Next Goal Wins: What’s Michael Fassbender doing in this film? You may as well ask Natalie Portman to play ChurchillThe ramshackle, borderline offensive farrago that Next Goal Wins has become seems unlikely to refurbish the New Zealander’s reputationFri Dec 22 2023 - 05:00
Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire: In space, no one can hear you yawnZack Snyder’s take on Star Wars and Seven Samurai is a transgalactic travesty. And why do some of the worst villains have Northern Irish accents?Thu Dec 21 2023 - 05:00
Best films of 2023: Irish critics name their favouritesCeline Song’s Past Lives and Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall top Dublin Film Critics Circle poll, which also names best actor, actress and Irish filmMon Dec 18 2023 - 18:03
Four new films to see this weekGodzilla Minus One, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, I Like Movies, In the Shadow of BeirutSun Dec 17 2023 - 05:00
Comedy has to be funny? Don’t make me laughDonald Clarke: Humour has forever been a tool for gutting the hypocrisies and inconsistencies in bigoted thinking. Do we really need to explain this?Sun Dec 17 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: Infinity Pool is to Naked Lunch as Spinal Tap is to...?Plus: How many men born in Ireland have won the best actor Oscar?Fri Dec 15 2023 - 08:00
In the Shadow of Beirut: Brilliant, heart-breaking and even more pertinent than plannedEvents since this nuanced and at times beautiful film was made mean it nods even more vigorously to the wealthy world thousands of kilometres from Sabra and ShatilaFri Dec 15 2023 - 05:00
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget – This middle-ranking Aardman sequel still beats almost anyone else on top formThough not on the same plane as Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it delivers zippy good-hearted jokes at a cracking paceThu Dec 14 2023 - 05:00
Ireland used to ban films. Now it’s more relaxed than Britain or the US about what’s on screen. Why?Such shockers as Brief Encounter and The Big Sleep were once prohibited here. Ciarán Kissane of the Irish Film Classification Office explains his more modern approachWed Dec 13 2023 - 05:15
Golden Globes: Irish actors Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan and Andrew Scott nominatedYorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, produced by Dublin’s Element Pictures, receives a whopping seven nominationsMon Dec 11 2023 - 16:01
The 10 worst films of 2023We’ve already told you our favourite movies released in Ireland this year. Here are the ones we hatedMon Dec 11 2023 - 05:30
Have the dictionaries all gone insane? The real word of 2023 was right there, word geeksDonald Clarke: Forget rizz, we should choose a word that properly defines an eraSun Dec 10 2023 - 05:00
Actor Ryan O’Neal dies aged 82 as a legend of Hollywood’s post-classical eraBarbra Streisand among fellow actors who recalled ‘funny and charming’ leading manSat Dec 09 2023 - 09:22
The 50 best films of 2023 – in reverse order: 10 to 1We reach our top 10 favourite movies released in Ireland this yearSat Dec 09 2023 - 05:30
The best and worst films of 2023 – in reverse orderBarbenheimer of course features, but most of the year’s finest flicks did not exactly run box office attendants off their feetSat Dec 09 2023 - 05:30
The 50 best films of 2023 – in reverse order: 50 to 31We start our countdown of our favourite movies released in Ireland this yearFri Dec 08 2023 - 08:14
The 50 best films of 2023 – in reverse order: 30 to 21We continue our countdown of our favourite movies released in Ireland this yearFri Dec 08 2023 - 08:13
The 50 best films of 2023 – in reverse order: 20 to 11We continue our countdown of our favourite movies released in Ireland this yearFri Dec 08 2023 - 08:12
The Movie Quiz: Who had the most tracks on the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey?Plus: How was Lauren Bacall best known to her friends?Fri Dec 08 2023 - 08:00
Anselm: Wim Wenders continues his good 2023 with a portrayal of the German artist, Nazi salutes and all The director and subject try to make sense of mortality, creative responsibility and the place of Germany in a changed worldFri Dec 08 2023 - 05:00
Wonka: Timothée Chalamet’s chocolate prodigy turns out to be Irish. Should we laugh or cry?In this decent origin story, the young actor betrays no hint of the sly psychopath he would become in the form of Gene WilderThu Dec 07 2023 - 05:00
Kneecap: Irish rap group’s biopic to have world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2024Michael Fassbender and Simone Kirby feature with Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí in Rich Peppiatt’s rollicking film loosely based on Belfast trio’s livesWed Dec 06 2023 - 18:30
Leave Cilla Black alone! You’ve got a lorra, lorra nerveDonald Clarke: The TV presenter remains indelibly knitted into British culture. Young people know the name even if they’re not sure what she didSun Dec 03 2023 - 05:00
Wim Wenders: We couldn’t continue living in a country without a past. We had to somehow face itEye surgery curtailed the German director’s appearances recently but he’s back on track with two films, Anselm and Perfect DaysSat Dec 02 2023 - 05:15
The Movie Quiz: What is the documentary on mad theories concerning The Shining? Plus: Name the first film directed by Clint Eastwood in which he did not take an accredited acting roleFri Dec 01 2023 - 08:00
