The best & the worst of 2018

2018 was a really solid year for movies. A great mix of everything. Thrilling genre work, genuinely good blockbusters, loads of small scale intimate drama, sequels that earned their keep, more minority faces onscreen and behind the camera and hell there was even room for an Irish revenge western. Netflix upped it's game too with plenty of excellent original movies that may not have seen the light of day if not for streaming. The year wasn't all good though. 

But first my top 15 of the last 12 months. In no particular order bar the first.

You Were Never Really Here - Lynne Ramsay's thriller about a damaged man righting wrongs is a masterpiece. Film of the year for me.

I, Tonya - The inside story of a sporting scandal portrayed in a way you'd never imagine. Just fantastic.

Unsane - Steven Soderbergh's twisty turny watch was superbly made slice of genre joy about a woman who signs her life away unwittingly..

Creed II - The 8th film in the Rocky franchise is one of it's best. A brilliantly nostalgic watch.

The Cured - Zombies in Dublin. Cured of their condition but still remembering the horror. A cracker.

Blackkklansman - Spike Lee's return to magnificence was at once horrifying and highly entertaining. A serious accomplishment.

Beast - This Channel Island set mystery was a haunting, ethereal and totally unpredictable watch. Jessie Buckley from Kerry is an actress to watch.

Katie - A documentary about Ireland's greatest sporting hero had us in tears and punching the air at the same time. Superb stuff.

Summer of '84 - A murderer is on the loose and chased by a group of teens .Pulpy, scary, thrilling. Like It minus the supernatural stuff. Feels like a Stephen King story in the best way.

Black 47 - The Irish revenge western we never realised we all needed. Cathartic stuff. 

Private Life - A stunning portrayal of the smaller battles waged by normal people every day. 

Lady Bird - A beautiful movie. You won't see a more heartfelt portrayal of a parent/child relationship than here.

Leave No Trace - Will and Tom. Father and daughter. The woods. PTSD. Brilliance.

Upgrade - Body horror par excellence starring Logan Marshall-Green, the Tom Hardy lookalike who's far more likable than Tom Hardy. That kitchen scrap - whoa.

The Shape Of Water - It's always good when the best film of the ones nominated wins the best film Oscar. Guillermo Del Toro's grown up fairytale is a beaut

Duds of the year

The Happytime Murders - Septic. No other word for it.

Death Wish - A truly awful remake that made the originals look like masterpieces.

The Package - A 90 minute long cock joke. I felt genuinely bad about myself afterwards.

Jawdropping moment of the year - The machine gun assault in Hold The Dark. Large calibre bullets meeting unsuspecting cops is always going to be messy but no one expected this carnage.

Scene of the year - Jason & Danno spill some home truths - Dublin Oldschool

Biggest disappointment - The Predator. So so so shoddy. Shane Black needs a kick up the hole.

Biggest earworm - Rewrite The Stars. The Greatest Showman. Yup, im a big sap.

Best audience reaction - A Quiet Place. The baby arrives. Nailbiting and the silence in the cinema during it amplified the terror ten fold.

Blockbuster moment of the year - Avengers : Infinity War. The finger snap. Without a doubt.

Best actor of the year - Ethan Hawke in First Reformed/Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody

Villain of the year - Gerard Butler in Den Of Thieves. Hilariously scummy.

Best actress of the year - Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird. Of course.

Best singalong of the year - the inpromptu 4 Non Blondes moment from The Miseducation Of Cameron Post.

Funniest moment of the year - John Cena & Gary Cole locking eyes - Blockers.

Most gripping watch of the year - Searching. Track this one down. Seriously. More people should watch it.

Hero of the year - T'Challa. Black Panther. Cool as hell.

Most unintentionally hilarious film of the year - Gotti

Most overrated watch of the year - Crazy Rich Asianzzzzzzzz..... sorry, typing that bored me to death.

15 reasons why Die Hard is a Christmas film

Today is the 10th of December. That means 15 days to Christmas Day. So here are 15 reasons why Die Hard is a Christmas film. Because you never see articles like this knocking around. Rare as hen's teeth they are.

1. Let's start off slow. It's set on Christmas Eve. The most festive of days.

2. It's set in a building hosting a Christmas party. There's eggnog. And a huge Christmas tree.

3. John's wife's name is Holly Gennaro. Holly. Green leaves and red berries. A SYMBOL OF CHRISTMAS.

4. The bad guy is called Hans Gruber. Hans Gruber rhymes with Franz Gruber. Who's he you say? Oh he's only the fella that wrote Silent Night. That little known Christmas carol.

