Kieran Somers

Published on Monday 9th March 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the Booker Prize winning novel of the same name by Australian author Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang is far from being a neat origin... Read more

Published on Thursday 27th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  With reference to her famous 1815 novel, author Jane Austen declared that ‘I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.’  In this... Read more

Published on Wednesday 26th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the 1903 novel of the same name by Jack London, The Call of the Wild tells the story of Buck, a St. Bernard/Scotch Collie, who is forcibly... Read more

Published on Thursday 13th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the 1998 Esquire magazine article ‘Can You Say…Hero?’ by Tom Junod, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood essays the fleeting friendship between a cynical journalist and the... Read more

Published on Wednesday 12th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  The winner of the Best Picture Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards is a thing of narrative beauty and audacious storytelling.  Like the very best social satire, it operates... Read more

Published on Tuesday 11th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Focusing on the multiple instances of sexual harassment which occurred at Fox News under the stewardship of Roger Ailes, Bombshell is a both a worthy and topical film which... Read more

Published on Monday 10th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

Well!  How about that Oscar ceremony!  The 92nd Academy Awards went pretty much the way we expected they would go – almost to the end that is.  Then there were... Read more

Published on Thursday 6th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Focusing on the aftermath of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia, the new film from director Clint Eastwood tells the story of a lowly security guard... Read more

Published on Wednesday 5th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  There’s an unmistakable propulsive force underlying Robert Eggers new film which sucks the viewer in from the opening frame and barely allows breathing space during the course of its... Read more

Published on Tuesday 4th February 2020 by Kieran Somers

  The 92nd edition of the Academy Awards takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 9th, 2020 (much earlier than in recent times) and we look forward... Read more

Published on Sunday 26th January 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Director Armando Iannucci’s new take on Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield is a welcome reminder of how well a proper film adaptation of a classic text can capture the spirit... Read more

Published on Thursday 23rd January 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Sam Mendes’s World War I film 1917 begins in a relatively peaceful setting along a sector of the Western Front in northern France.  From our historical knowledge of the... Read more

Published on Wednesday 22nd January 2020 by Kieran Somers

  The seventh film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s much-loved 1868 novel of the same name is a joyful re-working of its source material which combines familiar themes set out... Read more

Published on Thursday 9th January 2020 by Kieran Somers

  Taika Waititi’s new film Jojo Rabbit (based on the Christine Leunen book Caging Skies) poses many questions in social and behavioral contexts, but the central one of these is... Read more

Published on Wednesday 8th January 2020 by Kieran Somers

  The final installment in the Star Wars franchise trio of trilogies is by and large a solid and entertaining space drama replete with highly effective set-pieces and emotional swells... Read more

Published on Tuesday 17th December 2019 by Kieran Somers

And so we approach the end of another year of cinema-going.  So how was 2019 for you at the movies?  A vintage year or one of only middling fare?  Certainly,... Read more

Published on Tuesday 10th December 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Set mostly in the year 2012, The Two Popes tells the story of a pivotal meeting between the then Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio... Read more

Published on Thursday 28th November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  James Mangold’s Le Mans ’66 (titled Ford v Ferrari in America) is a sports drama of the very best quality which we rarely see in world cinema nowadays.  Effectively... Read more

Published on Wednesday 27th November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  There’s a scene approximately half way through Rian Johnson’s new mystery film Knives Out in which a mother and daughter watch an episode of Murder, She Wrote in the... Read more

Published on Tuesday 26th November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The latest film from writer-director Noah Baumbach is a wonderfully-acted and deeply affecting drama which examines the downward-spiraling marriage between a successful theatre director in New York City and... Read more

Published on Thursday 14th November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  It’s not often that one has the opportunity to employ the term bona fide classic, especially with regard to the work of a filmmaker and actors in the twilight... Read more

Published on Wednesday 13th November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Making a sequel to an iconic horror film is no easy task, but just imagine the onerous chore of attempting to mould that sequel in such a way that... Read more

Published on Tuesday 12th November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Released in the early Summer of 1969, Sam Peckinpah’s classic The Wild Bunch still feels like a brilliant anomaly in the Western genre as a whole some 50 years... Read more

Published on Sunday 3rd November 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The good news about the latest Terminator film is that it is a return to form for a franchise which had latterly suffered from some heavy-handed and humourless sequels... Read more

Published on Thursday 31st October 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The directorial debut of Joe Talbot, The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a bittersweet ode to a city in flux and the tale of young men who... Read more

Published on Thursday 17th October 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The opening moments of Todd Phillips Joker set the tone for much of what is to follow.  A loser of a would-be comedian by the name of Arthur Fleck... Read more

Published on Wednesday 16th October 2019 by Kieran Somers

  A west in transition is one of the main themes of George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its theatrical release... Read more

Published on Tuesday 10th September 2019 by Kieran Somers

  After the huge success of 1969’s Easy Rider, producer, star and co-writer Peter Fonda did a very strange thing.  He directed an elegiac western called The Hired Hand which... Read more

Published on Wednesday 4th September 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The 1971 Alan J. Pakula-directed film Klute is not so much a film noir or a thriller, but rather an insightful character study which manages to get under the... Read more

Published on Monday 2nd September 2019 by Kieran Somers

  It’s not often that a film by a foreign power is the subject of praise from the Minister of Propaganda of a totalitarian state.  But Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 thriller... Read more

Published on Wednesday 28th August 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Voted the greatest British film of all time (in a 1999 British Film Institute poll), Carol Reed’s The Third Man remains one of the best and most influential film... Read more

Published on Wednesday 21st August 2019 by Kieran Somers

  80 years ago in August 1939 a musical fantasy film based on a 1900 children’s book was released in the United States and changed forever the landscape of cinema... Read more

Published on Thursday 15th August 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film is a nostalgic survey of late 1960s Hollywood as well as a meditation on matters such as fading celebrity, the ties of friendship and... Read more

Published on Tuesday 13th August 2019 by Kieran Somers

  1981’s On Golden Pond starring Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda remains one of the best and most touching cinematic meditations on the theme of growing old and impending mortality. ... Read more

Published on Thursday 1st August 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest celebrates the 60th anniversary of its theatrical release and we look back upon this iconic thriller starring Cary Grant which has entertained countless numbers... Read more

Published on Wednesday 24th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The romantic comedy film has had countless iterations over the years, but, as with so many film genres, for some of its very best examples we find we must... Read more

Published on Monday 22nd July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The year 1974 definitely marked a high point in the cinematic career of Francis Ford Coppola.  His multiple Oscar winner The Godfather Part II was released in December and,... Read more

Published on Thursday 18th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  One cannot but admire the first two feature films which American director Ari Aster has delivered thus far.  In last year’s chillingly effective Hereditary he presented us with a... Read more

Published on Wednesday 17th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  To mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the occasion of man’s first landing on the Moon, we consider the genre of space exploration in cinema... Read more

Published on Tuesday 16th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Some three-quarters of a century after its first theatrical release, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death remains a glorious oddity.  Billed primarily as a... Read more

Published on Wednesday 10th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The latest Spider-Man movie is a slight but thoroughly enjoyable adventure which has our superhero on a road trip of sorts around Europe where he is pitted against apparent... Read more

Published on Tuesday 9th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The late great Peter O’Toole enjoyed many memorable roles during the extent of his impressive career and one of these – which occurred in the early 1980s – has... Read more

