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Jameson Cult Film Club: interMission

The Jameson Cult Film Club screening of interMission was a wonderful evening, as usual. Converting a warehouse at the end of Hanover Quay into the film’s MegaMart, the gang provided the usual celebratory screening atmosphere. Appropriately enough, brown sauce seemed to be the theme of the event, with crates serving as make-shift tables, bottles served along with tasty grub for those looking to customise their burgers.

(I will confess, though, that I did not see anybody mixing brown sauce with their Jameson, although I’m sure some adventurous soul out there made an attempt.)

Click to enlarge...

Click to enlarge…

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Non-Review Review: interMission

interMission is a fantastic piece of Irish cinema, a broadly accessible exploration of intersecting and overlapping life in Dublin with a witty script lending the film some distinctly Irish flavour. The structure owes a little bit of a debt to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction or even Altman’s Short Cuts, capturing a variety of perspectives on life from a reasonably-sized ensemble who only occasionally overlap with one another. It’s a funny, clever, well-acted and well-directed slice of life.

Drive of your life...

Drive of your life…

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Watch! New Wolf of Wall Street Trailer!

I’m really looking forward to Wolf of Wall Street. It helps that it’s a Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCarpio, but the first trailer just cements that enthusiasm, teaser a ride which looks completely and utterly insane. The trailer is a work of bizarre genius, a celebration of tasteless excess which seems to show an actor and director who aren’t worried about going over the top; in fact that’s the entire point.

Check it out below.

 

Non-Review Review: World War Z

World War Z is a lesson in compromise, a Frankenstein’s monster stitched together out of necessity with the lines very clearly showing. It goes this way and then that way, never really sure where it wants to be in the next act, save that it’s a safe bet there might be zombies. World War Z isn’t as bad as it might have been, but the problem is that it feels like it’s trying so hard to find an ending that it never bothers to excel. It’s not that World War Z is bad, it’s a competently made thriller that works as well as it can with a script that spent most of production in triage. The problem is that it’s never bold enough to do anything genuinely exciting.

Pitting our best man against the zombie horde...

Pitting our best man against the zombie horde…

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Non-Review Review: Man of Steel

There are moments of brilliance in Man of Steel. I like the golden-hued Malick-esque glimpses of Middle America, evoking the work of Norman Rockwell. (Indeed, the earliest glimpse of Clark Kent’s life on Earth seems to evoke Teacher’s Birthday.) I like the decision to cast Jor-El as a pulpy science hero rather than a stand-in for God. I like the way that the movie embraces the concept of exceptionalism, and doesn’t shy away from the American ideals embodied in Superman’s mythology. I appreciate the development of the Kents into more than generic slices of apple pie.

However, for all of these lovely moments, there’s a sense that Man of Steel resents the fact that it is a superhero origin film. It’s easy to understand why. Superman origins are a dime a dozen, and it’s hard to imagine anybody could be unfamiliar with the broad strokes of the story. However, Man of Steel does find an interesting and nuanced angle on that first crucial Superman story… only to become something radically different. A little under half-way through, the film morphs into a big budget superhero spectacle, sandwiched between the outline of an origin story and chunks peppered throughout like some form of tossed salad.

Man of Steel suffers because it’s a lot less interesting than it might have been, and it revels in that comfortable blockbuster mediocrity.

High flyin'...

High flyin’…

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Win! Tickets to the Jameson Cult Film Club screening of Intermission!

Brown sauce in your tea? Delish! The Jameson Cult Film Club returns to its home setting of Dublin for an electrifying screening of the gritty Irish crime flick interMission, on Tuesday June 18th.

Jameson Cult Film Club - Intermission

This event promises to transport the audience right into the world of this cult classic for an unforgettable viewing experience.  Attendees lucky enough to nab tickets to this event will be treated to much more than a typical screening, as actors, live theatre and special effects timed perfectly with on-screen action help to create an electric atmosphere throughout the screening.

Re-live the suspense, comedy and drama of this crime caper from the moment you arrive at Dublin’s ‘Mega Mart’ – the secret location revealed only to ticket holders.

Check out www.jamesoncultfilmclub.ie for more details and register to win FREE tickets to the screening on June 18th.

For your chance to nab one of two pairs of tickets to the screening, then simply complete the below quote from the movie and fill out your name and contact details.

Entrants must be over 18 years of age. Contact details will not be used for any purpose other than to contact the winners. Good luck!

