Donald Clarke: A sentimental journey to ‘The West Wing’Aaron Sorkin’s series is implausible, corny and irony-free . . . and yet I’m still watchingSat Aug 22 2015 - 01:00
Zac Efron is a slave to the music in Max Joseph’s feature debutThe director of ‘We Are Your Friends’ tells how a small story about dance music became a big filmFri Aug 21 2015 - 06:00
Vacation review: Holliers – the next generationThe family are terrific in this ‘remake, sequel and reboot’ of a classic comedyThu Aug 20 2015 - 18:00
Sinister 2 review: eerie, supernatural and boringIrish director Ciarán Foy does his best with the atmospherics, but can do little with Sinister 2’s cluttered, tonally deranged mess of a scriptThu Aug 20 2015 - 17:28
Paper Towns review: Not just another teen movieA very effective teen entertainment that feels more honest and less contrived than Fault in Our StarsSun Aug 16 2015 - 13:00
Donald Clarke: Time to abolish ‘political correctness’Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock no longer to play colleges as students just too sensitiveSat Aug 15 2015 - 01:00
Mistress America review: queen of the Big AppleGreta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach reteam for another New York-set dramedy, a compact marvel that will repay repeated viewingsFri Aug 14 2015 - 06:00
Henry Cavill goes undercover in The Man from U.N.C.L.EWhen not saving the universe, the British actor likes a quiet pint down his local pubFri Aug 14 2015 - 06:00
Trainwreck review: Amy Schumer stays on the railsThe proto-femi-satirist teams up with monogamy-mad Judd Apatow for an amusing if overlong and weirdly reactionary romcomThu Aug 13 2015 - 14:18
Donald Clarke: Why Jeremy Corbyn could win the Labour leadership battle‘Peter Mandelson would never have let that happen’Sat Aug 08 2015 - 01:00
Tadhg O’Sullivan on Europe's border crisis: 'This has been going on for a long time''There was Calais. Then there was also what’s happening to democracy in Greece. There were a few days when I thought the film might become irrelevant.'Fri Aug 07 2015 - 06:00
Max review: a canine ‘American Sniper’The most brutally violent family film put before audiences since The Ten CommandmentsThu Aug 06 2015 - 20:00
The Diary of a Teenage Girl review: sex and the singular girlMarielle Heller’s 1970s drama, based on a popular graphic novel, is a gutsy film that engages with its period and tells a few truths for the agesThu Aug 06 2015 - 18:00
Marshlands review: death in a post-dictatorshipThis edgy, atmospheric Spanish detective drama has much in common with Hollywood noir but can stand entirely on its ownThu Aug 06 2015 - 16:00
Fantastic Four review: After all the hype, it’s both better and worse than expectedThe first half of Josh Trank's reboot is perfectly serviceable as a summer seat-filler. Then it descends into a bendy, transparent, lumpy, flaming catastropheWed Aug 05 2015 - 22:15
Donald Clarke: From Walter the Dentist to Conan the BarbarianFurore over killing of Cecil the lion a sharp reminder of hypocrisy on animal crueltySat Aug 01 2015 - 11:44
The greatest Irish war hero you've never heard of - Aidan MacCarthyThe film directed by Gary Lennon traces the story of the doctor during his time with the British air force in Europe, Singapore and JapanFri Jul 31 2015 - 05:00
13 Minutes review: Hitler assassination tale fails to igniteHirschbiegel’s film captures the period well but we are left asking the wrong questionsFri Jul 31 2015 - 00:00
Hot Pursuit review: You know almost every punchline alreadyThis buddy comedy is useless but its loud, brash heart is in roughly the right placeThu Jul 30 2015 - 23:00
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation review: Your mission - to stay awakeSimon Pegg quips; Ving Rhames rumbles; Jeremy Renner snoozes and Tom Cruise continues to leap, bound and defy the ageing process - if only the franchise was bearing up as wellThu Jul 30 2015 - 17:10
Outrage! over tabloids’ Elizabeth Nazi salute storyThe words 'Queen filmed doing Hitler salute' are so indecently delicious no tabloid could fail to run itSun Jul 26 2015 - 08:45
The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson review: a rhythm in his bluesJulian Temple’s documentary on the influential and dying Dr Feelgood guitarist is affectionate and eccentric in all the right waysFri Jul 24 2015 - 12:44
How did Amy Poehler become Hollywood’s favourite person?She’s got an acerbic wit, frequently speaks her mind, and has burned almost everyone at the Golden Globes: so how did Amy Poehler become Hollywood’s most-loved?Fri Jul 24 2015 - 05:00
Aidan Gillen: chasing character at the top of his gameThe ‘Game of Thrones’ star has had an extraordinary career but still likes to do low-budget Irish filmsFri Jul 24 2015 - 04:00
Best of Enemies review: Buckley v VidalThe animosity between a pair of US political pundits makes for a diverting documentaryFri Jul 24 2015 - 02:00
