Personal reflections on Kenneth Branagh’s ” Belfast”

As the First Minster was announcing his resignation, I was being transported  to the same world  fifty three years ago, by Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast in the company of my grown up daughter, her English husband and my young granddaughter, sitting  all together in an almost empty London multiplex.  Branagh dedicates the film to “those who stayed, those who left and those who were “lost.”  We are among the second. For the past 50 years, I’ve led a two centred …

Read more…

We need to stop producing any new books, films and TV shows until we all have had a chance to catch up…

One of the stresses of modern life is the tsunami of content out there. Aside from the bottomless pit of social media and online news there has never been such a volume of everything. On my TV I have the BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, Britbox and NowTV. The issue is I only watch about 1 hour of TV a day so it is impossible to even touch the surface of all the new shows out there. …

Read more…

71: A story of remembering and interpreting the past

Film buff, Dan McGinn has an interesting review over on his great blog ‘They’ll love it in Pomona” A new picture by Yann Demange called 71 tells the story of one of the brutal years of the Troubles. It was the year in which Internment was introduced, Ballymurphy massacre took place, the Tripartite summit between Ted Heath, Brian Faulkner & Jack Lynch attempted to find a solution to what the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs called “a tragic and most tractable problem.” …

Read more…

Ridley Scott Presents…

The BBC reports some good news for the Northern Ireland film-making industry.  From the statement on the Northern Ireland Screen website Academy-Award nominated director and producer Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Blade Runner) and Scott Free London are partnering with Orchard Media and Focus Features International on a slate of six genre low-budget feature films over a period of three years. Ridley Scott will executive produce and present the slate which will be focused primarily on horror, thriller and science fiction. The …

Read more…

“Whether that’s a hardened, remorseless soldier with a weakness for ginger cats, remains to be seen.”

Having praised the viral nature of the marketing campaign for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, the Guardian’s film bloggers got caught out by an April Fool’s ‘rumour’.  But they’re back on track following a more traditional promotional event – a Q&A with the cast after a preview of 5 minutes of new footage.  Still.  Can’t.  Wait. Here’s a newish clip And the full-length international trailer. And one of the five things they learned at the preview. 2) Elizabeth Shaw is the new Ripley. …

Read more…

Dennis Hopper 1936-2010

Actor, film-maker, photographer and artist, Dennis Hopper has died at the age of 74.  There’s a good obituary at the BBC site, and the Guardian has, or had, a selection of clips from a long career in films which began with a minor role alongside James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause [1955].  Image credit: Dennis Hopper photographed in June 2008 by Antje Verena. The Guardian’s Film section also has an uncredited Peter Bradshaw’s assessment of the film roles of “Hollywood’s Uneasy Rider” …

Read more…