Many moons ago, while on Transition Year work experience with my press snapper uncle, I was on the set of a Pierce Brosnan film in Roundwood in Co Wicklow. I remember there was a lunch at one of the village pubs (because there’s always more than one, isn’t there?) with one of Pierce’s sons (Sean I believe) and the PR guy Gerry Lundberg, who incidentally grew up around the corner from my childhood home. I was too chicken to go right up to the man himself for a photo op but nevertheless it’s the closest I’ve been to an actual James Bond. It’s a shame he’s one of the bad Bonds, but still. Anyway, there’s a reason why the N64 game of his 007 debut is much more fondly remembered than the movie itself. More…
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There are altogether too many fireworks going off outside #aside
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Wordle 499 3/6
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Bond meets Scarface Lite as the franchise misses the boat on both the killer-shark trend and the ninja craze. Timothy Dalton’s 007 feels at odds with the kind of forced antics that plagued the Roger Moore movies, even if this one does feature a death scene worthy of the decade’s gnarliest horrors. Also, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa would’ve made a pretty good Bond in his prime, wouldn’t he? More…
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Wordle 498 3/6
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Oh nice, Shawscope Volume Two hits Arrow Player on 18 November > @ArrowFilmsVideo #aside
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This is the one where Bond beats Rambo to aiding the Afghan mujahideen so naturally it’s aged well, ahem. It’s bogged down by some overly convoluted plotting yet this is a decent outing for a new kind of Bond. They wouldn’t really pull the trigger on it till Bourne forced their hand in the Daniel Craig era, but Timothy Dalton brings the believably rugged charm the franchise desperately needed. More…
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What it lacks in story and drive it more than makes up for with orientalism, so much of which I don’t even know where to start. More…
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I appreciate the passion of a project like this, though that same passion is what persuades them to include every talking-head clip and non-sequitur anecdote they could get their hands on. I’m just saying, this could’ve been edited into a less meandering and far more engaging two hours, perhaps. More…
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Win for the weekend: thought the soundbar got frazzled by last week’s lightning but I just plugged it back in and it works! > @MacDara #aside
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Wordle 497 3/6
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Sean Cunningham produces his take on Freddy but aside from Brion James’ outrageously unhinged phantom killer and the always watchable Lance Henriksen, this is a poorly conceived mess. (And a poorly marketed one, too, as it was shoehorned into the House franchise post-release.) Wes Craven would get his own back by nicking the premise for Shocker, a much trashier yet relatively straight-forward and therefore far more entertaining affair. More…
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The thing that gets me is that “my dog has PTSD from the incident” is a much more plausible story, so why go with the one no one would ever believe? > @DrainBamager #aside
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Wordle 496 3/6
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It’s this close to saying something about the rot at the heart of the American dream. But it settles for being just a movie about an asshole who only looks sympathetic in light of someone far worse than him. More…
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Wordle 495 3/6
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Fresno-set wannabe giallo opts for boredom over thrills. I don’t get the appeal at all. More…
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Wordle 494 3/6
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Yaphet Kotto brings a modicum of dignity that almost, but not quite, raises this above the level of racist nonsense. Expensive boat chases notwithstanding. More…
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Stephen O’Malley moaned at me for not reviewing an album he played on to his liking > @poepilled #aside
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Wordle 493 4/6
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Drivers in Ireland ignore Belisha beacons anyway so this doesn’t make any practical difference > www.gov.ie > @MacDara #aside
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Wordle 492 3/6
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Really enjoyed this one. It’s as uneven as any horror anthology but has a sense of fun (rather than revolting mean-spiritedness) that appeals to me. More…
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Wordle 491 6/6
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What kind of backwoods bullshit is this? Indeed. More…
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Wordle 490 4/6
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As a contemporary folk horror, it’s more effective than Alex Garland’s facile Men. But it’s still predicated on the notion of the child’s original debt to their parents. That cycle can be broken without the kind of sacrifice this story suggests. More…
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The new Cloud Rat album. That is all #aside
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Recency bias means there’s way too much guff about Billie Eilish but this is a pretty entertaining, if ultimately slight, overview of the stories behind Bond themes both unforgettable…and not so memorable. More…
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Wordle 489 3/6
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Very boring Dublin-centric tweet: that new N4 bus is really handy to get from Whitehall to Blanch > @MacDara #aside
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Wordle 488 5/6
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Wordle 487 4/6
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Wordle 486 4/6
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Rewatched on Prime Video at a loose end of a Monday night. It makes me really want to marathon a bunch of Cynthia Rothrock movies. More…
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You know what else I can’t stand? The FF/FG govt constantly flying kites for the most deplorable shit as if they’re ignorant of the moral choices. It’s thoroughly disgusting #aside
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Feck it, I’ve held my tongue for days but I’m genuinely disturbed by the number of people on here I’d assume to be right-on who think it’s OK to sing “up the ’Ra” > @MacDara #aside
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Wordle 485 4/6
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What other movie from 1984 features a guy with knives for fingers who can kill you in your dreams? Eh? Oh… More…
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Wordle 484 4/6
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Run/Stop and Shift > @RudyCerda #aside
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My SO was convinced this had its edges sanded down for a PG-13 because it’s so tame but it actually got an R rating. For what I have no fucking clue. Personally I rate it S for slow; swap out all that self-conscious moodiness for pulse-quickening action and we might have the makings of something worth remembering. More…
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Am I that guy who likes Halloween Ends? It completely blows the ending, but up till then it kinda won me over? > @MacDara #aside
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[chews and spits] “Town’s cursed.” More…
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Wordle 483 3/6
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The new @palmmlap is out today and it’s the sweetest candy to these ears (meanwhile, I’m waiting patiently for the LP I ordered to survive the postal system) > palmnewyork.bandcamp.com/album/nicks-and-grazes #aside
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Wordle 482 5/6
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Wordle 481 4/6
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Wordle 480 4/6
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