SmashedClocking in at a convenient 80 minutes, this examination of a young alcoholic’s route to recovery doesn’t waste much time on …Fri Dec 21 2012 - 00:00
Pitch PerfectThis entertaining musical finds time to pay copious tribute to John Hughes’s faux-subversive 1980s drama The Breakfast Club. …Fri Dec 21 2012 - 00:00
Love Crime/Crime D'AmourA little less than a decade ago, Alain Corneau, who sadly died in 2010, directed a very astute film about women in the workplace…Fri Dec 21 2012 - 00:00
A melting pot big enough to take the world and all it's gotAt some point in the 1990s, a supposedly alarming headline appeared in the often-illiberal London Evening StandardSat Dec 15 2012 - 00:00
Babette’s Feast/Babettes GæstebudOn its release in 1987, Gabriel Axel’s adaptation of a little-known Isak Dinesen story became the film you needed to have seen…Fri Dec 14 2012 - 00:00
GirlfriendThe main selling point of Justin Lerner’s route-one American indie is the fine performance from young Evan SneiderFri Dec 14 2012 - 00:00
Secularists don't need to wish you a happy WintervalWho knew Waterford would turn out to be a world centre for aggressive secularism? It’s trueSat Dec 08 2012 - 00:00
Death of Irish Film Institute programmerThe death of Pete Walsh, programmer of the Irish Film Institute, has been announced.Sat Dec 08 2012 - 00:00
The OrangesThis unfortunate comedy appears to take place in the indie film fan’s version of suburban heavenFri Dec 07 2012 - 00:00
Celeste and Jesse ForeverIt is, unfortunately, impossible to discuss this diverting romantic comedy without giving away the best joke in the film.Fri Dec 07 2012 - 00:00
DollhouseKirsten Sheridan’s third feature begins with a group of (apparently) working-class teenagers breaking into a house in the view…Fri Dec 07 2012 - 00:00
IFI programmer Pete Walsh diesThe death of Pete Walsh, programmer of the Irish Film Institute, has been announced.Fri Dec 07 2012 - 00:00
The Man with the Iron FistsThanks to Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and various camp followers, we now live in a world where violent kitsch has taken…Fri Dec 07 2012 - 00:00
Savile scandal puts BBC in spin over old 'Top of the Pops'The BBC can never have imagined what it was getting into when it embarked on a scheme to repeat Top of the Pops episodes from…Sat Dec 01 2012 - 00:00
The Hunt/JagtenTHOMAS VINTERBERG’S thrilling melodrama, a hit at Cannes, arrives in cinemas at a particularly appropriate momentFri Nov 30 2012 - 00:00
Rise Of The GuardiansAT THE RISK of encouraging Hollywood’s baser instincts, one is forced to wonder whether the makers of this endurable family animation…Fri Nov 30 2012 - 00:00
Death Of A SuperheroYOU MIGHT reasonably expect a film about a dying teenager to be something of a downerFri Nov 30 2012 - 00:00
Head-spinning weirdness awaits G8 in Northern IrelandThis week’s news threw up two stories that neatly accommodate the mindsets of those who analyse world affairs in binary terms…Sat Nov 24 2012 - 00:00
Lawrence of ArabiaTO USE Philip Larkin’s famous formulation, David Lean’s much-lauded semi-clever epic – now celebrating its half-century – emerged…Fri Nov 23 2012 - 00:00
Silver Linings PlaybookIT MUST BE November. Each autumn, as Oscar voters peruse their ballots, we are presented with a semi-serious, cautiously adventurous…Fri Nov 23 2012 - 00:00
GambitFEW PROJECTS emerge from development hell without some singeing of the earlobes or blistering of the toesFri Nov 23 2012 - 00:00
Could rejoining the UK be any worse than this?This being a largely frivolous column, we won’t dwell on the awful story that is eating up the airwaves, but, suffice to say, …Sat Nov 17 2012 - 00:00
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2HERE’S SOME BAD news for the angry teenage boys who boss the internetFri Nov 16 2012 - 00:00
Shorts, features, guests galore at 25th Foyle festHave the good people at Derry’s Foyle Film Festival treated their 25th anniversary with blasé carelessness? They most certainly…Fri Nov 16 2012 - 00:00
Michael Arndt to pen new Star WarsLet’s just have one more what’s-up-with-Star-Wars story and leave the blasted things aside for a few weeks. Shall we?Fri Nov 16 2012 - 00:00
