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New Escapist Column! On “The Batman” as a Movie About Life Lived Behind Screens…

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With The Batman continuing to perform well at the box office, it seemed like an opportunity to take another look at the film.

Much has been made of how much The Batman owes to David Fincher’s se7en and Zodiac. However, the film also owes a lot to the director’s work on both Fight Club and The Social Network. At its core, The Batman is a story about masculine violence and what happens when life is lived behind a screen. The result is a film that manages to riff on some of the most interesting films of the past quarter-century, filtering them through the lens of the superhero genre and reframing them for a modern context.

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

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: david fincher, fight club, masculinity, se7en, seven, the batman, the riddler, the social network, zodiac | Leave a comment »

Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World: Oscars 2011

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Darren

You know what? I’m not actually that ticked off with the Academy Awards this year. In fact, as I mentioned in discussing the nominees, I was quite happy with the candidates up for the award. Now, nearly a week after the ceremony, I must concede that I’m generally relatively happy with the way that the awards were divided up on the night. CinemaBlend summed up the ceremony as a “group hug” to movies released in a great year for cinema, and I find it hard to object to that succinct summary.

By all accounts, the hosting was a bit of a drag...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: academy, Academy Award, academy award for best director, Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, AMPAS, awards, Eli Wallach, films, Hailee Steinfeld, Inception, King's Speech, Melissa Leo, Movies, Oscars, Social Network, the social network | 6 Comments »

10 out of 10: The Ten Best Movies of the Year

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Darren

Contrary to popular opinion, I was actually relatively impressed with 2010 as a year in cinema. It was no 2008, with a consistent string of impressive hits (both big and small). However, it wasn’t as bitterly disappointing as 2009 was, with letdown after letdown. Sure, there weren’t that many hugely successful sequels or reboots, but the vast majority of them weren’t soul-destroying wastes of film. So I’m quite happy. This year I actually had to cut several items from the list to get it down to a perfect ten.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2010, 2010 in movies, arts, disney, Easy A, edgar wright, films, george clooney, i love you phillip morris, Inception, kick-ass, Movies, Princess & The Frog, scott pilgrim vs. the world, Shutter Island, the social network, top ten, toy story, toy story 3, tron: legacy, up in the air, Warner Brothers | 9 Comments »

Where Have All the Good Movies Come From?

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Darren

I know I wasn’t alone when I claimed that this summer had been (with a few big exceptions) a massive disappointment for movie fans. In fairness, with a few bright spots, 2009 wasn’t exactly an above-average year either. However, myself and the better half have been going to the cinema fairly consistently over the past number of weeks and I have to admit that I’ve been more consistently impressed by films like The Social Network, The Kids Are Alright, Easy A and The Town than I have by any run of films in at least the last year. Is it just me, or are things finally looking up?

A veritable feast of good cinema...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2008, 2008 in film, 2010, 2010 in film, danny boyle, Darren Aronofsky, Easy A, film, forgetting sarah marshall, good movies, Hurt Locker, inglourious basterds, jeff bridges, kenneth branagh, Movies, november, october, oscar season 127 hours, quentin tarantino, the black swan, The Kids Are Alright, the social network, the town, tron: legacy, true grit | 7 Comments »

Remember Me: The Box Office & Pop Culture Longevity…

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Darren

I was reading an interesting article on Rope of Silicon which pondered whether Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was our generation’s iteration of The Big Lebowski. Much like the comparisons between The Social Network and Citizen Kane, it doesn’t matter whether the question is downright ridiuclous or even improper, it simple serves to illustrate the type of movie that people think of when they see these modern films. That people would even utter “Scott Pilgrim” and “The Dude” in the same sentence is a huge compliment to the latter, no matter what the literal result of the comparison. Of course, this is small comfort to the studio which is no doubt disappointed by the less than stellar box office returns. However, ignoring the obvious immediate and practical impact of box office receipts, do they speak at all to a film’s longevity?

Does the box office disappointment mean "game over" for Scott Pilgrim?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Big Lebowski, box office, Citizen Kane, Eat Pray Love, film, Frank Capra, Movie, Movies, ridley scott, scott pilgrim, scott pilgrim vs. the world, the social network | Leave a comment »

The Whole Truth: How “True” Are “True Stories”?

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Darren

Something that has always made me wonder is how close to reality film and television are or are not. Sometimes this is expressed in abstract terms – for example whether Baltimore is really as bad as it is made out to be in The Wire. However, it’s much more direct when one looks at what claims to be a true story. Reality isn’t film. Things don’t always break down to key “moments”. Events play out over the long term, and sometimes subtly. There isn’t always a bad guy or an antagonist. There certainly always isn’t a happy ending. So naturally amendments need to be made, because these events need to be translated to drama. But where is the line? How far can you stretch the truth until it breaks?