The Competition is now closed. Winenrs will be notified shortly. Thanks for entering!

cultfilmjameson drinkaware 1 line 18pt

Non-Review Review: Behind the Candelabra

It’s a shame that Behind the Candelabra didn’t receive a theatrical release in the United States. It’s a shame for a lot of reasons. For one thing, it’s a shame that the studios think so little of American audiences that they’d refuse a relatively meagre $5m budget for a Liberace biopic which was “too gay.” It’s a shame that Steven Soderbergh’s last film will not be shown in American cinemas, given his recent discussions about the state of the medium. It’s a shame that none of the talented people involved in the film (from Michael Douglas through to make-up artists Todd Kleitsch and Christine Beveridge) will never garner the awards attention they so sorely deserve.

It’s also a shame because Behind the Candelabra is just a damn fine piece of cinema, and one which deserves a little time on the big screen.

Cloaked in mystery...

Cloaked in mystery…

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Watch Out! The James Cult Film Club is Doing Intermission, 18th June 2013, Dublin!

I’m a big fan of the Jameson Cult Film Club. It exists as an ode to classic movies, finding a way to stage beloved classics in a way which encourages audiences to re-engage with them. Transforming a piece of Dublin into a set from the film, hiring actors to bring certain key sequences to life, even serving appropriate snack food, these events are a joyous celebration of pop cinema.

Their next film will be interMission, which is one of my favourite Irish films of the past decade. It feels appropriate to celebrate the movie’s tenth birthday with a celebratory showing at a secret location in the cinema. It’s a great choice, and it’s always a good excuse to celebrate a quality piece of Irish cinema.

intermission1

Anyway, we’ll hopefully have some tickets to give away in the next week or so to the showing on the 18th June. As with all the Jameson Cult Film Club screenings, the event is free of charge – which is quite nice, I have to say. Tickets are randomly raffled off, and you can sign up as a member at the Jameson Cult Film Club website. If you want some examples of their good work, we’ve got some photos from their screenings of The Blues Brothers, Silence of the Lambs and L.A. Confidential, among other things.

I’m normally quite wary of offering whole-hearted unqualified endorsements on the blog, but it’s really something I’d recommend that every cinephile should try at least once. And, if you’re reading this from outside of Ireland, feel free to check out interMission for a decidedly Irish piece of cinema. Only In Bruges really comes close to it – and that really falls into the quasi-ambiguous “Father Ted” category of “is it an Irish piece of entertainment?”

intermission

In the meantime, I’m off to make myself some tea. Maybe even with brown sauce.

Non-Review Review: Summer in February

Summer in February is a lazy and contrived piece of pretentious twaddle. Exploring the true story of a colony of artists living off the coast of England in the early years of the twentieth century, it never offers anything more than a fleeting sketch of its characters and the world they inhabit. Benjamin Wallfisch’s powerhouse period score does a lot of heavy lifting, but it can’t do anything to keep the movie afloat. At one point, early in the film, artist AJ Munnings settles a hefty bar tab with an improvised drawing on the back of a bill. This film feels like it would be hard-pressed to pay for a glass of tap water.

summerinfebruary3

Ride away from the cinema! Away!

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Non-Review Review: The Hangover, Part III

There was a time when The Hangover seemed like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t so much an original story or set-up. Rather, it was a devil-may-care attitude and unrepentant immaturity. It was bold and it was willing to do absolutely anything it needed to in order to get a laugh. It worked because of that sheer commitment and energy, energy that is mostly absent from this final instalment. “Leslie Chow is madness,” a character boasts at the climax of the film, talking about one of the franchise’s popular recurring characters – but he may as well be talking about the film itself. “You don’t talk to madness,” he insists. “You lock it in your trunk…”

It’s a nice call back to the very first film and the first time we met Ken Jeong’s “Mr. Chow”, but it also speaks to the weaknesses of The Hangover, Part III. Somewhere along the way, the madness was lost. The high-octane “anything can happen” spirit of the original film leaked out of the two sequels. I’m fonder of The Hangover, Part II than most, but it is a cheap imitation, a repeat of a joke that was hilarious the first time and passable a second.

It’s to the credit of Todd Phillips that he doesn’t try to emulate the same formula a third time. I appreciate that a few efforts are made to push the trilogy into a shape resembling a circle, but it feels so much more contained and so much more rote than it did all those years ago.

I wouldn't get too excited, Alan...

I wouldn’t get too excited, Alan…

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