Sing Street
Streets ahead.
You really have to hand it to John Carney; to tackle the tricky medium of the musical film not once (pun intended) but three times and to do so successfully is pretty…
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A life in
the pictures.
Films that stay with you.
Writing that looks a little closer.
Explore the collected reviews of Linda O’Brien.
397 REVIEWS · ONE CRITIC’S PERSPECTIVE
Skyfall
The resurrection man.
During the trailer for Skyfall, Bond, tied to a chair, declares his hobby to be resurrection. It’s a quip relevant to the action of the film and also feels like a little…
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Song for Marion
Golden oldies.
Many column inches have been filled lately with talk of the “Grey Pound,” the box office power of the older generations that have historically been overlooked by the film industry. Now when…
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Source Code
Dangers on a train.
Source Code opens with soaring aerial shots of a modern commuter train thundering through the countryside towards the city of Chicago. With all these beautifully rendered shots of wide open countryside and…
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Splice
A genetic throwback.
Vincenzo Natali really is a clever guy; a writer/director with a great CV both in intelligent and original sci-fi (Cube, Cypher) and art direction. I was therefore looking forward to his take…
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Stalingrad
Tin soldiers.
Russia has always been famous for artistic works of propaganda, the spirit of which is alive and well in director Fyodor Bondarchuk’s flag-waving war film, Stalingrad. Ideologically, Bondarchuk’s film may extol the…
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Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace 3D
Sith happens. Again.
As Julie Andrews once sang, the beginning is a very good place to start. Well she’d obviously never endured The Phantom Menace. As Episode I began and the words, “A long time…
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Starred Up
Who’s the daddy now?
From the cosiness of Porridge to the bare-knuckle ferocity of Scum, prison life on screen has always been based around the idea of surrogate fathers. Everybody wants to be the daddy and…
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Step Up 4: Miami Heat
Disco inferno.
Friends, a miracle has occurred. Step Up has been resurrected. Two years ago I bid a fond farewell to the series after an over-reliance on pointy 3D, kooky characters and that irritating…
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Stories We Tell
Secrets and lies.
It is undoubtedly true that every family has its own story to tell but few of them will be as compelling as the one told in this third feature from acclaimed director…
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Suite Francaise
Suite F.A.
The story of Irène Némirovsky’s life and work is both fascinating and tragic. Némirovsky was a Russian born author, who studied at the Sorbonne and achieved modest success with her work in…
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Sully
Braced for impact.
When you're cruising in a metal tube thousands of feet above the ground, you want a safe pair of hands behind the controls. Cpt. Chesley Sullenberger III, better known as “Sully”, is…
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Surviving Life
A life less ordinary.
And now for something completely different… From Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer comes the surrealistic treat Surviving Life; a part animated, part live action film about the subconscious, memory and dreams. I realise…
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Swallows and Amazons
A twee family outing.
If I were to compare Swallows and Amazons to a popular biscuit (a comparison I feel is apt due to its cosy, Sunday teatime aura), it would be a Hobnob. Sweet but…
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Swinging with the Finkels
A matrimonial mess.
Swinging with the Finkels is so rubbish that it’s genuinely hard to know where to begin. What, of its numerous objectionable qualities was the worst offender; the cameo from Louis Spence, the…
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Swiss Army Man
A lot of hot air.
Within five minutes of the opening of Swiss Army Man, Hank (Paul Dano) is riding Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) like a speedboat as they are propelled through the water by Manny's impressive flatulence.…
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T2 Trainspotting
Off the rails.
It’s been twenty years since Trainspotting was released and just about as many years since I saw the film. In the interim, the details have more or less faded in my mind;…
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Tammy
Always the bridesmaid.
Tammy (Mellissa McCarthy) is a mess. An unkempt, loudmouth who totals her car, gets fired from her job and discovers her husband is having an affair all on the same day. In…
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