August 2011

The Archives

  • 08.29.11
    Alain Resnais Season continues in the IFI Blog Exclusives, Trade News | Comments Off
    The IFI presents part two of its season celebrating the cinema of French master Alain Resnais “When I make a film,” said Resnais, “I never know how it will turn out. I want it to develop like nature, emerge the way a plant grows.” The unruly brilliance of his recent masterwork Wild Grass, one of the highlights of the second part of the Alain Resnais season, could hardly be better defined. Despite a career that spans nearly sixty years, his films can still surprise us. He is the most distinctive of directors yet no two films of his are alike. Part two ...
  • 08.29.11
    Movies & Music Blog Exclusives, Trade News | Comments Off
    SDGI and IFI bring directors and composers together in a conversation about the melody of film. The Screen Directors Guild of Ireland (SDGI) in association with the Irish Film Institute (IFI) will present The Melody of Film, an event exploring the creative collaboration between director and composer on September 7th at 19:30 in the IFI. The event will consist of a conversation with leading composer Stephen Rennicks and award-winning director Paddy Breathnach (I Went Down) who will be studying a selection of scenes focusing on the collaborative process between director and composer in filmamking. Birch Hamilton, SDGI’s Executive Director says: “The collaboration between ...
  • 08.26.11
    THE SKIN I LIVE IN: BRILLIANTLY MAD Reviews, Trailers | Comments Off
    THE SKIN I LIVE IN Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya. 118 mins. In cinemas August 26 Rating: Five /Five ALMODOVAR’S OUTRAGEOUS, SHOCKING AND STUNNING ARTHOUSE HORROR IS THE WORK OF A MAD GENIUS There is a very thin line between the undeniably genius and the certifiably insane. Pythagoras believed beans were evil. Dr.Kellog believed Corn Flakes would prevent children from masturbating. Nikolas Tesla was terrified of anything round. And as we all know from the portrayal of the brilliant but troubled mathematician John Nash in A Beautiful Mind… the Academy was batshit crazy for awarding that film Best Picture. But ...
  • 08.26.11
    ONE DAY: 108 minutes too long Reviews, Trailers | Comments Off
    ONE DAY Directed by Lone Scherfig. Starring Jim Sturgess, Anne Hathaway. 108 mins. Rating: Half a star/Five In cinemas August 25 IREDEEMABLE ADAPTATION LOSES ALL THE CHARM, HUMOUR AND ROMANCE OF DAVID NICHOL’S BESTSELLING NOVEL Whether or not you have read David Nichol’s novel One Day, do not see this movie. Losing all the charm, humour and - most importantly - romance of the novel, watching Emma’s (Anne Hathaway) infatuation with narcissist dandy Dexter (Jim Sturgess) is akin to observing a friend’s twenty year toxic relationship. First you’re sympathetic, then frustrated, before the endless drama and self-destruction forces you down a steep decline ...
  • 08.26.11
    FRIGHT NIGHT: Thrills & jokes & vampires, oh my! Reviews, Trailers | Comments Off
    FRIGHT NIGHT Directed by Craig Gillespie. Starring Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Toni Colette, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots. 101 mins Rating: Four/Five In cinemas: September 2 FUN HORROR COMEDY VAMPIRE FLICK BARES ITS FANGS WHILE KEEPING ITS TONGUE FIRMLY IN CHEEK A modern update of Tom Holland’s classic 1985 horror film, Craig Gillespie’s Fright Night recalls a simpler time, a better time. A time when vampires slaughtered, not sparkled; when horror films could be filled with thrills not torture porn; and when roles involving bombastic British men with a penchant for leather trousers didn’t automatically mean the female cast members were in danger ...
  • 08.26.11
    TREACLE JR: Sweet & sour Reviews, Trailers | Comments Off
    TREACLE JR. Directed by Jamie Thraves. Starring Aidan Gillen, Tom Fisher. 85 mins. Rating: Three and a half/Five In cinemas August 26 UPLIFTING, LOW-BUDGET INDIE FLICK IS AN IRRESISTIBLE COMBINATION OF SWEET AND SOUR Made on a shoe-string budget acquired when director Jamie Thraves remortgaged his house, Treacle Jr. was made with a lot of heart, and it shows. A moving, funny and endearing odd couple story set in South London (“the dodgy end”, according to ‘Geography by Richard Curtis’), it charts the unlikely friendship of Tom (Fisher), a depressive soft-spoken giant who left his family in middle-class suburbia to wander the streets; and ...
  • 08.24.11
    Soul Surfer trailer Blog Exclusives, Trade News, Trailers | Comments Off
    Soul Surfer is the upcoming flick from Disney, that tells the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through her sheer determination and will to succeed. The film features an all-star cast, including AnnaSophia Robb and Helen Hunt, with Carrie Underwood in her film debut, and Dennis Quaid. I'm posting this half to give you guys a look at the trailer & half because this film is nostalgia-central for me, it reminds me so much of that time I was bitten ...
  • 08.23.11
    The Inbetweeners on the Couch. Blog Exclusives, Interviews, Trade News | Comments Off
    Entertainment, the studio behind The Inbetweeners Movie are somewhat notorious for never having press screenings in Ireland, or doing interviews for that matter, so I was lucky to be able to catch up with the stars if the film in London for a quick chat for Spin 103.8's We Love Movies. Though the lads weren't exactly chipper - meeting them the day of the première, it had just hit Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison that it was all over, so the interview turned into a very star-studded therapy session. The podcast will be up ...
  • 08.23.11
    THE INBETWEENERS: Somewhere between unsurprising & uproarious Reviews, Trailers | Comments Off
    THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE Directed by Starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Blake Harrison. 75 mins. Rating: Three and a half/Five In cinemas now THE INBETWEENERS ARE BACK – BIGGER, BRASHER AND AS BLOODY FUNNY AS EVER Boners and vomit and scat jokes, oh my! A hilarious, extended exercise in teen humiliation, The Inbetweeners Movie sees the characters of the hit E4 show head to Malia for a lads holiday, expecting “sun, sea, booze, minge, fanny and sex” – in short, the time of their lives. But though the scenery may be different, they are sadly the same as ever – Will (Simon ...
  • 08.23.11
    THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE: Kaiser Soze isn’t worried. Reviews, Trailers | Comments Off
    THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE Directed by Lee Tamahori. Starring Dominic Cooper, Raad Rawi, Ludivine Sagnier, Philip Quast. 108 mins. Rating: Two/Five In cinemas August 12 DOMINIC COOPER’S DUAL ROLE IS THE ONLY THING THAT IMPRESSES IN STAGNANT, SLEAZY TALE OF UDAY HUSSEIN Apparently the greatest trick the Devil ever played was convincing the world split-screens don’t exist. In a commendable dual performance, Dominic Cooper harnesses his innate ability to be both charming and creepy to play Latif Yahia, an Iraqi soldier of Kurdish background who is handpicked to be the official doppelganger and decoy to Uday Hussein. Cooper impressively creates two unique characters, who, even when ...