Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan: ‘My mantra is: never television. I haven’t really done any TV’The sought-after Dubliner on working with Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold, the perils of making one-shot films, and his anti-TV mindsetTue Jun 06 2023 - 05:07
Four new films to see this weekSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Paul Mescal in Carmen, Amanda and RealitySun Jun 04 2023 - 05:00
Roger Waters has his flaws, but he’s not a NaziDonald Clarke: The Pink Floyd singer may have been guilty of crimes against music, but more recent accusations are unjustifiedSat Jun 03 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: The Exorcist takes place near which university?Plus: What comes next? Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton FinkFri Jun 02 2023 - 05:00
Carmen: Paul Mescal sings, he gets to smoulder. But this film has an identity crisisThe Irish star, for no obvious reason, strums an acoustic guitar to a soft melody while sitting on a wall in this feature. So it’s a kind of folk musical? Well, noThu Jun 01 2023 - 05:15
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Endlessly, dizzyingly imaginative, but also mildly disappointingThis film plugs straight into the aesthetic of the comic book, borrowing from Marvel’s artists of the silver ageWed May 31 2023 - 14:00
Cannes 2023: Palme d’Or and Palm Dog wrap up the world’s greatest film festivalCannes Festival’s 76th edition didn’t disappoint, consistently keeping the cinematic spirits aloftMon May 29 2023 - 05:34
Four new films to see in cinemas this weekPlus: The Little Mermaid, Disney’s latest live-action cash grab, is nicely sung. Plus Paul Schrader’s masterly Master Gardener, Irish documentary 406 Days, and Finland’s Ramboesque SisuSun May 28 2023 - 05:00
Cannes 2023: Anatomy of a Fall wins Palme d’Or for Justine Triet The Grand Prix, essentially runner-up, went to The Zone of Interest by Jonathan GlazerSat May 27 2023 - 21:20
Making great films, like being US president, is an old person’s gameDonald Clarke: This year’s Cannes is discrediting Tarantino’s youth theory as Loach, Kaurismäki, Breillat and Scorsese take plauditsSat May 27 2023 - 05:00
Cannes 2023: Who will win the Palme d’Or?Cannes diary: Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest has generated the most buzz, but plenty of rivals could bag the prize insteadFri May 26 2023 - 11:49
The Movie Quiz: A cover of which Joy Division classic scores the night-time chase in Heat? Plus: ‘You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll hurl.’ Tag line to which 1990s hit?Fri May 26 2023 - 05:00
The Little Mermaid: Disney’s live-action remake should satisfy indulgent fans. The rest can scowl pointlessly into the voidRob Marshall’s adequate maritime romance will drag caskets of sunken treasure to the surfaceThu May 25 2023 - 05:15
Lily-Rose Depp: ‘It’s always a little sad to see mean, false things said about someone you care about’Cannes diary 2023: The actor, whose father opened this year’s festival, is dismissive of accusation of disruption on the set of her HBO show The IdolWed May 24 2023 - 10:48
406 Days: The Debenhams Picket Line – A moving chronicle of the longest dispute in Irish labour historyAs a raw, no-nonsense record of an event that many viewers will have only half-grasped, this film could hardly be betteredWed May 24 2023 - 05:00
One film has shaken Cannes festival like few others in recent memory Cannes diary 2023: Festival director Thierry Frémaux has an exchange with police and one film festival tradition becomes annoyingMon May 22 2023 - 10:45
Cannes 2023: Turning blue in a crush on the CroisetteArguments about a decline in enthusiasm for cinema seem flawed when you feel as if you’re stuck in a perpetual high-end beach brawlMon May 22 2023 - 05:47
Four new films to see in cinemas this weekJoaquin Phoenix in provocative character epic Beau Is Afraid and long-awaited Judy Blume adaptation Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, plus the 10th Fast & Furious and Under the Fig Trees from TunisiaSun May 21 2023 - 05:00
Killers of the Flower Moon review: Scorsese’s new epic is long and sprawling, but the great man still has itCannes 2023: Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, the film rates high in the 21st-century Scorsese canon, but it asks for substantial patienceSat May 20 2023 - 20:45
Hollywood should make a film about some lad in the Tayto factory cleaning staff inventing smoky baconDonald Clarke: Films have been made lately about Tetris, Air Jordan, the BlackBerry and Cheetos, a trend that connects with the American god of the brandSat May 20 2023 - 05:00
‘I’m very moved by this’: Harrison Ford accepts honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes film festivalCannes diary 2023: Hirokazu Koreeda returns with another humanistic tale from his native Japan, while Wang Bing invites us to consider the human cost of cheap fashionFri May 19 2023 - 11:22
Under the Fig Trees – A lovely, pastoral pleasure with its share of blood-drawing barbsNaturalistic portrayal of a day in the work of fruit pickers in contemporary TunisiaFri May 19 2023 - 05:00
The Cannes Movie Quiz: Who’s the legendary French star on this year’s festival poster?Plus: Which of this year’s Palme competitors directed the famous surfer commercial for Guinness?Fri May 19 2023 - 05:00
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny review: Pure hokum of the cheesiest hueCannes 2023: Nobody with a brain in their heads will compare Dial of Destiny favourably to the first three films. The sense is of a project struggling to stand beneath the weight of its historyThu May 18 2023 - 21:00
The two faces dominating Cannes are Catherine Deneuve and Paul MescalCannes diary 2023: Steve McQueen’s four-hour Occupied City will test the most robust of bladders, while Almodovar presents a short but diverting doodleThu May 18 2023 - 12:48
