Grizzly Adams meets Jackie Chan in “The Foreigner”
Due in cinemas towards the end of the year this looks to be a real bit of a lark for those fans of martial arts, CGI and over the top acting. Jackie Chan is a London businessman whose daughter gets killed in an IRA bomb attack and when the police fail to apprehend those responsible takes matters into his own hands. Pierce Brosnan, a reformed Irish terrorist now working for the British Government, is targeted by Chan as somebody who must be able to lead him to his daughters killers…..
“The Journey” in cinemas from the 5th May, 2017
More than I can stomach, but you be the judge of this very fictional account of how Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness brought peace to the island of Ireland.
The trailer looks a bit ropey, but Timothy Spall is well cast as the ‘big‘ man – not so sure about Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness but that’s possibly due his over exposure of late. Still think his best role was as Jimmy “Senior” in “The Commitments” or as Chief O’Brien in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine“.
Insurrection – Resurrection?
The RTE eight part drama “Insurrection”, produced in 1966 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, saw a rare, one-day airing on Easter Monday 2015. All eight episodes were screened at Dublin’s Liberty Hall during the day but for now the restored films seem destined to return to the vaults at Montrose. Former RTE presenter and historian John Bowman expressed a hope that the series might be released on DVD, but I wouldn’t be holding my breath. The old royalties issue will no doubt be wheeled out by RTE as an excuse to do nothing.
The events of Easter Week 1916 reported as they might have been covered if television had existed. The series is mainly of interest to historians and from the clips that I’ve seen it has dated badly and is low budget stuff.
More information here: https://irelandsmovies.wordpress.com/i-2/
A Prayer for the Dying (1987)
When an attack on a British army patrol in Northern Ireland goes wrong, resulting in the deaths of a bus load of school children, and sickened by the futility of his role as an IRA volunteer Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) wants out of the organization and goes on the run in England. Fallon is intent on getting away to America and is promised money and a passport by a London crime boss, Jack Meehan (Alan Bates) if he carries out a hit for him. With both the IRA and British police closing in on him he is forced to undertake the hit but it is witnessed by a priest, Father Da Costa (Bob Hoskins) ……….
I watched this one last night as part of yet another Netfix FREE trial and despite low expectations was more than satisfied. A strong plot with good casting in the key roles – Mickey Rourke is excellent as the reluctant IRA hitman; Alan Bates and Christopher Fulford are particularly menacing as the London gangster brothers; and Bob Hoskins is, well, Bob Hoskins and turns in a respectable performance as the SAS man turned Roman Catholic priest. Liam Neeson and Alison Doody are good as the IRA team in London to track down and bring Fallon back to Northern Ireland.
Filmed in England – London.
Available on DVD.
La Jeune Folle (1952) – an appropriate first post for a blog of this name!
At last I have managed to acquire a VHS copy of this elusive French film which was partially shot in Dublin with an all French cast and crew. It never made it to DVD and the few VHS copies that I’ve come across on the French Amazon and eBay sites have always been wildly expensive. This brand new copy cost me €25 including p+p – all I need now is to get my VHS player serviced. I also picked up a copy of “Mon Film” magazine this week for a couple of Euros – a special 14 page supplement about the film – I just hope that my little used schoolboy French is up to it.
The film can be found under at least four different names including “La Jeune Folle”, “Desperate Decision”, “The Troubles” and “Revenge at Daybreak”. The exteriors were filmed in Dublin but as I haven’t watched it yet I can’t be more specific than that. It was released in 1952 and starred Danièle Delorme in the lead role. Based on the novel “Ar Follez Yaouank” by Catherine Beauchamp.
During the Irish War of Independence, a strange young woman Catherine (Daniele Delorme) who lives in a convent is haunted by premonitions that her brother needs her, but in fact he has been killed by the IRA as an informer. As she looks for her brother, she is sheltered by the rebel organisation and unknowingly falls in love with Steve (Henri Vidal) the man who ordered her brothers killing…
The author, Catherine Beauchamp (a pseudonym for Francine Rozec ) came from an revolutionary background in real life and had belonged to a Breton pro-Nazi militia, Bezen Perrot, which was modeled on the IRA. She fled to Ireland after the war but later returned to France where she died in 1992.
Irish Movie Madness 