tell them. However, Feige’s answer sidestepped the obvious problem. In recent years, the superhero movie has grown more conservative and more conventional, becoming less likely to embrace different tones and styles, or to tell different kinds of stories. In the past fifteen years, the entire comic book adaptation genre has been flattened down to “Marvel movies”, and that is a very real problem.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: comic book movies, in the frame, kevin feige, marvel, Marvel Studios, superhero fatigue, superheroes, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Luther” as a Superhero Show Without Superheroes…

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the looming release of Luther: The Fallen Sun, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the show. In particular, the interesting space that it occupies as a police procedural that arguably owes more to comic books than anything else.

Luther is a fascinating show. It is ostensibly something similiar to Law & Order or CSI, the story of a detective who works grim and sensationalist crimes to their conclusions. In practice, however, Luther is something altogether more heightened. It occasionally veers over into outright horror, and Luther himself often seems to face characters more like comic book supervillains than ordinary criminals. The result is fascinating, a show that arguably feels closer to a certain strand of comic book storytelling than any of the actual comic book shows out there.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, comic books, constantine, john luther, luther, netflix, police procedural, superheroes | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Eternals” as an Anti-Superhero Epic…

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist this week. Because it’s that gap between Christmas and New Year, there’s been a bit of editorial leeway. And so, I got to write a little bit about Eternals, one of the more interesting and complicated recent Marvel Studios blockbusters.

Eternals doesn’t quite work. It’s important to acknowledge that upfront. However, the movie is interesting because of how it engages with superheroes. Eternals is not so much a superhero movie as it is a movie about superheroes. It’s about these stories that dominate the popular consciousness, this web of corporate-controlled mythology in which so much modern culture is tangled. It asks what the function of these characters and these stories should be.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: characters, chloé zhao, Eternals, evolution, growth, marvel, Marvel Studios, mcu, mythology, status quo, superheroes, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Wednesday” and the “Superherofication” of Everything…

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the massive success of Wednesday on Netflix, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at the show in the context of larger pop culture trends.

Wednesday is an addition to the larger Addams Family franchise, focusing on the family’s eldest child. The show is built around the decision to send Wednesday to an elite private school for freaks and monsters, “Nevermore Academy.” The series obviously riffs on the genre conventions of young adult drama, particularly the high school show. However, it is also notable for leaning into another inescapable trend in contemporary pop culture. At its core, Wednesday is a superhero show.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: comic books, cw, escapist, in the frame, netflix, Smallville, superheroes, superherofication, tim burton, wednesday, wednesday addams, Young Adult | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On “Black Adam” and the Debate Over Superheroes Killing…

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Darren

We’re thrilled to be launching a fortnightly video companion piece to In the Frame at The Escapist. The video will typically launch every second Monday, and be released on the magazine’s YouTube channel. And the video will typically be separate from the written content. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film content – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This week, we took a look at the debate over superheroes killing, which is a major thematic point in the recent blockbuster Black Adam. It’s an interesting point of discussion, but one that often overlooks and misses the larger trend within the superhero genre. That sort of debate doesn’t happen over other pulp heroes, like cowboys or gangsters or pirates, so what is it that makes superheroes a special case?

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Black Adam, films, in the frame, killing, man of steel, marvel, mcu, Movies, pulp heroes, soldiers, superheroes, superman, the lord of the rings, themes, video series, videos, violence, war movies | Leave a comment »

312. The Incredibles – Bird Watching 2022 (#230)

Posted on November 12, 2022 by Darren

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 continuing a season focusing on the work of one particular director: Brad Bird’s The Incredibles.

Bob Parr was living an exciting life as the superhero Mr. Incredible, until a change in public opinion forced him to hang up his tights for good. Settling down to start a family with Helen, Bob still yearns for the adventure and excitement of his youth. Out of nowhere, a mysterious woman appears with an offer that seems too good to be true, drawing Bob back into a life that he never fully abandoned.

At time of recording, it was ranked 230th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: animated, Brad Bird, cartoon, deirdre molumby, graham day, holly hunter, infidelity, pixar, podcast, superheroes, The 250, the incredibles | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Morbius Was Bad, Black Adam is Worse”

Posted on October 21, 2022 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 five-minute film review of Black Adam, which is in cinemas now.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson, film, Movie, review, superheroes, the escapist, the rock | Leave a comment »

297. Steel – Shaq Week 2022 (-#47)

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this time with special guests Niall Glynn 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 doing something a bit unusual. To round out Shark Week, we are marking Shaq Week. So today, ending the week with Kenneth Johnson’s Steel.

Following a horrific accident during weapons research, John Irons returns home to South Central Los Angeles to discover that some of the weapons he helped design have been making their way into the hands of the local gangs. Unable to accept this, Irons crafts a superhero persona for himself, vowing to protect the local community as the vigilante Steel.

At time of recording, it was ranked 47th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.