Johnny Depp welcomed to Cannes film festival with seven-minute standing ovationCannes diary 2023: Festival director Thierry Frémaux addresses objections to choice of Depp’s Jeanne du Barry as opening filmWed May 17 2023 - 08:25
‘Nam June Paik isn’t appreciated in the way Andy Warhol is. He really does deserve that place’Amanda Kim’s Moon Is the Oldest TV chronicles the Korean video artist who influenced everything from Parasite and Squid Game to MTV and K-popWed May 17 2023 - 05:30
Beau Is Afraid: Joaquin Phoenix bosses this vast, hilarious film. But you may well hate itAri Aster adeptly juggles the sort of laughs you get from Samuel Beckett with the sort you encounter in Mel BrooksWed May 17 2023 - 05:00
Four new films to see this weekThe stars slightly charm in Book Club sequel, plus The Eight Mountains from Italy, Plan 75 from Japan, and Anna Nicole Smith documentary streamingSun May 14 2023 - 05:00
Cannes film festival 2023: return of the old guard royalty of Loach, Wenders and Scorsese. Then there’s Johnny DeppUnbeatable film festival kicks off next week with new Indiana Jones film and others by Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes and Alice RohrwacherSat May 13 2023 - 05:00
The Oscars’ new diversity rules make Richard Dreyfuss sick. Is his outrage justified?Donald Clarke: The regulations would not rule out any of last year’s best picture nominees, including The Banshees of InisherinSat May 13 2023 - 05:00
‘You embrace the idea of people being alienated’: Ari Aster on his divisive comedy Beau Is AfraidThe director of Midsommar and Hereditary has taken a left turn with his new film starring Joaquin PhoenixSat May 13 2023 - 05:00
Plan 75: A credible high concept about state-enabled assisted dying lacks the emotional heft to carry it offThough sincere and thoughtful throughout, the film gets squashed down by its own narrative integrityFri May 12 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: What is the highest-grossing film by an Irish director?Plus: Which was the first Star Wars film to premiere with ‘Episode’ in its on-screen title?Fri May 12 2023 - 05:00
Book Club: The Next Chapter – One of the more enjoyable dreadful films. Or do I have Stockholm syndrome?The sequel to an appalling geronto-comedy has a whiff of ‘will this do?’ about it. And yet - and yet - did I find myself having a good time?Wed May 10 2023 - 05:00
Iftas 2023: Another good night for Banshees as Brendan Gleeson and Kerry Condon take home awardsBrendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Paul Mescal, Sharon Horgan, Frank Berry and Bríd Ní Neachtain acknowledged on big night out for Irish film and television industrySun May 07 2023 - 22:36
Four new films to see in cinemas this weekA third enjoyable Guardians of the Galaxy, plus Irish drama Lakelands, Return to Seoul from South Korea and The Blue Caftan from FranceSun May 07 2023 - 05:00
‘I felt a great responsibility. I knew people growing up who took their own lives’Cork actor Éanna Hardwicke on his role in Normal People, male mental health and new film LakelandsSat May 06 2023 - 06:00
A concert goer had an orgasm at a classical concert. Come again?Donald Clarke: One audience member reportedly achieved orgasm uring a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth SymphonySat May 06 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: How many actors have portrayed Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot?Plus: What is, at time of quizzing, by far the highest grossing film of 2023?Fri May 05 2023 - 05:00
Lakelands: Gripping study of emotional inhibition showcases some impressive young Irish actorsFilm about a star GAA player in a small midlands town comes at you stealthilyThu May 04 2023 - 05:30
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3: You may as well try to drink water from a fire hose for 2½ hoursFor all the extravagant special effects and efforts to tug at our heartstrings, what we get is more of an epic variety show than coherent space operaWed May 03 2023 - 13:14
Hollywood screenwriters strike: how will it affect what I can watch in Ireland?Hollywood TV and movie screenwriters are going out on strike for the first time in more than 15 yearsTue May 02 2023 - 13:44
Rise up: 175 years of radical art, from O’Casey, Zola and Picasso to Public Enemy and Marvin GayeFor May Day, 15 books, films, plays, artwork and music that have furthered the progressive cause over a century or twoMon May 01 2023 - 06:00
Four new films on select release this weekIrish biopic on Ann Lovett, plus French feminist biker flick Rodeo and documentaries on Little Richard and Castro’s spiesSun Apr 30 2023 - 05:00
God, swerve the king: rock’n’roll proclaims independence from the royalsDonald Clarke: A minor scandal in the wind over the coronation playlist suggests rubbing shoulders with monarchs is no longer the done thingSat Apr 29 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: How many feature films has Richard Curtis directed?Plus: Which unlikely British star links Denzel Washington and Nicolas Cage?Fri Apr 28 2023 - 05:00
Castro’s Spies: Excellent Irish chronicle of Cuban spies in the USFew documentaries have offered such fascinating material on ‘trade craft’Fri Apr 28 2023 - 05:00
Ann Lovett would be 55 now. This film about her awful death is a brave, at times daring tributeCiaran Creagh’s Ann is an undeniably sincere and considered effort to pay homage to a generation of misused women and girlsThu Apr 27 2023 - 05:45
Harry Belafonte: a trader in uncomplicated happiness who became a magnetic civil rights figureBelafonte, once one of the most electrifyingly performers, remained an inspirational humanitarian throughout his lifeTue Apr 25 2023 - 17:08
