To kick off the new year, Dara starts with a ‘listy’ episode, recalling his top 10 movies of 2024. He follows this with a list of his top old or previously seen movies, including 1954’s Rear Window and 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The 2024 Review – Top Movies, Documentaries, TV and Podcasts! – Episode 187 Read More »
In this episode, Dara considers violence against women and the recent clear-eyed responses to it by Hollywood regulars Anna Kendrick and Saoirse Ronan, as seen in Kendrick’s impressive directorial debut ‘Woman of the Hour’, and as heard in Ronan’s bulletproof interjection on the Graham Norton show. After reviewing Kendrick’s chilling movie and contextualising Ronan’s comments, he recalls a key moment of Rachel McAdams’ character in the second season of True Detective which laid out with absolute clarity the power differential between men and women.
In this episode, Dara is still reeling after watching Coralie Fargeat’s astonishing film ‘The Substance’, a scarifyingly vicious body-horror satire on the pressure that results from the extreme demands of celebrity and the beauty expectations inflicted on women. The film is centred around a TV fitness personality whose middle-age renders her undesirable in the eyes of the network. In a ferocious performance by Demi Moore we bear witness to the lengths a woman will go to to preserve her looks and corresponding status.
What the Hell Is That! The Audacious Grotesquerie of ‘The Substance’ – Episode 177 Read More »
In this episode, Dara shares his gripes about the utterly mediocre buddy movie Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt as two fixers reluctantly obliged to work together through a night of yuk-filled capers (SPOILER: THERE ARE NO YUKS!). The film is an ode to laziness, self-satisfaction, complacency and vanity, and has the gall to pay tribute in its final shot to a truly great buddy movie of yesteryear, the inference clearly being that Clooney and Pitt are a contemporary equivalent of two past greats. No such luck.
Too Old for This S**t, or Try Harder, You Silver Foxes! – Episode 175 Read More »
In this episode, Dara is looking for a pulse. After he and his daughter watched Adam Sandler’s 2004 romcom, 50 First Dates, Dara was reminded why he wasn’t a fan of the comedian’s factory line movies – there were too many moments and gags that were completely devoid of life.
A very simple and straightforward episode this week – Dara reads a lengthy unabridged extract from Marlon Brando’s autobiography – Songs My Mother Taught Me, published in 1994. Brando’s voice is frank and accessible and he shares his thoughts on acting, fame, and various female lovers during the time of his emergence as America’s most captivating actor. He also speaks about being a damaged child and the difficulty he had trying to shake off feelings of worthlessness.
Readings from Brando and Durcan – Slimy Slugs and Penile Compasses! – Episode 171 Read More »
For the second time in the show’s history, Dara is considering the questionable value of nostalgia. While allowing that there are wellness benefits to understanding the connection between nostalgia and loss, and the stark reality of nostalgia’s relationship to ageing, there is something offensive about a particular brand of generalised nostalgia that regularly raises its unoriginal head on social media.
What’s So Great About It? – The Dubious Value of Nostalgia – Episode 169 Read More »
In this episode Dara is giving out about recent bad movies, and not the ‘so bad they’re good’ kind. Kevin Costner’s Western opus Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 starts the party with its bloated scale, turgid pacing, and on-the-nose representations of archetypal stories and characters. Far too earnest and self-serious, Dara recommends at least half a dozen alternatives, including Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate and Costner’s own Open Range.
Horizon, Other Recent Movie Turkeys, and Recommended Alternatives – Episode 166 Read More »
Continuing his exploration of masculinity and maleness, Dara turns his gaze to movies and how men’s stories, especially but not exclusively, straight men’s stories have played out on screen. He looks at three totems of masculinity as the main discussion points – potency, violence, and morality.
What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 2 – Episode 156 Read More »
Dara begins this episode by sharing his go-to recipe for making cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake, specifically. Don’t ask why – it just felt like the right thing to do. Perhaps he was trying to flaunt his ‘new man’ credentials in advance of discussing male attitudes to high-profile, successful women in the not-so-distant past.
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