A new exhibition at the Ulster Museum shows Queen Elizabeth II in a series of portraits. This display is to mark her Diamond Jubilee as the Queen of England on the throne. In collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, the touring collection is an eclectic mix that ranges from rare, intimate photographs to world famous art pieces.
BY LAURA SHEARER Continue reading
Finally Disney made the wise decision to return this lovable classic to the distribution lists. Available to all, re-mastered in Disney Digital 3D for fans of the format and on DVD again for the first time in nearly a decade. The full colour enhanced glory of the original 2D format was again in circulation for those not convinced by the merits of 3D glasses, but gladly so as the beauty of Disney’s finer animated masterpieces is defined by the 90s when it was first released. The reintroduction of a childhood favourite for many generations has been met with great enthusiasm for those younger generations who have almost grown up without knowing about the circle of life.
BY LAURA SHEARER
Not another Holocaust drama? Kristen Scott Thomas (The English Patient, I’ve Loved You So Long) stars in this thought provoking new Holocaust drama centred on the events of 1942 Paris.
BY LAURA SHEARER Continue reading
Mel Gibson plus hand puppet… and this is meant to be his great return since he went biblical. That’s right, the man who decided that he never again wanted to use film as a means of just making money, he wanted to get his message across. Never mind the huge money making successes that ‘The Passion of the Christ’ and ‘Apocalypto’ were, he’s returned to being in front of the camera and firmly positioned himself in centre stage with his new role.
BY LAURA SHEARER Continue reading
Picture the re-imagining of an old fashioned samurai film by one of the best directors in Japanese cinema to date. Director Takashi Miike is best known for his hyper violent films ‘Audition’, ‘Three Extremes’ and of course ‘Ichi the Killer’. Constantly behind the camera working on projects, Miike is one of the most famous and productive directors in modern Japanese cinema, yet most of his work goes unseen by audiences outside of East Asia. It’s a crying shame that only his most violent work makes its way across the globe and seeing as we Westerns haven’t heard his name mentioned since 2004, it’s about time he hit it big with his take on the classic samurai feature.
BY LAURA SHEARER Continue reading
Girl Interrupted meets anime inspired action. Mix in some racy costumes and gaming style action sequences and you’re on to a winner surely. After the death of her mother and sister, a young girl is locked away in a mental asylum by her abusive stepfather. As her new nightmare begins she is faced with the threat of a lobotomy in five days’ time. Retreating into an imaginary world where she must fight to retrieve five items to win her and her new friends’ freedom the plot thickens into a peril filled fantasy adventure. This isn’t the light hearted romp that the trailers might suggest, it’s dark and dense, fraught with issues it’s uncomfortable tackling.
BY LAURA SHEARER
For fans of the famous Haruki Murakami novel, it was a very mixed reaction at the announcement of a film adaptation. With negative remarks from his readership in Japan and a somewhat more welcomed success worldwide, Norwegian Wood is one of the most talked about films to be released outside of Japan this year.
BY LAURA SHEARER