Darren Mooney

#NowWatching #ProjectHailMary

Found “Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere” to be an interesting watch.

Nothing necessarily shocking to anybody even casually familiar with the space, but he does a good job contextualising it as an expression of nihilistic post-ideology capitalism.

Boys playing at being men.

The Bride! is a necessary kind of bad movie.

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On the podcast were big “La La Land” guys. I adore “First Man.”

I think it’s on the cusp, @deanbuckley.bsky.social correctly cited “First Man” as the true end of the run.

#NowWatching “It’s Complicated”

Maybe my favourite Nancy Meyers film. Just a warm hug of a movie.

I’m passable!

A ★★ review of The Bride! (2026) “Never was there a tale more fine, Than that of the Bride and her Frankenstein.” The Bride! asks the important question, “Can an entire film have actor brain?” The Bride! is a lot. No, it’s really a l...

Some quick busride home thoughts on “The Bride!”

boxd.it/dpWAd1

Good call, actually!

@darrenmooney.bsky.social just spotted this on instagram

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“The Bride!” asks the important question, “Can an entire film have actor brain?”

Honestly, I admired the ambition of “The Bride!” and the big swings the film took, even if the execution was as frustrating as it was exhausting.

“Drive”, “Lars and the Real Girl”, “The Place Beyond the Pines”, “Only God Forgives”, “Half Nelson”, etc. “La La Land” feels like the last one.

The indies he used to alternate with the studio star vehicles, which - if one is cynical - felt like part of the “take me seriously” Disney star playbook.

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Wondering if it is safe yet to admit that I kinda miss “tryhard” Ryan Gosling and it feels like we’ve swung too far in the opposite direction.

Schneaky!

Premiering 20th March.

Had a really good time with #SpilledMilk, a pint-sized detective story in 1980s Dublin, where a kid’s investigation into his missing elder brother reveals a more fundamental rot taking hold.

The ending is a little neat, but it’s a clever, sweet film that recreates the era remarkably well.

Haney and Aparo’s “The Brave and the Bold” is one of my most-beloved comic book runs, and it doesn’t get nearly the respect it deserves.

Big, bold, unashamed and unembarrassed comic books. It embodies the spirit I wish so-called “comics purists” had.

(tBatB #124.)

Or that time Batman unwittingly sold his soul to Adolf Hitler. Because “Batman wants to LIVE!!”

Also, “NO END” goes hard.

Honestly, an incredible run of comics.

(tBatB #108.)

Bob Haney and Jim Aparo’s “The Brave and the Bold” really is peak comics.

Where the pair will casually reveal that, at some point in the thirties, Jim Gordon shot and killed what he assumed to be an innocent alien, buried the body, and never brought it up again.

(tBatB #139.)

I still love that Jo Nesbø’s big central police character is Detective Harry Hole, and there is no attempt to work around that in the English translation.

This looks fun.

And obviously has at least some ideas in it; mapping a nice clear lineage of the American superhero from cowboy to sheriff to space cop.

It’s actually a proper Damon Lindelof HBO show.

Kyle Chandler advising Aaron Pierre, “You wanted me to train you. I’m trainin’ you”, while drinking beer at a desert rest stop.

Kyle Chandler standing on what appears to be a sports field, declaring, “This is my job.”

Aaron Pierre telling Kyle Chandler, at a football stadium, “We both know I do a better job of this than you.”

Kyle Chandler, scruffy, grinning like a right bastard.

Far more interesting than any of the nonsense happening on “comics twitter”, #Lanterns had me the moment it cast Kyle Chandler employing his “America’s Stepdad” energy as a washed up icon of American exceptionalism.

Good casting, good framing.

#NowWatching #HowToGetAway

I am raging I didn't get to see it at Christmas because it was on BBC Three and the iPlayer, which are not easily accessible in Ireland.

Only ninety minutes long!

I also think the edit of "The Sea Devils" works better than the similar edits of "The Daleks" or "The War Games", if only because "The Sea Devils" is a slighter story with a lot less mythic weight on it.

It is a fun silly runaround, so it is fun to tighten it.

Finally getting around to watching the recent abridged edit of "The Sea Devils" released on the "War Between the Land and the Sea" blu ray.

It is insane there is a recut version of a seventies "Doctor Who" serial with a score by Lorne frickin' Balfe. What a time to be alive.

Your Friday is better with a new Darren Mooney column to read.

The man loves a funny costume.

#NowWatching “How to Make a Killing”