The Lion King - a film that feels like a cover song

Films Reviews Thu, Jul 25, 2019

THE LION King is the latest Disney movie to get the live action treatment, but it is not live action. No lions were filmed for this. It is entirely computer generated. So it is animation?

Galway made westerns continue with Never Grow Old

Films Reviews Thu, Jul 18, 2019

IT HAS become almost a tradition now that the Galway Film Fleadh closes with a western. Being one of my favourite genres I have no problem with that, but Never Grow Old has a lot to live up to after last year's Black 47 and 2017's An Klondike.

Peter Parker grapples with a post Endgame world

Films Reviews Thu, Jul 11, 2019

IN A post-Avengers: Endgame world we catch up with Peter Parker who is back in school and who is trying to come to terms with the death of his mentor, Tony Stark.

Yesterday - imagine if Black Mirror was upbeat and fun

Films Reviews Thu, Jul 04, 2019

YESTERDAY IS a kind of a positive feature length episode of Black Mirror - a pretty basic surreal concept but some pretty exciting talent behind the camera in director Danny Boyle, and writer Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill).

Toy Story 4 proves a worthy entry in the series

Films Reviews Thu, Jun 27, 2019

I WAS pretty nervous about this. It is tough to follow an almost perfect trilogy and it felt completely unnecessary to make a fourth Toy Story. However, Pixar recently fired it's studio head John Lasseter after sexual harassment claims, so right now, the company really needs a win.

Thunder Road - pathos and power on a shoestring

Films Reviews Thu, Jun 13, 2019

THUNDER ROAD opens at Jim's mother's funeral. He is the only one of her three children to attend and he is very emotional. He suffers though an ill prepared eulogy, and begins to look deranged when going off on tangents about himself.

Wafer thin plot results in disappointing Pikachu movie

Films Reviews Thu, May 23, 2019

TOM GOODMAN is a young insurance salesman with no interest in a seemingly global obsession with Pokemon - the little creatures who co-inhabit the world with humans and most humans have a Pokemon familiar.

Charlize Theron and Seth Rogan shine in Long Shot

Films Reviews Thu, May 16, 2019

SETH ROGAN is Fred Flarsky, a left-wing investigative journalist for a news website akin to The Daily Beast or buzzfeed. When it is bought by a Rupert Murdoch-like news mogul named Parker Wembley he quits.

Avengers: Endgame - saving the best until last

Films Reviews Thu, May 02, 2019

FINALLY WE are at the end of Marvel's incredibly ambitious film saga - 22 films, several TV shows, lots of toys and comics, so much money made, and now comes Avengers: Endgame, a direct sequel to last year's Avengers: Infinity War.

Eighth Grade - a social media film for our times

Films Reviews Thu, Apr 18, 2019

OSCAR NOMINATED already, Eighth Grade is the debut feature from YouTube star Bo Burnham, and while it is easy to be apprehensive of a movie from a 27-year-old stand-up comedian, this is a strikingly good debut.

The Sisters Brothers - dark, funny, and nihilistic

Films Reviews Thu, Apr 11, 2019

THE SISTERS Brothers is French director Jacques Audiard’s English-language debut. Audiard first came to attention in 2005 with The Beat That My Heart Skipped, and enjoyed wide acclaim for 2009's magnificent A Prophet.

Dumbo - Tim Burton's bad run of movies continues

Films Reviews Thu, Apr 04, 2019

DUMBO IS the first of three Disney live action remakes out this year, the others being Aladdin and The Lion King, and the company seems to have taken a different approach to each one.

Us - Jordan Peele dives further into horror

Films Reviews Thu, Mar 28, 2019

IN 1986, Adelaide wanders away from her parents in a theme park, and into a seemingly abandoned house of mirrors. Inside there, she is confronted by her doppelgänger who spends the rest of her life stalking her in visions.

Under The Silver Lake - obnoxious and crass

Films Reviews Thu, Mar 21, 2019

UNDER THE Silver Lake has been billed as The Big Lewbowski mixed with Blue Velvet. It is directed by David Robert Mitchell, director of It Follows, my favourite film of 2014. It also boasts a quality cast and a really great trailer.

Captain Marvel - the most fun you can have in a cinema

Films Reviews Thu, Mar 14, 2019

CAROL DANVERS - Captain Marvel's true identity - is not very well known to non-comic book readers, but, over the last decade, she has become one of Marvel comic’s best characters.

The Hole In The Ground - a mother and son horror

Films Reviews Thu, Mar 07, 2019

SINGLE MOTHER Sarah has moved to an old farm house in the Wicklow mountains. Her son Chris is unhappy in his new school and misses his father. She does her best, but the isolation is clearly getting to her.

Melissa McCarthy shines in Can You Ever Forgive Me

Films Reviews Thu, Feb 28, 2019

LEE ISRAEL is a once famous biographer who is struggling to sell her new book, a biography of Fanny Brice. When bills pile up she looks for things to sell. She has several letters from different celebrities and authors, and she can get a decent price for them.

FIRST LOOK AT EX-BANKER'S OFFICIAL MOVIE POSTER AHEAD OF CINEMAS RELEASE ON 5TH APRIL

Films Reviews Thu, Feb 28, 2019

Producer Tim Palmer (Into the West, Patrick's Day) gives us a first look at Artwork for the much anticipated 'The Limit Of' ahead of its cinema release on April 5th. NUIG graduate turned ex-banker is the writer-director behind new gripping psychological thriller, which features Cork-born singer Mick Flannery as the exclusive artist on the film's soundtrack. It stars the fast-rising Laurence O'Fuarain (Vikings, Black 47) and the stunning IFTA nominated actress Sarah Carroll.

Afro-American life in the seventies

Films Reviews Thu, Feb 21, 2019

BASED ON the James Baldwin novel, If Beale Street Could Talk is director Barry Jenkins follow up to 2017 Oscar winner Moonlight. It was surprising to see him adapting a book considering his screenplay for Moonlight was so well received, but after seeing this film I can see why he chose this text.

Alita: Battle Angel - all good looks and no substance

Films Reviews Thu, Feb 14, 2019

SET IN a post apocalyptic, dystopian, future - is there any other kind? - Dr Ido Dyson finds the head of a robot girl while out scavenging, and brings it home to fire it up.

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