Published on Thursday 4th July 2019 by Kieran Somers

  At an early point of Todd Douglas Miller’s documentary on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the very familiar voice of CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite is heard over the images... Read more

Published on Thursday 27th June 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The opening moments of Jack Clayton’s 1959 film Room at the Top perfectly set the scene for things to come.  Aboard a train taking him from his rather uninspiring... Read more

Published on Tuesday 25th June 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The Toy Story film franchise has delivered near-perfect entertainments over the last 24 years and the fourth installment happily continues in this vein with respect to its rich storytelling... Read more

Published on Monday 24th June 2019 by Kieran Somers

Part 2 of our summer movie preview considers four more films which may be major contenders between now and August.  Kenneth Branagh’s Artemis Fowl (based on the books by Irish... Read more

Published on Thursday 20th June 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Following his award-winning documentaries on Ayrton Senna and Amy Winehouse, British filmmaker Asif Kapadia declared that his new film regarding Argentine football legend Diego Maradona completes the third part... Read more

Published on Tuesday 18th June 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The present iteration of the cinematic X-Men gets a very disappointing send off by way of Simon Kinberg’s Dark Phoenix.  The twelfth installment in this film series generally, Dark... Read more

Published on Thursday 6th June 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the life of singer-songwriter Elton John, Rocketman is an exuberant musical/biopic which should appeal to dedicated fans and those of us who can appreciate the early genius... Read more

Published on Thursday 16th May 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The culmination of a 22-film story arc was never going to be an easy thing to pull off, but the Russo Brothers (Anthony and Joe to you) have pretty... Read more

Published on Wednesday 15th May 2019 by Kieran Somers

  In January 1972 the then 29-year-old Aretha Franklin recorded an album of live gospel music at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles over the course of... Read more

Published on Tuesday 14th May 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival has kicked off as of the 14th May and concludes on Saturday 25th May, 2019.  There’s quite an interesting lineup in... Read more

Published on Monday 13th May 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The summer movie season is upon us once again and it’s time to take a look at some of the contenders for the year that is 2019.  With respective... Read more

Published on Thursday 2nd May 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Can you recall how you felt at the beginning of your teens?  What kind of emerging emotions did that entail?  Was there a sense of transition or just sheer... Read more

Published on Tuesday 30th April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Billy Wilder made a total of 11 comedies between 1955’s The Seven Year Itch and 1981’s Buddy Buddy (the director’s final film which featured regular acting collaborators Jack Lemmon... Read more

Published on Thursday 25th April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The cinematic universe of Tim Burton has frequently touched on the theme of the outsider in society; the misfit who – for some physical or personal oddity or imperfection... Read more

Published on Wednesday 24th April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the comic book character of the same name, the latest superhero film from the DC Extended Universe has a generally appealing premise at its narrative core as... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  At an early point in this second adaptation of the 1983 novel of the same name by Stephen King, Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) considers the weighty subject of death... Read more

Published on Wednesday 3rd April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  In the opening moments of Jordan Peele’s new film Us, the writer-director references the 1986 benefit event Hands Across America in a segment taken from a television promotion.  It’s... Read more

Published on Tuesday 2nd April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The American director, producer and screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola turns 80 on the 7th April, 2019 and we salute the man who has given us some classic films such... Read more

Published on Monday 1st April 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the true story of a group of Cornish fishermen from Port Isaac who were discovered by a major record label and achieved a top ten hit with... Read more

Published on Wednesday 20th March 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Billy Wilder’s classic black and white comedy Some Like It Hot celebrates the 60th anniversary of its theatrical release on the 29th March, 2019 and we look back upon... Read more

Published on Thursday 14th March 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Marvel Studios’ first female-led superhero film ticks many boxes with respect to its storytelling, character insight, action-packed sequences and special effects which manage to impress but never dizzy.  Set... Read more

Published on Thursday 7th March 2019 by Kieran Somers

  ‘Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.’  So begins the American remake of the 2014 Norwegian vigilante film In Order of Disappearance which – incidentally –... Read more

Published on Thursday 21st February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  How well do you know your Academy Awards?  Can you even remember the names of the actors and actresses who won those precious gold statuettes this time last year? ... Read more

Published on Wednesday 20th February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The 91st edition of the Academy Awards takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 24th, 2019 and we cast our minds forward to Tinseltown’s biggest night... Read more

Published on Monday 18th February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Director Barry Jenkins’s third feature film is a poignant love story with the backdrop of interracial tension in 1970s American society informing its contextual basis.  Based on the 1974... Read more

Published on Wednesday 13th February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  At the beginning of Can You Ever Forgive Me?, director Marielle Heller’s splendidly astute biographical film, author Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) is in a pretty dark place which will... Read more

Published on Tuesday 12th February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Everything about 2014’s The Lego Movie was indeed awesome as that so-very catchy tune goes.  Here was a computer-animated film which succeeded in both being extremely innovative and terrifically... Read more

Published on Thursday 7th February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Four years ago writer-director Adam McKay gave us The Big Short, his wry and often scathing indictment concerning the financial crisis which followed in the wake of the U.S.... Read more

Published on Tuesday 5th February 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The premise which informs Peter Farrelly’s Oscar-nominated road movie is a very simple one in essence.  Two men from very different backgrounds – both ethnic and cultural – are... Read more

Published on Thursday 24th January 2019 by Kieran Somers

  In 1953 the legendary comic duo that was Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy embarked on a music hall tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland and this relatively short... Read more

Published on Thursday 10th January 2019 by Kieran Somers

  Yorgos Lanthimos can never be accused of the humdrum or the conventional.  The director of Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer has presented us with... Read more

Published on Tuesday 8th January 2019 by Kieran Somers

  The 2018 sequel to 1964’s Mary Poppins is a practically perfect mixed bag with respect to its premise and the entertainment it delivers.  As a film judged on its... Read more

Published on Monday 17th December 2018 by Kieran Somers

And so another year of cinema-going is rapidly drawing to a close.  Whilst not necessarily a vintage year, 2018 still had many fine films on offer and some notable watersheds... Read more

Published on Wednesday 12th December 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The latest cinematic offering from director David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, A Ghost Story) is the occasion for a memorable turn by Robert Redford playing an ageing career... Read more

Published on Wednesday 5th December 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The sequel to 2015’s Creed, and eighth installment in the Rocky series (yes, it’s been that many since 1976), adheres closely to a well-worn formula which, ultimately, works well... Read more

Published on Thursday 22nd November 2018 by Kieran Somers

  2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them partially restored my tentative faith in the Wizarding World created by author J.K. Rowling.  I can’t lay claim to have been... Read more

Published on Tuesday 20th November 2018 by Kieran Somers

  If one were to compile a list of the most influential scriptwriters over the past 50 years, then it is reasonable to conclude that William Goldman – who passed... Read more

Published on Monday 19th November 2018 by Kieran Somers

  A film with a credit list which includes the likes of Viola Davis, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell and Gillian Flynn was never likely to disappoint and such – thankfully... Read more

Published on Thursday 15th November 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The third screen adaptation of the 1957 Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a fairly enjoyable animated revisiting of this classic tale which will appeal to... Read more

Published on Sunday 4th November 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The complex persona and life story of Freddie Mercury is at the heart of this 2018 biopic film concerning the British rock band Queen who are famous for such... Read more

