Les Misérables; a tension filled look at France's uneasy problem

Films Reviews Mon, Oct 12, 2020

Little did I know when I had left my recliner seat in screen seven at Omniplex Salthill on Thursday October 1 that it would be my last cinema experience for the foreseeable future as a level three lockdown was enforced the next Tuesday. But like most things in life, it is always good to go out with a bang and Les Misérables certainly provides plenty.

Film review: Trial Of The Chicago 7

Films Reviews Tue, Oct 06, 2020

THIS WAS originally a Steven Spielberg project a decade ago. He had a personal interest in the story and asked writer Aaron Sorkin for a screenplay.

48 Hour Film Challenge goes virtual for 2020

Thu, Oct 01, 2020

LITTLE CINEMA and Galway City of Film's 48 Hour Challenge is taking place again this year, but in a virtual fashion instead of a physical screening at the Town Hall Theatre.

Rocks - a realistic look at adolescence and poverty, that's also fun

Films Reviews Tue, Sep 29, 2020

SOMETHING A bit different this week - a movie in the cinemas that is not available via streaming. If you want to see this, and you should, you are going to have to go to a cinema.

The Devil All The Time - too much misery and too much dirt for 2020

Films Reviews Tue, Sep 22, 2020

THE DEVIL All The Time is adapted from a 2011 best seller which Netflix bought last year for distribution. It has released it for streaming but apparently has a big campaign ready to go when awards season kicks off.

Savage; journey far more interesting than destination

Films Reviews Mon, Sep 21, 2020

My two previous experiences of New Zealand independent cinema, the excellent, hard-hitting, Once Were Warriors and the fun Hunt for the Wilderpeople, were ones I thoroughly enjoyed so when I saw the trailer for Sam Kelly's directorial debut, Savage, I had high hopes.

Bill & Ted Face The Music

Films Reviews Tue, Sep 15, 2020

THIS MOVIE has been rumoured for the past 10 years and kept falling apart in preproduction. However, given that Keanu Reeves has had a pretty stellar decade in the box office, it means he has enough pull to get this passion project made.

The Thing is coming to the Pálás

Thu, Sep 10, 2020

THE THING, John Carpenter's classic 1982 film starring Kurt Russell, and boasting special effects which were astonishing in their day, and still impressive now, will get a big screen outing at the Pálás.

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things - the ideal film for 2020?

Films Reviews Mon, Sep 07, 2020

CHARLIE KAUFMAN, the man who brought us Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, has written some of the finest films of this century - and he does not release films often.

Tenet; lots of action, lots of special effects, lots of confusion

Films Reviews Mon, Sep 07, 2020

First of all, how good is it to be back in the cinema, watching movies on the big screen? In my humble opinion, so good.

Tenet - a feast of unparalleled stunt work and action scenes

Films Reviews Mon, Aug 31, 2020

FOR THE first time since March there is a big new Hollywood blockbuster in the cinemas. Christopher Nolan's Tenet is charged with saving the global cinema industry and, after quite a successful opening weekend, might actually do it.

Inception - convoluted, overrated, but worth another look

Films Reviews Thu, Aug 20, 2020

NEXT WEEK sees Tenent - the first proper international blockbuster released since March and the eleventh film from director Christopher Nolan.

Dating Amber

Thu, Aug 06, 2020

With the cinemas finally reopening I was pleased to see some films that were released on streaming during lockdown are getting the big screen treatment after all. Dating Amber is an Irish movie that got a bit of press when it was released on Amazon a few months ago but really deserved more so I’m happy to review it during its cinema release.

Pálás Cinema to re-open next week

Thu, Jul 23, 2020

The Pálás Cinema is re-opening on Monday July 27. It will be fully compliant with Government guidelines on Covid-19; there will be screenings of classic films; and the restaurant will have a new menu.

Greyhound - Tom Hanks leadership qualities shine in no frills movie

Films Reviews Thu, Jul 23, 2020

In terms of victims of the pandemic, big budget Hollywood movies are quite low down on most people's sympathy lists. Only a year ago Avengers: Endgame broke the record for box office takings with $2.7 billion, so limited sympathy is appropriate.

Arracht - life amid the harshness and beauty in Connemara

Films Reviews Thu, Jul 16, 2020

THE 2020 Galway Film Fleadh should be considered a monumental success. To put on anything this year is an achievement, especially as the easy option would have been to postpone and pick it up in

In Conversation - talks at the Fleadh

Thu, Jul 09, 2020

HOLLYWOOD STAR Keith Carradine and directors Joe Dante and Nicole Holofcener will be given free, online, public talks, this weekend as part of the Galway Film Fleadh.

Daithi soundtracks new documentary at Fleadh

Thu, Jul 09, 2020

DAITHÍ, one of Ireland's most creative and imaginative musicians and producers has composed the music for a new documentary premiering at the Galway Film Fleadh.

A Maverick Islander - new film from Margaretta D’Arcy

Thu, Jul 09, 2020

A DREAMER, a radicle, an entrepreneur, a man with a love of place, community, and sport, Connemara's Sean Ó Loingsigh wants to give his local region a boost, by building a golf course in a bog.

Policing in a time of Trump and a nation divided

Thu, Jul 09, 2020

THINK OF the word sheriff and you think of the hat and the badge; Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard; Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven; and Ed Tom Bell in No Country for Old Men.

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