Album review: Låpsley
Thu, Mar 19, 2020
THE PERSONAL is political is a phrase/slogan/rallying call which has been around since the late 1960s, but is one that feels ever more pertinent and apt.
Read more ...As You Were – as you will be
Thu, Mar 19, 2020
ANY CLAIM, like that on the back cover of the proof copy of As You Were, Elaine Feeney’s debut novel, to be published on April 16 by Harvill Secker, that this is “The Irish fiction debut of 2020” needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Read more ...Dark Waters; entertaining, rage inducing drama
Mon, Mar 09, 2020
As a fan of previous little guy versus behemoth law films such as Erin Brockovich or anger filling plots like In the Name of the Father, I just had to go and see Dark Waters in the cinema and I was not disappointed. Dark Waters tell us the story behind Cincinnati corporate lawyer Rob Bilott's (Mark Ruffalo) 20 year crusade against chemical company DuPont's unregulated misuse of a chemical compound known as 'C8' which causes illness, cancer, and death in creatures which consume it.
Read more ...Album review: Autre Monde
Thu, Mar 05, 2020
PADDY HANNA has never been afraid to embrace the eccentric and off-kilter side of his creativity on his solo albums, and in Autre Monde songwriter Padraig Cooney, he has met a kindred spirit.
Read more ...Portrait Of A Lady On Fire - an equal love story
Thu, Mar 05, 2020
THE LAST two months has seen an unprecedented run of unique and interesting films, from war movie 1917, to a new twist on the Agatha Christie 'whodunnit' in Knives Out, biting social commentary in Parasite, surreal Lovecraftian horror in The Lighthouse, and maybe my favourite of all - a tense thriller from, of all people, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems.
Read more ...Album review: The Hanging Stars
Thu, Feb 27, 2020
THERE HAS been an enervated, lethargic, feel to many of the albums released so far in 2020 - at least to these ears - resulting in some worthy works, which ultimately fail to fully engage.
Read more ...The Lighthouse - brilliant, difficult, funny, and unnerving
Thu, Feb 27, 2020
ROBERT PATTINSON is Ephraim Winslow, a new lighthouse keeper starting his first day of work on the coast of New England in the late 1880s. He is partnered with Thomas, played by Willem Defoe, a veteran wickie, as he calls himself.
Read more ...Hollow Knight- an indie game well worth the price
Wed, Feb 19, 2020
Hollow knight was developed and published by Team Cherry in 2017 and is available on X-Box One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. This game genuinely surprised me with its scale and quality especially because of its low price. Going as low as fifteen euro on steam, the game proves that it is well worth it. So far I've clocked in about fifty hours exploring the expansive world and I don't even think I'm done yet.
Read more ...Birds of Prey: enjoyable chaos and mayhem
Mon, Feb 17, 2020
OK to start off, I am not a massive fan of DC movies or Marvel movies, or any kind of superhero movie, so it is safe to say I wasn't holding out for much when I rocked up to Omniplex Salthill to view Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey: The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, or Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey or whatever title DC has decided to place upon their newest release. However, I have to say it wasn't that bad and I rather enjoyed a huge chunks of the movie.
Read more ...Album review: Grrrl Gang
Thu, Feb 13, 2020
WHILE INDIE fans on this side of the world are open to, and to a certain extent familiar with, indie-rock from Japan and Korea, Indonesia is entirely unknown territory.
Read more ...Anthology challenges Irish poetry’s official version of itself
Thu, Feb 13, 2020
THERE HAS been much tweeting lately about inclusivity in Irish poetry publishing and reviewing, particularly in relation to women poets. I’m all in favour of giving platforms to poets who are not white heterosexual males.
Read more ...Parasite - horror and comedy combine in a Korean masterpiece
Thu, Feb 13, 2020
THIS IS the fifth year in a row the bookies favourite did not win best picture at the Oscars. This is not always a good thing, Green Book was one of the worst ever winners of the award.
Read more ...Bad Boys For Life - does what it says on the tin
Mon, Feb 10, 2020
It has been 17 years since Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) were last seen causing unmitigated chaos on the streets of Miami in the name of justice but the two decade wait for the third installment of the Bad Boys franchise has been worth it with plenty of jokes, explosions, and high speed chases.
Read more ...A strange biopic of a man you never heard of
Thu, Feb 06, 2020
THIS FILM - loosely based on a profile for Esquire in 1998 by Tom Junod, entitled Can You Say… Hero? - follows a fictional journalist called Lloyd, who has a lousy reputation for writing hit pieces on the people he profiles.
Read more ...Alan McMonagle’s walk of fame
Thu, Jan 30, 2020
ONE OF the great joys of book selling is to watch the progress of a promising local writer from debut appearance in print – generally in a local journal – to first book, again by a local publisher, before making it onto the national and international stage.
Read more ...Just Mercy - a timely story worth telling
Thu, Jan 30, 2020
JUST MERCY is the true story of the beginning of Bryan Stevenson's incredible career. Stevenson moved to the American South after graduating law school in Harvard to set up the Equal Justice Initiative to help people who were wrongly convicted.
Read more ...Uncut Gems - Adam Sandler excels in this hyper intense film
Thu, Jan 23, 2020
HOWARD RATNER is a diamond dealer with an office in the New York diamond district. He is also a compulsive gambler and seemingly on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Read more ...Many hands don’t make light work as council stands firm on Cappagh Park illumination
Thu, Jan 23, 2020
Calls for the reinstating of temporary lighting at a 3G soccer pitch at Cappagh Park have been rejected by Galway city council officials.
Read more ...1917 - a beautiful, meaningful, exhausting ride
Thu, Jan 16, 2020
I WOULD be very surprised if, next December, when putting together my Top 10 list of 2020, I do not feature two films released this week - Uncut Gems and the WWI set, 1917.
Read more ...Stories about French people with peculiar hairdos
Thu, Jan 09, 2020
THE IRISH writer Mary Byrne has gained her many accolades for her writing, including a Hennessy Award and inclusion in widely read anthologies such as the Faber Book of Best New Irish Short Stories.
Read more ...