By Cormac McCarthy IMDB has a famous list of the top 100 films ever made, as voted for by the users of the site. At number one is The Shawshank Redemption, at number two is The Godfather: Part One and at number three is The Godfather: Part Two. While IMDB should never be a metric…
By Cormac McCarthy The Oscars are due to be held on Sunday the 27th of March. The ceremony selects the best that the medium of film has to offer and gives them little gold men to celebrate. Although, admittedly, it’s quite hard to understand the prestige attached to the Academy Awards. On one hand, It…
By Cormac McCarthy For a long while there, it seemed that Ireland’s international reputation for comedy would lie in the hands of just Father Ted, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Pat Short. All institutions unto themselves, however, it is nigh time for some fresh blood to be thrown into the mix. And from this dearth in…
By Cormac McCarthy Next month will mark the 1000th week in a row that the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction has rested in the top 100 soundtrack album charts. An incredible feat of an estimated 8 million units sold, it speaks to the enduring quality not just of the songs themselves but also to…
The British. What are they like? The mad cats. After years of the desire to return to the empire of the past, they only go and destroy the very thing that kept any glimpse of their empire in the cultural mindset throughout the 20th century. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The concept of culture for…
If you include all theatrically released films, television films, short films and direct-to-video films, the number of films about Christmas that have been made comes to a grand total of 540. That’s more than 530 but alas, less than 550. But what constitutes a Christmas film? The definition being used here is a film that…
By Cormac McCarthy Picture the scene. You’re at a party and everyone’s chatting about the hot new tv shows that they’re all addicted to. A woman, let’s call her Lisa, turns around and asks if you have seen the new show “Succession”. You politely say that you have not. It’s at that moment where everyone…
By Cormac McCarthy In the press tour, director Denis Villeneuve highlighted how important it is for audiences to view his new film Dune on the big screen. He was quoted as saying that “to watch Dune on a television, the best way I can compare it is to drive a speedboat in your bathtub.” So,…
By Cormac McCarthy The Irish film industry has gone from strength to strength in the past few years. From this small island, we have made our mark on the global cinema landscape, both in front and behind the camera. And on display from the 5th to the 21st of November is the evidence of that…
By Siobhán McCallum I’ve never believed in miracles. As a matter of fact, I’m quite content with the chaotic nature of our universe. However at the end of September last, on Friday the 24th to be precise, my non-faith was shaken. On that fair afternoon, something so shocking, marvellous and utterly mindblowing occurred that it…