Belfast – Movie Review

TL;DR – A delightful film that has the ability to surprise you with its emotional content, even when you know it is coming.    

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Belfast. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Belfast Review

When I trace my lineage back in time, half of me comes from Ireland and the other half from England, which makes any film set in Northern Ireland this odd combination of interests and concern. I honestly did not know what to expect when I walked into the cinema, which was for the best as I got sucked into this narrative and world.

So to set the scene, on the 15th of August 1969, it was a quiet day in the suburbs of Belfast. Ma (Caitríona Balfe) calls out across the street for Buddy (Jude Hill) that it is time to come home for dinner. As the request gets passed up the road, Buddy comes galloping home only to crash into a riot in progress. As the violence increases, a barricade is put up on the street, and Pa (Jamie Dornan) comes rushing home from overseas because soon, the family will have to make some hard choices.   

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Movie Review – Robin Hood (2018)

TL;DR – Of this films many, many failings, is the fact that you can see a kernel of a good idea here, that they refused to commit too and thus made it a film about nothing.    

Score – 1 out of 5 stars

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

Robin Hood. Image Credit: Lionsgate

Review

Oh wow, and I mean wow, how do you stuff this up as badly as you do here. For a lot of people, there is this annoyance that film companies keep going back to these public domain properties because it is just a cheap option, and I get that. But because these stories are so well known, you can use them as a basis for doing something novel or even experimental. In years past, we have gotten the full-on epic with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves all the way to the absolute farce that is Robin Hood: Men in Tights. However, there was room for another film to take the mythos in a new direction … well, this is not that film, which somehow fails at being both a re-telling of the original myth and also an abysmal attempt at modernising the story for a new audience.

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