I am well aware that I’ve been a terrible blogger lately, but I’ve finally found something worth sharing, have a watch and get lost in the wonderful world of Mr. Morris Lessmore, this is a beauty:
Tag Archives: Movies
Peace Was Never An Option
Roll on June 1st, I cannot wait to see this movie. Michael Fassbender can do absolutely and completely no wrong in my eyes. He’s just so amazing and fantastically…. talented…..yeah talented…..mmmmmmmm!
Comments Off
Filed under Uncategorized
On all the living and the….
Every time it snows I’m reminded of the final lines of Joyce’s The Dead. It has to be one of the most, if not the most beautiful short story ever written.
Joyce really mastered the art of the short story, mainly down to his uncanny understanding of human nature along with his intense observation on the lives of those around him. You can blab on about literary structures, the modern form and all the intricacies of Joyce’s writing, to be honest I’m not that big on the academic side of it, I just really adore how he can really depict the soul of a person. The Dead has to be top of the list in this regard, how true that someone you’ve married and loved for years can at times be a complete stranger to you.
So, to in some ways celebrate the snow (ah feck it, sure doesn’t it look gorgeous), here’s the last fews lines from John Huston’s very fine adaptation of said beautiful, amazing and fantastic short story.
Comments Off
Filed under Uncategorized
His and Hers
So many Irish artsy bloggers are going on about this movie so I had to see it for myself. His and Hers is a documentary (just to stress that for those who say it doesn’t have a storyline!) featuring interviews with women of all ages from the midland counties of Ireland.
Lasting about 80 mins, Ken Wardrop’s latest cinematic adventure is skillfully edited and put together with a certain calm laziness. The viewer is carried gently through a series of narratives by a whole host of young girls and women from a variety of backgrounds each “chatting away” about the men in their lives.
Myself and my buddy really enjoyed it, and even though there were especially poignant moments, particularly later on as we came to the older ladies, some of whom had lost their husbands, the movie makes regular transitions from the dark to the light in order to keep momentum. The visual transitions in particular were really beautifully done, moving between door frames and into hallways, and there is a special focus on lamps being switched on as well which for me, seems to be an ode to the maternal, life/light creating qualities that women have – is that too deep?!
It’s hard to fault this movie at all, I only wish I had gone with my own mother last week, I will most definitely be buying it for her on DVD as soon as it comes out. Here’s the trailer below, and details of where the film itself can be viewed can be found on the film’s regularly updated site: hisandhers.ie
Comments Off
Filed under Childhood, Movies, Things That Impress Me
Irish Arts Funding Has Achieved Alot…But Who Are WE Funding?!
Recently, Lyn Gardner published an article via the Guardian on how British theatre depends so much on government funding going forward. It seems that for once, the UK are looking at how we handled things for inspiration on how they can improve the situation for their struggling arts sector. Of course, British artists have the added pressure of the 2012 Olympics to contend with, but really Britain does not seem to have handled government cuts as well as we have!!!!
Of course, An Bord Snip were all for the arts sectors heads, but thankfully the arts community were able to lobby and lobby well and the sector remained relatively intact, even though many jobs have been cut and it is very difficult to find jobs in the arts sector. Creative Careers is a great site for jobs in the arts sector, as well as the Irish Theatre Forum employment pages; however they also demonstrate how few and far between jobs are in the arts sector – believe me I know!!! I settled for a safe job outside the sector just so I could somehow begin my life having works in short term jobs in the arts.
Both Culture Ireland and the Arts Council along with other agencies such as Reel Ireland, the ITI and the Film Board provide valuable funding to the arts; however a little part of me believes that those funds should be better managed and delegated. I am proud of the fact that U2 were declined funding for a film venture they wished to pursue; however Brendan Gleeson along with a host of very wealthy Irish actors – most of who do not live in Ireland anymore, recently received a commitment from the Film Board for an undisclosed or undecided amount of partial funding for what is described as a €9 million project which will see Flann O’Brien’s At Swim Two Birds brought to film.
I do believe that this project is very important to the Irish arts scene, and while I know it will be somewhat of a cult movie, it will also attract international attention because of the involvement of actors such as Gabriel Byrne, Johnathan Rhys Meyers, Colin Farrell and Gleeson of course! That means the movie will be quite commercial and I would imagine very profitable. So why do the Irish tax payers have to pay for some of it?! Do the massive earnings of each of the actors not come into account? How much does Farrell earn every year for example and he doesn’t live in Ireland so we probably don’t even get any of his taxes!?! Could he not contribute some of his earnings to the production of the movie? Same goes for each of the others – if U2 are declined then why not these guys?
Maybe it’s about time that those who made their name during the boom should give something back. And, if the movie does turn a profit, do the Film Board get any funds back? I’ve always wondered about this, when an organisation applies for funding: As far as I know they don’t have to provide any details of their accounts (well with Culture Ireland applications anyway), so they could in fact be earning millions!! Also, when they turn in their invoices to draw down the grant, they don’t have to declare what they pulled in in terms of ticket sales. In my mind, that’s just not good enough.
If we’re going to go ahead and criticise all the ministers for their ridiculous expense claims, maybe we should be a bit more stringent with grant applications. If the artists or organisations say they need the money that badly, then maybe they should be able to show just how badly they really need it.
That being said, I’m very glad At Swim Two Birds is being made, but its funding is indicative of how the arts grants industry really needs to be looked at. On a happier note, look how good comedians are doing lately – Your Bad Self was belly aching funny on Monday night…in case you missed it…
Snow Stops Sherlock
Like everyone else in Dublin this evening, my plans had to be curtailed because less than an inch of snow fell and the whole city went into chaos mode. I guess everyone was a bit paranoid after what happened last year. Bad memories of 7 hour long tail backs on the M50, cars abandoned in the phoenix park, children starving in fields (ok maybe not the last bit), drove us all out of our offices early and onto the footpath or into the jam packed rail services. I took off on foot and got home grand (TG as the mother would say..I’ll let you work that one out yourself) – 10 minutes longer than it would normally take me.
Anyways, I was supposed to go to see Sherlock Holmes this evening, but because the buses weren’t running (they threw their toys out of their pram along with all the passengers on their buses when Dublin City Council refused to grit the roads), I had to walk home while it was bright enough to see what was ice and what wasn’t!!!
It’s a pity because I’ve heard conflicting reports about it, one person said it was a bit crap and someone else told me it was great. I’m imagining it’s going to be “so so” based on an average of those reviews! I was intending on going to see it over Christmas, but went to Nowhere Boy instead which was a great decision. The movie, which focuses on John Lennon early teenage years before the Big B is even mentioned (actually the word is never even mentioned in the movie as far as I recall…good choice!), is really terrific, not in terms of music, but really in terms of the relationships which he has with both his aunt (superbly played by Kristen Scott Thomas) and his mother. It is heart breaking yet incredibly warm and entertaining. My companion said it was a “lovely film” … it was going to point out the oedipus complexities between rising star Aaron Johnson’s young Lennon and Anne Marie Duff’s skitty newfound mother but decided not to spoil the moment!!!
Anyways, fingers crossed the snow will subside and we’ll all get back to normal soon. I plan on getting to Mr Holmes over the weekend – hope it’s worth the wait!
