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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2019) #21!

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Darren

It’s time for the Scannain podcast!

This week, I’m back hosting and I’m joined by Jay Coyle and Ronan Doyle to discuss the week in film. Ronan is fresh back from the Trish McAdams and “Memory on Screen” seasons at the Irish Film Institute, and so has a lot to cover from Spider to Memento to the work of Terrence Davies. Jay has had a busy week as well, watching The Virgin Suicides, The Childhood of a Leader and Valley of the Dolls. I’ve had a more eclectic week, watching animated versions of lost Doctor Who episodes, Holmes and Watson, and the surreality that is The Lonely Island Presents: The Unauthorised Bash Brothers Experience.

A lot of news this week, including Roman Polanski’s (failed) efforts to sell his latest movie at Cannes, Woody Allen releasing a trailer for A Rainy Day in New York on his personal Facebook, the major studios dealing with the Georgia Abortion ban, Dublin Oldschool arriving on Netflix, and a €3,000 prize on offer at the Galway Film Market in July.

The top ten:

  1. A Dog’s Journey
  2. Dumbo
  3. Paw Patrol Mighty Pups
  4. The Hustle
  5. Avengers: Endgame
  6. John Wick: Chapter III – Parabellum
  7. Detective Pikachu
  8. Rocketman
  9. The Secret Lives of Pets II
  10. Aladdin

New releases:

You can listen to the podcast directly here.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2019) #12!

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Darren

It’s time for the Scannain podcast!

This week, I join Ronan Doyle and Jay Coyle to discuss the week in film. It’s a light week for Ronan and myself, but Jay has us covered with deep dives that extend from Varda through to the joy of Music and Lyrics or the siren call from Under the Silver Lake. In terms of film news, we mark the passing of Broncho McLoughlin, take a look at April at the Irish Film Institute, check in on the release date of The Dig and chart a number of upcoming Irish digital releases.

The top ten:

  1. Fisherman’s Friends
  2. Fighting With My Family
  3. A Dog’s Way Home
  4. How to Train Your Dragon III: The Hidden World
  5. Green Book
  6. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
  7. Instant Family
  8. What Men Want
  9. Captain Marvel
  10. Us

New releases:

  • The Vanishing
  • Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story
  • Dumbo
  • Out of Blue

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2019) #9!

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Darren

It’s time for the Scannain podcast!

This week, I join Grace Duffy and Jay Coyle to discuss the week in film. Having taken time out for the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, there’s a lot to get through. There are discussions of everything from Runaway Bride to Isn’t It Romantic? to Serenity to Burning. On top of that, there’s a lot of film news to cover, including the passing of Luke Perry, the Oscar results, the various awards given out at the end of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, and the IFI International Festival Tour that is taking Irish films abroad for Saint Patrick’s Day.

The top ten:

    1. A Dog’s Way Home
    2. Kobiety Mafii 2
    3. Cold Pursuit
    4. The Aftermath
    5. The Hole in the Ground
    6. Fighting With My Family
    7. Green Book
    8. How to Train Your Dragon III: The Hidden World
    9. Instant Family
    10. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

New releases:

You can download the episode here, or listen to it below.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2019) #8! Live From VMDIFF!

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Darren

It’s time for the latest Scannain podcast!

This time, coming live from the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, recorded in the space between the showings of Another Day of Life and José on Saturday 2nd March. I join Jason Coyle, Ronan Doyle and Alex Towers of When Irish Eyes Are Watching discuss their own experience of the festival to this point, including highlights and otherwise.

Films discussed include: Loro, What Time is Death?, Happy as Lazzaro, Ash is Purest White, Rafiki, Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life, The Man Who Feels No Pain, Fighting With My Family, Angelo, Vox Lux, Her Smell, Dragged Across Concrete, Another Day of Life, Dub Daze, Out of Blue, A Girl From Mogadishu and She’s Missing.

Due to the unique constraints of the festival, this episode eschews the usual format (no top ten! no new releases!), moves at a much brisker and looser pace, and was recorded in the wild. As such, the sound includes ambient rainfall.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2018) #45!

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Darren

It’s time for the latest Scannain podcast! Apologies this time, as I have a bit of a throaty cough on it. I try to keep it under control.

This week, I join Jay Coyle, Luke Dunne from Film in Dublin, Grace Duffy and Scannain editor-in-chief Niall Murphy to discuss the week in film news. As usual, we talk about the top ten, the new releases, and what we watched this week. Jay made one last effort to get his mileage out of Filmstruck, and proved himself “down with the kids” by watching Cam and Searching. Luke delved into gay and exploitation cinema, with a healthy helping of Suspiria. Grace watched a pair of surfing documentaries on Netflix. Niall reopens old wounds with Batman vs. Superman and introduced his son to the original Wreck-It Ralph.

In film news, this week marked the passing of a number of industry legends, including Nicholas Roeg and Bernardo Bertolucci. We also discuss the five Irish films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, along with the new Arc Cinema opening in Navan. Because Niall is here, we also have some interesting facts about the composition of the top ten.

The top ten:

  1. Planeta Singli 2
  2. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
  3. The Girl in the Spider’s Web
  4. Nativity Rocks!
  5. Widows
  6. Robin Hood
  7. A Star is Born
  8. Bohemian Rhapsody
  9. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
  10. The Grinch

New releases:

  • Three Identical Strangers
  • The Possession of Hannah Grace
  • Disobedience
  • Anna And The Apocalypse
  • Wreck-It Ralph Breaks the Internet
  • Creed II

You can download the episode here, or listen to it below.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2018) #44!