Published on Thursday 1st November 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The good news about the new Halloween film from director David Gordon Green is that it effectively serves as a retcon of all previous sequels in this particular cinematic... Read more

Published on Wednesday 31st October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The final segment of the Rocky Mountain Frontiers tour of 2018 for me begins with a typically early morning rise at 5.30 a.m. in my hotel in Santa Fe. ... Read more

Published on Tuesday 23rd October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  My morning rise in the Best Western Plus Rio Grande Inn in Albuquerque is at 6.20 a.m. and, following a shower, I go in search of the hotel restaurant... Read more

Published on Monday 22nd October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  My morning rise on this the tenth full day of the tour is at 5.30 and, following a shower and the daily start of my journal, I venture down... Read more

Published on Wednesday 17th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The opening sequence of director Damien Chazelle’s big screen adaptation of the book on the life of Neil Armstrong by James R. Hansen perfectly sets the tone for the... Read more

Published on Tuesday 16th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  My start this morning at the Moab Valley Inn is at 5.10 and it’s the familiar ritual of shower and readying my bags and things for the imminent departure. ... Read more

Published on Monday 15th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘Once you have travelled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers.  The mind can never break off from the journey.’... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  My early morning rise in the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City is at 5.20 and, after a shower, I head outdoors for a quick walk before breakfast. ... Read more

Published on Wednesday 10th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.’ – James Michener My morning rise on this... Read more

Published on Tuesday 9th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  I’m up at 4.45 in the morning and the beginning of the day follows a familiar pattern for me.  After a shave and shower, I venture outdoors for a... Read more

Published on Monday 8th October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘Talent comes everywhere’ Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine tells Lady Gaga’s Ally at an early point in this – for the record – third American remake of the 1937 original... Read more

Published on Wednesday 3rd October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step’ Lao Tzu wrote and my personal journey on this momentous day of the Rocky Mountain Frontiers trip... Read more

Published on Tuesday 2nd October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The air in Deadwood has been conducive to a good night’s sleep and I’m up at 4.20 in the morning for a much-needed shave and shower.  The disposable razors... Read more

Published on Monday 1st October 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The second full day of the Rocky Mountain Frontiers tour is also Labor Day in America and I’m up at the slightly ungodly hour of 4.30 a.m. after a... Read more

Published on Wednesday 26th September 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth, the new cinematic offering from veteran film director Spike Lee is at once an affecting, amusing and, ultimately, probing... Read more

Published on Tuesday 25th September 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The very title of director Lance Daly’s 2018 historical revenge-drama film has a particular resonance for Irish people all around the world and of all walks of life.  The... Read more

Published on Monday 24th September 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines, sail away... Read more

Published on Thursday 30th August 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Former marine and Defense Intelligence Agency spy Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is not the type of guy whose path you want to cross if you partake in any unwholesome... Read more

Published on Thursday 23rd August 2018 by Kieran Somers

  There are more than a few shades of the Western film prevalent in John Sturges’s 1955 Bad Day at Black Rock, starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan, and the... Read more

Published on Sunday 12th August 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Robert De Niro turns 75 on the 17th August, 2018 and we celebrate the Oscar-winning actor’s life and work thus far by considering 12 of his best films and... Read more

Published on Thursday 9th August 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Small-scale is not a phrase one would typically associate with the behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but 2015’s Ant-Man provided the closest approximation to date with its... Read more

Published on Wednesday 8th August 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the real-life abduction of a young boy in retaliation for his father’s co-operation with the authorities against the mafia, Sicilian Ghost Story is an adept and affecting... Read more

Published on Monday 30th July 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the picaresque 1964 novel of the same name by Thomas Berger, Little Big Man relates the story of one Jack Crabb, a white man who is raised... Read more

Published on Thursday 26th July 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Truly great action films strike an astute balance between storytelling, character development, tongue-in-cheek humour and the all-important choreographed set-pieces which – well – classify them as being part of... Read more

Published on Wednesday 18th July 2018 by Kieran Somers

  14 years have passed since the release of Pixar’s animated superhero film The Incredibles and much has changed and evolved in this particular genre.  Cinema-goers have had the various... Read more

Published on Thursday 12th July 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The sequel to 2015’s Sicario begins, as one might expect, with a telling engagement on the U.S.-Mexico border.  It’s night-time and a sizable horde of immigrants are attempting to... Read more

Published on Thursday 28th June 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Enthusiasts of the supernatural horror genre are in for a real treat, because here surely is one of the best screen offerings in recent years, a film which delivers... Read more

Published on Wednesday 27th June 2018 by Kieran Somers

Our preview of the summer movies of 2018 resumes as we consider five more releases which will be coming our way between now and the middle of August.  The 2018... Read more

Published on Thursday 14th June 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The fifth installment of the Jurassic Park film series commences with a dark exterior scene in much the same way that the 1993 original directed by Steven Spielberg began. ... Read more

Published on Tuesday 12th June 2018 by Kieran Somers

  1971’s Dirty Harry remains one of the very best of the crime-thriller genre and showcases the persona of Clint Eastwood as the unorthodox police Inspector Harry Callahan, one of... Read more

Published on Thursday 7th June 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The second in Star Wars anthology film series centres on one of the most beloved characters from this particular universe and it may explain some of the difficulties encountered... Read more

Published on Sunday 27th May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (known collectively as The Archers) produced some highly influential films during the 1940s and 1950s (including Black Narcissus and The... Read more

Published on Wednesday 23rd May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The question at the core of Tony Zierra’s documentary Filmworker is as follows, and it’s one which the film returns to repeatedly during its 95-minute running time: Why would... Read more

Published on Wednesday 16th May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Fans of 2016’s Deadpool will not be disappointed by this summer sequel which sees the wisecracking, but essentially endearing Ryan Reynolds reprise his role as the titular Deadpool/Wade Wilson. ... Read more

Published on Tuesday 15th May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Correctly described as a work of realism, John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath was quickly snapped up by Hollywood and released to much acclaim in 1940.  Set... Read more

Published on Sunday 13th May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin, Lean on Pete is an elegiac coming-of-age story featuring a remarkable central performance from the fast-emerging talent... Read more

Published on Thursday 3rd May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The 60th anniversary of the cinematic release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo takes place in May 2018 and we look back upon this psychological thriller which has been described in... Read more

Published on Wednesday 2nd May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The nineteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is here and it’s big, ambitious in scope, gargantuan in terms of its visual effects and production values and, for the... Read more

Published on Tuesday 1st May 2018 by Kieran Somers

  It’s May already and it’s time for us to consider the summer blockbusters which 2018 has to offer.  At time of posting Part 1 of this summer movie preview,... Read more

Published on Thursday 19th April 2018 by Kieran Somers

  How would you live in a world where quietness and stillness were absolute essentials to your survival?  How would you communicate with others?  What sorts of implications would this... Read more

Published on Sunday 15th April 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The centenary of the birth of William Holden takes place on the 17th April, 2018.  One of my own personal favourite actors of all time, Holden was born William... Read more

Published on Thursday 12th April 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The premise of Wes Anderson’s latest cinematic offering is quite simple really, but, as always, the execution of that premise is typically deft, more than a little offbeat and... Read more

Published on Wednesday 4th April 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘People come to the Oasis for all the things they can do, but they stay for all the things they can be,’ Tye Sheridan’s Wade Watts declares at the... Read more

