Clint Eastwood’s Oscar winning 1992 western Unforgiven returns to the Irish Film Institute for one night only this Tuesday, launching the IFI’s “Essential films of the 90s” season.
At the time of its release, westerns had been stagnant for the best part of two decades but no better man than Clint to prove there was still life in the genre. With the success of both this and Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves, the early nineties seemed ripe for a western revival, which sadly never occurred.
For me, Eastwood’s best self-directed westerns are High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josey Wales, but Unforgiven is right up there and a chance to see it on the big screen shouldn’t be spurned. Incidentally, the film has just received a Japanese remake that will be screening as part of the upcoming Japanese Film Festival.
The Muppets are back in town, quite literally, with Kermit and friends stopping off in Dublin for a scene or two of Muppets Most Wanted, the sequel to their 2011 reboot. Some critics have complained about the new movie’s lack of plot and the short shrift given to its human characters. It definitely has a more anarchic feel than the 2011 movie but this is in keeping with the spirit of the original show. With gags, both visual and verbal, coming at lightning pace, MMW is an unadulterated treat for hardcore Muppets fans.
The latest in Marvel’s ongoing Avengers saga, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will test the patience of anyone who isn’t a comic book obsessive. The humour that made Iron Man 3 so much fun is largely absent from a dull affair that takes itself far too seriously and ends with the customary yawn-inducing CG filled climax audiences have now become numb to.
Picture caption: Clint Eastwood in Movie of the Week, 1992’s Unforgiven
By Eric Hillis
