themes | the m0vie blog

425. Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (#151)

Posted on June 28, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guest Darcie Faccio, 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, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Vol. 1.

A brutal mass murder at a wedding in El Paso, Texas, leaves a sole survivor: an anonymous pregnant woman, a former assassin who tried to escape her life of murder and mayhem for something more tranquil and serene. However, her old life was not finished with her. Four years later, the would-be bride wakes up and embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge driven by a single objective. She is going to Kill Bill.

At time of recording, it was ranked 151st on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: action sequences, Beatrix Kiddo, betrayal, Bob Richardson, cinematography, cultural impact, cultural significance, Darcie Faccio, emotional themes, films, genres, identity, imdb, Kill Bill Volume 2, kill bill: volume 1, morality, Movies, podcast, quentin tarantino, revenge, stylistic choices, stylistic evolution, The 250, themes, violence | Leave a comment »

421. Snow White – Ani-May 2025 (#—)

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Luke Dunne and Ciara Moloney, 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, Mark Webb’s Snow White.

In a magical kingdom, an evil queen plots the murder of a beautiful young princess, who is forced to flee into the woods and find shelter with the most unlikely of allies.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The Bottom 100, This Just In | Tagged: 2025, adaptation, agency, audience expectations, celebrity PR, characterizations, Christopher Nolan, ciara moloney, cinema, conspiracy theories, creative collaboration, cultural implications, cultural significance, disney, evil queen, female agency, film artistry, film critic, human experiences, imdb, Irish diaspora, luke dunne, mark webb, Mary McDonough, PhD completion, podcast, polarizing reactions, production history, Rachel Ziegler, representation, snow white, social issues, socio-political dynamics, storytelling, The 250, The 250 podcast, themes, tom cruise, traditional characters | Leave a comment »

420. How to Train Your Dragon – Ani-May 2025 (#198)

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, 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, Chris Sanders’ and Dean DeBlois’ How to Train Your Dragon.

On the island of Berk, the Viking settlers have found themselves engaged in a war against dragons spanning literal generations. Hiccup, the son of the town chieftain, struggles to find his place in a community that doesn’t value his unique strengths and attributes – he wonders whether he will even be manly enough to hunt and kill dragons. However, a chance encounter with a fallen dragon named Toothless leads Hiccup to question everything that he thinks he knows about dragons.

At time of recording, it was ranked 198th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: animated film, animation industry, animation quality, Astrid, character development, character dynamics, connection, deirdre molumby, dragons, dreamworks, empathy, father-son relationship, friendship, gender representation, graham day, hiccup, How to Train Your Dragon, identity, imdb, IMDb top 250, legacy, live-action adaptation, personal growth, podcast, production challenges, sequels, storytelling, thematic elements, themes | Leave a comment »

409. Alien Covenant – All-ien 2024 (#—)

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Jess Dunne, this week with special guest Peter McGann, 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, Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant.

The colony ship Covenant is on its way to a new home world when a freak accident knocks the ship off course. However, while conducting repairs, the crew pick up a strange distress call from an alien planet that seems too good to be true. Seeing a potential opportunity, the crew decide to explore this strange new world. There, they find horrors beyond imagining.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: alien franchise, alien: covenant, Andrew Quinn, creation, creativity, Darren Mooney, destruction, dual role, female representation, genre narratives, imdb, jess dunne, manipulation, Michael Fassbender, peter mcgann, podcast, Prometheus, ridley scott, The 250, themes | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On The Finale of “The Last of Us”…

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Darren

I am doing weekly reviews of The Last of Us at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Sunday evening while the show is on, looking at the video game adaptation as the show progresses. This week, the show’s finale.

The Last of Us wraps up a phenomenal season with a decidedly small-scale season finale. Look for the Light is one of the shortest episodes of the season, and is remarkable for its tight focus and narrative efficiency. The series remains tightly focused on Joel and Ellie, building to a climax that is at once tragic and inevitable. The result is a very satisfying wrap-up to a very impressive debut season.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: agency, autonomy, ethics, finale, hbo, morality, the escapist, the last of us, themes | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On What Links “Andor” and “The Mandolorian”…

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist yesterday evening. With the new season premiere of The Mandolorian, it seemed like a good opportunity to look at the thematic ties that bind the series to Andor.

Much of the discussion around Andor has focused on how the show is fundamentally different from so much modern Star Wars. However, it’s also worth acknowledging the overlap that exists between Andor and The Mandolorian. Both shows are built around similar thematic ideas, the exploration of what it means to resist the emergence of fascism. In particular, both shows explore the idea that the biggest challenge facing those who would challenge fascism is factionalism and internal division.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: alliances, andor, escapist, factionalism, fascism, in the frame, mandolorian, politics, star wars, the escapist, themes | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! “The Last of Us” is Solid, Sturdy Worldbuilding…

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Darren

The third episode of The Last of Us was a highlight of contemporary television, one of the best episodes of television produced in recent memory. The fourth episode is nowhere near as transcendent, but suggests that the show has found something resembling a groove. The fourth episode is a lot of what might be described as “shoe leather.” It’s largely dedicated to set-up and world-building. However, it also feels much more assured and comfortable in its own skin.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Manifest Destiny, masculinity, please hold to my hand, push westward, road movie, serialisation, Television, the last of us, themes, Travel, western, worldbuilding | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How “Avatar: The Way of Water” is an Archetypal James Cameron Movie…

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the looming release of Avatar: The Way of Water, it seemed like a good time to take a look at Cameron’s aquatic, which might be his most personal and intimate movie ever.

Cameron’s filmography is interesting and varied, working in a number of genres and registers across his career. However, he has a set of familiar preoccupations: water, industrialisation, militarism, environmentalist, parenthood, feminism and so on. However, it’s fascinating that one of the most consistent threads across Cameron’s filmography is an evolving idea of family. Cameron’s epics are often stories of families pulling themselves together in the face of crisis. The Way of Water is no different.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: aliens, aquatic, avatar, avatar: the way of water, family, fatherhood, filmography, found family, james cameron, Movies, the terminator, themes, True Lies | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Willow” as a Show About Divorce…

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Darren

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.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: continuity, divorce, eighties, family, jonathan kasdan, pop culture, star wars, the battle of the slughtered lamb, themes, willow | 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?