Tuesday 4 May 2010

Ash Wednesday

One neglected aspect of Irish cinema is the recent American contribution. Little notice is given to a small number of similar titles (Ash Wednesday, Turning green, Black Irish): respect for religion and tradition; characters use their full first names (Patrick, Francis); washed out colours; different age groups interacting; violent criminals; and impressive soundtrack music. Anyone who has seen The Yards will understand what I mean. Ash Wednesday is about a guy thought dead except he's hiding out from criminals. His brother (director Burns) has to defend him. Some famous faces appear in small roles, it's set mainly in a bar, there's a strange interaction between American-Irish and native Irish people, and the music is impressive (loved the way it stopped for the dialogue and then started again). Really considered a straight-to-DVD film Ash Wednesday is the kind of film the Irish Film Board should be funding!

Master of the world

Dated movie from the 1960s with Vincent Price trying to stop wars around the world. He uses an airship to attack from the sky. A group of ...