The best and worst screen mammies

It's mother's day today. It's a day for celebrating mothers all around the world for those of us lucky enough to still have our mam's. Now that you are lying on the couch half dead from the mega breakfast you've cooked for her or had cooked for you here's something to aid your digestion. A list of some of the most memorable mammies to ever grace the silver screen. Some of them are just lovely but as in real life some of them are absolute fuckin weapons as well.

Some spoilers for old films below

Jackie Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Janine Cody aka Smurf. The matriarch of a thieving pack of animals. A terrifying woman who has a very unhealthy relationship with her sons. Her sons are a pack of murdering drug dealers but she's the scariest person in the house. And quite possibly the scariest thing in Australia. Ellen Barking plays her well in the TV version but Jackie Weaver makes her a chilling creation.

Brenda Fricker - My Left Foot

Bridget Brown. Mother of Christy and 12 other children. Great at the aul saving. A saint, there's no other way to describe her. Her love and devotion and patience alone helped Christy become an artist. In one scene she literally digs the foundation for his future. An Oscar winning role and rightly so. The best Irish mammy ever. Well apart from my own. Of course.

Anjelica Huston - The Grifters

Lilly Dillon. A terrifying creation. That hair. The constant fag on the go. She's a con artist extraordinaire. No one is safe from her. Not even her son. She tries to con him, when that doesn't work she flirts with him and of course that ends with his throat being slashed and him bleeding out on the floor. And then she walks away. She's some piece of work.

Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce. A level headed loving mother who build her own business empire and who has the misfortune to be saddled with an absolute prick of a daughter. No matter what her daughter throws in her face Mildred still loves her and in the end, in the face of an ultimate betrayal is still willing to put everything on the line for her. Another oscar winning performance.

Piper Laurie - Carrie

Margaret White. A terrifying creation. Overbearing and ultra religious. So suffocating in her parenting of her poor daughter Carrie that it kicks Carrie's telekinetic powers into overdrive and we all know how that goes. The kind of mother who thinks breasts and menstruation are evil and who beats this into her daughter's head. Owner of the world's scariest crucifix. Dies an immensely satisfying death.

Jada Pinkett Smith - Menace II Society

Ronnie Richards. A selfless ray of light in the darkness of the Jordan Downs housing project in South Central L.A. Left the craziness behind to raise a son and go back to school. A beautiful soul. Decides to sacrifice her old life and begin again in Atlanta to give herself and her son a chance to thrive. Gets out by the skin of her teeth.

Diane Ladd - Wild At Heart

Marietta Fortune. A very scary woman. Overbearing as hell. Does things in the best interests of her family but does tend to go a bit far ie hiring knife wielding criminals and gangsters to find and kill her daughter's boyfriend. Of course things backfire which leads to a lipstick scene that will hate your dreams.

Sigourney Weaver - Aliens

Ok, we never get to meet her real daughter but the mother/daughter bond Ellen Ripley creates with little Newt gives a brilliant action film a big ol' pile of heart. She'll risk her life for her new charge after only knowing her for a day or two. Problematically she does this by murdering the newborn offspring of another mother but we'll forgive her today.

Mo'Nique - Precious

Mary Lee Johnson. An absolute wagon. The kind of character you want to see take a hatchet to the face after 30 seconds in her presence. She physically, mentally and sexually abuses her daughter Precious all because she was jealous when her own boyfriend made her daughter pregnant. A performance so potent that I can't even look at this actor anymore. 

Jo-Beth Williams - Poltergeist

Diane Freeling, the kind of mammy we'd all want if demonic native american spirits dragged us into the TV. The kind of mammy who loves and trusts her kids to do their own thing (witness her reaction to her daughter and the builders wolf whistling her) but who will risk everything for them when they need her. Her rescue of her daughter Carol Anne is a hero moment up there with the best of them. And she still has time to smoke a joint or two.


This tiny list is missing dozens of the most memorable movie mammies, both good and bad. Who would you pick?

11 films worth watching on TV this week

45 Years   Sat   10/3   CH4 @ 21.00

Just as they are about to celebrate their 45th anniversary a couple receive a piece of news that rattles the foundations of their relationship. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are fantastic in this deeply humane film that will make you rethink your ideas about how other people perceive you. Watching these two old pro's getting to grips with a meaty and mature story is a fine way to spend a couple of hours.

