"Sequels dominate international box office," read a headline in Variety this week. Lacking significant competition from major sporting events such as the Olympics or World Cup, cinemas are booming this summer, and our monsoon weather has given a further boost to just about every recent release from Shrek the Third to Paris, Je t'Aime.
Despite lukewarm reviews, the new green ogre movie collected €4.3 million at the Irish box-office on its first week in release (bolstered by several days of previews), just short of the entire take for the first Shrek here. And at the IFI in Dublin, cinemas manager Pete Walsh reports that admissions last month were almost double those registered in June 2006.
Crowley in the old folks home
Irish director John Crowley will follow his accomplished debut film, Intermission, with Is There Anybody There? Its producer, David Heyman, who produces the Harry Potter movies, told Reel News: "This film will have a different aesthetic, but it is similar in the sense that it is very witty. It tells the story of a young boy raised in an old people's home run by his parents. He is around nine or 10, and feels somewhat alienated and disconnected."
The film deals with the relationship between the boy, who has yet to be cast, and a new resident played by Michael Caine. "It's about how the man helps the boy to seize the day," says Heyman, "and how the boy helps the man to move on and to come to terms with his life and his mortality."
Critics get theirs - and they love it
US critics have praised Pixar's delightful new Ratatouille, even though it features withering comments about critics. These remarks are in a monologue by Anton Ego, the snootiest food critic in Paris, and are delivered with acidic relish by Peter O'Toole, who provides Ego's voice. Ratatouille opens here on October 12th.
The Joe Meek Story
Best known as an actor (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Nick Moran has turned director with Telstar. Based on Moran's own play, it charts the tragicomic life of Joe Meek, a gifted English record producer in the early 1960s who scored No 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic with Telstar, an innovative instrumental single by The Tornados. Margaret Thatcher chose it as one of her favourites when she was a guest on Desert Island Discs.
Con O'Neill, who played Meek in the stage version, reprises the role in the film, which features JJ Field as Heinz Burt, Meek's peroxide protege who played guitar with The Tornados before going solo, and Pam Ferris as Meek's landlady Violet Shenton, whom he murdered before killing himself in 1967. Kevin Spacey is also in the cast, along with Ralf Little, James Corden and Sid Mitchell.
Behan mini-fest at IFI
JP Donleavy, author of The Ginger Man and friend of Brendan Behan, will introduce two films about the writer, presented by the Irish Film Archive, at the IFI in Dublin next Wednesday at 6.30pm. In Meet the Quare Fella, interviewer Eamonn Andrews elicits franks responses from Behan about writing, fame, religion, his time in borstal and his connections with the IRA. And Brendan Behan's Dublin, Norman Cohen's 1962 documentary, features Ray McAnally as the "voice of Behan", interviews with the Behan family, music from the Dubliners and evocative photography by Robert Monks. www.irishfilm.ie
Accessible cinema
Maeve Cooke has been appointed as the new director of Access Cinema, where she has worked as programme manager. Established 30 years ago as the Federation of Irish Film Societies, Access Cinema is the resource organisation working with film societies, art centres and arts festivals to develop and expand arthouse cinema in Ireland. www.accesscinema.ie
Quote of the week
From the Hollywood Reporter, on Live Earth: "The event's obvious contradictions and fuzzy focus were not helped by the stream of celebrities including Chris Rock, Eddie Izzard, Gerard Butler, Kyle MacLachlan and Thandie Newton, delivering homilies on the importance of turning off the lights at home."
