Film Screening 25th May, 2007

Poster for For Your Consideration

For Your Consideration 

8:00 PM, 25th May, 2007

  • M
  • 86 mins
  • 2006
  • Christopher Guest
  • Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy
  • Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine OHara and Harry Shearer'

Im writing this review in January but I think I've already found a movie that is going to be hard to beat for the funniest film of 2007. Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration.... For Your Consideration.The makers of small independent film Home For Purim are suddenly unsettled when an internet site starts hyping up one of its stars as a possible Oscar contender. Egos clash, scripts are changed and entertainment shows are used as the countdown begins to the nominations announcement.This is the latest film from the team that brought you This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show and A Mighty Wind, and it is up there with each of these. It's not a mockumentary like the others, but it's still acerbically witty, their target this time being the Hollywood publicity machine. The usual gang is back, along with a few new faces - the most recognisable being Ricky Gervais, whose style fits seamlessly with the others. Special mention must go to Catherine O'Hara, who breaks both your heart and ribs as ageing star Marilyn Hack.Comedy is rarely this consistently funny, being both hammy and subtle in all the right places. Don't miss For Your Consideration!'

Travis Cragg

Poster for The Wind That Shakes the Barley

The Wind That Shakes the Barley 

9:26 PM, 25th May, 2007

  • M
  • 122 mins
  • 2006
  • Ken Loach
  • Paul Laverty
  • Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney

Damien (Murphy) is about to leave Ireland for his medical studies in London, while his brother Teddy (Delaney) is an active member of the Irish Republican Army. After witnessing an act of resistance to the daily violence of the Black and Tans, Damien decides to stay and fight back against the British occupation, and joins the IRA. When the peace treaty is signed, the two brothers find themselves pitted against one another: Teddy, who is involved in the organisation of the new Irish Free State, supports the treaty and the partition of Ireland; Damien sees the peace treaty as a sell-out of Republican principles. The Irish Civil War breaks out, Irishman fights Irishman, and more are killed than during the uprising against the British. Both sides resort to the same violent tactics used previously by the occupation army and the guerrillas, with the violence now directed towards former comrades. Director Ken Loach wears his heart on his sleeve, taking the anti-treaty side, and injecting some left wing historical observations. The film was criticised in Britain by some conservative critics (some of whom had not seen the film), but the film proved a winner of the Palme DOr at Cannes last year. The title of the film comes from a poem by Robert Dwyer Joyce.'

Tony Fidanza