3 Stars

I once heard a joke that the Irish are the only race of people who would be so light-hearted that they can name a bloody thirty-year conflict "the troubles". Most of the battles took place in the city of Belfast, a place still staunchly divided today between Irish and British nationalists and one of the major losses of the war is the slow decline of the Irish language itself. As this film points out, there are only 6,000 native Irish speakers in the whole of Northern Ireland

With the recent, Eddie Redmayne-fronted, re-release of this story in a big budget TV format, it seems now might be an appropriate time to revisit the original film that inspired the series.  A co-production of the UK and France (showing that sometimes we can get along) and based on a Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name, this film is a political thriller telling the story of an attempted assassination attempt on General Charles De Gaulle. Although it is based on real cha

“Contrary to what we may have been taught to think, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us but need not scar us for life. It does mark us. What we allow the mark of our suffering to become is in our own hands.” This book came to my attention recently when hearing, of all people, Joe Talbot (lead singer of vicious post-modern punk band IDLES) saying how much of an influence it had been on their work. Considering their music, this was an intriguing concept. Based on the

Even if you've never seen Don Siegel's 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood, you probably will be aware of it's titular character and his famous quote:  "I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Now to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Wel

While the world is familiar with Robert Downey Jr, his father is perhaps lesser known. This is both a shame and also the inevitable result of a career which was devoted almost entirely to subversion. Robert Downey Sr was one of the more bizarre filmmakers in history, who developed an absurdist style all of his own and this film explores not only the career of the man but, more importantly, his relationship with his now mega-famous son. 

"As long as American life was something to be escaped from, the cartel would always be assured a bottomless pool of new customers."  My introduction to this book was back in 2014, when director Paul Thomas Anderson released the film version. Billed as one of the great modern auteurs adapting one of the most lauded writers in America, the film proved to be pretty loathesome, in my humble and unsolicited opinion. The plot seemed convoluted to the point of being complete nonsen

"I don't really regret anything in my life" - Vince McMahon To whoever is reading this (likely no one), I have a confession to make: there will be times when reviewing things when I will not be able to be objective. When the subject matter is so close to my heart that all trace of journalistic integrity will be thrown out of the window in favour of just bleating on about how much I love something. This is the case with WWF wrestling. 

Any fans of Radiohead out there, I think it's time we face facts. Radiohead are not coming back. It has been NINE YEARS since their last album, during which time all of its members have consistently released new music on the reg. Of course, the band itself would never do anything as naff as actually announce their retirement or a farewell tour. In fact, if you were to draw up the archetypal way for Radiohead to disband, this would be it: just cease to exist, form new bands, p