5. Ellis has a love for cocaine. Cocaine is also known as snow. Snow? Christmas? Keep up people. 

6. There's a scene where a terrorist finds his inner child. There's a swat team approaching but Uli (Al Leong) is literally like a child in a sweet shop. Nothing says Christmas movie like a scene of an adult rediscovering joy. Sadly he went for a Hershey bar instead of a peanut butter cup so went to meet his maker with a tummy full of inferior chocolate. Poor Uli. All the best festive films always have a touch of tragedy.

7. Christmas songs. Let It Snow! by Vaughn Monroe and this cracker from Run DMC both play prominent parts in proceedings. 

8. Speaking of Christmas. Actor Robert Davi who played Special Agent Johnson is an accomplished singer and has released 2 Christmas singles called "New York City Christmas" and "Mistletoe & Holly". The fact that these songs were released 25 years after Die Hard is neither here nor there. 

9. Miracles. Courtesy of FBI agents Johnson & Johnson. Miracles are a staple of Christmas films and Die Hard has one. Granted its one that works out for the bad guys but it's still a miracle and it all plays out to the sounds of Beethoven's 9th Symphony aka the most Christmassy bit of classical music ever™.

10. Now I Have A Machine Gun. Ho-Ho-Ho. A Santa Claus quote. Well the end bit anyway.

11. A man finds peace. Christmas films are all about being happier and Al the cop makes peace with himself at the end of the film by using violence against people who deserve it. I mean, just look how happy he is in Die Hard 2. 

12. Helsinki gets mentioned on the news report. Helsinki is in Finland. Finland is home to Lapland. Lapland is home to Santa Claus. Boom! Christmas!! #Layers 

13. Christmas themed sticky tape literally saves the day at the end of the film. When all is lost, when the end is nigh, a humble roll of festive tape decorated with holly (see no.3) helps John get the upper hand. G'wan sticky tape.

14. A family is brought back together. John & Holly's kids get the best presents they could wish for. Their mam safe and sound and their Da there to wake up on Christmas morning with them. 

15. After all that if ye still don't agree take a look at the picture below. A huge corporation like Sky would never send ye wrong. Never. Nope. Btw, zoom in close on the picture. See, subliminal. 

The Old Man & The Gun

Some actors just have it. That special thing. That magic quality that glues your eyes to them the moment they appear on screen. The ability to make you fall for them even when they are up to no good. That actorly magic spills off the screen when Robert Redford appears in The Old Man & The Gun. He announced he was retiring earlier this year and that this was to be his last screen appearance. At the age of 82 and with 48 films and 10 directing credits under his belt he's certainly earned his rest but his gain will be our loss. He's amazing in this film and it's a timely reminder of the low key brilliance he's brought to cinema since 1960.

Forrest Tucker is a man in love with the thrill of the heist. He's also an absolute charmer. A man capable of robbing a bank with a few quiet words and a smile or two. His entire life has consisted of crime sprees between spells in jail and as such he drifts around, his life revolving around him and his gang's next job. A chance occurance with a woman called Jewel (Sissy Spacek) causes him to start re-evaluating his lot in life but when he pops up on the radar of a determined detective named John Hunt (Casey Affleck) it gives him more than a little buzz.

I loved this. It's not perfect but it gets damn close. It's a magnificent swansong of a career other actors would sell their souls for. It's the gentlest, most elegant movie about bank robbing you'll ever see. It's pure entertainment. You'll be smiling or grinning from ear to ear for the vast majority of the story and for the rest you'll be stressed because Redford's Forrest is a bank robber you actually want to see succeed, he is such a charming bastard you'll want to see him and his buddies giving the cops the run around. But its based on a true story and true stories tend not to end the way you want them to but here the pleasure is in the journey. And what a journey, full of moments harking back to Redford's heyday with one scene in particular, late in the film harking back to the film that made him famous.

Age is a huge theme in the story. Forrest living like there's no tomorrow because in his line of work and at his age there might not well be, the camera in his face all the time, wrinkles and gray hair in all it's glory, but still with a wicked twinkle in his eye. John Hunt, the man on his trail, half Forrest's age but already beaten down by life, stress hanging around him like a dark cloud. It's nearly a relief when his work starts to reinvigorate him. Spacek too, aging like fine wine, her character Jewel had just about settled into old age when a chance encounter on a roadside brings a chance at love back into her life. Her and Forrest's first chat over a cup of coffee is a beautiful moment. We rarely get to see people of this vintage have romantic encounters onscreen so it's a scene to savour and her and Redford just make it look so effortless. Carrie White and The Sundance Kid, flirtin' it up.

