CRITICISM / CULTURE / CINEMA
Films that stay with you.
Writing that looks a little closer.
Explore the collected reviews of Linda O’Brien.
Punching above its weight.
The Irish travelling community have taken up something akin to a permanent home on Channel 4, where the popularity of the Gypsy Wedding series and its attendant spin-offs show no signs of…
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A bit of a Knightmare.
You can tell a lot about a new Tom Cruise film by checking out what hairstyle he is sporting for the occasion. As a lifelong exponent of the floppy-fringed, matinee idol look,…
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Monkey business.
Who needs another King Kong movie eh? It's a fair question; arguably the eponymous ape reached his peak with Fay Wray back in 1933. Being an ape of few words, it can't…
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Night of the living dead.
Pity poor Sam Worthington. On Pandora he was king. Removed from his human form and surrounded by James Cameron’s Ferngully fantasies in Avatar, he managed to passably carry a movie; albeit while…
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Safe bet.
Las Vegas is historically a pretty exciting place to be in the movies; home to the Rat Pack, the Wolf Pack, hallucinating Gonzo journalists and countless heroes betting it all on that…
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The kids are alright.
Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte is a remarkable film on several fronts: first, save for the overheard buzz of crowds and one “Grazie” there is no dialogue. Second, there is nothing that…
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Twin reeks.
Legend, the biopic of the notorious Kray twins, is currently subject to a good dose of social media ridicule thanks to some rather creative marketing. The film's poster is awash with five…
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Lord of the wings.
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is a film that really surprised me. I should have disliked it immensely- I haven’t really enjoyed an animated movie since Disney’s Sleeping Beauty,…
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Unoriginal sins.
If, like me, you have a soft spot for religiously inclined Bmovies, The Twilight Zone and The League of Gentlemen (a mixture which is less niche than you would imagine), then you’ll…
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Mind the (age) gap.
A line from Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused popped into my head while I was watching Liberal Arts – "That’s what I love about these High School chicks man, I get older,…
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A dead end.
As supernatural beings go, zombies are singularly uninteresting. Lacking the charisma and dynamism of other movie monsters, they are merely cyphers upon which it is possible for directors to project their world…
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Thumbs Up.
Who wants to watch a documentary about a film critic? Given that I’m sitting here writing this review, I suppose you could say I’m pre-disposed to be fascinated by Life Itself, a…
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Crazy in love.
Like Crazy is the kind of earnest, indie romance beloved of the Sundance Festival, in which arty, pretty young things bond over their mutual love of Paul Simon and spend far too…
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Of limited interest.
For one day wouldn’t you just love to borrow some of the great superpowers of movie history? Soar through the skies, run faster than a speeding bullet, lift a freight train above…
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Monumental.
The role of Abraham Lincoln, more marble monument than flesh and blood in the public consciousness, is a very good fit for Daniel Day-Lewis. Reaching near mythic status himself for the style…
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Mob rules.
In these tough economic times, an increasing number of people are being forced to hop off their current career path in search of pastures new. When Ben Affleck first became a huge…
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Land of saints and scholars.
I really thought I was going to hate Living In A Coded Land, Pat Collins’ new work following his acclaimed feature Silence. Having a deep suspicion of all things Oirish and a…
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Space balls.
Luc Besson is the executive producer of Lockout and also picks up a credit for providing the original idea on which it is based. “Original” may be pushing it a little. Lockout…
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