Tag Archives: Ireland

The Banshees of Inisherin – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A odd yet sad film of life in a small village that escalates out of all control

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Looking across the water to the mainland.

The Banshees of Inisherin Review –

Today I have a slightly frustrating film to review, and unfortunately for them, it is not their fault. I work out of Australia, and for some reason, this year, many of the big Oscar chances got released a lot later than the rest of the world. For example, today’s film was already out streaming in some places before it got its theatrical release here. I had avoided all spoilers for this film until yesterday when someone ruined a single plot point for me, and I think it ruined a big chunk of this film for me.  

So to set the scene, it is 1923 on an island off the Irish coastline, where they are isolated from much of the world, bar the odd explosions from the Irish Civil War they can hear echoing across the water from the mainland. Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) spends his days working with his dairy cows and nights at the pub with his best friend, Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson). That is until one day, Colm stops talking to him. The town wonders if they have been rowing again, but Pádraic can’t remember them fighting, and his sister Siobhán Súilleabháin (Kerry Condon) is concerned that something has gone very wrong. But Colm insists, ‘I just don’t like you no more’, but that is not an answer for Pádraic.

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Movie Review – Artemis Fowl

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TL;DR – There is a lot of promise here that unfortunately falls flat at every turn.    

Score – 2 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Artemis Fowl. Image Credit: Disney.

Review – Some genres really excite me when I get to see them, and one of those is when you crash fantasy and science fiction together. It is a delicate balance to get right, but when you do, it is grand. So a story where all the tales of fairies and such are real and they still live, but in high-tech cities under the Earth, well you have me intrigued. But you need to do something more than just intrigue, which is where we fall flat from almost the start.     

So to set the scene, we open in on Fowl Manor in Ireland, who is currently under siege, by the press and police. As the police arrest a Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad) and take him to a black site for integration, he speaks of magic as it is real, to the amusement of everyone. However, as he continues he lets everyone know, it is not Artemis Fowl Sr (Colin Farrell) they should be concerned with, but his son Artemis Fowl (Ferdia Shaw). Artemis is just a kid, a brilliant kid, what threat could he be? Because isn’t it the father, the thief, that is the real threat, or is there something darker at play?    

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Map-It – Mapping Grand Designs

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TL;DR – Today we chart every location visited during 19 seasons of Grand Designs as well as Grand Designs Abroad and Grand Designs Indoors.

Article –

Today we are exploring something of a guilty pleasure for me. I don’t know why I love watching these majestic houses come together from scratch given I will likely never be in a position to be able to afford something like that, but all being said and done, I have watched and loved every episode of Grand Designs.

Whether it is host Kevin McCloud and his constant trepidations until he sees that final house and it all snaps together. Whether it is that moment the sad music plays because the glazing has held everything up for 6 months or that time when the sad music played in the first 5 minutes of the show and I was not ready for it. Or whether it is the sheer gumption of these people powering through an English winter and never quite getting in before Christmas, well at least the Christmas that they planned. I simply adore it all.

Recently I had some time set aside and I was catching up on all the episodes that I had missed and I started to wonder what the geographical spread of all the locations would be. Are they all in Sussex, because they felt like that where all in Sussex? Well, it dawned on me that you know, there was something you could do about that and here we are.

Now time for the quick formalities before we start. All of these dots should be considered at best estimations rather than exact locations. Quite often you know roughly where the location of the house in question is, and other times you know it is somewhere in Devon and you have to make the best guess. So, let’s dive into the world of Grand Designs.  

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