Redford, Spacek and Affleck all do stellar work. Around them is a fantastic supporting cast but annoyingly they barely get a look in. Danny Glover gets a handful of lines in his part as Teddy Green, the getaway driver. John David Washington is barely glimpsed as Hunt's partner Kelley and David Carradine appears for maybe 30 seconds as a police captain. Tom Wait's Waller gets a fun monologue in a bar and Elisabeth Moss as a remnant of Forrest's wayward ways does get an affecting cameo but the film is really all about two driven men, one on either side of the law. And there's no doubting where director David Lowery wants our sympathies to lie. In other hands this could be troubling but here Redford's charm offensive blows all that away.

A lovely movie, one that looks and feels like it was made in an earlier age. If you want something to relax into and truly enjoy this is for you. Plus it may be the last chance you ever get to see the Golden Boy of 70's cinema on the big screen. If he does decide to stick to his decision he'll be truly missed.

10 films on TV this week worth watching

Vanilla Sky   Sat   8/12   Syfy @ 21.00

An accident caused by a romantic entanglement turns a vain man's life upside down in ways he could never imagine. Cameron Crowe's remake of the Spanish film Abre Los Ojos is a unusual watch. A mainstream film packed with A-list stars but made with an arthouse sensibility and with a dreamlike quality that ensures you're never quite sure what's going on. It's good though and Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz & Cameron Diaz are on fine form.

Calvary   Sat   8/12   RTE2 @ 21.15

While hearing confession, a priest is told he will be murdered within a week. He uses that week to investigate in his small town just who is out for his blood. Brendan Gleeson puts in a deadly performance as always as a priest troubled by spiritual manners both external and internal in a blackly comic film that will grip you from it's opening scene. Top notch cast in this including Kelly Reilly, Chris O'Dowd and Domhnall Gleeson.

Hunky Dory   Sun   9/12   BBC2 @ 01.00

A music teacher in a Welsh school who is trying and failing to stage a Shakespeare play decides to give things a modern day spin by adding popular music to help engage her couldn't care less pupils. Of course her plan works. This 70's set drama is fun and Minnie Driver in the lead role is great. This is likable feel good stuff with an amazing soundtrack. Aneurin Barnard and Kimberley Nixon do well in support.

Enemy Mine   Sun   9/12   Film4 @ 16.25

During a future space battle two soldiers find themselves stranded on a hostile planet. One is a man. One is an alien. Two enemies. A very entertaining slice of 80's sci-fi here but one that eschews cheesiness and bombast (mostly) and tells a touching story and carries a hopeful message about trust and friendship. Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr are both excellent.

American History X   Mon   10/12   ITV4 @ 23.05

Derek Vinyard has just been released from prison after he murdered a young black man years before. His time inside helped him lose his taste for hate but his swastika tattoo's still haunt him. This drama about the horrors of racism is a blistering watch about the dangers of hate and how the effects of violence never go away. Edward Norton is very effective in the lead role and gets compelling back-up from Beverly D'Angelo & Edward Furlong.

Deliverance   Tues   11/12   TCM @ 23.05

4 men travel into the Georgian wilderness to canoe a down a river before a dam obliterates the valley it flows through. They don't have a nice time. John Boorman's survival tract about man vs nature might be 46 years old but it will still pin your to your chair with it's violence and it's depiction of man's baser instincts. It's a superb movie but be warned, it is rough as hell. Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox are all fantastic.

Horror Of Dracula   Wed   12/12   The Horror Channel @ 22.55

The Prince of Darkness has had his sanctuary disturbed and so sets out to prey on the loved ones of his attacker. Only one man, Dr Van Helsing, can stand up to him. This 1958 Hammer Horror take on the legend of Dracula is a magnificent film. Unsettling, sensual, beautiful looking and after 60 years, still startlingly scary in places. 2 brilliant performances from Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing seal the deal.

Pursuit   Thurs   13/12   Virgin One @ 21.00

Fionn has his sights set on Grainne but she is mad for Diarmuid, Fionn's buddy. This love triangle set in Ireland's gangland isn't going to be easily settled. Paul Mercier's thriller is a strange one, a modern story spun from tales of Celtic mysticism but it works well, if you get the myriad of references that is. Top notch acting from Ruth Bradley, Liam Cunningham and Barry Ward will always help though.

The Man Who Knew Too Much   Fri   14/12   Film4 @ 11.25

An American family take an impulsive trip to Morocco and finds themselves in the midst of an assassination attempt and their lives are immediately in dangerous. Sounds heavy but this is one of Alfred Hitchcock's lighter and more fun films. James Stewart and Doris Day lead the film and are delightful as their roles as always. A highly enjoyable and suspenseful film worth recording for a rainy Sunday.

Excalibur   Fri   14/12   RTE2 @ 23.25

A stylish, bloody and sexually charged retelling of the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Definitely the best cinematic version of the famous tale so far. This one has an absolutely superlative cast of British & Irish actors led by Nigel Terry and Helen Mirren on top form. Keep an eye out for a very young Liam Neeson in one of his first roles too. A very entertaining film. Plus parts of this were filmed in Wicklow and Tipperary.

