Movie of the Week – Mean Streets
A new season of the films of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino begins at the Lighthouse on Tuesday with the former starring in a 35mm screening of Martin Scorsese’s classic Mean Streets. The low budget mob drama introduced the director and his star to the mainstream, and the rest was history. On Wednesday you can catch Pacino in The Panic in Needle Park, a gritty tale of heroin addicts in the post hippy era.
THX 1138
The Irish Film Institute continues its sci-fi season with some more gems. You can catch Fantastic Voyage on Saturday, Things to Come on Sunday and THX 1138 Wednesday. You don’t need me to recommend them, but I will anyway.
Louder Than Bombs
The best of the week’s new releases is Louder Than Bombs, starring our own Gabriel Byrne in a career best performance as a father struggling to connect with his sons in the years following their mother’s death. A highly accomplished English language debut from Norwegian director Joachim Trier and a touching, very human drama.
Miles Ahead
Miles Ahead is a biopic of jazz legend Miles Davis, played here brilliantly by Don Cheadle, who also directs. Flashbacks to Davis’ relationship with his first wife are as by the numbers as you’d expect from a music bio, but the meat of the film is a wild ride as we spend a fictional day in Davis’ life in the late ’70s.
Jane Got a Gun
The western revival continues with Jane Got a Gun. This one had a notoriously troubled production, but it’s far from a trainwreck. It’s just not very interesting, thanks to a dull storyline and the sort of visuals that would be more at home on TV. Western buffs will be mildly entertained.
Bastille Day
Filmed before the recent terrorist attacks on mainland Europe, Bastille Day is a mediocre Paris set thriller that now plays in extremely bad taste with its light, almost comedic approach to the subject of terrorism. A charismatic performance from Idris Elba almost saves the film, but it relies on far too many action thriller clichés.
By Eric Hillis of themoviewaffler.com