Death Of A Superhero   Sat   10/3   RTE2 @ 21.30

A young Dublin teen called Donald is dying of cancer and loses himself in his hobby of comic book drawing to avoid it all. His new therapist wants to help him accept the reality of his situation. A lovely little film that will uplift and upset you in equal measure. Good performances from Thomas Brodie Sangster and Andy Serkis buoy the film and there's good Irish support from Sharon Horgan and Michael McElhatton.

The Lady Vanishes   Sun   11/3   BBC2 @ 00.55

While travelling on a train across Europe a young woman makes friends with an elderly lady who all of a sudden vanishes from the train. No one else seems to know who the older woman was at all. One of Hitchcock's earliest thrillers is a doozy of a watch, full of suspense and is brilliantly watchable. So influential too. Margaret Lockwood, May Whitty and Michael Redgrave are all excellent.

Under Suspicion   Sun   11/3   TV3 @ 22.30

In 1950's Brighton a private eye unwittingly becomes part of the case he's investigating and finds himself under suspicion of murder when his alibi doesn't quite make sense. An early leading role for Liam Neeson here and he acquits himself well in a seedy and entertainingly twisty tale of sex, lies, murder and intrigue. Solid back up from Kenneth Cranham and Laura San Giacomo too.

Falling Down   Sun   11/3   ITV4 @ 23.45

On a scalding day in Los Angeles a man decides he can't take it anymore and decides to go on a rampage across the city. An elderly detective must figure out what's up. Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall are great in this blisteringly entertaining 1993 thriller where the heat & tension of a city on the edge just pour off the screen. Fine support from Tuesday Weld, Barbara Hershey and Frederic Forrest all adds to the goodness.

The Descent   Mon   12/3   The Horror Channel @ 21.00

Six women go on a potholing expedition into an underground cavern. Things of course go absolutely arseways. First off, if you are claustrophobic don't even bother with this. You'll be terrified and out of breath before the horror elements of the film even hit. If you are able for it you're in for a treat though. A terrifyingly intense treat. Shauna McDonald and Natalie Mendoza are excellent and Neil Marshall's direction is first class.

The Guest   Mon   12/3   Film4 @ 23.25

A family's life is turned upside down when a war veteran claiming to have been a friend of their dead son turns up at the door and wiggles his way into their life. A thoroughly entertaining and knowing homage of 90's action films and home Invasion thrillers with a little splash of horror thrown in for good measure.  Funny, nasty and totally absurd. A super way to spend 2 hrs. Maika Monroe and Dan Stevens are on fire in the lead roles.

A War   Tues   13/3   BBC4 @ 23.00

A decision made during a firefight in Afghanistan has grave consequences for a Danish soldier. Meanwhile his wife is fighting her own battle at home. An intelligent and tense take on an aspect of war we rarely hear about and mature look at the horrible gray areas that exist in the heat of battle. Pilou Asbæk & Tuva Novotny are great leads in a searing and probing mordern day morality tale.

The Artist   Wed   14/3   BBC1 @ 23.45 

In 1920's Hollywood, a star of silent cinema meets and falls for an actress who's star is on the rise due to the introduction of sound in film. But what will this mean for his career? A glorious modern take on silent cinema that's an absolute joy to watch and the music laid over the images on screen compliment them perfectly. A real love letter to the movies. Jean DuJardin and Bérénice Bejo are great as the leads.

Twelve Monkeys   Thurs   15/3   Syfy @ 23.30

A convicted criminal is sent back in time to gather information to help stop a plague that has decimated the earth of the future. But he gets sent back further than he should have been. Terry Gilliam's time travel thriller is absolutely bonkers and utterly compelling with an ending that will have you drawing diagrams to understand it all. Bruce Willis is at his best in the lead but Brad Pitt steals the film as a psychiatric patient he meets on his travels.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes   Fri   16/3   RTE2 @ 21.30

The domination of Earth by ultra intelligent apes is in progress and a group of survivors of a plague that has decimated mankind are the only thing that can stand up to them. The second film in the modern Apes trilogy is a masterful piece of escapism that still finds time to deal with it's subject matter with intelligence and subtlety. Between the explosions and gunfire of course. Highly entertaining. Andy Serkis as Caesar owns the film.