Published on Friday 23rd March 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Australian director Garth Davis’s somewhat revisionist biblical drama opens with its titular character’s decision to seek her own path in life and follow a destiny which she envisages in... Read more

Published on Friday 9th March 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Scottish director Lynne Ramsay could hardly be described as prolific, but her films leave an undoubted impression which lingers long after the final frame and are permeated by her... Read more

Published on Wednesday 7th March 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The 90th Academy Awards, which took place on the 4th March, 2018, threw up few surprises in terms of winners and was distinctly lacking in terms of a central... Read more

Published on Sunday 25th February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  ‘America – they want someone to love.  They want someone to hate,’ muses Margot Robbie’s Tonya Harding towards the close of director Craig Gillespie’s biographical black comedy.  In the... Read more

Published on Friday 23rd February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The opening moments of Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical film Lady Bird tell us that we are not just in another movie about teen angst and coming-of-age.  There is a shot... Read more

Published on Thursday 22nd February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The 90th edition of the Academy Awards takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles on Sunday 4th March, 2018 and we consider the top ten categories... Read more

Published on Wednesday 21st February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The latest fantasy offering from Guillermo del Toro is a continuation of the director’s fascination with monsters, fables and humans of distinctly imperfect dimensions.  It’s also quite possibly the... Read more

Published on Tuesday 20th February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a thought-provoking and deeply-felt meditation on themes such as political isolationism and the weight of inheritance and personal responsibility.  Such... Read more

Published on Thursday 8th February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  When Steven Spielberg decided to direct his latest film based on a screenplay by Liz Hannah in double-fast time, one could surely predict the preponderance of latter-day allusions which... Read more

Published on Wednesday 7th February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  Set in post-war 1950s London, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread focuses on a meticulous fashion designer named Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a man who insists on rigid routine... Read more

Published on Tuesday 6th February 2018 by Kieran Somers

  The early days of Winston Churchill’s wartime tenure as British prime minister in May 1940 are essayed in director Joe Wright’s new film which benefits greatly, at its core,... Read more

Published on Sunday 14th January 2018 by Kieran Somers

  A grieving mother’s unimaginable pain and her relentless pursuit of justice is at the heart of Martin McDonagh’s new film set in the mid-west of the United States and... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th January 2018 by Kieran Somers

  When confronted by journalists concerning the nature of his grandson’s kidnapping at an early point in Ridley Scott’s new film, J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) tersely remarks that the... Read more

Published on Monday 18th December 2017 by Kieran Somers

The great Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins turns 80 on the 31st December, 2017 and we look back fondly on his career to date with a selection of ten of his... Read more

Published on Monday 18th December 2017 by Kieran Somers

As 2017 draws to a close, we look back at the films we’ve seen and reviewed this year and select our ten favourites.  Here are mine in alphabetical order:  ... Read more

Published on Tuesday 28th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Ridley Scott celebrates his 80th birthday on the 30th November, 2017 and we look back on the career of the English director and producer who has made some memorable... Read more

Published on Monday 27th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The final part of my Western Discovery journal/blog begins with our departure from San Francisco on Tuesday the 12th September.  My stay in this truly wonderful city has not... Read more

Published on Thursday 23rd November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  At the conclusion of 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder plunged the human world of the DC extended universe into a sense of foreboding and... Read more

Published on Wednesday 22nd November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Stalker films of yesteryear such as Single White Female and Scorsese’s The King of Comedy involved obsessive characters paying endless visits to residences and places of work before being... Read more

Published on Tuesday 21st November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  When one surveys the history of Hollywood cinema to date, there are surely few films as iconic and as universally popular as Casablanca which celebrates the 75th anniversary of... Read more

Published on Monday 20th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  My first night at the Sheraton Hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf leads to a very comfortable sleep and I feel quite rested as I rise and have a shower at... Read more

Published on Thursday 16th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The lovable bear without a shred of cynicism or prejudice returns in this absolute joy of a sequel to 2014’s Paddington based on the character created by the late... Read more

Published on Wednesday 15th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express is generally regarded as one of the author’s seminal works and with one previous big screen version and at least... Read more

Published on Tuesday 14th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The great Martin Scorsese celebrates his 75th birthday on November 17th, 2017 and we look back with much admiration on a career in film which has produced some true... Read more

Published on Monday 13th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  We leave the Ramada Hotel in Modesto just after 7.45 in the morning and hit the road for San Francisco which is just a little over an hour away,... Read more

Published on Sunday 12th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The latest screen offering from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Dogtooth) is a stark and deeply unsettling psychological piece in which a husband and father must make a... Read more

Published on Thursday 9th November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Set in Northern Italy during a typically sun-kissed summer of 1983, Call Me By Your Name is both a moving and a melancholy exploration of repressed feeling and burgeoning... Read more

Published on Thursday 2nd November 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘I know what you’re thinking: how did this happen?  Well, it’s a long story…’ begins Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in the opening scene of director Taika Waititi’s entry in the... Read more

Published on Wednesday 25th October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Cool Hand Luke starring Paul Newman (as the titular character) and George Kennedy (in an Oscar-winning performance), celebrates the 50th anniversary of its release in November 2017 and we... Read more

Published on Monday 23rd October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  I get up at 6 a.m. on a beautiful but crisp morning at Mammoth Mountain and take my usual short walk before breakfast.  After the sweltering heat of places... Read more

Published on Sunday 22nd October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s a 5.30 a.m. rise for me on this my last morning in Vegas.  Convincing myself somehow that it’s later than it actually is, I grab a quick sandwich... Read more

Published on Thursday 19th October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Well Vegas is certainly the town that never sleeps as they say and I can well believe it as I wander out of my room just after 5 in... Read more

Published on Friday 13th October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘Sometimes to love someone, you got to be a stranger,’ Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard tells Ryan Gosling’s Agent K in Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to 1982’s science fiction classic Blade... Read more

Published on Monday 9th October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  I take my usual short walk before breakfast and see a small deer crossing the road just before 6 a.m.  It’s a nice image to begin the day with,... Read more

Published on Thursday 5th October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Darren Aronofsky can never be accused of the conventional or the mainstream.  Over the years, the Brooklyn-born director has provided us with the surreal and the disturbing in equal... Read more

Published on Wednesday 4th October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Frank Capra’s seminal fantasy film Lost Horizon, based on the 1933 novel of the same name by author James Hilton, went on general release some 80 years ago in... Read more

Published on Monday 2nd October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s a 5 a.m. rise for me in Page and after a quick shower I grab the large rolls in my fridge which I procured the evening before in... Read more

Published on Sunday 1st October 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s a 5 a.m. rise for me again and the day starts out in a promising way when the buffet breakfast in the hotel – which begins at 6.30... Read more

Published on Thursday 28th September 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The work of Stephen King has enjoyed something of a mixed fortune over the years as regards big screen adaptations.  1976’s Carrie, for example, deserves its place among the... Read more

Published on Wednesday 27th September 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The theme of all-consuming duty and devotion to a cause is a central one to David Lean’s 1957 epic war film The Bridge on the River Kwai which celebrates... Read more

Published on Monday 25th September 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s day 3 of the Western Discovery – September 3rd, 2017 to be precise – and we’ve come to one of the centrepieces of the trip as a whole... Read more

Published on Thursday 21st September 2017 by Kieran Somers

  I can’t remember a holiday (at least not in recent memory) when I got to bed so early at night and was up at the crack of dawn (almost... Read more

