JOHNNY GOGAN IS BACK!

Ireland's hardest-to-check-out director is making a new movie called Black ice. Like most Irish movies it's a hybrid genre film. This time it's a romantic-drama which will no doubt be neither be romantic nor dramatic! None of his other features are available on DVD here but no doubt this one will be much better?

Kill the Irishman

Hugely enjoyable crime movie that's let down by routine direction and a lack of a few great scenes. Based on a true account of a guy in Cleveland who falls foul of the unions and the mafia. They try to kill him and it's one death after another. Lots of period detail from the 1960s and '70s. Some of the dialogue is bizarre and it's easy to see why this movie didn't get a wide release over here. This is the kind of commercial stuff our Film Board should be funding - blue collar crime movies instead of that middle-class shi*e they're so fond of.

COMMITMENTS DVD!

Got this last week, some kind of collector's edition with a free music CD. Seems to be the American movie version and the picture quality is really bad. Too bright and the images are grainy. If you see this DVD on sale in the shops be warned!

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE OUT IN MARCH!

New Irish movie with Sean Penn getting a release in a few weeks.

STELLA DAYS AGAIN!

Saw a clip from the Late late show and it seems to be about the electrification of Ireland. Done already back in the 1990s in the Irish movie Korea!

STELLA DAYS GETTING BAD REVIEWS!

Not out yet but some of today's newspapers have a review. Surprise, it's getting slated and even better they're questioning its IFTA nominations!

DIVINE RAPTURE?

Seems this failed movie from the 1990s is getting another go. Also, Into the West is supposed to being remade. So things seem to be coming full circle for recent Irish cinema?

CHEERS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!

Yet another country has accessed this fine blog so cheers Dominican Republic.

CHEERS EGYPT!

Not many new countries have accessed this blog recently but one is Egypt so cheers!

IRISH FILM PHOTO EXHIBITION!

In the Stephens' Green shopping centre on the top floor. Not much of the recent Irish movies but there is a good photo of James Stewart standing in O'Connell Street. Same place as the Phil Lynott exhibition but €10 cheaper!

Daughter of darkness

Not to be confused with the famous vampire film Daughters of darkness. This one is from the 1940s and is in black and white. A young woman gets victimised by her village community and is forced out. Then she moves from Ireland to England and causes more trouble. One of the most impressive Irish-themed films no-one's seen. This bizarre picture has many memorable scenes: McKenna seducing a man, a dog attack, weird organ music, a carnival, and some strange dialogue. Lots of parts are silly and hysterical so an example of a 'good bad movie'!