The Lodgers

We make some great films in this country but Irish horror films don't really have the best track record. For every Byzantium we have a Rawhead Rex and an Isolation. For every Grabbers we have Shrooms and (sweet jesus this one is bad) Boy Eats Girl. The goodness of A Dark Song is tempered by the memories of High Spirits and Stitches. Things are looking up however with the arrival of Brian O'Malleys 'The Lodgers'. This is one that can go in the good column.

The year is 1920. A pair of twins called Rachel and Edward live an odd existence in a decrepit old mansion in the Irish countryside. Strange supernatural forces tie them to the house and to each other. When Sean, an injured World War I veteran returns home, him and Rachel are drawn to each other which causes problems for both of them.

I really liked this but it's a film that's going to struggle to find an audience I think. It's languid (and at times glacial) pace makes it a tough watch in places and it's easy to find your attention wandering at times. But if you are willing to stick with it you'll be rewarded with a richly atmospheric story and visuals that will genuinely chill you. One sub aquatic image from the climax of the film will feature heavily in my dreams tonight I fear. One thing I really appreciated about it was the fact that it stays old fashioned in its scares and lets them build organically instead of the usual modern horror movie business of chucking jump scares and loud noises at the screen every five minutes. The setting of the film helps. It was filmed in the notorious Loftus Hall in Co. Wexford which is supposedly Ireland's most haunted house. Just knowing this lends the film a veneer of creepy authenticity.

Written by David Turpin and directed by Brian O'Malley, it's a lovely looking if slightly derivative film that wears it's influences a bit too much on its sleeve. Seasoned horror fans will notice nods to The Innocents and The Others and more modern influences like Let's Scare Jessica To Death, Crimson Peak, Under The Skin and especially Japanese horrors like Ringu when we arrive at the overblown finale of the film. But I suppose if you are going to homage something it's never a bad idea to cherrypick from the best and these moments will unnerve you and creep you out and any horror film that can do that is doing its job properly. Scares aside it also looks at social themes of the day like the way Irish people who fought in World War I were treated. 100 years later this is still a topic causing heated debate and it's good to see it acknowledged.

Horror needs a solid cast to sell the scares and we get a fine one here. Charlotte Vega as Rachel is a great lead and really sells her character and her bizarre relationship with her brother who's played well by Bill Milner. Ireland's own Deirdre O'Kane & Moe Dunford especially offer fine support with Dunford's character Dessie playing a bitter and bigoted character who's as nasty as any supernatural entity. I've never seen this side of him before but I hope we get to see more of it in the future. As with a lot of films made here I do wonder why the leads can't be given to Irish performers though. There's enough talent on this little Island to fill a thousand films and it's not like Vega and Milner are well known names who will bring in an audience. It's an annoyance but it doesn't take away from the quality of their performances.

This is definitely worth a watch. It's a well made and well crafted chiller that will get under your skin and one that doesn't have to rely on blood and guts and loud noises to get it's job done. That's always a welcome thing.

A perfect pairing of sound & vision. Boogie Nights. A visit to Rahad Jackson's house.

Boogie Nights came out in 1997. It was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who has since gone on to make The Master, There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread amongst others. He's a genius but for me this will always be his masterpiece. His other films are great but this manages to be both great and extremely entertaining at the same time.

Dirk (Mark Walhberg) and Brock (John C.Reilly) are porn stars. They are good at what they do. But it's the early 80's and coke is abundant. Dirk and Brock take too much coke and it affects what they do for a living. No one wants to work with porn stars who can't ......eh...... rise to the occasion. Dirk and Brock are also easily lead fools. When their friend Todd (Thomas Jane) suggests robbing a drug dealer they let themselves be talked into it. But Todd is an ill prepared fool too and soon the trio find themselves at the home of Rahad Jackson with no plan at all. Tensions are running high and a mixture of crack cocaine, fireworks and Night Ranger's brilliant song 'Sister Christian' all blend together to create one of the tensest scenes ever. Watch it below.