Published on Wednesday 20th September 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel’s sake.  The great affair is to move.’  Words of wisdom from Robert Louis... Read more

Published on Tuesday 29th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s a case of never say never as director Steven Soderbergh returns to the big screen after a four-year hiatus since the release of 2013’s Side Effects and Behind... Read more

Published on Monday 28th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The second big screen collaboration between director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) and star Tom Cruise concerns itself with the activities of one Barry Seal, a skilled pilot and... Read more

Published on Thursday 24th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  About one third of the way into David Lowery’s supernatural drama A Ghost Story, the film’s heroine Rooney Mara (simply known as M) sits down at the end of... Read more

Published on Wednesday 23rd August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Fred Zinnemann’s 1952 western is an atypical entry in the genre as a whole, but is rightly regarded as one of the best and most influential of its kind.... Read more

Published on Tuesday 22nd August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘If Nancy Hanks came back as a ghost, seeking news of what she loved most, she’d ask first ‘Where’s my son?, What’s happened to Abe?, What’s he done?’  John... Read more

Published on Monday 21st August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The streets of New York City during a long hot post-war Summer is the main setting for Jules Dassin’s memorable police procedural The Naked City.  Filmed in 1947 and... Read more

Published on Wednesday 16th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Adapted from the Walter Tevis 1959 novel of the same name, The Hustler opens in a very distinctive environment as Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and his partner Charlie (Myron... Read more

Published on Saturday 12th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the 1959 novel of the same name by James Vance Marshall, Walkabout opens with a title card which explains what this very concept is – a walkabout... Read more

Published on Thursday 10th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde celebrates the 50th anniversary of its release in August 2017.  Starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the titular characters, this is a film... Read more

Published on Thursday 10th August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The late Richard Attenborough had a distinguished career in front of and behind the camera and this 1978 psychological-horror film proved that he was a more than adept director... Read more

Published on Wednesday 2nd August 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Dustin Hoffman celebrates his 80th birthday on the 8th August, 2017 and we look back upon a career in film which has been marked with great success and achievement... Read more

Published on Wednesday 26th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘All we did was survive,’ Harry Styles’s young British army private remarks as a word of congratulations is offered to him towards the end of Dunkirk.  ‘That was enough,’... Read more

Published on Tuesday 25th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Sofia Coppola’s new screen version of the Thomas P. Cullinan novel The Beguiled is a fairly straight and serviceable adaptation starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst.  I... Read more

Published on Tuesday 25th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Peter Weir’s majestic 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock opens appropriately with some lines from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem A Dream Within a Dream.  The pervading sense of mystery... Read more

Published on Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Walt Disney’s fifth animated feature film Bambi celebrates its 75th anniversary in August 2017 and we look back fondly on one of the studio’s most beloved creations.  Based on... Read more

Published on Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Don Siegel’s The Beguiled opens with the seemingly innocent scene of a young girl in the woods collecting mushrooms.  We know what period of time this is as several... Read more

Published on Saturday 22nd July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘They say he wanted to be a mountain man,’ an off-screen narrator tells us at the beginning of Sydney Pollack’s excellent 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson starring Robert Redford.  Based... Read more

Published on Thursday 20th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Trey Edward Shults’s post-apocalyptic psychological drama is as effective a piece in this particular sub-genre as you will have seen in years optimising as it does its low-key setting... Read more

Published on Wednesday 19th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  You really have to hand it to the good folk at Pixar Studios with respect to their powers of persistence with the Cars franchise.  2006’s Cars was generally well... Read more

Published on Thursday 13th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  At a pivotal moment in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark berates the teenage Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) for being reckless, for putting his life at risk as... Read more

Published on Wednesday 12th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The final chapter of the Planet of the Apes rebooted trilogy draws together all of the elements that have worked so well for these recent films in the franchise... Read more

Published on Tuesday 11th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The great Harrison Ford turns 75 on July 13th, 2017 and what better occasion than this to appreciate the actor’s wonderful career to date as he hits the three-quarter-century... Read more

Published on Thursday 6th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The problem with movie trilogies is that they come in threes as someone once said and the latest installment in the Despicable Me series is a little too broad... Read more

Published on Wednesday 5th July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The imminent release of Matt Reeves’s War for the Planet of the Apes is the occasion for us to look back at that particular film franchise generally and its... Read more

Published on Monday 3rd July 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s seldom that the passing of a film critic is met with so many warm eulogies and countless expressions of appreciation, but the death of British film critic, journalist... Read more

Published on Thursday 29th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘Was he slow?’ Kevin Spacey’s Doc asks in an early scene with regard to the titular character of writer-director Edgar Wright’s latest film Baby Driver.  ‘No, he wasn’t,’ responds... Read more

Published on Wednesday 28th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Alfred Hitchcock’s first creative decade spent in Hollywood (namely the 1940s) produced a mix of both the sublime (Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent, Shadow of a Doubt, Lifeboat, Notorious) and some... Read more

Published on Sunday 25th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Polish-born writer Jerzy Kosinski, the 1979 satirical-comedy Being There provided the great Peter Sellers with one of his final... Read more

Published on Sunday 25th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s August 22nd 1972 – one of the hottest days of the summer – and a group of three men decide to hold up the First Brooklyn Savings Bank... Read more

Published on Saturday 24th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘I shall move a mountain,’ Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, aka Fitzcarraldo, declares at an early point in writer-director Werner Herzog’s 1982 adventure-drama film Fitzcarraldo.  The character – as portrayed by... Read more

Published on Wednesday 21st June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Mystery and ambiguity are common hallmarks of the work of British author Daphne du Maurier (Jamaica Inn, Rebecca and short stories such as Monte Verita, The Apple Tree and... Read more

Published on Thursday 15th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  When approaching a film such as 2017’s re-imagining of The Mummy (well, actually, the intended first installment of Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe series – just watch what they do... Read more

Published on Wednesday 7th June 2017 by Kieran Somers

How many of the big summer releases have you seen so far?  Were you on the edge of your seat as director Ridley Scott unleashed yet another plethora of those... Read more

Published on Thursday 1st June 2017 by Kieran Somers

  In a significant early moment in Patty Jenkins’ big screen adaptation of the DC Comics character created by psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) dispenses... Read more

Published on Wednesday 31st May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 black comedy The Trouble with Harry begins with a small boy appearing on the horizon of a lush autumnal landscape.  The setting appears idyllic, the colours... Read more

Published on Tuesday 30th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Morgan Freeman turns 80 on the 1st June, 2017 and we take this opportunity to salute a truly great actor who has graced both stage and screen since the... Read more

Published on Sunday 28th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Alfred Hitchcock’s superb 1943 psychological film noir Shadow of a Doubt opens with the ominously-framed Joseph Cotten lying on a bed.  A wad of cash is carelessly strewn on... Read more

Published on Sunday 28th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The subjects of patriotism, hero-worship, small-town ideals and parochial politics are examined in Preston Sturges’ 1944 satire Hail the Conquering Hero starring Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines and William Demarest.... Read more

Published on Saturday 27th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  William Dieterle’s 1941 film The Devil and Daniel Webster is not easy to categorise in terms of what genre it actually belongs to.  On the one hand, it is... Read more

Published on Wednesday 24th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Legendary German film director, screenwriter, author, actor and opera director Werner Herzog partook in a public interview at the 2017 International Literature Festival Dublin in the National Concert Hall... Read more

