Northern Ireland | the m0vie blog

Quietly at the Peacock Theatre (Review)

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Darren

So, a Catholic and a Protestant walk into a bar. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Quietly is a fascinating exploration of the Troubles from writer Owen McCafferty and director Jimmy Fay. While it’s often very difficult to translate the real life conflict into art – in many respects, it’s too real and too recent and too raw for us to process fully at this point – Quietly does an excellent job capturing the necessary steps forward for those affected by (and involved in) violence in the North. The result is a truly fascinating piece of theatre, and something well worth seeing during it’s run at the Peacock stage.

Picture by Anthony Woods…

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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: abbey, catholic, Guthrie Theater, Northern Ireland, Owen McCafferty, peacock, peacock theatre, Peafowl, Protestantism, Religion and Spirituality, Troubles, Ulster Plantation | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Shadow Dancer

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Darren

Shadow Dancer is a taut, intelligent, sophisticated thriller. In a way, James Marsh’s film is more notable for what it doesn’t say, than what it does. Long passages of the film go by in relative silent, with the an economy of language to communicate information to the audience. It’s quite heartening how much faith Marsh seems to have in his viewers, that the film never feels the need to burden itself with awkward exposition, instead trusting the actors and the surroundings to tell the story. You won’t find a thriller this year that thinks more highly of its audience.

“Have you seen ‘The Informant!’…? Good, because this is going to be a lot less light-hearted.”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrea Riseborough, arts, Belfast, Clive Owen, Colette, Downing Street Declaration, film, James Marsh, John Major, ken loach, Marsh, Movie, non-review review, Northern Ireland, review, Shadow Dancer, Tom Bradby, Troubles, Wind That Shakes The Barley | 4 Comments »

Garth Ennis’ Run on Punisher MAX – Hardcover, Vol. IV (Review)

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, this month we’re going to take a look at Northern Irish writer Garth Ennis’ run on that iconic Marvel anti-hero, The Punisher. Check back every Friday and Wednesday for a review of a particular section.

I don’t know. It seems like, at times, I run hot and cold to Garth Ennis’ Punisher MAX run. It’s frequently cited as one of the great runs of modern comics, and there are moments when – if I squint – I can see hints of that masterpiece everybody is taking at. At other times, it seems I’m wandering in the desert, staring at a perfectly functional comic book, trying to figure out what everybody is making such a big fuss about. This penultimate collection of Ennis’ run contains two great examples of this. On one hand, the collection opens with the incredibly pedestrian Man of Stone, while it closes with the smarter-than-it-appears Widowmaker. Neither story is a masterpiece, but the latter has a lot more insight than I’ve come to expect from the series, while the former takes an interesting premise and does nothing with it.

The Punisherette?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: comic book review, comic books, Comics, ennis, Frank Castle, Garth Ennis, history, marvel max, max, Northern Ireland, punisher, punisher max, PunisherMAX, Russia, Twentieth Century, Widowmaker | Leave a comment »

Garth Ennis’ Run on Punisher MAX – Hardcover, Vol. III (Review)

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Darren

I think I’m finally getting the hang of Ennis’ run on Punisher MAX. It seems that it’s pretty much positioned between two extremes: bleak nihilistic cynicism and depressing absurdist black comedy. I don’t think that any collection of Ennis’ work illustrates these two extremes quite as well as this one, collecting both The Slavers and Barracuda – the former undoubtedly Ennis’ darkest work on the title and the former probably the most ridiculously cynical comedy the writer has drafted for the character (at least on the MAXline). It certainly makes for one weird cocktail.

Frankly my dear...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Barracuda, Boys, comic books, Comics, Frank Castle, Garth Ennis, marvel, marvel comics, marvel max, max, Northern Ireland, punisher, punisher max, Slavers, the slavers | Leave a comment »

Garth Ennis’ Run on Punisher MAX – Hardcover, Vol. I (Review)

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Darren

“It’s Omaha Beach. Wounded Knee. Rorke’s Drift, The Killing Fields, the first day on The Somme. World War Three in North Jersey. And only now, pouring automatic fire into a human wall — do I feel something like peace.”

– Frank Castle, In the Beginning

I don’t like The Punisher as a concept. It’s not some out-dated “heroes don’t kill” or “I need a good guy to be morally straightforward”, it’s more that the character is extraordinarily childish. This is the very embodiment of the nineties anti-hero explosion, the bubble in the mid-nineties which say Wolverine become even more outrageously (and inexplicably) popular, turned Ghost Rider into a major player in the Marvel Universe, and saw The Punisher hold down three (yes, three) monthly comic books. This is a guy who wears a skull on his T-shirt and kills criminals… that’s his schtick. And somehow, he became “uber-kewl”.

Armed and dangerous...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Boys, Comics, danny mcbride, Garth Ennis, history, in the beginning, kitchen irish, marvel comics, marvel knights, marvel knights: punisher, marvel universe, Northern Ireland, Omaha Beach, punisher, punisher max, PunisherMAX, review, the punisher, World War Three | 2 Comments »

My Knight With Danny McBride

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Darren

After attending the premiere of Your Highness, I got a chance to grab a drink with actor and writer Danny McBride in The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin. “This place is older than my country,” Danny jokingly observes we take our seats. He promptly explains why we’re gathered in this rather casual faction. “We thought about doing the standard thing, the interview in the hotel room, but we figured it would be a bit awkward with the lights and everything, so we thought we’d just go out and have a drink instead.” And, if there’s one thing about Danny McBride, it’s that the comedian is never awkward. He seems surprisingly at home in this establishment, no sign that he’s been out touring the world promoting his new movie – this could just be a nice after work pint.