If you've seen this film you'll know how the scene plays out but if you haven't I urge you to track it down and fall in love with this brilliant film. If you are however an impatient person like myself you can see the climax of the scene here. Boogie Nights was loosely based on the exploits of real life actor John Holmes and this scene is very loosely based on The Wonderland Murders crime that he was caught up in. Thankfully for once the movie version doesn't go as far as real life.

Alfred Molina as Rahad is only in the film for less than 10 minutes but man he steals those 10 minutes with an absolutely manic performance. He should be in everything.

Previous parts

Mean Streets
Watership Down
Casablanca
Zodiac
Jackie Brown
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Deliverance
The Omen
Copland
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Once More With Feeling
The Mission
Before Sunset
Carlito's Way
A Knight's Tale
Platoon
Before Sunrise
Rushmore
An American Werewolf In London
Dazed And Confused
Boogie Nights
Raging Bull
Almost Famous
Once Upon A Time In The West
Goodfellas
Last Of The Mohicans

Red Sparrow

We all know this feeling. There's a film coming out and you can't wait to see it. It stars two actors you've always enjoyed and it's about a subject that's always worth a watch. It can't go wrong. Then it gets released and you start hearing rumblings about it. Negative rumblings. Then people who's opinions you trust start saying it's not the best but no, no, you still want to go and make your own mind up. So you go and then when the film is over you are sitting there annoyed that you didn't listen to those trusted opinions. Yeah Red Sparrow, I'm talking about you of course.

After a horrific injury ruins her career as a ballerina in the Bolshoi ballet a young Russian woman called Dominika Egorova is offered a chance at a new life as a Red Sparrow spy working for her country's intelligence bureau. Here she will be trained to use her sexuality as a weapon. At the same time an American spy in Moscow by the name of Nate Nash has his cover blown pointlessly and jumps at a second chance to complete his objective. It's only a matter of time before they cross paths.

This was okay....ish. It has the bones of something great but fritters a lot of it's goodwill away with an overindulgent running time, unnecessarily complicated to-ing and fro-ing and a chorus of Russian accents that wouldn't have seemed out of place in an episode of Spitting Image, all spoken by a good cast that's mostly wasted. But if you can put the accents aside it is well acted and it's definitely Jennifer Lawrence's film. She gives a brave, open and unshowy performance. It's not just Katniss Everdeen with a glass of vodka. She's a tough piece of work but fragile under it. That glacial Russian exterior that she creates for herself out of necessity masks a warm interior and her relationship with her mother gives the film some much needed heart. Her other relationships throughout the film don't stand up though. The main one she makes just doesn't feel real. It comes out of nowhere and contains a level of intimacy that don't feel earned at all and made me wonder were portions of the story removed to shorten an already long (140 mins) film. This also applies to Dominika's spy training. We barely get a sense of it and it's over. It's odd. Anyways. The always reliable Joel Edgerton is good as Nate but doesn't get much to do. See also Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons and Ciaran Hinds especially. Kudos must go to whoever chose Matthias Schoenaerts to play Ivan, Dominika's uncle because he has the Russian look off to a tee. If there is ever a biopic of Vladimir Putin, this chap has to get first refusal on the part.

Much has been made of the violent and sexual content of this film and it earns it 16 certificate with ease.( Btw the version we are getting here and in the U.K. has been snipped of a tiny moment of violence by the filmmakers to prevent it getting an 18 cert). It's not an entertainingly crunchy film though. It's dark and brutal, especially so for a mainstream Hollywood production. Without going into spoiler territory one scene about 30 minutes in will test the mettle of a lot of people in the audience. We aren't spared any detail of what exactly a life of espionage is like for a woman. The brutality throughout the film is used sparsely but it has a horrible impact. A lot of people won't be able to take it.

An interesting aspect of the film is it's depiction of life as a commodity. Dominika's body is not her own and she is told this many times throughout the story. Raised, taught, nourished by the state and now it's time to pay the piper. To survive she has to dehumanise herself and give in to the idea that she is there to be used by men. It's not hard to see a parallel between the treatment of the women spies in this and young women in modern day show business. Jennifer Lawrence herself had a horrible taste of the dark side of celebrity life in the photo hacking scandal of 2014.

There's plenty of good in here, the opening 5 minutes is great especially, but as I mentioned it's just too diluted. It's too long, it's too dull, it's too muddled. All that and it's too nasty as well. Save your rubles and wait for this to turn up on netflix.