White Boy Rick

"Your mother and I, we didn't plan on having Dawn, and to be honest we didn't plan on having you either....but in the end things worked out."

"Dad, your daughter is a junkie and I'm shitting into a bag."

"Ehh what can I say, I'm a glass half full kinda guy."

The relationship between Matthew McConaughey's Richard Snr and Richie Merritt's Rick Jnr is just one reason to enjoy this well worn tale of crime and punishment. It's nothing we haven't seen a million times before but their relationship is so well drawn and their characters are so well acted that this film will hook you and reel you in despite the squalor and misery depicted so achingly well onscreen. Director Yann Demange's follow up to his 2014 film '71 mightn't be as tight and focussed as his debut but for me, the performances here give it the edge.

Ricky is a very white face in a black city. Detroit in 1984 was a dump, the glory days of it's automotive success coming rapidly to an end. 15 year old Ricky uses his father's reputation as a gun dealer to gain an in with local gangs and before long he's running wild with them. All good things must come to an end when he's nabbed by the FBI and before long he becomes the youngest ever person working undercover for a law enforcement agency. The Feds though have a habit of chewing up their informants.

I liked this. As already said it's far from original but it got me right away because there's so much to like about it. The perfectly recreated and grimy 1980's. The soundtrack full of tunes that are both familiar and rarely used in film. The brazen way Ricky ingratiates himself with gangs who accept him despite his skin colour due to the no nonsense way he confidently carries himself. The fact that it's less about Ricky's life of crime than it is about his fractured relationship with his family. His relationship with his father and his sister (Bel Powley doing a lot with a little), tenderly drawn, at times they hate each other but you can always sense the love between them. A quiet chat on a porch. A peace offering of pancakes. A heart to heart through glass. A night time rescue. A hypocritical dad trying his best so his family can have a taste of the American dream he never reached.  

It's the family moments that give this film it's heart but they do tend to make the more conventional parts of the story look poor in comparison. The gang Rick joins is, apart from 1 or 2 members, so sketchily drawn that it's hard to know who's who at times and with so much gold and fur on show parts of the film veer dangerously close to feeling like a spoof. It does also get rather jarring when we keep switching back and forth between Rick's family life and his life of crime especially when one side is so much better. The pervasive sense of menace will always jolt you though and never let you forget you're watching the story of a boy so young he can't even grow a moustache yet.

Ronald Reagan's well documented war on drugs is a big plot point here and the movie gets great mileage out of taking shots at it. It's blinkered and short sighted approach left a lot of collateral damage in it's wake. People were chewed up in an attempt to win a battle that can never be won and the lawmakers didn't care a jot. It was a hypocritical battle too. Richard Snr's stance on guns mirroring America's own. Guns are good. Guns are the American way, a constitutional right. Guns are as much a path to death and destruction as any drug and during a father/son argument Rick points the double standard out, stunning his father into shamed silence.

It's hard to believe this is Richie Merritt's first film. He's excellent as the non-descript white boy who gets it in the neck. Matthew McConaughey is the MVP though. A ratty, sleazy looking gun dealer who genuinely wants the best for his kids but who goes about it in an awful way. An Oscar nod for best supporting actor wouldn't be out of the question for him next year. One scene of inter generational connection between him and his son is beautiful and will be the scene I remember from this in years too come. A lovely moment of tender calm amongst the AK-47's and grime.

Worth watching.

Sorry To Bother You

"Apple and oranges?" "More like apples and the Holocaust." That's a comparison that might make you baulk but there's a ring of truth to it in it's one-sidedness. The 1% tower over us. High society vs the proletariat. The haves and the have-nots. They cannot be compared to us. Sorry To Bother You makes no bones of this fact. In a world where the most powerful man in the world is also a 1%'er it rings especially true.

Cassius Green (Cash is green, subtle) wants a job. Living the way he does is miserable and any work will do. Regalview take him on and turn him into a telemarketing automaton. It's dehumanising stuff and he's not one bit good at it until he learns the secret to selling is to use "your white voice." His sales go through the roof and before long upper management are eyeing him up to be a power seller. Things are strange up top though. Very very strange.

Sorry To Bother You is a clever, surreal and justifiably angry film that takes aim at everything wrong with modern day society. The insidious evil will of capitalism. It's need to keep us inside the lines ("stick to the script" is the management mantra at Regalview). The dumbing down of media; everyone watches a show called "I Got The Shit Kicked Out Of Me" which is literally people getting beaten up live on tv, culture replaced by viral youtube sensations and internet memes. The proliferation of low paid work designed to keep the masses in debt forever and the racism still endemic in society despite claims to the contrary. None of it is subtly drawn, director Bootsy Collins knows a light touch doesnt work anymore so he blasts us with it. Right in the chops. The second Cassius starts to speak like a white man he instantly becomes unthreatening to the world around him. The white people he phones love him, middle management adore him and the world opens up to him. Money isn't an issue any more, he can live where he wants and drive what he wants. Very pointed stuff in a time when Black men are regularly gunned down by the police for the crime of not being white.

