Monday 27 July 2015

You're ugly too

Gillen gets out of jail and looks after his niece (he killed her dad). They move to a caravan park and meet a woman from Belgium. That's it, nothing else story wise. Character drama that is similar in tone to an earlier Irish film (Crooked mile). With lots of indie-dirge music on the soundtrack (piano, guitar, glockenspiel), the film is so slight that it's interesting enough. Very bland with boring dialogue and similar in style to several recent Irish titles which can't be a coincidence. Good debut from the director, hope he makes more stuff like this. What I liked about this movie was the lack of establishing shots, it was more interested in exploring characters' interactions with each other than showing off the camera. Other than that it's forgettable and slight. The title comes from a doctor joke, second opinion.

Title: You're ugly too
Genre: Family drama
New/old: New
Cinema/DVD: Cinema

Wednesday 15 July 2015

SCREEN IRELAND PROVES IRISH FILM HAS FAILED!

Now that our beloved Film Board is getting renamed what does this show? Back over twenty years we have failed to produce a new Jim Sheridan or Neil Jordan. Not that must Irish directors wanted to emulate these overrated filmmakers but they're are still our most successful. Even worse, very few Irish films have done well at the box office and the ones that have usually employed a British director. To acknowledge this failure the Irish Film Board is no more. It's not film now it's 'screen'. That mean television series/documentaries/animation/shorts, anything that fits on a screen, big or small. The kind of stuff this blog won't review or discuss. Because let's face it, it's not true cinema. Our Film Board has been very good avoiding 'cinema' over the years. Most of our success involves cartoons or documentaries. We have not produced a world-class director in decades. Not one Irish person is producing a body of original work that stands out. Forget Lenny Abrahamson and Gerard Barrett. Those guys are 'art-house imitators'. Their films are check-the-box fare, stylish and lifeless. The Film Board is no more. Now it's Screen Ireland. This 'Ireland' means the Republic and not Northern because like their football team they are punching above their weight. Unlike us. Irish Film has failed and the Board realises. New Irish filmmakers are more interested in TV shows and animation than making anything worthwhile in cinema.

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 ...