Game Night

Are game nights a thing in Ireland? I haven't a clue tbh. I'd like to think they are. It sounds like a laugh and a fun way to pass a few hours that doesn't involve getting annihilated drunk. A group of adults get together and play cards, scrabble, charades etc. Hopefully if they take off here they won't involve quite as many underground fight clubs and DIY surgery as this one though.

Every week 3 couples get together for a game night hosted by Annie and Max. Max is a ball of stress down to feelings of inadequacy caused by his older, more successful brother Brooks and Annie is feeling it as a result. Of course Brooks then turns up and decides create a SUPER game night. And it's right here that everything in their lives decides to go haywire.

Game Night is good fun. It's not belly laugh funny but it will throw a big smile onto your face and give you a nice few giggles (Squeaky toy, conveyer belt etc). It's the kind of comedy thriller that was prevalent in the 80's and 90's and feels nicely old fashioned as a result. Unlike a lot of modern comedies it lets the funny stuff come from the characters and the situations they find themselves in instead of packing the movie with cheap shock value moments. It economically and sharply draws up the two main characters and gives them identifiable problems that will make you actually give a damn about them. That's a rare thing in modern comedy. Characters that are actually likable and not just vehicles for punchlines.

It of course helps when you pack the cast with actors who do comedy well. Jason Bateman as Max is an old hand at this stuff by now. Rachel McAdams is great fun as Annie and seeing her let loose over the course of the film is a joy. Kyle Chandler as Brooks is fun also and does smarmy passive aggressive bastard very well indeed. The supporting cast has fun too and it's great to see our own Sharon Horgan popping up and getting to keep her own accent too. The whole film is stolen by Jesse Plemons though as the creepy cop next door who would love nothing better than getting in on the game night. Him and his fluffy dog get great mileage.

If you like the idea of Regina George quoting a very famous line from Pulp Fiction while aiming a gun at people it will be right up your street. If you laugh at the idea of a piss poor Denzel Washington impression then it's for you. If the thought of Sharon Horgan chasing after a fake faberge egg while being chased by fighters makes you smile then give this a whirl. There's plenty of great little moments here and they all build up to a fun whole. As with all comedies some of the jokes fall flat but more than enough of them hit the mark to make it all work. In fact the only dud note is a bit of pointless stunt casting near the end that adds up to nothing.

Well worth a watch. And all in under 100 minutes. Perfick. Make sure you see it with a big crowd. Comedies just work better that way.

Oscar predictions

David Niven gets a surprise while announcing the best picture of 1974

Every year I claim I couldn't give a shit about the Oscars and yet somehow every year still get caught up in the whole thing. "Why was that pile of muck nominated??" "Why wasn't that masterpiece nominated??" etc. Now I wouldn't go as far as actually watching the show ( watched it once cos I was in America at the time it was on and high on Dr Pepper ) because it's deathly boring but I always enjoy the buzz of the build up and hearing the results the next day. Doing well this year too as regards actually seeing the films. Of the 9 films nominated for best picture I've seen 8 of them. Haven't got to see Call My By Your Name yet because us lowly country plebs were denied a chance to see it in the cinema and it hasn't yet received a home release. 

I know the displays of wealth and sometimes hypocrisy shown at these awards puts a lot of people off but I just love the movie part of it and like seeing the right people acknowledged for doing a good job.

Anyway, here's what I think will win and what I hope will win. Not that anyone gives a damn. 

Underlined films are what I think will win.

Bold films are what I want to win

BEST PICTURE

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Meryl Streep, The Post

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound

Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

BEST DIRECTOR

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

Get Out, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

The Boss Baby

The Breadwinner* 

Coco

Ferdinand

Loving Vincent

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

A Fantastic Woman, Chile

The Insult, Lebanon

Loveless, Russia

On Body and Soul, Hungary

The Square, Sweden

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

Call Me by Your Name

The Disaster Artist

Logan

Molly's Game

Mudbound

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

The Big Sick

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ORIGINAL SONG

"Mighty River," Mudbound

"Mystery of Love," Call Me by Your Name

"Remember Me," Coco

"Stand Up for Something," Marshall

"This is Me," The Greatest Showman

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Beauty and the Beast

Blade Runner 2049

The Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Mudbound

The Shape of Water

COSTUME DESIGN

Beauty and the Beast

Darkest Hour

Phantom Thread

The Shape of Water

Victoria & Abdul

SOUND EDITING

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Dunkirk

Phantom Thread

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

VISUAL EFFECTS

Blade Runner 2049

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Kong: Skull Island

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

War for the Planet of the Apes

FILM EDITING

Baby Driver

Dunkirk

I, Tonya

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


If i get one of these right I'll be happy.