My only issue with it is the description of it being a comedy. It might claim to be but it's just not one bit funny at all. One moment with the world's most polite argument might raise a smile but apart from that the entertainment you'll glean from it is from it's intelligence, it's fearlessness, a willingness to cut right to the heart of debates raging worldwide. People of colour are still seen as a danger and capitalism is a huge catalyst for that. It's something most people don't want to hear but Bootsy Collins is going to tell them anyway, the title of the film being a nod to that. 

Lakeith Stanfield is immense in the lead role. A study in unfolding paranoia and eventually rage. He's great at drawing slightly off centre and interesting characters and his career has rightfully taken off in the last few years because of it. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend checking him out in Tv's Atlanta. Tessa Thompson is back again after last week's Creed II. She's once again the girlfriend of the leading character but once again finds ways to nearly outshine the lead with another interesting and daring performance. Can someone give her bigger roles please. Armie Hammer puts in a solid shift as the slimy face of the corporate world. All handsome and shiny and friendly but scratch the surface and it's all slithering filth underneath. There's that lovely subtlety again btw.

This is worth a watch. But don't go in expecting belly laughs. You won't get them. What you will get a biting satire of modern day life. One that will only get more prescient as it ages.

Millers Crossing & Danny Boy. A perfect pairing of sound & vision

Leo O'Bannion is the man in charge. An Irish American bootlegger and politician. A politician will always have his enemies and a criminal one doubly so. Leo's rival is Johnny Caspar, an Italian mobster with a seriously short fuse. When Leo offers protection to a bookie who has incurred Johnny's wrath it's only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose. And it starts with an assassination attempt carried out to the sound of Frank Patterson's dulcet tones. We shall choose to ignore the fact that Patterson wasn't even born at the time the film is set. 

The Coen Brothers have created a lot of amazing moments in a career spanning 4 decades but this is up there with the best. It's full of their trademark black humour and brutal carnage and far from a gimmicky moment as we get to see in no uncertain terms that Leo O'Bannion is a force to be reckoned with. Best of all we get to hear Danny Boy play out in it's entirety. It's gentle lyrics and lilting tune oddly juxtaposed with the violent images playing out before us yet still perfectly complimenting them at the same time. The first words kick off to the gurgle of a dying man. "If I am dead, as dead I well may be" is heard over Leo swinging off the roof showing him to be anything but and the song reaching it's climax as Leo nonchantly polishes off the remainder of the fleeing assassins. Maybe it's why he looks so confident taking on his enemies, that brilliant feeling of being able to do anything when you're listening to a favourite song.

An actor called Trey Wilson was hired to play Leo O'Bannion but sadly died of a brain hemorrhage before filming started. His misfortune became Albert Finney's good fortune and with his performance a perfect pairing of sound & vision was created.

Previous pairings

The Blues Brothers
Straight Outta Compton
The Princess Bride
American Honey
Snake In The Eagle's Shadow
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The Untouchables
Airplane!
Dazed And Confused  
Kickboxer                                  
Grosse Point Blank
Mean Streets
Watership Down
Casablanca
Zodiac
Jackie Brown
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Deliverance
The Omen
Copland
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
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

Creed 2

Creed 2 is the 8th Rocky film. That's just ridiculous when you think about it. This franchise should have died in 1989 when the deathly dull Rocky 5 slithered out. It was a horrible watch after the silly jingoistic fun of Rocky IV. Everyone expected it to be the end. We never thought we'd see the Philly pug again. Then 17 years later Rocky Balboa came out. Everyone assumed it would be an embarrassment. Happily it turned out to be a delight and a return to the emotion packed early installments. It felt like a fitting swansong for the character but another 9 years later the franchise got a kind of, sort of reboot with Creed. Again it was a fantastic film and one that put us fans through the grinder as we watched the hero we'd grown up with battle cancer while training a new leading man. Seeing Stallone getting an Oscar nomination felt deserved, it felt right seeing the franchise come full circle back to it's Oscar winning beginnings. The new blood injected by director Ryan Coogler and new leading man Michael B. Jordan meant another installment was a foregone conclusion. Now Creed II is here courtesy of director Steven Caple. Jr and I'm delighted to say it's carrying on the series brilliantly.

