Viewer Reviews
Recent Reviews By MICEALJ
 | The Way (Film)A road movie on foot - MicealJWhen I first saw “The Way” in the Dublin Film Festival two things did strike me – one, “I really must do this” and two “The critics are going to hate this”. Surprisingly though “The Way” has not got the slating I expected, well not entirely. Most of the reviews have been pretty lukewarm but there is a general consensus that this is a harmless way to spend more ... |
 | The Adjustment Bureau (Film)Solid entertainment - MicealJGay rights activist, Joycean scholar and future president of Ireland Senator David Norris has long been a major figure in Irish public life and so it is high time his story was told on the big screen. Here we see the young David as he starts on the road to senatorhood, a brash callow youth with so much energy and determination for his future. In a bold move more ... |
 | Hereafter (Film)Oh my God. - MicealJIt's nearly twenty years since “Unforgiven” Clint Eastwood's first Oscar winner and he's been churning out quality film after quality film ever since. Until now. It's not that “Hereafter” is bad it's that it's spectacularly, astonishingly, jaw-droppingly bad. There are rumours that writer Peter Morgan considered his script to be a first draft and had more ... |
 | Black Swan (Film)Four stars - MicealJThe story of “Swan Lake” is the story of the battle between the pure and good white swan and the purely evil black swan. The story of “Black Swan” is how a young ballerina is torn apart when she is called on to play both roles. Nina (Natalie Portman) is a quiet, timid little girl in a young woman's body, completely dominated by her overbearing mother more ... |
 | Blue Valentine (Film)Superb performances make this - MicealJIn America if a film gets rated as “NC-17” (which forbids anyone under the age of 17 from seeing it) it is the kiss of death at the box office. Consequently the studios will immediately do all in their power to get the rating reduced to the standard “R” which means anyone can see it provided they are accompanied by an adult. This usually means making major more ... |
 | 127 Hours (Film)127 Hours in 90 minutes - MicealJHow do you fill a ninety minute film when the bulk of your story involves your solitary hero trapped in a deep ravine with his arm wedged by a rock against the immediate hard place. (Not my pun but the title of the actual book by said hero Aron Ralston.) Admittedly there are 127 hours to select from but you've got one character, one location and one very more ... |
 | The King's Speech (Film)What took so long? - MicealJThe most surprising thing about “The King's Speech” is that no-one thought to make it before. Here is a perfectly self-contained story filled with pomp and circumstance not to mention the most glaring opportunity for big cinematic allegories about the struggle for free speech. This is just the sort of film that Channel 4 was churning out in the eighties and more ... |
 | The Way Back (Film)Well orth your time - MicealJThere was a time when the tag-line “Directed by Peter Weir” was enough to send me straight to the front of the box-office on opening day. There still is. Even more so now that it's been over seven years since his last film “Master & Commander”. On this basis I took my seat knowing very little about this film although I had formed some vague notion of it more ... |
 | Let Me In (Film)Recoommended but... - MicealJThere is no question that 'Let Me In' is an excellent film. It is beautifully acted, tightly scripted and made with a real love and respect for its source material. It is chilling and uncompromising in its portrayal of what is essentially a doomed love story. Yes this is definitely a class film. The only problem is that it was also a great film two years more ... |
 | The Social Network (Film)Classic Historical Epic - MicealJA friend of mine has had his Facebook account suspended for 72 hours on several occasions for posting offensive remarks. He has long since argued that there should be some sort of fire-wall or security clearance that prevents one from accessing one's homepage and extolling one's controversial opinions while one is out of one's face drunk! Given that more ... |
 | Inception (Film)Film of the year - Mick JordanThere are very few original ideas in “Inception”. The blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality has been a film staple since “The Cabinet of Dr, Caligari”; the intrusion of dreams into real life has been a frequent theme and much of the concept is lifted wholesale from 80s B-movie “Dreamscape”. What makes this film fresh and innovative is the way more ... |
 | Robin Hood (Film)Next joint project - Tarzan? - Mick JordanThere is an overwhelming feeling while watching Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe's latest epic collaboration of – “What?” and “Why?” and “But it's Robin Hood!” Surely it can't be that long since Kevin Costner's attempt came out (simultaneously with the now forgotten Patrick Bergin version – eh “Robin Hood”) plus there's been that God-awful BBC series that more ... |
 | Greenberg (Film)Well worth the time - Mick JordanIn Noah Bambauch's films people tend to do very little and talk an awful lot – not a lot happens but plenty is said about it. Which is fine if the people involved are worth listening to. Luckily in 'Greenberg' the characters are so well-drawn and the performances so spot on that they are well worth your time. Ben Stiller is the title character a man more ... |
