jameson dublin international film festival | the m0vie blog

Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013: Highlights!

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Darren

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival launched the programme for its eleventh year today. There’s some great stuff in here. There’s a variety of films, from European to American to Asian, from big budget blockbusters to intimate documentaries to more personal films. It’s a great selection of films, and festival director Grainne Humphreys should be proud. After all, if your biggest complaint is having to choose between L.A. Confidential and Bernie, then you must be doing something right.

I’ve picked out some of my own most anticipated events of the schedule below, in rough chronological order, so if you are looking for something to do on a particular day, feel free to see if there’s anything of interest. Unfortunately, some of the events overlap, so you can’t attend everything – something that’s a massive shame given some of the films on display here. With that in mind, the list is below.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, California, Canada, cineworld, dublin, Film festival, Hardy Bucks, jameson dublin international film festival, Matthew McConaughey, Movie, Paul Raymond, richard gere, Ryan Gosling, side effects, Steven Soderbergh, Stoker, the hardy bucks, United States | Leave a comment »

My 12 for ’12: The Raid (Redemption) & An Action Aesthetic…

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Darren

I’m counting down my top twelve films of the year between now and January, starting at #12 and heading to #1. I expect the list to be a little bit predictable, a little bit surprising, a little bit of everything. All films released in the UK and Ireland in 2012 qualify. Sound off below, and let me know if I’m on the money, or if I’m completely off the radar. And let me know your own picks or recommendations.

This is #12…

It’s a bit of a stereotype that critics don’t like action movies. It’s one of those handy clichés that gets trotted around whenever some mega-blockbuster brings in a ridiculously large number at the box office after a thrashing from the pundits. I can’t speak for the critics, of course, but I can tell you that the reason I disliked The Bourne Legacy or Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon had nothing to do with an innate dislike of action movies as a genre. I’m a big fan of action movies. However, like any other genre, an action movie needs to be done right.

The Raid does an action movie right.

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: Action film, arts, casino royale, crouching tiger hidden dragon, Evans, film, Film Festivals, games, Gareth Evans, Hobbit, Hunger Games, Iko Uwais, jameson dublin international film festival, Lykke Li, martial arts, Movie, Raid, Sports, SWAT, the simpsons, tomorrow never dies, United States | 9 Comments »

More Than You Embargoed For: Thoughts on Review Embargoes…

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Darren

I know I’m a bit late on this one, but I’ve been thinking a bit about movie review embargoes of late. For those unaware, embargoes are those restrictions on when a reviewer can publish a review. They’re normally enforced by studios, limiting the publication of reviews to within a one week window of the movie’s release. I’ve had the fortune over the past few months to be invited to screenings of The Avengers and Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists long before the window, and have held my review until it’s okay to publish. Still, I can’t help but feel a little uneasy at the prospect.

Nothing to get too Fury-ous about…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 21 Jump Street, Albert Nobbs, art, avengers, David Denby, embargo, film, film criticism, Film festival, hollywood, jameson dublin international film festival, Level playing field, Movie, New York Times, review, review embargo, screenwriter, United States | 2 Comments »

Film Festival Fatigue & True Cinematic Love…

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Darren

I had the pleasure of attending the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival a few weeks back, and it was an intense pleasure. Two weeks of the celebration of the best of film, both new and old, national and international, big and small. However, as I caught thirty different film-related events over ten days, while still working regular hours, I couldn’t help but fight a sense of fatigue – getting up early to commute to Dublin for the festival and getting home at the strangest hours to write a few words and nod off for a few hours before beginning again. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I do wonder if that sort of thing could ever get so tiring that I might sired of writing about or watching movies? I wonder if I’ll ever suffer what might be described as “film fatigue.”

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: art, Baraka, Bel Ami, dublin, film, Film festival, Fort McCoy Wisconsin, france, jameson dublin international film festival, Movie, toronto, United States | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Jo Nesbø’s Headhunters

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Darren

While Jo Nesbø’s Headhunters might get a little bit too crazy and twisty in its final third, but it’s a brilliantly dark Norwegian thriller/comedy, headlined with considerable style by Aksel Hennie as corporate recruitment expert Roger Brown, a sleazy yuppie living well beyond his means to keep his wife in the style two which she has become accustomed. As the movie puts Brown through a sequence of painful and humiliating encounters, it is consistently entertaining, managing to walk the fine line between making sure we dislike Roger enough to be amused by his misfortune, but invested enough that we want to see the little (“1.68 metres”) bugger manage to escape the movie relatively intact.