Adonis Creed (Jordan) has put his defeat to Ricky Conlon behind him and is currently on top of the world with Rocky Balboa (Stallone) in his corner and Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson) by his side. Bianca's music career is taking off and everything is alright in the Creed part of the universe. The only fly in the ointment is Viktor Drago, a Russian boxer looking to take on the new champ. Viktor's Da is Ivan. Ivan Drago. The man who killed Apollo Creed in the ring 31 years previously. It's a fight that has bad idea written all over it but Adonis is determined to somehow avenge his father's death despite Rocky's protestations.

I loved this. The 8th installment in a 42 year old franchise has no right being this good. When you've been watching a series of films all your life you build an emotional attachment with the people in them and even though Rocky is now a supporting character I couldn't help but get totally caught up in proceedings just like in the first Creed film. It feels like a gift to the fans who've stayed loyal to the franchise. Apollo looms large despite his death 31 years before, it's full of nods and callbacks to the earlier movies and a very unexpected cameo which will make you laugh or groan or both. It's a perfect blend of the best of the series. The slice of the life aspects of the early films crossed with the bombast of the 3rd and 4th film. It all fits together beautifully and by the end you'll be bobbing and weaving in your seat and fighting the urge to punch the sky. I won't lie, one perfectly timed blast of music brought a tear to my eye. 

Even though there's been 3 films between them this one is a spiritual sequel to part IV. Sadly there's no montage of running up snowy mountains to the sounds of "Heart's On Fire" but thankfully there's no robot either. Oh that Robot. Jesus that was a low point. A Drago is the opponent again but this time he isn't a one dimensional villain like Ivan was in part 4. His reasons for fighting and his father's reasons for pushing him make sense and add a retroactive kind of poignancy to the histrionics of part IV. A quiet restaurant scene where Ivan and Rocky come face to face for the first time in 30 years is electric and contains acting I never thought Dolph Lundgren would be capable of. He's still a bastard but he's a more understandable bastard than the emotionless killer robot we saw before.

Michael B. Jordan is superb. In two films he's created a character we can genuinely feel empathy for. A big hardy fella on the outside but still a little boy broken by his father's untimely demise inside. You'll want him to do well. You'll want to see him win. You'll hurt when you feel him sprawled and bloody. You'll smile when he realises he's about to have the happiest day of his life. Tessa Thompson as Bianca is great too. She's no mouse like Adrian was. She's her own woman with her own things going on but she's still unwavering in her support of Adonis. Her external fragility complimenting his internal fragility making them a formidable pairing. Their scenes together bring a bucketload of love to the film. But Rocky is the heart. He always has been. Stallone takes a step back here and Rocky feels like far more of a supporting character than before but every time he appears it feels like a wave of nostalgia crashing over you. His crooked hat, the stumbling gait, the slight slur, he's created a character you feel really protective of. Rocky ain't in the ring anymore but he's still fighting his own battles. Sitting in the graveyard at Adrian's grave, speaking of loss and regret. He's such a good actor when he has the right material. 

If Stallone was to step away from the franchise for the next film it would feel right. Michael B.Jordan is a powerful actor and one strong enough to carry the series going forward. This film feels like a passing of the baton. I'd be sad to see him go but I'm confident of the future of the series. This one though, I loved it. It's blasted into my year top 10 easily. It had everything. A few laughs, stress, a lot of tension, blisteringly brutal and clearly shot fights and yes, tears too. It had everything a Rocky fan could ever want. Except a Clubber Lang cameo......... but no scratch that, he killed Mickey so I'm glad he didn't appear. It's as good a sequel as you could imagine. 

Wreck-It Ralph 2 : Ralph Breaks The Internet

The world is goosed. Looking at the news would give you a pain in your face. Looking at twitter would make you want to pull off your leg so you could comfortably kick yourself in the bits. Anguish is everywhere. Tangerine Balls is omnipresent. Thinking too much about it all would put you down in the dumps massively. Sometimes it seems like the only thing that could possibly cheer you up is a blast of Disney, the old reliable. A big ball of heart and fun in a world gone wrong. Just try to ignore the fact that they're another corporation slowly taking over the planet and lash into Wreck It Ralph 2. It's not quite as good as it's predecessor but it will definitely make you smile.

Set 6 years after the events of the first film, Ralph and his best friend Vanellope are 2 video game characters who have fallen into a comfortable routine. They spend their nights together exploring their world, having a few root beers and watching the sunrise before retreating to their respective games to entertain the kids who come to the arcade to play them. Vanellope is getting bored though and in an well meaning effort to change things up for her Ralph accidentally breaks her game and they have to travel into the internet to fix things fast. Ralph though, oh Ralph. Ralph's speciality is wrecking things and in no time his destructive ways could spell an end his both his and his best friend's existence.