* I haven't seen this but it's Irish 

10 movies worth watching on TV this week

Life's A Breeze   Sat   3/3   RTE2 @ 21.30

A family do a clean out of their mother's house and unwittingly throw out her entire life savings. It's then a race against time around the streets of Dublin to retrieve it all. This is a charming and very likable film from director Lance Daly ( Black 47) that does that great Irish thing of mixing humour and pathos perfectly. Super cast in this too including Fionnula Flanagan, Pat Shortt and Kelly Thornton.

My Brother The Devil   Sat   3/3   BBC1 @ 23.55

Mo and Rashid are two Muslim brothers growing up in Hackney. Rashid is in a gang and doesn't want that life for his brother. Rashid also has a big secret thats not exactly compatible with his religion. A beautiful looking film that tells a familiar story but with it's own unique slant on things. James Floyd and Fady Elsayed as the brothers both give committed, genuine performances.

Garage   Sun   4/3   RTE2 @ 00.25

Josie lives a slow and solitary life in a small village in Offaly. One day a chance of friendship rears it's head but it doesn't take long for things to go sideways. Pat Shortt is absolutely fantastic in Lenny Abrahamson's quietly devastating tale of rural isolation. It sounds grim but it's a painfully real film that deserves to be seen. Anne-Marie Duff in a support plays one of Josie's few friends and offers some respite from the darkness.

Carol   Mon   5/3   Film4 @ 21.00

In 1950's New York, two women of very different social status meet and fall in love. But the social mores of the day are a major barrier to their happiness. A magnificent film that fully deserves the critical acclaim it received. It's a compelling and utterly heartbreaking watch that contains two fantastic performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Kyle Chandler as always adds a touch of class too.

Girl Most Likely   Mon   5/3   TG4 @ 21.30

Imogen's stellar career as a writer in New York has hit the bricks and she faces the horror of moving back in with her family in New Jersey. Can she reconnect with them and get herself back on track though? This is lovely stuff, a quirky, funny and fresh comedy drama about rebuilding both your life and bridges and led by two superb performances from Kristin Wiig and Annette Bening.

Ravenous   Tues   6/3   The Horror Channel @ 00.25

In the 19th century a frostbitten stranger turns up at an army fort claiming to be the only survivor of a wagon train that got lost in the mountains. Antonia Bird's darkly comic horror thriller is a ferociously entertaining watch but it might be too much for the more squeamish out there. Cracking cast in this. Robert Carlyle as the stranger is brilliant and Guy Pearce, Jeremy Davies and John Spencer are all on good form.

Memento   Wed   7/3   BBC1 @ 23.45

A man with no short term memory searches for his wife's murderer. Sounds simple right. Haha. No, it's far from it from. This is the film that made Christopher Nolan famous and rightly so. It's a magnificent thriller and one which demands your utmost attention as it's non linear plot line can be slightly confusing. Guy Pearce in the lead role is on fire and gets fine back up from Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano

The East   Thur   8/3   CH4 @ 01.25

A young woman goes undercover in an anarchist group who are attacking major American corporations. It doesn't take long before she begins to question her own beliefs and motives. Brit Marling is good in the lead role of this entertaining, tense and thought provoking film that asks some solid questions about modern day values. Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgård as her follow anarchists do good work as always

What's Up, Doc?   Thur   8/3   TCM @ 13.05

Usually i'd run a mile from any Barbara Streisand film but this one is an utter hoot. Set in San Francisco this is a proper old fashioned screwball comedy all set in motion by a luggage mix up. It feels like an old 30's comedy and I mean that in a good way. The cast is led by Ryan O'Neal and Streisand and both are in top form, charming and just good fun. Record this for when you have a crap day & need something to cheer yourself up.