It’s a wrap: Films and music you can put under the Christmas treeA paucity of older material online and extravagant box-sets are two reasons for giving CDs and DVDsFri Dec 01 2023 - 05:00
Eileen director William Oldroyd: ‘If you want to see something different this is the Christmas movie for you. Right?’His adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s dark novel takes place in a drab and snowy corner of New England. It might be the 1960s, but swinging it ain’tThu Nov 30 2023 - 05:15
Eileen: A film that grabs you by the collar and drags you into a hedge as you stroll uneasily down a lonely pathAs Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie circle each other in a grimy dive bar, you can almost taste the stale nicotineThu Nov 30 2023 - 05:00
Maestro: Carey Mulligan steals this Leonard Bernstein biopic from under Bradley Cooper’s controversial noseDirector Cooper struggles to rise above impersonation in his portrayal of the great American conductor and composerWed Nov 29 2023 - 05:15
The Quare Fellow review: Hugely enjoyable romp packs sombre reflection in with profane laughterTheatre: At the Abbey, Tom Creed recasts Brendan Behan’s prison comedy entirely with female and nonbinary actors. The effect is teasingly ambiguousWed Nov 29 2023 - 02:35
The Wolfe Tones’ Celtic Symphony and NWA’s Straight Outta Compton: Separated at birth?Donald Clarke: Rap lyrics have been used as evidence against hundreds of people in UK courts. It’s part of a cultural divide that campaigners want to endSun Nov 26 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: Which series has the most released entries?Plus: Who is not currently marvellous?Fri Nov 24 2023 - 05:00
Wish review: Cracking songs but a so-so story in a film that finds Disney frozen in timeAriana DeBose is in typically fine timbre as the voice of a young woman struggling to shake off fairy-tale tyrannyThu Nov 23 2023 - 05:00
Napoleon review: A hugely entertaining portrait that leaves history in the past Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby shine in Ridley Scott’s breathless rollickWed Nov 22 2023 - 05:00
An Audience with Dolly Alderton: Agony aunt has zippy line in posh swearing – but it’s not her who gets biggest laughsReview: The almost entirely female audience at Vicar Street is treated to a blend of salty wisdom and cocktail-bar irreverenceTue Nov 21 2023 - 11:41
Napoleon director Ridley Scott: ‘I do 120 hours a week. I think I’m working class, right?’At 85, the film-maker has been making almost a movie a year for two decades – and there’s still something of an old-school showman about himTue Nov 21 2023 - 05:00
‘F**k you. Next question’: The day Adam Driver ran out of patienceDonald Clarke: There’s something refreshing about watching a star nudge away the PR training during a Q&A sessionSat Nov 18 2023 - 05:00
The Movie Quiz: Which is not a real Clint Eastwood film?Plus: Which director has not written (or co-written) music for his own features?Fri Nov 17 2023 - 05:15
So This Is Christmas: Don’t go expecting a jolt of yuletide joy from this fine Irish documentaryIrish film-maker Ken Wardrop focuses on five less-than-jolly subjects in the run-up to the festive seasonFri Nov 17 2023 - 05:00
Saltburn: Barry Keoghan is excellent as a Scouser among malign poshos at OxfordJacob Elordi and Rosamund Pike shine but film never properly escapes its guilty passion for the surface attractions of the posh Saltburn lifeWed Nov 15 2023 - 05:15
Thanksgiving director Eli Roth: ‘Seeing all these Black Friday tramplings, we thought this is a fantastic way to open a horror film’What began as a joke 1980s trailer in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez’s Grindhouse is now a very contemporary slasherTue Nov 14 2023 - 06:59
My Name is Barbra: An undiluted celebration of StreisandThe sheer size of My Name is Barbra confirms an inability to walk away from long-distilled obsessionsMon Nov 13 2023 - 05:00
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s blowtorch, Britain’s strictest headteacher and a GB News yeller: The M&S Christmas-ad controversy has it allDonald Clarke: Social media is providing a digital bullhorn to every crank, blowhard and malcontentSun Nov 12 2023 - 05:15
The Movie Quiz: Who has not played a part later played by Gary Oldman?Plus: Who might belong with Sidney Pollack, Joel Schumacher, Alan J Pakula and Robert Altman?Fri Nov 10 2023 - 05:00
Dream Scenario: Nicolas Cage stars in the year’s most uncomfortable sex sceneOne of the most versatile actors in the business excels in a delightfully off-centre fableThu Nov 09 2023 - 05:10
The Marvels review: The Marvel Cinematic Universe disappears up its own black holePity Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Samuel L Jackson. This is a solid contender for the worst Marvel film yetWed Nov 08 2023 - 17:17
Why is Martin Scorsese making a fuss over Killers of the Flower Moon toilet breaks?Donald Clarke: The director’s latest tussle with the great unwashed concerns unauthorised intermissions at screenings of Killers of the Flower MoonSun Nov 05 2023 - 05:15
Making it So by Patrick Stewart: An agreeably undemanding page-turner of a memoirThe actor is at home to the grand theatrical anecdote and revels in playful self-deprecationSat Nov 04 2023 - 04:45
Dance First: Finely acted Samuel Beckett biopic undermined by lit-flick clichesFilm review: Gabriel Byrne and Fionn O’Shea play the writer to great effect but the pedestrian writing bogs proceedingsFri Nov 03 2023 - 05:15
