Arrest These People For Crimes Against Irishness

Where to begin with this disgusting trailer for Red Roses and Petrol. When a film looks this sickening it's hard to know where to start. Maybe we're wrong and it's actually a good movie but the fact that it was made in 2003 and is getting released in 2008 doesn't give us much hope.

Let's just get out the check list of the crimes against cinematic Irishness and see how many are here.
1) Based on a play. check
2) A dead patriarch. check
3) A wake. check
4) Dark family secrets. check
5) Whiskey. check.
6) Irish dancing (or something loosely resembling it). check
7) Diddly-eye music (with a token attempt to make it feel contemporary by roping in Pogues rip-offs Flogging Molly). check
8) American director ramping up the Oirishness. check.
9) Next to no Irish actors (Susan Lynch, get out of there, you're enabling these criminals) check.
10) Accents that are meant to be Irish but sound almost Jamaican (check out Z-list British celebrity Max Beasley's woeful insult of an accent for a sample). check
11) Token shot of the Ha'penny bridge to make it seem like it wasn't shot in a studio in America - which also unfortunately highlights the fact that it is apparently set in the present day even though everybody looks like they are living in some lost year of the 50's. check.
12) The collective vomiting of the Irish nation. check

What's most confusing about these movies is that they never make money. The Irish American audience don't lap them up like the African American audience does with Tyler Perry and Martin Lawrence movies (which they're welcome to, by the way). Granted there have been successes like The Brothers McMullen but they focused specifically on the Irish American milieu and weren't selling the old country back to the savvy modern Irish diaspora.

Red Roses and Petrol eh? Maybe we could set fire to it quite easily then.

City Of Ember Trailer

Here's the new for City of Ember the Belfast shot fantasy/sci-fi/adventure/kids movie/any-market-we-haven't-mentioned movie starring Bill Murray and Saoirse Ronan.
Looks like impressively grimy and fun even though it's y'know, for kids.

One observation though. If it's shot in Belfast and has an Irish actress in the lead then why does everybody have to speak in an American accent. It's set in a post-apocalyptic underground city. You mean to tell us only the Yanks will be saved!

Watchman Is A Real Author

Debut Irish author Liam Burke has penned a guide to Superhero Movies, set to hit bookshops later this month. The book, ‘Pocket Essential Superhero Movies’, tracks the history of comic book characters being brought to life on the cinema screen.

The book focuses on over 20 superhero movies including ‘Superman’, ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Hellboy’ and ‘X-Men’, and features an interview with Stan Lee, the creator of ‘Spider-Man’, ‘X-Men’, ‘Fantastic Four’, ‘Iron Man’, ‘Incredible Hulk’, ‘The Silver Surfer’ and ‘Daredevil’.

Burke explores how cinema’s Superheroes fit into a larger Superhero archetype, and examines how the main Superhero Movie types from Superhero Families to Vigilante Justice.

The writer, who formerly worked for the Irish Film and Television Academy, is currently completing a research PhD in the Huston School of Film at NUI Galway, studying the adaptation of comics to film.

”This summer in particular has more superhero movies coming out than ever before, with ‘Iron Man’, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and ‘The Dark Knight',” says Burke. “There has never been a greater interest in superhero movies than now and I think a lot of people of will find this book an exciting and entertaining read."

‘Pocket Essential Superhero Movies’ is on sale from selected book shops, and on-line at Amazon, priced €6.99. For more info go to:

www.pocketessentials.co.uk

Evan Goldberg We Salute You

Evan Goldberg, the extremely cool writer of Superbad and the upcoming Pineapple Express is finishing his recent writer's residency in The John Huston School Of Film(see here for all the news on future projects he divulged during in his stay). In honour of all that, here's a clip we posted weeks ago. Damn it, it's funny so we're treating you to it again.