This was good fun. It's a sequel you can enjoy without having seen the first and you don't need to be au fait with the world of gaming or pop culture to get the majority of it's jokes. Not all the jokes work sadly but the best parts of Wreck It Ralph 2 come from the heart of the story. At it's core this is a simple tale of two friends finding their relationship tested by growth and change. Ralph on one side happy to stand still and poor little Vanellope on the other side yearning for something new while trying not to hurt her bud. It's a universal thing, an issue no doubt experienced by anyone lucky enough to have good friends in their life and thus will resonate with viewers young and old. But mostly old. One thing Disney films have always been great at is entertaining you while sneakily educating you too. Having a heartfelt message in amongst the CGI and comedy will always elevate a film like this.

Message aside it's a feast for the eyes. Ralph and Vanellope are two brilliantly realised creations, all big arms and huge eyes. The world of the internet they find themselves lost in is an assault on the senses. Every inch of the screen is alive and buzzing. It's the net reimagined as a giant cityscape. Google and IMDB are huge skyscrapers. Ebay is literally an auction house. Pop-ups are like the ubiquitous street chuggers, in your face and a constant annoyance, pop up blockers are besuited gigantic bouncers who'll take no shit from anyone. The google searchbar is a stressed out chap at an information desk who throws out guesses after you speak your first vowel and a man eternally upset by the lack of gratitude he receives. The most entertainingly moments of the film happen here including a hilariously violent explanation for those mysterious losses of net connectivity we all suffer. The imagination of display is fantastic. It's just a pity that, a few very funny bits and pieces aside, the comedic side of the film can't keep up with it's imagination.

John C.Reilly and Sarah Silverman though. Both are superb as Ralph and Vanellope. Funny, rambunctious, totally believable as friends. BTW Vanellope's scene with a room full of familiar faces is a great one and will hit older viewers with a wave of nostalgia. The chemistry between her and Ralph is perfect meaning it's hard to take when they inevitably become estranged as a result of Ralph's destructive ways. Ralph isn't just physically destructive, here he's emotionally destructive too. His ill thought out plans and sabotaging ways indictive of a man terrified of losing control in a world that's brand new to him. It's this kind of depth that carries the movie through it's dull patches where the jokes are hit and miss and the story seems to sag a bit. 1hr 52 minutes is a bit much for a CGI feature film but everything does come together in a lovely way at the end.

I liked this. It doesn't all work but stellar voice-work from its leads and a powerful message about friendship mean there's plenty here for the grown ups while the little 'uns gawp at the visuals onscreen. One thing you'll notice on the journey though is the sheer amount of pop culture that's been swallowed up by the Disney behemoth in the last few years courtesy of an array of cameos and easter eggs. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet. Monopolies are rarely a good thing.

11 films on TV this week worth watching

The General   Sat   1/12   RTE2 @ 21.30

The story of Martin Cahill. A man raised in poverty who went on to become one of Dublin's most infamous criminals. An infamy that brought him to the attention of many. Brendan Gleeson is astounding in the role but he's such a good actor that you end up siding with the scumbag instead of the cops, who aren't exactly painted in a nice light either. John Boorman's biopic is a very enjoyable watch with a supporting cast full of familiar faces.

Hail, Caesar!   Sat  1/12   CH4 @ 23.35

Hollywood, the 50's. Eddie Mannix is a studio problem solver and when the star of a big film goes missing he's the man tasked to sort it out. The Coen brothers 2016 comedy isn't their best but it is a very entertaining slice of hokum that will astound you with some of it's movie setpieces. The cast is second to none too. Josh Brolin, Scarlet Johannsen, George Clooney, Channing Tatum & Frances McDormand all add to the fun.

Enough Said   Sun   2/12   RTE1 @ 01.35

Eva is dreading the thought of her daughter going to college but then she meets both an interesting fella and a new friend through work. Little does she know both of them share a past. This is a joy of a film, warm and funny and filled with people who feel genuinely real. Julia Louis Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini are both excellent as the leads and the always reliable Catherine Keener offers fine back up.

Local Hero   Sun   2/12   Film4 @ 11.00

A representative of a huge American oil company arrives in the far reaches of Scotland looking to buy up an entire village. Small villages have a way of charming visitors though. A really lovely little gem from 1983 full of fun performances, sly asides on the nature of big businesses and small communities and of course some glorious scenery. Burt Lancaster, Peter Reigert, Jenny Seagrove and a very young Peter Capaldi all add to the mix.

They Live   Sun   2/12   The Horror Channel @ 22.45

Aliens have taken over society and only one man can see them with the help of a special pair of sunglasses. He's mad as hell about it and he ain't going to take it anymore. On the surface John Carpenter's action/sci-fi might seem loud and silly but it's actually an intelligent and frighteningly prescient story and the dangers of advertising and apathy. Roddy Piper and Keith David are mighty as the leads.