Say hello to KK’s SubtitleIn further encouraging festival news, the first Subtitle European Film Festival will kick off in Kilkenny on MondayFri Nov 16 2012 - 00:00
MentalFOR ABOUT 30 seconds, the latest film from PJ Hogan – working in Australia for the first time since Muriel’s Wedding – looks …Fri Nov 16 2012 - 00:00
D’Ambrosio’s Fury tour trundles onBe aware that Antonino D’Ambrosio’s Let Fury Have the Hour, the wild, offbeat documentary reviewed warmly in these pages on its…Fri Nov 16 2012 - 00:00
'The pessimists are those who treat the audience as stupid'It’s well known that Michael Haneke refuses to answer interpretative questions on his work, and in person the director…Wed Nov 14 2012 - 00:00
Tourism initiative a debate Gathering momentumRight on, Gabriel Byrne! Last week, speaking on Today FM, the veteran actor said what a lot of sensible people are just beginning…Sat Nov 10 2012 - 00:00
Here Comes The BoomKEVIN JAMES is back. Over the past few years the portly actor has emerged as the acceptable face of bad comedyFri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
Eccentricities from the European foldThe nominations for the European Film Awards, which take place in Malta on December 1st, have been announced and – as ever – …Fri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
One more Solo run for HarrisonNo, no, no, no! We are – because we can’t help ourselves – going to be filling this space with gossip about Star Wars for the…Fri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
GrassrootsCOULD THERE BE a more bizarre time to release a film about US politics? With the presidential election just ended, this is rather…Fri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
Fifty more shades of grey poundConfirmation that the grey pound wields real power comes with the news that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a surprise hit on…Fri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
People like UsTHERE IS A particular type of bad movie that could only be made in AmericaFri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
Dalle to rekindle a million old flamesThis year’s French Film Festival at the Irish Film Institute features a more than usually starry list of attendeesFri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
Cork Film festival gets set for a week of cine-blissNow nicely positioned in an international festival lull,the Corona Cork Film Festival is gently easing into its 57th editionFri Nov 09 2012 - 00:00
Obama may be no messiah but second coming is still desirableThe Obama cult is a mass delusion but the Republicans offer only a menacing alternativeSat Nov 03 2012 - 00:00
ElenaIs it too soon to name Andrei Zvyagintsev as a Russian master to rank alongside Elem Klimov, Alexander Sokurov and Andrei Tarkovksy…Fri Nov 02 2012 - 00:00
For a good time call...Yuck! If there’s one thing more annoying than the dumb mainstream sex comedy, it’s the dumb mainstream sex comedy that has aspirations…Fri Nov 02 2012 - 00:00
Disney brings bank balance to the forceThere’s no question what the big business news was this weekFri Nov 02 2012 - 00:00
The Disney empire strikes backDisney reviving the ‘Star Wars’ franchise is as inevitable as a Death Star theme park – but there is still one man who can bring…Thu Nov 01 2012 - 00:00
Creepy horror of commercial HalloweenScream as the zombies totter towards you! Thrill at being scared! Race to protect your kids from seasonal fear!Sat Oct 27 2012 - 01:00
Halloween horror old and newIt’s Halloween. Time to close the curtains, turn off the lights and refuse entry to children lest they attempt to eat your Maltesers…Fri Oct 26 2012 - 01:00
Weaving and Bay clash Colts over TransformersWith all this grim news in the papers, it’s nice to have something to laugh aboutFri Oct 26 2012 - 01:00
The Great Flood kicks off CorkThe 57th Corona Cork Film Festival is open for bookingFri Oct 26 2012 - 01:00
StitchesTHE LATEST horror from Irish blood-fiend Conor McMahon features a scary clownFri Oct 26 2012 - 01:00
Tony Scott cancer rumour scotchedThe coroner’s report on Tony Scott’s death has put one rumour to bed.Fri Oct 26 2012 - 01:00