 | City of Life and Death (Film)An excellent film telling an appalling story - Mick JordanThere are many horror stories of appalling carnage and slaughter committed during World War 2 but no matter how many are heard every new account is another cause for shock and outrage. And while the events portrayed in this film took place in the Cino-Japanese war of 1937 it could all be grouped together in the same terrible mindset. “The Rape of Nanking” more ... |
 | I Am Love (Film)Visually Appetising - Mick JordanThe best word to describe “I Am Love” is sumptious. From the very start – from the opening credits - this film just exudes quality, style and elegance. Substance is almost an afterthought but it's certainly there. This is the story of a wealthy industrialist family of quality, style and elegance who seem to have everything and probably do. Everything except more ... |
 | Shutter Island (Film)Scorsese - with a twist. - Mick JordanIt is common practice these days for film critics to slag off Tim Burton for his near constant casting of Johnny Depp in his films. Yet Martin Scorsese did the same thing for years with Robert DeNiro and now seems to be doing so again with Leonardo DiCaprio and no one raises a Twitter. Neither director should be faulted for collaborating regularly with an more ... |
 | Alice In Wonderland (Film)Lovely, lovely film - Mick JordanYou could say Alice In Wonderland - 3D does exactly what it says on the tin but it's such a wonderful tin. Tim Burton plus Alice in Wonderland plus Johnny Depp plus Helena Bonham Carter, - it's got to be good and it is, throw in the 3D and... well actually throw it out and it would still be fabolous. Burton has long perfected the perfect cinematic look and more ... |
 | Whip It (Film)Predictable but watchable - MicealJDespite being part of the Hollywood Film Industry for nearly 30 years this is Drew barrymore's first outing as a director. And much like other stars who go behind the camera her debut is a fairly light confection. "Whip It" tells the story of an all-girl Roller Derby with Ellen Page as Bliss, a smalltown girl who becomes fascinated by it all and lies about more ... |
 | Surrogates (Film)Passes the time - Mick JordanBruce Willis was recently described as 'Undirectable' by Kevin Smith – a director. However he hastily added that he meant this as a compliment pointing out that the only person who could tell Bruce Willis how to play Bruce Willis was – Bruce Willis, and that he has been doing so for over 25 years now. He is still a major star while most of his more ... |
 | District 9 (Film)Great stuff - Mick JordanAlthough it borrows (steals) heavily from so many other films – “District 9” is still remarkably original. Yes it's another Aliens versus Humans battle but there's a twist – the aliens are the good guys. Refugees stranded on Earth when their Mother-ship breaks down over Johannesburg, there are over a million of them and they are settled into District 9 more ... |
 | Army of Crime (Film)Fascinating True Story - Mick JordanIn Nazi occupied Paris in 1941 a group of disparate outsiders form an underground resistance group. These are the ultimate outsiders – Communists; Armenian immigrants who are fleeing the genocide perpetrated on them in Turkey and of course – Jews. Having fought back as individuals and achieved little, they now come together to create a more more ... |
 | Fish Tank (Film)Great, bad then great again - Mick JordanThere are no frills or niceties to 'Fish Tank'. It is deliberately as raw and in your face as the characters it portrays. It's almost entirely a non-professional cast who are probably 'Playing themselves'. (Katie Irving certainly is, she got the part after being spotted having a screaming row with her boy-friend on a Railway platform.) The dialogue is more ... |
 | Broken Embraces (Film)Almodovar & Cruz always bring out the best in each other - Mick JordanWhen a well established and respected film-maker makes a film about a well established and respected film-maker, you wonder is he starting to run out of ideas. But when that film-maker is Pedro Almodovar (and the film stars Penelope Cruz) you know that could never be the case. Throughout his career Almodovar has always been strikingly original whether with more ... |
 | Inglourious Basterds (Film)A Glorious Blast - Mick JordanI went into “Inglorious Basterds” expecting to see something like “The Dirty Eagles of Navarone” but what I got was akin to “The Good, The Bad and The War”. The opening credits (and music) look like a classic Spaghetti Western from the 1960s and when the opening scene shows a poor dirt farmer chopping wood on a barren more ... |
 | Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (Film)A great conclsuion - Mick JordanMesrine Part 2 starts up pretty much like Part 1, that is with a brief preview of the end – of part 2. This time we see the Paris crowds surging in to get a glimpse of Jacque Mesrine's (Vincent Cassell) bullet spattered corpse. Then we're pretty much back into the thick of it, the violent chaotic life of France's most wanted criminal of the 1970s. more ... |
 | Mesrine: Killer Instinct (Film)Great Cinema - Mick JordanYou wait several years for a film about a real life gangster and then two come at once – one of them in two parts! While there have been a lot of comparisons between 'Mesrine” and earlier classics like “Scarface”; “Goodfellas” and “The Godfather” the film I was reminded of most throughout was this year's more ... |
