Reviews

Zoe Kavanagh's 'Demon Hunter' played to a packed audience in Dundrum in Dublin recently in a one off special screening, earning it a well deserved rapturous applause 90 minutes later. Knowing the time & effort Zoe put into making this Jewel in her Crown of achievements so early in her career, I can only say I was blown away with what I saw. Heaven knows what she would do with a big budget at her disposal. As it is on limited release & picking up awards across the globe, I made sure I ordered it on pre-release from Amazon. When it arrived I watched it again & still loved it. This may look like one of the biased reviews that litter IMDb with the suspicious markings, but the production, direction, sound fx, soundtrack, visuals & excellent performances from Niamh Hogan & Michael Parle (especially one on one) compels me to give high marks. Watch it & remember it's a 70k budget then make your own minds up. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Bigger budgets & better things are ahead for Zoe but who will obviously attract jealous 'types' voting this down without even seeing it which is sad. Keep 'em coming Zoe. Everyone is so proud of you.

I have enjoyed the TV Show & live DVD's so I am not reviewing this as a hater of the Mrs. Brown's Boys Franchise. I didn't see it in the cinema but just bought the DVD to satisfy my curiosity. What I witnessed was one of the worse attempts at a movie I have ever seen. It is unfunny & an attempt at a plot to carry this for an hour and a half is invisible. Even the reusing of old jokes which has been Brendan O'Carrolls trademark for years couldn't lift this off the bottom of the septic tank it sits in. Brendan himself is very sharp & very funny as a comedian & in a live situation is hilarious. But he obviously wrote down all the jokes he heard in school & dusts them off oh too often. Only his sister Eilish who plays Winnie can claim she put in a decent shift in this. Delivery of the weak punchlines was slow & poor throughout & mistaking a Pakistani man for a Jamaican might be slightly funny the first time. Blind Ninjas & O'Carrolls attempt at what I assume was a Chinese man were embarrassing. We pretended to be Chinamen in school Brendan... snap out of it! Brendan O'Carroll has taken this recycling thing too far & whoever said in the trailer that 'it's the funniest film this year' was either well paid or has only seen one film this year! Avoid the movie but watch the live show.

Once again a much hyped up Irish movie with an excellent cast is wasted by a disjointed shabby storyline which goes nowhere. It's one of those that you want to be good but only keeps your interest by some good acting by the leading men, especially Gleeson who was badly under used but was brilliant. Jim Broadbent with an Irish accent... I don't think so & why the hell is everyone in the movie using the word MAN at the end of every sentence. I have lived in Dublin a long time & that word in that context can only be associated with junkies. Yet it's an everyday word used by the majority of people in this movie (I was expecting the dogs to bark out the words MAN!). Plot holes too were everywhere, especially regarding the police... where were they? One of their cars is stolen & the thieves are able to drive around at their leisure... what about the two helicopters they have? Shootouts everywhere & no police. The overall storyline went round in circles & when it was over it was a relief & a huge disappointment! Come on MAN... Make better movies MAN!

First of all I don't have any religious beliefs whatsoever & I have no problem with anyone having their own god to believe in as long as they don't try to force it down my neck. Regarding the movie... As a movie I enjoyed it in parts & even though it was obviously low budget I thought it was pretty well done. The acting was passable & the lad who played Tyler was outstanding in a difficult role. I suppose this could be mildly described as a poor mans 'My sisters keeper'! This time it is a boy possibly facing death & he writes letters to his god hoping he will read them. Now he already has a religious freak of a grandma who must have wrecked his head with prayers from the day he was born so when he got sick it must have been prayers 24/7.... which weren't working! He writes to god everyday about different things & his letters end up being read by his postman (is that legal?). There is too much religious angles being forced on the viewer here & that is a big downside for me. I am sure this movie could have done a lot better at the box office if it had been toned down into a proper film & not made to look like a recruiting video for you know who!

When watching a series on TV or DVD, you know when it 'has you' if you can't wait for the next episode to come on. However 'The Pacific' didn't get any grip on me whatsoever & I really only watched the final few episodes because I felt I had to & in the slim chance it might have got better. None of the actors in my opinion were believable as soldiers, never mind being deprived of water or head to toe in mud as was the case in real life of a story they were trying to portray. Watching the hyped up adverts for weeks on sky did have me thinking I was in for a treat but alas, I was suckered again. It's not the worst war series to hit our screens but it certainly is only middle ranking. If Clint Eastwood had gotten his magical hands on this it would have been a lot better. The story was there to begin with but the Spielberg/Hanks combination missed by a long way to get the message home. Some scenes were just ridiculous where they were marching past some caves & a Japanese soldier might pop out to be shot. After he is shot the Marines march on. Would it not be an idea for someone to have a look in the cave in case there are any more hiding in there. After all it would be easy for one to lob a grenade into the passing soldiers. The same when one of the marines wanted to have a number one & was chased out of the cave by two Japs... much to the amusement of his colleagues... but yet again nobody checked to see if there was anyone else in the cave. Very disappointing!

This movie should be re-branded as a comedy. If anyone tells you they have seen the worse movie ever made, you can always ask them if they have seen 'When Soldiers Cry'? This easily is the worse movie I have ever seen by a long stretch. Most reviewers here only lasted 10 minutes or so... well I watched the whole thing & that took some doing. We have a soap opera here in Ireland called 'Fair City' which has the worse acting in history... well now I know where the rejects from the Fair City auditions go... to Joe Blacks back garden to make a movie. Even the props mans budget only allowed him to go to the pound shop & pick up a couple of plastic guns... it would have made my day if water had come from them when they were fired! Howthis has made it even to DVD is astounding. If someone gives you this for nothing it's too expensive. I ended up laughing at how bad this was & moved the DVD from the War section to the comedy one where it belongs!