Got milk?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Aksel Hennie, arts, Brown, film, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Hole, jameson dublin international film festival, Jo Nesbø, Morten Tyldum, Movie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, non-review review, review, Roger, Roger Brown, Stieg Larsson, United States, Yellow Bird | 4 Comments »

February 2012 (Jameson Dublin International Film Festival) In Review

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Darren

Well, it’s been a fun month. I’ve been blogging from Dublin’s annual movie festival, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, which ran for the eleven days leading up to the Oscars. I saw twenty-five films in the festival, two films outside it, and took part in two of the special movie-related events. It was quite a month of high-intensity movie-going experiences, and I think that the entire group responsible for organising the festival deserve considerable credit for pulling off. I thought it might be handy to centralise all my reviews and articles relating to the festival in one place, just for ease of reference. Some of these might be opening near you soon, some may get more limited releases, and some are already out, but these are the films I saw as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

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Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: Academy Award, art, danny elfman, dublin, film, Film festival, Fort McCoy Wisconsin, jameson dublin international film festival, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Movie, National Concert Hall, review, Yellow Sea | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: This Must Be The Place

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012. It was the second “surprise” film.

This Must Be The Place is a film that has several interesting components, but keeps them so thoroughly isolated from one another through almost deft use of road movie clichés that nothing ever clicks. Paolo Sorrentino hasn’t so much made a movie as he has stapled a bunch of holiday snapshots together, treating us to a holiday slideshow full of half-finished anecdotes, banal details and no real sense of structure. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments of brilliance scattered through the over-long and self-indulgent mess of a film, but the fact is they can’t add enough flavour to salvage the film.

Here's lookin' at you, punk...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: art, David Byrne, dublin, film, Film festival, France McDormand, Harry Dean Stanton, Ireland, Irish Film Board, jameson dublin international film festival, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012, Movie, non-review review, Paolo Sorrentino, review, sean penn, This Must be the place (film), this must be the place (movie), titanic, United States | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Raid (Redemption)

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

I am not a fan of absolutes. They generally scare me, because they leave so little room for error. With that in mind, I have two things to say about Gareth Evans’ The Raid, the first film to pick up both the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle award for best film and the Jameson International Film Festival’s Audience Award. Put simply, The Raid is the best action movie I have seen in years. The second is that watching it in a cinema with hundreds of film fans feeling the exact same thing might be one of the best movie-going experiences of my life.

That’s a pretty big deal.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Audience Award, dublin, Evans, film, Film festival, Gareth Evans, jameson dublin international film festival, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012, jdiff 2012, Linkin Park, Movie, non-review review, Raid, review, swan lake, the raid (film), the raid (movie), the raid: redemption, United States | 10 Comments »

Batman: Danny Elfman Film Music at the National Concert Hall (Review)

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Darren

This event was held as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

One of the best aspects of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is the way that it extends beyond the cinema, into a wider appreciation of film and cinema all around Dublin. From the Jameson Cult Film Club screening of Reservoir Dogs through to the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle awards and even the Untitled screenwriting competition, the eleven-day celebration of cinema seems to encompass all the city and all walks of life. The wonderful folks at the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the National Concert Hall have a long history of getting into the spirit of the festival, offering high-profile tributes to cinema. Last year, for example, they held a screening of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse with a live orchestral accompaniment. This year, they took the penultimate evening of the festival to host a tribute to Danny Elfman, undoubtedly one of the most iconic and influential composers working today. And it was an absolutely brilliant evening.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Bernard Herrmann, danny elfman, Day The Earth Stood Still, dublin, Elfman, Hollywood Reporter, Hours, Hunger Games, jameson dublin international film festival, National Concert Hall, Nightmare Before Christmas, philip glass, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, sam raimi, Theremin, tim burton | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Hard Labour (Trabalhar Cansa)

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

The problem with Hard Labour is that it doesn’t seem to know what it is? Is it a tough economic drama about a family struggling to survive in a harsh economic climate? Is it a horror story about the legacies of slavery and the beastly side of human nature? The problem isn’t just that the film can’t decide – the problem is that the film appears to have no interest in deciding. Or even on following through on either idea.