Captain America : The Winter Soldier   Fri   9/3   BBC1 @ 23.05

Captain America returns in his second film and finds out that allies he once trusted have far reaching and sinister plans for the people of earth. For my money the best of all the films Marvel studios has released so far. Ya it's full of CGI and action but it feels considered and mature as well. And has more than a hint of 70's paranoia thriller to it. Chris Evans is great as Cap as usual and gets cracking support from Scarlet Johansson and Robert Redford.

An Irish film I'd love to see get made. The story of Grace Gifford

"As we gather in the chapel here in old Kilmainham Jail
I think about these past few weeks, oh will they say we've failed? 
From our school days they have told us we must yearn for liberty 
Yet all I want in this dark place is to have you here with me 

Oh Grace just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger 
They'll take me out at dawn and I will die 
With all my love I place this wedding ring upon your finger 
There won't be time to share our love for we must say goodbye" 

Grace by Frank & Sean O'Meara

We all know this famous Irish song but what do we know about the woman behind the song - Grace Gifford. She's known as the woman who married Joseph Mary Plunkett hours before his execution at the hands of the English for his part in the 1916 rising but there's so much more to her story than that. It's a story I'd love to see onscreen. I think it could be great.

Grace was born into a Protestant family in 1888. She was very talented at art and trained under William Orpen. Eventually art became her career and she contributed drawings and political cartoons to numerous newspapers and books. Around this time her sister Muriel got married to future 1916 rising member Thomas McDonagh and through him she met Joseph Plunkett. Plunkett was a Catholic and they build a friendship during conversations about religion, a subject both were deeply interested in. Eventually that friendship turned romantic and they became engaged after she became a Catholic and were due to marry on Easter Sunday 1916. But fate intervened.

The 1916 Easter rising took place and Joseph was arrested for his part as a founding member. He was sentenced to death by firing squad in Kilmainham jail on the 3rd of May. Grace bought 2 rings and with the help of a priest she was allowed into the jail and there she married her love in the chapel. Their marriage lasted a couple of hours and then she became a widow.

Grace then decided to dive into politics and used her artistic skills to support Sinn Fein. Soon she was a fully fledged member of the party and became guardian to her niece and nephew after her sister, who had also been widowed, passed away. In 1919 her artwork was used during a holiday for The Irish Women's workers union which brought her to national prominence. A few years later she was arrested for her part as an active Sinn Fein member during the Irish civil war. Harrowingly she ended up being jailed in the very place where her husband lost his life. Instead of wallowing in grief though she devoted her energy to her art and spent her sentence decorating her jail cell with her own art.

After her release she was ostracised by society for her anti treaty part in the civil war and by her husband's family who cut her out of her husband's will. Once again her skills as an artist came to her rescue and eventually she had the privilege of working alongside W.B. Years and illustrated a book of his. She also became a costume designer in Dublin's Abbey Theatre. Her fortunes increased again when she was recognised by Eamon De Valera and received a civil list pension which enabled her to concentrate solely on her art. Around this time though the stress she had lived with for years began to take its toll on her and she spent her last years in a frail and sickly condition before passing away in 1955 aged only 66. She was buried in Glasnevin with full military honours with Sean T O'Cealligh in attendance. 

She had never remarried. She went to her grave still in love with her husband of a few hours.

The artwork in her Kilmainham jail cell still survives

Her story has the making of a brilliant film. One which would break your heart. RTE's godawful Rebellion TV show aside we rarely get to see anything about women's place in early 20th century Irish society. It would be great to see the rising through the eyes of the people in the background. The people who loved the founding members. Seeing it from this perspective would give a whole new slant on a story we are all familiar with. Plus how many biopics of tortured male artists have we seen over the years? Too many. We could see the troubles a woman had trying to build a career back when a woman's place has seen to be in the home and we could see the damaging effects the class system of the time had on people perceived to be on the wrong side of society.

I'd love to see the story of Grace get introduced to a whole new audience. She deserves it. Her story was sad but she lived her life to the fullest and never let her tragedies bring her down. 

Now who could play her part.

Saoirse Ronan as young Grace?
Maria Doyle Kennedy as older Grace?

Any suggestions as to who could do her justice?