This Week’s Cinema Roundup

cinema roundup december 5th

With the second instalment of the Hobbit trilogy opening next week, there’s a bumper crop of new releases hitting cinemas this weekend, the best of which is French drama Just a Sigh, starring our own Gabriel Byrne.

Emmanuelle Devos stars as a struggling forty-something actress who becomes obsessed with the sad-faced stranger (Byrne) she meets on a Paris-bound train. One of the year’s finest films, Just a Sigh is certainly the most romantic.
Guaranteed to appear on most “Best of 2013” lists is Nebraska, a bittersweet comedy about an elderly man (played brilliantly by the legendary Bruce Dern) who insists on travelling to the title state in order to collect a fictional lottery win. It’s one of the funniest movies of the year and a rare chance to see an elderly actor in a leading role.
Kill Your Darlings is a tale of murder and doomed romance among Allen Ginsberg and the “beat poets” of the forties. The film is something of a mess but contains some of the best performances of the year.
One of the worst films of 2013, or indeed any year, is Getaway, a movie that manages to make a 90 minute car chase as tedious as watching your neighbour’s holiday footage.
The acclaimed 2003 Korean thriller Oldboy is the latest movie to receive the remake treatment, courtesy of director Spike Lee. Watch the original instead.
With Saving Mr. Banks currently on release, Disney’s classic Mary Poppins returns for one weekend only at the Irish Film Institute and The Lighthouse. A perfect day out for the family, though the kids may nag you to take them to Disney’s latest animated feature, Frozen, which also opens this week.
Homefront wasn’t screened in time for me to give an opinion but it’s a Jason Statham movie written by Sylvester Stallone. Make of that what you will.
By Eric Hillis
Picture: Gabriel Byrne and Emmanuelle Devos in Just a Sigh.