It’s hard to say goodbye: What Curb Your Enthusiasm’s finale got right, and what others get wrongDonald Clarke: What Larry David did with the ending of his comedy feels unique in the troubled history of televisual valedictionsSun Apr 14 2024 - 06:00
Four new films to see this weekBack to Black, Civil War, The Teachers’ Lounge, Close Your EyesSun Apr 14 2024 - 05:00
Civil War director Alex Garland: ‘Journalists are seen with contempt by a lot of people now. I really object to that’Kirsten Dunst leads a posse of gallant reporters in the film-maker’s dystopian adventure set in a divided United StatesSat Apr 13 2024 - 05:15
The Blues Brothers by Daniel de Visé – Diverting celebration of a puzzling US comedy phenomenonHow did the blokeish creation of supernova-hot comics John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd become a cultural marker?Sat Apr 13 2024 - 00:00
The Movie Quiz: Film legend Orson Welles made his professional stage debut at which Irish theatre?Plus: Who comes after Julia Roberts, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli, Harrison Ford...?Fri Apr 12 2024 - 05:00
Cannes 2024: Irish films to have unprecedented prominence at festivalThree Element Pictures productions will feature in official selection, with Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness competing for the Palme d’OrThu Apr 11 2024 - 13:43
The Pull of the Stars review: Sincere and sharply performed adaptation of Emma Donoghue novelPlay breaks little ground theatrically, but few will emerge unmoved or uninterestedThu Apr 11 2024 - 09:37
Civil War review: Kirsten Dunst has never been better than in Alex Garland’s action stormer The director’s latest offering imagines a dystopian America through a carefully ambiguous lensWed Apr 10 2024 - 09:00
Back to Black review: Don’t write off this Amy Winehouse film. It makes a bet that pays offSam Taylor-Johnson does a decent job of making a tight drama from a tragic yarnWed Apr 10 2024 - 05:00
‘When my grandad arrived he was illiterate, and now his grandson is earning this country an Oscar nomination’The Teachers’ Lounge director Ilker Çatak on his tense, multilayered film about attempts to identify a thief in a multicultural German schoolTue Apr 09 2024 - 05:00
Four new films to see this weekThe First Omen, Evil Does Not Exist, Girls State, Io CapitanoSun Apr 07 2024 - 05:00
Sydney Sweeney’s rise: Hollywood finally has an old-school movie star on its hands, and it has no idea what to doDonald Clarke: The embrace of Sydney Sweeney as a new Elizabeth Taylor is one thing. Whether the movie industry is set for a reboot is quite anotherSun Apr 07 2024 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: What was the first 007 extravaganza not to take its title from Ian Fleming’s writings?Plus: When was Singin’ in the Rain first heard in a film?Fri Apr 05 2024 - 05:00
The First Omen review: Horror prequel is much better than it needs to beExpect gynaecological macabre and the tearing of bodies cleanly in halfThu Apr 04 2024 - 17:00
Evil Does Not Exist review: Ryusuke Hamaguchi turns down the volume to more aggressively embrace the obliqueThere is, perhaps, no puzzle here to be solved. Just an enigma to be frowned atThu Apr 04 2024 - 05:00
One Night in Millstreet review: Entertaining documentary of Collins-Eubank clash a real triumphColourful cast of characters makes for an epic yarn told in compelling style by Andrew Gallimore’s captivating documentary One Night in MillstreetWed Apr 03 2024 - 15:36
Four new films to see this weekAnne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain show their lacquered claws in Mothers’ Instinct, plus Bill Nighy in feel-good sports tale The Beautiful Game, Kung Fu Panda back for a fourth go, and arty Euro drama Disco BoySun Mar 31 2024 - 05:00
Alan Titchmarsh’s gardening trousers’ totally justified brush with North Korean censorsDonald Clarke: North Korea is right. Denim has become degenerateSun Mar 31 2024 - 05:00
Dev Patel: ‘I thought, What would young Dev want to see on screen? I created a movie for that guy’The star is on both sides of the camera in his directorial debut Monkey Man, an action movie that is really a ‘Trojan horse’ for more serious themesSat Mar 30 2024 - 05:30
Mothers’ Instinct: Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain excel in psychodrama that’s either ludicrous on purpose or just by accidentIf the costumes in this confusing film about two glamorous 1960s housewives were any more heightened, you’d demand a song and dance numberFri Mar 29 2024 - 05:30
The Movie Quiz: Who has yet to play the title character in a Marvel Cinematic Universe feature?Plus: Who has never held the record as the oldest ever winner of best actor Oscar?Fri Mar 29 2024 - 05:00
The Beautiful Game: Hoary sporting cliches are given new life in a charmingly acted Homeless World Cup dramaTo be clear, there are no depictions of the desperate challenges homeless people face when not participating in an international soccer competitionFri Mar 29 2024 - 05:00
Four new films to see this week: Conor McGregor in Road House, Sydney Sweeney in Immaculate, Late Night with the Devil and The DelinquentsGyllenhaal and McGregor brawl on Amazon in Road House, plus class horror films Immaculate and Late Night with the Devil, and epic Argentine crime drama The DelinquentsSun Mar 24 2024 - 05:00
Jonathan Glazer’s Gaza remarks have been twisted by both sides. It requires effort to misunderstand the Oscar-winnerDonald Clarke: The film-maker’s relatively mild snatch of humanist polemic has resulted in a furore that shows no signs of going awaySun Mar 24 2024 - 05:00