 | Antichrist (Film)If only he'd do a comedy - Mick JordanLars Von Trier has made some very good films but often he has done so in spite of himself. His early experimental (Von Trier does nothing unless it's an experiment) 'Europa' I found to be fascinating and God help us all actually entertaining. – I haven't been entertained since. 'Antichrist' has certainly divided the critics, many against themselves as more ... |
 | Blown away - Mick JordanJohn Dillenger was a big film-buff who liked to perform dramatic leaps over bank counters in the manner of his hero Douglas Fairbanks. So it would probably please him no end that practically every twenty years or so Hollywood turns out another film biography of this notorious bank-robber. This is at least the fifth telling of the Dillinger story and each more ... |
 | Katyn (Film)Epic and Heartbreaking - Mick JordanFrom start to finish Katyn is a film of devastation and outrage. Even the opening scene brings the blood to full boiling point. Refugees fleeing the German invasion from the West run headlong into refugees fleeing the Russian invasion from the East. Eventually they are sandwiched between these two armies, Soviets and Nazis who laugh and greet each other as more ... |
 | Looking For Eric (Film)A realistic fantasy - Mick JordanFrom 'Cathy Come Home' to 'Kes through to 'Raining Stones' to 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' the constant element of a Ken Loach film is striking realism. Everything is so natural, so ordinary that you stop looking at a story unfold on a big screen but look out at life going on through a massive window in the corner of the cinema. People talk like real more ... |
 | Anything For Her (Film)Fine French Film - Mick JordanJulien and Lisa are a happy loving couple living quiet, ordinary lives in their quiet, ordinary apartment with their baby son Oscar. Then one evening the doorbell rings, Julien opens the door and their lives are thrown into chaos. Police swarm into the apartment, pounce on Lisa and arrest her for the murder of her boss. Three years later Lisa has lost her more ... |
 | Everlasting Moments (Film)Will stay with you - ever after - Mick JordanThe title of this film is particularly apt in light of what it presents and how it does so. Obviously every photograph is an everlasting moment in itself but in this film they are moments that represent a time and a place. Maria Larsson's pictures show the plight of the poor in early 20th century Sweden; the Red Rallies that were sweeping through Europe and more ... |
 | Mark Of An Angel (Film)Edge of your seat - and beyond! - Mick JordanI often tell people that if they want to see a film – avoid the trailer. In the case of 'Mark of an Angel' I'd tell them to avoid the poster. While so many trailers these days seem to be potted synopses of the whole film ('Public Enemies' being a massive case in point) the tag-line of this film may give a way a crucial plot element of the story. Which more ... |
 | Is Anybody There? (Film)Very satisfying film - Mick JordanMany great actors when they feel they have amassed a distinguished body of work tend to rest on their laurels and just churn out pretty bog standard stuff in their later years. Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro seem to be doing it of late with “Hide & Seek” and “88 Minutes” not to mention their joint effort “Righteous Kill” more ... |
 | State Of Play (Film)The execllent cast make it work - Mick JordanStephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is a crusading politician who is trying to prosecute a private military company which he believes plans to take over the country's defence forces. When his secretary is killed in a Subway accident and he breaks down on hearing the news it becomes clear that he was having an affair with her and a scandal breaks loose. Collins' more ... |
 | Star Trek (Film)Great entertainment - Mick JordanAlthough I have always thoroughly enjoyed the series and followed it on and off through its different incarnations, I have never really been a devoted Trekker or mad fan. (I don't have any of the box-sets, I've never been to a convention and my Klingon is basic Leaving Cert.) This probably makes me the perfect audience for this film – someone who more ... |
 | The Uninvited (Film)Pretty Ordinary - Mick JordanHaving witnessed her mother's death in an explosion Anna has been understandably traumatised and has spent 10 months in a psychiatric hospital recovering. When she returns to the family home she finds that Mommy's former nurse has become Daddy's current girlfriend. Something neither she nor her sister Alex are too happy about. They soon start to believe more ... |
 | Let The Right One In (Film)A really touching film - Mick Jordan“Let The Right One In” has been variously acclaimed as 'A Chilling Fairytale'; 'Horror film of the century'; “Unforgettable Cinema”; “Instant Classic” etc. and apart from the last which is a contradiction in terms deserves all the acclaim. But it is much more than just a horror story, more like it is a coming of age story more ... |
 | Gran Torino (Film)Solid Entertainment - Mick JordanClint Eastwood can't put a foot wrong these days. Ever since 'Mystic River' he has been putting out cinematic gems and 'Gran Torino' is no exception. Plus he's even in this one as well! When we first meet Walt Kowalski it is in a church and he is standing by his wife's coffin glaring down the aisle at the mourners as they take their places. As his grown-up more ... |
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