reviews
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by Oscar O’Sullivan In the opening scene of Wes Anderson’s new film The Phoenician Scheme, a man is killed in a manner that is both uncharacteristically brutal and completely in keeping with the director’s sensibilities – Benicio Del Toro turns and looks at the unsuspecting victim, there is a beat of confused calm, and then…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan The first hour of Sinners is not exactly indicative of the film that everyone is raving about. The film that is taking cinemas by storm doesn’t exist until hour two, but it also could not exist without that first act. For as shocking, exciting and genre-busting the main event is, the endless…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan I’ve got the Oscar Fever – hope you’ve got it too! At least, I wish I could say I have the Oscar Fever this year. We were spoiled with the offerings of 2022 and 2023, where robust lists of nominees made for exciting and satisfying awards races. This may is just one…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Monday – A View to a Kill And so Roger Moore’s long and tempestuous tenure as James Bond comes to an end with, in my opinion, the best of his seven outings, though not by too wide a margin. A View to a Kill isn’t redefining the formula by any means –…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Monday – Octopussy Let us consider, if you will, a climactic action scene from the film Octopussy. Roger Moore’s Agent 007, having tumbled from a train while chasing down the villains, has rushed across Germany by hitchhiking and stealing cars. Upon finally reaching the military base that is soon to be obliterated…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Monday – For Your Eyes Only Much as I love the elevated tone and casual irreverence of most of the Bond films so far, watching one suddenly take itself completely seriously was a real eye-opener, especially right after the series reached the absolute pinnacle of camp fun with Moonraker. For Your Eyes…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Before we get into this week’s reviews, I’d like to point you in the direction of another piece I wrote recently for the wonderful UCC Film Writers Blog. Have you ever wondered what the deal is with the Wachowski Sisters? Good news! I’ve slapped together 3000 words of a whirlwind beginners guide…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Monday – Liar Liar, Rear Window and Airplane! While Jim Carrey has often proved perfectly capable of giving grounded, dialled-back performances when the film called for it, this is an interesting beast – a perfectly ordinary, straightforwardly sentimental story that Carrey plays to the absolute maximum of his comic buffoonery. It’s as…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Monday – Whisky Galore and The Spy Who Loved Me I’ll generally concede that the British make great comedy, but this wasn’t it. Whisky Galore should be an anarchic good time, and is advertised as a subversive anti-authority piece, but it feels too entrenched in the sensibilities of its time to work…
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by Oscar O’Sullivan Monday – Love Lies Bleeding Would you rather watch a sincere outcast love story, a surreal body horror or a traumatic gang thriller? With Love Lies Bleeding, you get all three at once – which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Each component is well-done and full of memorable moments, but it never…
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