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442. War of the Worlds (-#20)

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Niall Glynn and Jason Coyle, 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, Rich Lee’s War of the Worlds.

Department of Homeland Security officer Will Radford is struggling to maintain his relationships to his two grown children following the loss of his wife. Radford has latched on to surveillance as a means of control, allowing him to be ever-present in their day-to-day lives. However, a routine shift at his desk takes a turn for the worse when NASA reports some strange phenomena. Radford is about to witness a massive alien invasion through his computer screen.

At time of recording, it was ranked 20th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: aliens, Amazon, capitalism, cia, conspiracy theories, homeland security, Ice Cube, internet, paranoia, rich lee, screenlife, surveillance, surveillance state, tech, war of the worlds | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: Spyfall, Part I (Review)

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Darren

The name’s Doctor. The Doctor.

Spyfall, Part I offers a solid start to the season, if an unspectacular one.

Of course, Spyfall, Part I is all about spectacle. In some respects, showrunner Chris Chibnall is building off the successful elements of his deeply flawed first season of Doctor Who. Spyfall, Part I capitalises on a number of the core strengths of those first ten episodes. The location shooting in South Africa affords Spyfall, Part I an impressive sense of scale and spectacle. As in episodes like The Ghost Monument and Rosa, South Africa is able to stand-in for a variety of exotic locations that would normally be outside the scope of Doctor Who. Chibnall is able to pitch Spyfall, Part I as a genuinely globe-trotting adventure.

No agency.

More than that, the production continues to look lavish. Chibnall retains the anamorphic lenses and the modified aspect ratio from the previous season, lending the series a polished and cinematic appearance. The guest cast for Spyfall, Part I is absolutely stacked, especially by the standards of Doctor Who. Stephen Fry has had a long a complicated relationship with Doctor Who – starring in audio dramas, writing for the television show, critiquing the television show – and he finally makes his television appearance here. Lenny Henry is a suitably big draw, particularly for the role he ultimately plays.

Spyfall, Part I is a good old-fashioned runaround adventure, consciously built around setpieces and action beats that would have seemed impossible for Doctor Who even a decade ago. However, there is something frustratingly hollow in all of this. Spyfall, Part I is positioned as both a season premiere, a New Year’s Day Special, and the first episode of Doctor Who to air since Resolution. That is a lot of weight pressing down on the episode, a lot of expectation, and a lot of outside context. Spyfall, Part I is a new beginning for the series, but it feels more like another day at the office than a statement of purpose.