500 Days of Summer

To kick off the opening of their new movie, (500) Days of Summer in the US yesterday, Zooey Deschanel – our offical Culch.ie crush (!) – and Joseph Gordon-Levitt of Third Rock from the Sun fame, strut their stuff in this exclusive bank heist/movie musical homage. Bank teller (Zooey) has her heart as well as lots of cash stolen from the bank she works in by an armed robber (Joseph). The movie itself (not to be confused with the plot of the short at all) is a romantic comedy about a man who falls for a woman who doesn’t believe in love. Tom (Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Deschanel) work together and discover that they have lots of thing in common such as a love for the music of The Smiths.

Bandslam preview screening: competition

In Movies@Dundrum on Sunday 26 July at 5pm there will be a preview screening of new movie Bandslam and here at Culch.ie we have 5 pairs of tickets to give away When gifted singer songwriter Charlotte Banks asks new kid in town Will Burton to manage her fledging rock band, she appears to have just one goal in mind: go head-to-head against her egotistical musician ex-boyfriend, Ben at the biggest event of the year – a battle of the bands. Against all odds, the band of outcasts develop a sound that has a shot at success. Meanwhile a romance brews between Will and a musically gifted Sam and he must decide where his allegiance lies. When disaster strikes, it’s time for the band to make a choice: Do they admit defeat or face the music and stand up for what they believe in?

Irish porno movie – all the pleasure, none of the guilt

After a video this week where someone’s head was blown off, a post about mass murder and another glorifying vigilantes, I’m going to follow the disgraceful posting on Culch.ie with an Irish porno movie – starring Dick Spring as the TV license inspector – which was shown at Leviathan last night. It’s made by those creative folk at dorismagee. Only watch if you are over legal age, are capable of handling such a delicate plot and searing storyline with the sparkling dialogue positively… You’re not even reading that are you? You just want to see the movie. Go on, it’s below…

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

There are two different ways to look at this movie – as a film fan and as Harry Potter fan. These are two separate perspectives because the film series is slightly askew from the seven books. The films are about Harry and his journey, they are energetic, primarily warm in their inflection, with pinches of darkness and mystery – but the books are long, tense, thrilling adventures that focus far more on the adult characters and their stories than the films ever have. This description can of course be applied to the Half Blood Prince too. As a film fan, Half Blood Prince delivers everything you would expect from a modern blockbuster – fantastic special effects and action sequences, humour to suit both mature and immature tastes, a hint of romance and an old fashioned struggle between good and evil.

My Sister’s Keeper

‘My Sister’s Keeper’ tells the tale of Anna Fitzgerald, a 13 year old girl who is fed up being used as a donor for her older sister Kate and decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. Anna was engineered to be an exact match for her sister to try to save her from leukaemia. Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and injections to help her sister, Kate, fight leukaemia. Anna was born for this purpose, her parents tell her, which is why they love her even more. But now she can’t help but wonder what her life would be like if it weren’t tied to her sister’s…and so she makes a decision that for most, at any age, would be too difficult to bear, and sues her parents for the rights … There’s more

Review: Transformers 2

Being a huge fan of the 2007′s Transformers I can honestly say without hesitation that Transformers 2 is the worst movie I have ever seen. It’s two and a half hours of my life I am never going to get back. Now I know that this won’t dissuade ardent fans from going to see the film but don’t say you weren’t warned.

Dublin: the Movie showing at the IFI this Sunday

It was one of the highlights of last year for me. I worked with over 30 film makers, with director Lenny Abrahamson (Prosperity, Garage, Adam and Paul) and producer Andrew McAvinchey and with the guys at the Darklight Film Festival in bringing a big bold project to the screen and the web. Dublin: The Movie was shot in 24 hours on June 26, 2008 and edited over three days. Premiéred on Sunday June 29, we had to extend the screening from Thomas Reads to the Irish Film Institute (IFI) because such a large crowd turned up. It’s a beautiful movie charting dawn to dusk, life and death, love, drugs and Dublin in all her glory. Certainly one of those projects I’m extremely proud to have been involved in. It’s somewhat appropriate then that it returns to the IFI this Sunday, May 17 at 13:30. There’ll be cast and crew present … There’s more

I Remember Andrea

I have a secondary school reunion coming up in December. Not so interesting, but I’m in the slightly unusual position of being back home after 12 years away. Coupled with the fact that I didn’t go to my local secondary school, but one a few miles away, I could get away with stuff. In short, I haven’t been back since I sat the Leaving Certificate. With the exception of three or four people, I haven’t seen anyone from the school since then. Why bring this up? Well, I could go, or I could send someone else in my place. Like a stripper! That is exactly what Andrea Wachner did, and she filmed the results producing the movie / documentary / reality show “I Remember Andrea“. An exotic dancer chosen by Andrea called “Cricket” (I’m assuming its her stage name and not her real name, then again, given my name…) attended … There’s more

let’s call it a failer

It was going to be a movie review. It really was. I shushed the people beside me and concentrated hard. I didn’t buy popcorn lest I chomp my way through a pivotal piece of dialogue and miss it entirely. If my first Culch post was going to be a movie review, then it was going to be damn accurate. Sadly, after twenty minutes of trailers it seemed that there was something more important to say. Namely, what the hell is with twenty minutes of trailers? I am not that old, but I can remember a time when a trailer was a teaser, the merest tantalising glimpse of what a movie might be. Snippets of dialogue. A five-second, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flash of some vital scene. Not a hint at the twist, just the implied promise that there was one. An actor’s name in block text. A date of release, miles in the … There’s more