Colombiana   Tues   4/12   E4 @ 22.00

After witnessing a brutal crime as a child Cataleya grows up to be a vicious killer on the streets of Bogota and every day she gets closer and closer to justice. Zoe Saldana makes for a solid lead in this crunchy and bloody action thriller from the pen of Luc Besson and director Olivier Megaton (WHAT A NAME!) It doesn't get many points for originality but if you want to see some nasty bastards make their maker you won't go wrong here.

Mars Attacks   Wed   5/12   Syfy @ 21.00

Earth is invaded by an army of cruel little skull faced aliens with evil senses of humour and it's up to a star studded cast of earthlings to fight back against them. Tim Burton directs this brilliantly surreal & amusing film with his usual sense of disturbing humour. The first scene will let you know if this film is for you or not. Pam Grier, Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Jones (yep him) lead the attack.

The Odd Couple   Thur   6/12   TCM @ 18.45

Felix's marriage has hit the skids and he's feeling low. His buddy Oscar asks him to stay with him for a while. But Felix and Oscar are two very different people and before long thing's get awkward. An absolute joy of a comedy from Neil Simon. A film that will cheer anyone up. Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau are both electric and the chemistry between them is just priceless. 

The Fury   Fri   7/12   Film4 @ 01.30

When his son is kidnapped by scumbags intent on exploiting his psychic powers, a former CIA agent goes all out to get him back. Brian De Palma's 1978 sci-fi/horror is a bonkers affair. A vicious but very engaging watch that contains THE best ever bad guy death scene. Even 40 years later it will still take your breath away. Kirk Douglas is in full on tough guy mode and gets good back up from Amy Irving and John Cassavetes.

Mammal   Fri   7/12   TV3 @ 22.30

An unusual and absorbing Dublin set drama from director Rebecca Daly about a woman coping with the loss of her estranged son through unorthodox means. A story of motherhood that is quite tough to watch at times but really worth sticking with. Rachel Griffiths is superb as the lead and is supported by a fine Irish cast including Michael McElhatton and Barry Keoghan.

Tin Cup   Fri   7/12   RTE1 @ 23.55

An ex golfer turned driving range owner is dragged back into his former life when his competitive nature is awakened by a new love interest. One of the most underrated films of the 90's imo. A delightfully charming comedy drama led by 3 great performances from Kevin Costner, Rene Russo and Don Johnson. It's a bit long but when it's over you may have a new favourite film.

Formative cinema experiences

The first time I ever went to the cinema by myself was back in 1997. I was in college in Waterford. It was the first week of first year. Beer was flowing, friendships were being forged, Ocean Colour Scene and The Prodigy were everywhere. 4 nights out in a row had me wiped, physically and financially. The money I'd saved up in my bartending job that summer was vanishing fast. This level of frantic beering could not continue. The 5th night out was here. We were walking down Great George's Street towards T&H Doolins. A pub that later became a fave of mine but on this night I couldn't hack the thought of it at all. I was, quite frankly, bollixed from the onslaught of dutch gold and buckfast the night before. Buckfast through a straw because we were fancy.  We arrived to the sound of a jointed pub with condensation spilling down the windows. Nope. Good luck lads, I'll see ye tomorrow. Yes I know I'm a pansy. Good luck. Bye Bye Bye.

I needed my bed. That safe haven where my liver could begin to rebuild itself. Oh this was going to be good. Comfort. Maybe a bag of tayto's too. Great George's Street became Broad Street. The bus stop was in sight. Then for some reason I looked up Patrick's street. There was the Omniplex cinema. The warm, inviting Omniplex cinema. I looked at my watch. 8pm. Home to bed? Or maybe the cinema? Hmmmm. A crisis hit. I'd never been to the cinema before by myself. Would it be weird to go alone? Would I look like a sad bastard? There and then I made a decision that has affected my cinema going self ever since. Who cares what anybody thinks. I'm going to the movies.

The choices were Air Force One or Austin Powers. Easy decision there anyway. One ticket for Han Solo vs The Russians please.

It was great. No arguments over what to see. No one asking me "Who's he" during the movie. No indecision over where to sit. This was a revelation. And because of that decision I've never had a problem with going alone to the movies. I've gotten to see movies I'd have never seen if I was with a group. Jodorowsky's El Topo in the Prince Charles Cinema in London, Seraphim Falls in the Angelika theatre in Greenwich Village, Nebraska in the IFI, Blade Of The Samurai in my local omniplex. The thought of going alone anywhere puts the fear of god in some people but it's a silly thing to worry about and sure if you can't be comfortable by yourself you're in trouble. If you want to go and see something go and see it. I know anxiety and other issues will hold people back and that's understandable but if it's other people's opinions stopping you then two words will help you out.

Fuck 'em.