Published on Tuesday 23rd May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  It’s always sad news when an actor dies and the passing of Sir Roger Moore at the age of 89 was quite rightly received in such a vein the... Read more

Published on Sunday 21st May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘This is a very strange love affair,’ Ingrid Bergman’s Alicia Huberman remarks to Cary Grant’s T.R. Devlin at an early moment in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 Notorious.  ‘Why?’ Devlin enquires.... Read more

Published on Saturday 20th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Preston Sturges’ riotous 1942 screwball comedy begins with a frenetic opening credit sequence that is a story all in itself.  Accompanied by a fast-paced version of the William Tell... Read more

Published on Thursday 18th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The second installment in director Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel series is set some 10 years after the events of 2012’s Prometheus.  For many viewers – myself included – one... Read more

Published on Wednesday 17th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Werner Herzog’s 1977 film Stroszek opens as Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S., who also starred in the director’s earlier The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) is being freed from the prison... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  There is a theory that film music did not start out for any particular aesthetic purpose, but rather for a most practical one, namely, to drown out the noise... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Peter Quill and his motley crew are back in James Gunn’s visually-inflated and at times over-the-top sequel to his 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy.  Set more or less in... Read more

Published on Sunday 7th May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Wim Wenders’s 1984 Palme d’Or-winning film Paris, Texas opens with a solitary figure ambling unsteadily through the South Texas desert landscape.  This might well be the beginning of a... Read more

Published on Tuesday 2nd May 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The setting and circumstances of poverty and want in post-war Italy is established at a very early point in Vittorio De Sica’s masterly 1948 film Bicycle Thieves.  A group... Read more

Published on Sunday 30th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 science fiction film Solaris remains a seminal piece in the genre as a whole examining, as it does, themes relating to existence, love and the individual’s... Read more

Published on Saturday 29th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Werner Herzog’s 1974 film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is based on the true story of the foundling Kaspar Hauser who appeared out of nowhere one morning in the... Read more

Published on Friday 28th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Warren Beatty’s first feature film in 16 years is his own long-cherished project on American businessman, aviator and philanthropist Howard Hughes (‘billionaire, not millionaire’ as the great eccentirc declares himself... Read more

Published on Wednesday 26th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The Summer 2017 blockbuster season is almost upon us, but hasn’t it already started you say?  The four highest grossing films of 2017 thus far (at time of posting this... Read more

Published on Wednesday 19th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Jack Nicholson turns 80 on the 22nd April 2017 and we mark the occasion by fondly recalling some of his very best films and memorable screen personas.  Born in... Read more

Published on Tuesday 11th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  What are some of your very best memories of going to the cinema?  I recently watched Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society again (on blu-ray) and reminded myself that this... Read more

Published on Wednesday 5th April 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The 1989 French-Canadian film Jesus of Montreal, concerning a contemporary staging of the Passion Play, is at once a wonderful allegory on the very story it depicts as well... Read more

Published on Thursday 30th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The episodic adventures of British officer and far-reaching explorer Percy Fawcett is the subject of writer-director James Gray’s new film The Lost City of Z starring Charlie Hunnam and... Read more

Published on Tuesday 28th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Actor, director, producer and screenwriter of some six decades of fame (and counting) Warren Beatty turns 80 on the 30th March, 2017 and we celebrate his life and career... Read more

Published on Sunday 26th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  There’s little doubt about the fact that 1950s and 1960s cinema proved to be fertile ground for the biblical epic.  Titles such as Henry Koster’s 1953 The Robe and... Read more

Published on Sunday 26th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  What was it about Alfred Hitchcock and train journeys?  The director’s films feature many forms of transport, but the good old-fashioned locomotive surely leaves the greatest impression.  Consider, if... Read more

Published on Saturday 25th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  If you’re ever in the mood for some old-fashioned comedy from yesteryear, then consider checking out the 1935 film Ruggles of Red Gap starring the great Charles Laughton.  Directed... Read more

Published on Thursday 23rd March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The recent winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 89th Academy Awards is an affecting slice of human drama that explores a number of themes ranging... Read more

Published on Wednesday 15th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The over-sized simian is back with a bang in director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ highly enjoyable and well-paced monster movie which acts as both a reboot in the Kong franchise and... Read more

Published on Sunday 12th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Martin Scorsese’s 1983 black comedy examines themes of celebrity worship and the power of media culture and for these reasons remains as fresh and pertinent today as it did... Read more

Published on Saturday 11th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The great Jack Nicholson turns 80 in a few weeks’ time (more to follow on that by the way), so it seems timely and appropriate to remind ourselves of... Read more

Published on Thursday 9th March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The retractable-clawed one makes his (reputedly) final cinematic appearance in James Mangold’s highly enjoyable and appropriately resonant Logan featuring a gritty and poignant performance by X-Men regular Hugh Jackman... Read more

Published on Thursday 2nd March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Woody Allen’s 1986 comedy-drama is for me his second best film after 1979’s peerless Manhattan.  As the very title suggests, this is a tale concerning family primarily, but there... Read more

Published on Wednesday 1st March 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The early 1960s Space Race is told from a very different but highly important perspective in director Theodore Melfi’s entertaining and heart-rending biographical drama.  Based on the book of... Read more

Published on Tuesday 28th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Well, this is really sad news.  Actor-director Bill Paxton passed away on the 25th February, 2017 following complications which apparently developed whilst he was undergoing heart surgery.  The man... Read more

Published on Monday 27th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Oh dear!! Did that really just happen??  The 89th Academy Awards descended into near-farce in the early hours of Monday morning as La La Land was incorrectly named Best... Read more

Published on Tuesday 21st February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Denzel Washington’s third film as a director, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name by August Wilson, is a powerhouse performance movie showcasing the talents... Read more

Published on Monday 20th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The 89th Academy Awards ceremony takes place next Sunday night, 26th February 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.  When host Jimmy Kimmel takes to the stage many will... Read more

Published on Thursday 16th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Those plastic brick characters are back for this spin-off installment of 2014’s The Lego Movie featuring that very self-referencing ‘dark’ character who just so happened to be one of... Read more

Published on Tuesday 14th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Barry Jenkins’ second feature film is a heartfelt study of the human condition told in the particular instance of one individual, but with themes which are familiar and universal... Read more

Published on Thursday 9th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  One man’s search for his birth home in his native India is the subject of Australian director Garth Davis’ feature debut starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman.... Read more

Published on Tuesday 7th February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The subject of interracial love and a just cause for one of the most basic of civil liberties is the focus of writer-director Jeff Nichols’ new film starring Australian... Read more

Published on Wednesday 1st February 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Mel Gibson’s war drama concerning Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honour, is far from being the most understated film you will likely see... Read more

Published on Tuesday 31st January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘You’re a tourist in your own youth!’ Simon ‘Sick Boy’ Williamson (Jonny Lee Miller) yells at Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) as the former friends visit yet another familiar vista... Read more

Published on Thursday 26th January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The aftermath of the JFK assassination and the impact on his bereaved widow Jackie is the main focus of Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s biopic-drama featuring an all-encompassing performance from... Read more

Published on Tuesday 24th January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Kenneth Lonergan’s drama, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January 2016, may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is an affecting character study with... Read more

Published on Thursday 19th January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  ‘People love what other people are passionate about,’ Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) tells Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) at a pivotal moment and the good news is that you don’t... Read more

