Film John Maguire on film: That boy Patrick Kielty can act, as Ballywalter proves The almost romantic, almost comedy of isolation and reconnection showcases the considerable acting chops of The Late Late’s new presenter
Film John Maguire on film: Kenneth Branagh’s latest flick fails to conjure spirit of PoirotA Haunting In Venice doesn’t generate a thrill, a shiver or even curiosity about whodunnit
Film & Television John Maguire on Film: Celine Song’s debut Past Lives allows complex truth of love to shine throughPast lives explores the intertwined history of three romantically linked characters from Korea and North America
Film & Television Film reviews: Send in the clowns for an apocalyptic last laughGeorge Kane’s appealingly odd comedy Apocalypse Clown centres on the attempts of a washed-up trio of circus entertainers to exploit the end of the world
Film & TV John Maguire: A fascinatingly awful leading man makes Afire magnetic viewingChristian Petzold’s deceptively easygoing drama, set against the backdrop of a creeping forest fire, masterfully tackles the awkward peculiarities of human relationships
Media Liam Neeson: Hollywood’s identikit tough guyFor many years in the shadow of strong women, the now 71-year-old former boxer from Ballymena has reinvented himself as the eternal action star
Film & Television John Maguire: Poetic documentary The Future Tense walks a tightrope between two nations in fluxDocumentary makers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy examine complexities of belonging in both Ireland and England, while on Netflix Painkillers exposes excoriating greed that hooked the American nation on a narcotic 100 times more powerful than heroin
Film & Television John Maguire on film: Car racing promo Gran Turismo gets nowhere very fastA motor sports movie based on a video game was never going to be stellar, but Gran Turismo is little more than a special effects spectacle
Film & Television John Maguire: Paris Memories is a harrowing tale of survivor’s guilt and trauma after terror attacksInvolving drama is a very personal look at the trauma experienced by those who survived a series of devastating terrorist attacks on France in 2015 in which over 130 people were murdered and hundreds more injured
Film & Television John Maguire on film: a sci-fi take on Groundhog Day, plus two flavours of Jon Hamm The Business Post reviews this week’s screen entertainment
Film John Maguire on film: It’s a 5-4 win for Oppenheimer in the cinematic showdown of the year Christopher Nolan’s explosive biopic and Margot Robbie’s pink sensation are both dealing with potentially seismic shifts
Profile Tickled pink – Margot Robbie, the Aussie who’s taking Barbie to the big screenIn bringing the iconic toy to the big screen, Australian actress Margot Robbie is aiming high in trying to please both avid fans and feminist critics
Film & Television John Maguire: Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning brings action back to lifeChristopher McQuarrie’s latest outing in the franchise replaces the empty shell of CGI with a physical, kinetic cinema that feels grounded in time and space
Film & Television John Maguire on film: Offbeat flick Smoking Causes Coughing runs out of puffSmoking Causes Coughing sees group of superheroes swap stories of their lives fighting evil but idea is half-baked and becomes a bit of a drag
Film & Television John Maguire: Indy’s latest adventure is well-crafted and shows the value of relics like our heroOctogenarian Harrison Ford makes his final appearance as the death-defying Indiana Jones in this entertaining adventure
Film & Television John Maguire on film: Wes Anderson brings colour and charm to a dusty Arizona town in Asteroid City There’s a lot going on in the quirky director’s sci-fi comedy that features a stellar cast and a breakneck plot
Film & Television John Maguire on film & TV: Superhero’s overdue outing is all Flash and no substance Andy Muschietti’s movie about venerable comic book character the Flash is a confusing and carelessly rendered multiverse of other people’s ideas
Film Silver screen sensations: Critic John Maguire picks the summer blockbusters worth queueing for Hollywood looks to have bounced back after a shaky pandemic period, but audiences and the film industry alike really need this summer’s movies to be good. Here are our picks of the films to look out for over the coming months.
Film & Television John Maguire on film: Clichéd biopic fails to live up to amazing story of talented black musicianChevalier still manages to tell an important story set in the time of Mozart about one man’s defiance against a racist society while throwing light on his mostly forgotten achievements
Film & Television John Maguire on film: Reality check on how law enforcement in America really works Taut, elegant thriller Reality sweeps away all of our quaint notions of the reading of rights and upfront questioning of a suspect