Inside Out review: emotion in constant motionPixar’s comedy, set in the wildly seesawing brain of a child, is funny, moving and clever enough to overcome way too much extraneous plotThu Jul 23 2015 - 16:00
Donald Clarke: Cultural heritage does not excuse excesses of the ‘Twelfth’‘Culture’ seems to be defined as an atavistic force that compels uncivilised behaviourSat Jul 18 2015 - 01:01
What British punk band the Damned did nextWes Orshoski’s new film about the Damned is a consistently funny take on the music industryFri Jul 17 2015 - 11:15
The Salt of the Earth review: the sky above, the muddy image belowWim Wenders’s Oscar-nominated study of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado makes for riveting viewing, though larger issues of the artist’s aesthetics are conspicuously absentFri Jul 17 2015 - 04:00
True Story review: Lies, damned lies, and HollywoodAs a study of journalistic ethics, ‘True Story’ is laughably overheated, though it works well enough as a pretty good thrillerThu Jul 16 2015 - 19:29
Name of Irish Film Board to be changed to Screen IrelandDecision recognises Bord Scannán na hÉireann’s increasing interests beyond world of cinemaTue Jul 14 2015 - 19:07
Omar Sharif, one of the last matinee idolsEgyptian screen legend was as much a vision of romantic possibilities as he was an actorSat Jul 11 2015 - 09:50
We can assume Beckett didn’t mean: try hard and you can win the French Open‘Fail better’ another blood-boiling example of need to extract life lessons from literatureSat Jul 11 2015 - 01:00
Documentary flair makes for a Fleadh to savourIrish road movies, documentaries and even a Western ensured that this year’s rainy but characterful Galway Film Fleadh was as full of interesting surprises as everFri Jul 10 2015 - 12:20
Song of the Sea review: A lot of pretty ghosts in the machineOld-fashioned artistry sets Tomm Moore’s second feature apart from the digital mobFri Jul 10 2015 - 08:59
Kathy Bates: an actor with plenty of characterDonald Clarke talks to the actor about sexism, ageism, cancer and the joy of ‘Misery’Fri Jul 10 2015 - 05:00
The Reunion review: a film that realises the dream of every harassed schoolyard outsiderDirector and star Anna Odell does a brilliant job of layering mysteries between enigmas and dosing them in concentrated uncertaintiesThu Jul 09 2015 - 16:33
Love and Mercy review: The life of Brian Wilson revisitedThough imaginative, this Beach Boys movie cannot shake itself free from the overworked 1960s mythologyThu Jul 09 2015 - 16:00
Donald Clarke: Hold on there – do we now approve of strippers?Are female strippers only okay if – by attaching frills and bows – they redefine themselves as ‘burlesque’Sun Jul 05 2015 - 08:03
Terminator Genisys review: Nuclear war is the least of its disastersGenisys crams every key trope into the mix; Schwarzenegger’s older, cuddlier Terminator adds the cornFri Jul 03 2015 - 18:37
Orson Welles: Man, myth and ‘Magic’‘He wasn’t really difficult,’ says Chuck Workman, director of a compelling new documentary about one of cinema’s giantsFri Jul 03 2015 - 05:00
Amy review: an essential, propulsive portraitAsif Kapadia’s definitive examination of Amy Winehouse charts a sickening drift towards fatal catastropheThu Jul 02 2015 - 22:00
Still the Water review: a bewitching, sideswiping experienceNaomi Kawase’s film comes with a ‘spirituality’ warning, but it’s worth itThu Jul 02 2015 - 20:30
Peter Bogdanovich: the last picture showmanWhat’s up, Pete? The quintessential movie brat is still directing ’em, but that old Hollywood magic is long gone: ‘Things have gone downhill since the end of the 1970s. This focus on the top 10 grossers and the first weekend is all new’Sun Jun 28 2015 - 12:00
Donald Clarke: Charleston killings raise the spectre of the T-word‘If this isn’t terrorism, then nothing is’ tweeted Glenn GreenwaldSat Jun 27 2015 - 01:00
The Wrecking Crew review: how they made the musicThe documentary about the legendary session musicians will be a hit with music fansThu Jun 25 2015 - 22:30
She’s Funny That Way review: problematic tribute to the screwball comedyIts ‘breathtakingly unreconstructed’ attitude to women mars this tribute to the screwball comedyThu Jun 25 2015 - 21:30
Slow West review: an unending treat to look atJohn Maclean’s elegant, original western takes its time and is a treat to look atThu Jun 25 2015 - 20:30
Festival programme unveiled for July’s Galway Film FleadhFilm notables such as John C Reilly, Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera set to attendTue Jun 23 2015 - 18:00
Slow West: ‘The Brits secretly all want to make westerns’Interview: John Maclean, once of the Beta Band, set out to demythologise the western in his first film, Slow West. He’s succeededMon Jun 22 2015 - 06:00