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Darren

It’s time for the latest Scannain podcast! Almost live from the Dublin Feminist Film Festival this week.

Recorded late on Wednesday evening, following the screening of the festival shorts and Parklands. Directed by Kathryn Millard, with cinematography by Mandy Walker, Parklands is notable as Cate Blanchett’s first starring role. So Jay Coyle, Ronan Doyle and I talk a little bit about our reactions to both the shorts and the film itself.

As usual, we talk about the top ten and the new releases, as well as what we’ve watched this week outside of the festival. In this episode, Jay discusses both the massive list of great films he has to watch before the end of the year, and his decision to watch both The Meg and Skyscraper instead. Ronan has seen two of the films in the top ten, having very strong opinions about both A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody.

There is a lot to cover in news, including the announcement of a new Criterion streaming service risen from the ashes of Filmstruck, the awards at the Cork Film Festival, the Irish Film Festival London, the Polish Film Festival at the Irish Film Institute and the launch of Screen Skills Ireland. So a busy week.

The top ten:

  1. Overlord
  2. Johnny English Strikes Again
  3. Burn The Stage: The Movie
  4. Smallfoot
  5. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
  6. Widows
  7. A Star is Born
  8. Bohemian Rhapsody
  9. The Grinch
  10. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

New releases:

You can download the episode here, or listen to it below.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2018) #42!

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Darren

It’s time for the latest Scannain podcast!

This week, I join Jay Coyle, Ronan Doyle, Grace Duffy and Doctor Jennifer O’Meara from the Dublin Feminist Film Festival to discuss the week in film. As usual, we talk about the top ten and the new releases, as well as what we’ve watched this week. In this episode, Jay discusses The Other Side of the Wind, Ronan rewatches Waltz with Bashir, Grace celebrates Netflix Christmas movies, and Jennifer contemplates The Congress.

The big news feature this week is Doctor Jennifer O’Meara discussing the fifth annual Dublin Feminist Film Festival, which is taking place the 20th-22nd November in the Lighthouse Cinema. Jennifer walks us through some programme highlights. We also discuss the iffy short film festival, Netflix’s collaboration with Nora Twomey and Cartoon Saloon on My Father’s Dragon, a recent Prime Time Investigates look at reports of bullying the Irish film industry and highlights of the Screen Ireland funding decisions for the third quarter.

The top ten:

  1. 7 Emotions
  2. First Man
  3. Venom
  4. Halloween
  5. Goosebumps II: Haunted Halloween
  6. Johnny English Strikes Again
  7. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
  8. Smallfoot
  9. A Star is Born
  10. Bohemian Rhapsody

New releases:

You can download the episode here, or listen to it below.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2018) #38!

Posted on October 19, 2018 by Darren

It’s time for the latest Scannain podcast! A somewhat bumper edition this time.

This week, I join Jason Coyle, Grace Duffy and Luke Dunne from Film in Dublin to discuss the week in film. As usual, we talk about the top ten and the new releases, as well as what we’ve watched this week. In this episode, Grace discusses her love of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and encourages a Bruce Springsteen singalong, Jason blazes through a twelve-film week and contemplates the seventies fetishism of A Star is Born, and Luke discusses Maniac and the strange intoxicating allure of Venom. Complete with mumbly Tom Hardy impressions.

The top ten:

  1. Crazy Rich Asians
  2. Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation
  3. A Simple Favour
  4. Aida at Met Opera 2018
  5. Black ’47
  6. The House With A Clock In Its Walls
  7. Night School
  8. Johnny English Strikes Again
  9. A Star is Born
  10. Venom

New releases:

You can download the episode here, or listen to it below.

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New Podcast! Scannain Podcast (2018) #37!

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Darren

It’s time for the latest Scannain podcast!

This week, I join Jason Coyle, Ronan Doyle and Graham Day to discuss the week in film. As usual, we talk about the top ten and the new releases, as well as what we’ve watched this week. In this episode, Graham gives us a peak at upcoming cinematic delights including First Man and Mandy, Ronan discusses the underrated emotional appeal of Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again, and Jay expounds upon his controversial “automatic four star film theory” as it relates to directors like Jeremy Saulnier and S. Craig Zahler.

We also talk about the best ways to celebrate a cinematic Halloween in Dublin, looking at both the Season of the Witch at the Lighthouse and the Horrorthon at the IFI, discuss the recently scheduled release date of The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid, and the revelation that Russian bots have been stirring dissent around Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.

The top ten:

  1. The Little Stranger
  2. Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation
  3. Mile 22
  4. Christopher Robin
  5. The Nun
  6. Crazy Rich Asians
  7. A Simple Favour
  8. Black ’47
  9. The House With A Clock In Its Walls
  10. Night School

New releases:

You can download the episode here, or listen to it below.

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100. Inception (#14)

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode thrown in.

This time, Christopher Nolan’s Inception.

Dom Cobb is one of the best extractors in the world, an artist who sneaks into people’s dreams and steals their secrets. However, after one botched job, Cobb is approached by a mysterious industrialist with an ambitious proposal: inception. If Cobb can plant an idea in his chief rival’s head, Cobb can finally go home to his long lost family.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 14th best movie of all-time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

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