Published on Tuesday 17th January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  The first spin-off tale in the greater (and ever expanding) Star Wars universe is a solidly acted, solidly directed and solidly impressive visual entry in the overall canon which... Read more

Published on Thursday 12th January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Director J.A Bayona’s adaptation of the hybrid fantasy novel of the same name by Patrick Ness (from an original idea by the late Siobhan Dowd) is that rare type... Read more

Published on Wednesday 11th January 2017 by Kieran Somers

  Martin Scorsese’s spiritual quest, which he has referenced in many of his films from Mean Streets through to The Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun, continues with this adaptation... Read more

Published on Tuesday 13th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Disney finishes a very exceptional year on a relatively good note in this tale of a plucky chief’s daughter who hits the high seas in a quest to reunite... Read more

Published on Monday 12th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

As we prepare to bid a fond farewell to 2016 in the coming weeks, let’s consider what were the best films on general release in Irish cinemas during that period... Read more

Published on Sunday 11th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  What’s your favourite Christmas movie?  Do you incline towards the more modern-day comedies which have turned up in recent years in which individuals and families find themselves entirely overwrought... Read more

Published on Sunday 11th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Kelly Fremon Craig’s The Edge of Seventeen is this decade’s Juno in terms of its sharp comedy interspersed with a bittersweet coming-of-age story.  17-year old Nadine Franklin (Hailee Steinfeld)... Read more

Published on Saturday 10th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Keith Gordon’s 1992 film A Midnight Clear is a fine and telling depiction of the futility of war and the comradeship that exists between brothers-in-arms.  Set in December 1944,... Read more

Published on Saturday 10th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Clint Eastwood’s latest screen offering essays the substantial heroics of a very modest man who saved 155 souls, including himself, one bitterly cold January day in 2009.  Captain Chesley... Read more

Published on Tuesday 6th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The great Kirk Douglas turns 100 on the 9th December, 2016.  One of the last remaining stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Douglas was born in humble beginnings,... Read more

Published on Tuesday 6th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Director George More O’Ferrall’s 1952 drama The Holly and the Ivy is not a film that readily comes to mind when considering festive screen offerings, but it is nonetheless... Read more

Published on Monday 5th December 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Robert Zemeckis’ latest offering treads some very familiar ground in terms of wartime romance and subterfuge goings-on as Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard are teamed as fictitious husband and... Read more

Published on Tuesday 29th November 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor takes place on the 7th December, 2016.  As a way of marking this watershed moment in the Second World War, which resulted... Read more

Published on Monday 28th November 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The third and final instalment of Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy is soon to turn 50.  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Leone’s epic tale of three gunslingers (as... Read more

Published on Thursday 24th November 2016 by Kieran Somers

  A spin-off prequel to the Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a beautifully-realised fantasy canvas of extraordinary visuals, finely-timed set-pieces and some terrific lead... Read more

Published on Thursday 17th November 2016 by Kieran Somers

  American fashion designer Tom Ford’s second feature as a director is an affecting neo-noir psychological piece which juxtaposes the scenes of a short-lived marriage and a fictional work some... Read more

Published on Thursday 10th November 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s latest offering is a science fiction film of enormous depth, affecting performances and a stunning culmination that reaches an unexpected, but extremely satisfying emotional resonance.... Read more

Published on Thursday 3rd November 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Marvel’s latest entry in its cinematic universe is an entertaining tale combining the source material of its 1963 comic book creation with a new world sensibility and Eastern mysticism... Read more

Published on Wednesday 26th October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Everyone’s entitled to one good scare at Halloween, as that line from the famous horror film goes, and Ouija: Origin of Evil should certainly not disappoint aficionados of the... Read more

Published on Thursday 20th October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Tom Cruise returns as the action man of few words and  almost super-human deeds Jack Reacher in this fairly lacklustre, run-of-the mill action thriller.  Helmed by Edward Zwick, with... Read more

Published on Wednesday 19th October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Well it’s that time of the year again!  The leaves are falling from the trees, all manner of cheap fireworks are beginning to sound in the evenings, and the... Read more

Published on Saturday 15th October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  There’s a scene in Richard Donner’s 1988 film Scrooged in which Bill Murray’s character Frank Cross is mistaken by a group of homeless people for Richard Burton.  One of... Read more

Published on Thursday 13th October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  A twisty tale from start to finish which meanders as much as a coastline train journey might well do, The Girl on the Train is a pushy melodrama postulating... Read more

Published on Thursday 6th October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the 1960 John Sturges classic western of the same name (which, remember, was itself a remake of a certain 1954 Kurosawa Samurai film) is, as... Read more

Published on Saturday 1st October 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Every so often cinema brings to our attention a sidebar story or faded footnote in history that might otherwise not be known by the public at large.  Such is... Read more

Published on Thursday 22nd September 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Fede Alvarez’s sleeper hit Don’t Breathe has been described in some quarters as a horror film, but don’t be put off or mislead by this piece of pigeonholing.  An... Read more

Published on Saturday 17th September 2016 by Kieran Somers

  I recently watched two films about Hollywood and was reminded of how well that particular town has examined and, often, parodied itself over the years.  The films in question... Read more

Published on Thursday 15th September 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Scottish director David Mackenzie’s heist movie about two brothers robbing banks in order to save their West Texas family farm is one of the best films of 2016 so... Read more

Published on Monday 12th September 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Roald Dahl was born 100 years ago on the 13th September, 1916.  A novelist, short story writer and recognised ace fighter pilot during the Second World War, Dahl is... Read more

Published on Thursday 8th September 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Woody Allen’s 47th feature film is a nice entry in the writer-director’s later canon which is at once an ode to old Hollywood and a love lost that will... Read more

Published on Wednesday 24th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The 8th September, 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Star Trek The Original Series on television.  Conceived by its creator, the late Gene Roddenberry, as a... Read more

Published on Tuesday 23rd August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  I recently purchased a DVD copy of the 1979 television series Huckleberry Finn and His Friends starring Ian Tracey as Huck and Sammy Snyders as Tom Sawyer.  By my... Read more

Published on Monday 22nd August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  A Month in the Country (Pat O’Connor 1987) Pat O’Connor’s 1987 adaptation of the novel of the same name by J.L. Carr seems a timely film to re-appreciate as... Read more

Published on Thursday 18th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Finally, in a summer of some serious misfires and out-and-out duds comes a film with real heart which ticks all the boxes in terms of fantasy, adventure, drama and... Read more

Published on Wednesday 17th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Charles Robert Redford Jr. – better known to many of us perhaps as The Sundance Kid – turns 80 on the 18th August, 2016.  The star of many acclaimed... Read more

Published on Monday 15th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Later this year – November 2016 to be precise – Warren Beatty’s new film Rules Don’t Apply will be released by 20th Century Fox.  Described as a romantic comedy-drama,... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The DC Universe expands ever so much more with this story based around a group of anti-heroes who are employed by a secret government agency to save the world. ... Read more

Published on Sunday 7th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  On Friday 5th August, 2016 I left the office early and walked around the corner to the Savoy Cinema on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.  I had a ticket booked for... Read more

Published on Sunday 7th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass reunite for what is effectively the fifth instalment in the Bourne series, and the sequel to their previous effort together, that being 2007’s... Read more