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor on his new IRA heist film: ‘If it was fictitious you’d say it was too much’It retells the story of Rose Dugdale, the debutante who led a 1974 art robbery at Russborough HouseSat Mar 23 2024 - 05:15
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire review – One star for the worst film of the year so farThis awful, wretched farrago showcases so much that is wrong with the Hollywood sausage-makerFri Mar 22 2024 - 05:11
The Movie Quiz: How many films won more than one Oscar this year?Plus: Who is missing: Chicolini, Pinky, Lt Bob Roland and...?Fri Mar 22 2024 - 05:00
Immaculate review: Sydney Sweeney is charismatic in disgustingly good scoop-their-eyeballs-out horrorFilm review: One of the current buzziest young stars Sydney Sweeney is as game as they come in a romp that allows few breaths to be takenThu Mar 21 2024 - 05:00
Road House review: Conor McGregor appears as a snorting maniac who smacks heads and severs tracheas in Swayze remakeAppearing opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, the Dubliner will not be mistaken for Lord Olivier in this second henchman roleWed Mar 20 2024 - 05:00
Sass, sex and recreational slaying: Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke on Drive-Away Dolls The film director and his wife have long worked together. Now they’ve teamed up to direct a wacky, anarchic, proudly lewd lesbian road movieSun Mar 17 2024 - 05:15
Planning to hate-watch Lindsay Lohan’s Irish Wish? Micksploitation addicts should prepare for disappointmentDonald Clarke: Lindsay Lohan’s new Netflix film is a harmless romantic comedy. There really isn’t much to be furious aboutSun Mar 17 2024 - 05:00
The St Patrick’s Day Movie Quiz: Wasn’t there a Derry Girl in Barbie? Which fair colleen was it?Plus: What in the name of St Hooley McHooley was Jamie Dornan chewing in 2020?Fri Mar 15 2024 - 05:00
Iftas 2024: Cillian Murphy, Saoirse Ronan nominated as Irish talents 'amongst best in the world'Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan, Barry Ward and Andrew Scott nominated in best actor categoryThu Mar 14 2024 - 10:36
Monster review: Hirokazu Kore-eda draws masterpieces in quiet desperation from his young starsThe Japanese director’s new film tells a story more slippery than that of Anatomy of a Fall. Pay attention throughoutThu Mar 14 2024 - 05:00
Drive-Away Dolls review: This yellow-pack comedy from Ethan Coen raises the question ‘Oh brother, where art thou?’No good will can wholly brush away the ersatz hokeyness of this venture. It’s as if The Beatles managed to release a record by Herman’s HermitsWed Mar 13 2024 - 05:00
Copa 71 review: Hot pants, tracksuits and cigarette smoke – The irresistible story of the Women’s World Cup of 1971Let Serena Williams introduce you to the greatest sporting triumph you’ve never heard ofWed Mar 13 2024 - 05:00
Oscars 2025: Donald Clarke predicts these 10 films will get best-picture nominationsHe missed out on a Poor Things prediction this year – how successful will he be for next year?Tue Mar 12 2024 - 11:00
Oscars 2024: Cillian Murphy now a ‘favourite’ for the next James Bond, plus other things we learned from the 96th Academy Awards Amid the kerfuffle, it was somewhat lost that the second-biggest winner of the evening was Poor Things – a remarkable feat for an Irish productionMon Mar 11 2024 - 15:02
Oscars 2024: ‘Very proud Irishman’ Cillian Murphy wins best actor, one of seven awards for OppenheimerEmma Stone wins best actress Oscar as Irish-produced Poor Things picks up four Academy AwardsMon Mar 11 2024 - 07:53
Oscars 2024: the complete list of winnersHere are all the winners of the 96th Academy Awards - and all the nomineesMon Mar 11 2024 - 05:04
Four new films to see this weekDo Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Copa 71, Origin, High & Low: John GallianoSun Mar 10 2024 - 10:13
Ranked: The 15 greatest Irish moments at the OscarsFrom Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker winning acting awards for My Left Foot to the Academy singing Happy Birthday to James Martin in 2023Sun Mar 10 2024 - 05:00
The English just can’t escape the taint of classDonald Clarke: Whether it’s Britpop, The Beatles or The Last Dinner Party, the English just can’t escape the taint of classSun Mar 10 2024 - 05:00
Ranked: the 25 greatest films to lose out on best picture OscarThe films that were nominated for best picture but never won, losing out more often than not to a lesser workSat Mar 09 2024 - 12:00
The Movie Quiz: What is the highest-grossing film ever directed solely by a woman?A special movie quiz in honour of International Women’s Day 2024Fri Mar 08 2024 - 08:00
Oscars 2024: Cillian Murphy looks unbeatable. Who else should win and who will win?It’s shaping up to be Oppenheimer’s year at the Academy Awards. What about Barbie? And could Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things also do well?Fri Mar 08 2024 - 05:15
Origin review: Clunky metaphors aside, Ava DuVernay’s film delivers emotional kick and intellectual gristIf there is occasionally the sense we are attending a lecture, it is being given by the most engaging of teachersThu Mar 07 2024 - 05:00
Diablo Cody: ‘It was a bit chilling. Suddenly grown men are following you home’ Lisa Frankenstein, the Oscar winner’s new film, is a defiantly silly hoot. But it also touches on a ‘very specific danger’ that girls first feel as teenagersSun Mar 03 2024 - 05:15
Four new films to see this weekDune: Part Two, Lisa Frankenstein, Spaceman, Four DaughtersSun Mar 03 2024 - 05:00
Kevin Costner’s no great fan of westerns. So how come he’s making another one?Donald Clarke: The actor left Yellowstone to direct Horizon: An American saga. It seems the deadest of genres has risen from the grave againSun Mar 03 2024 - 05:00