Published on Saturday 6th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The sequel to Pixar’s 2003 Finding Nemo is a warm, poignant and funny story that more than complements its predecessor whilst adding another layer of meaningful narrative and memorable... Read more

Published on Thursday 4th August 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The Ox-Bow Incident (William A. Wellman 1943) William A. Wellman’s excellent wartime western is a stark indictment of lynching, mob rule, and the rush to judge individuals prior to... Read more

Published on Wednesday 27th July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan 1997) Based on Russell Banks’ 1991 novel of the same name, Atom Egoyan’s 1997 film, concerning a tragic bus accident involving schoolchildren, is a... Read more

Published on Sunday 24th July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1982 fantasy novel of the same name should prove of equal delight to both adults and children.  The pacing of the story might... Read more

Published on Saturday 23rd July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The thirteenth instalment in the Star Trek film franchise is a more than decent entry that should please most Trekkie fans and perhaps even capture a few new ones... Read more

Published on Wednesday 20th July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood 1973) This supernatural western of 1973 is notable in the first instance for being Clint Eastwood’s first film in the genre in the dual... Read more

Published on Saturday 9th July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  In the Bedroom (Todd Field 2001) Todd Field’s superb 2001 film is a telling examination of loss and grief, and also the extreme acts such emotions can provoke in... Read more

Published on Thursday 7th July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch 1992) David Lynch’s prequel to his 1990-1991 TV series premiered at the 45th Cannes Film Festival (where it played in-competition alongside... Read more

Published on Monday 4th July 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Michael Cimino, Oscar-winning director of The Deer Hunter, passed away on Saturday 2nd July, 2016 at the age of 77.  Cimino made only a handful of films in his career,... Read more

Published on Thursday 30th June 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The most requested photo in the U.S. government National Archives forms the premise for this generally entertaining and somewhat hypothetical narrative of a December 1970 meeting between then U.S.... Read more

Published on Tuesday 28th June 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Friday July 1st 2016 marks the centenary of the birth of the great Olivia de Havilland who happily is still with us and resides today in Paris, France.  De... Read more

Published on Tuesday 21st June 2016 by Kieran Somers

July 1st, 2016 marks the centenary of the commencement of the Battle of the Somme, the largest battle of the First World War and generally recognised as one of the fiercest... Read more

Published on Thursday 16th June 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Lethal Weapon creator Shane Black’s latest offering teams Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as unlikely allies in a tale of late 70s seedy Los Angeles involving the porn industry... Read more

Published on Wednesday 15th June 2016 by Kieran Somers

With the recent sad passing of the great Muhammad Ali, we consider the boxing movie genre and some of its finest examples down through the years.  In a recent blog... Read more

Published on Thursday 26th May 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The ninth instalment of the X-Men is one of the more disappointing entries in the series and, certainly, the weakest yet delivered by Bryan Singer (on X-directing duties for the... Read more

Published on Wednesday 25th May 2016 by Kieran Somers

With Leicester City’s recent remarkable ascent to the pinnacle of the English Premiership, and the looming 2016 European Championships, we consider five of the best movies about soccer and commend... Read more

Published on Wednesday 18th May 2016 by Kieran Somers

Further on from Part 1 of my Summer 2016 Movie Preview of a few weeks ago, lets consider six more films which are to be released between now and the... Read more

Published on Monday 9th May 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The Cannes Film Festival has had quite the long and varied history to say the very least.  Begun ostensibly as a reaction to the Venice Film Festival, Cannes’ official... Read more

Published on Thursday 5th May 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Hmmm – haven’t we seen this somewhere recently?  Superheroes fighting superheroes.  It didn’t have a very happy ending for us the viewer the last time, but, thankfully, Marvel’s latest... Read more

Published on Wednesday 4th May 2016 by Kieran Somers

Is it just me, or is summer blockbuster season getting earlier every year?  You could well be forgiven for thinking that we are already in the midst of the blockbuster... Read more

Published on Thursday 28th April 2016 by Kieran Somers

  You really have to hand it to Disney!  The House of Mouse has Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel in its stables and all indicators point to its domination at the box office... Read more

Published on Wednesday 27th April 2016 by Kieran Somers

  May 1st, 2016 marks the 75th anniversary of a seminal moment in the history of not just American cinema, but narrative cinema as a whole.  For it was on... Read more

Published on Thursday 21st April 2016 by Kieran Somers

April 23rd, 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, undoubtedly the most famous and one of the most prolific playwrights the world has ever seen.  His... Read more

Published on Tuesday 19th April 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Ryan O’Neal turns 75 on the 20th April, 2016.  An actor who came to full public prominence in the early 1970s (by way of the smash hit that was... Read more

Published on Wednesday 13th April 2016 by Kieran Somers

  We are very glad to hear and report that the great George Miller has recently been named president of the Cannes Film Festival main competition jury for its upcoming... Read more

Published on Monday 4th April 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Gregory Peck was born 100 years ago on the 5th April, 1916.  Active in terms of his film work from 1944 (Days of Glory and The Keys of the... Read more

Published on Thursday 31st March 2016 by Kieran Somers

  Well, finally, after all the hype and marketing and plethora of teaser trailers, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice has finally arrived and, truth be told, it’s not quite... Read more

Published on Monday 21st March 2016 by Kieran Somers

With the week that’s in it let’s take a look at 10 films that belong to, or have been strongly influential, in the biblical epic genre.  Stories depicting events from... Read more

Published on Monday 14th March 2016 by Kieran Somers

Another St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us and, as usual, we’ll see all of that green paraphernalia on the streets and in the shops, read about the latest ministerial trips... Read more

Published on Thursday 10th March 2016 by Kieran Somers

  The Coen Brothers latest offering is something of a tease from the boys in that we get many of the familiar elements and character-types that populate their films, but... Read more

Published on Wednesday 2nd March 2016 by Kieran Somers

Well, Oscar 2016 has come and gone and, yes, whilst I got some of the categories correct in terms of my predictions, I also have to hold my hand up... Read more

Published on Thursday 25th February 2016 by Kieran Somers

    Ok here’s the science bit first.  The Best Picture award was first given out in 1929 for films released in the 1927/1928 season.  It wasn’t called Best Picture... Read more

Published on Monday 15th February 2016 by Kieran Somers

William Goldman’s famous maxim that in Hollywood ‘Nobody knows anything’ could well be applied to the Best Picture race at the Oscars this year. After a slew of award ceremonies,... Read more

Published on Monday 15th February 2016 by Kieran Somers

I was really delighted to have an article about my novel Hollywood on the Tiber appear on the Irish Times website on Friday February 12th last. The article was written... Read more

Published on Thursday 11th February 2016 by Kieran Somers

We’re about a month away from the opening film in the DC universe series – I guess the intention is to compete with their friends at Marvel who beat them... Read more

Published on Friday 8th January 2016 by Kieran Somers

I began creative writing back in the mid 1990’s with a couple of feature-length screenplays. One was a war story, another a fantasy/comedy, another a romantic/comedy. The novel Hollywood on... Read more

Published on Wednesday 16th December 2015 by pressaid-ks

What was the name of the main character in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas? In which movie did Bing Crosby first croon White Christmas? Which Scottish actor played Ebenezer... Read more

Published on Wednesday 16th December 2015 by pressaid-ks

It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra 1946) ”˜Well you look about the kind of angel I’d get.’ The quintessential Christmas movie that was saved by TV. George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart)... Read more