Author

Cal Ó Muirí 8 posts 0 comments

Cal Ó Muirí is a writer living his life one Simpsons quote at a time. At the moment, he's avoiding writing a play by watching unhealthy amounts of cat videos on YouTube. He can be found spreading the gospel of Under the Silver Lake on Twitter @TheMaggieMan.

Film

DIFF 2024 Review | Bittersweet MonsterExplores the Intimacies and Intricacies of the Human…

Cal Ó Muirí Mar 15, 2024 0

A building is set ablaze. A teenage boy, Minato (Soya Kurokawa) and his mother, Saori (Sakora Ando) watch as it is engulfed in flames. Saori excitedly watches fire trucks rush to its rescue, but Minato seems wholly disinterested. This…

Film

DIFF 2024 Review | Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist is A Delicate and Devastating Masterwork

Cal Ó Muirí Mar 11, 2024 0

A young girl walks through the forest alone. Naked limbs of trees carve up the bright sky as Eiko Ishibashi’s score swells like a scene straight from a fairy tale, but fairy tales don’t exist. A distant gunshot disturbs the peace in this…

Film Review

Spanish Horror Arrebato Seduces its Characters and Audience Alike | DIFF 2023

Cal Ó Muirí Mar 13, 2023 0

A director and his editor argue over the ending of a vampire movie. ‘We can’t use this take’ the editor pleads, ‘she’s looking directly into the camera’. The director refuses to watch another take. He argues that looking into the camera…

Film Review

DIFF 2023 Review | How to Blow Up a Pipeline Ends Up Being A Little Too Neat and Tidy

Cal Ó Muirí Mar 9, 2023 0

Environmental issues dominate our time, from political programmes, to news stories, to art. Unfortunately for the latter, much of this art feels more like a lecture than anything else. How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Daniel Goldhaber’s adaption…

Film

Top Gun: Maverick | Tom Cruise Fights A Losing Battle

Cal Ó Muirí Jun 20, 2022 0

On March 7th, 1987 James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. James Smith lost the fight, unanimously, but going 12 rounds with Iron Mike is an achievement in itself, especially as Smith shouldn’t have been there in the…

Film Features

A Tale of Two Spider-Men | Spider-Man 3 at 15

Cal Ó Muirí May 4, 2022 0

2008 is often cited as the beginning of modern American cinema. It was the year in which Marvel began its journey to world domination and The Dark Knight gave superhero movies the credibility they still desperately crave. Bad Boys for Life…

Film Review

EAFFI 2022 | New-Wave Noir Pale Flower Remains Timeless

Cal Ó Muirí Apr 1, 2022 0

SPOILERS (for a 50-year-old movie) Masahiro Shinoda’s seminal new-wave noir Pale Flower opens with Yakuza member Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) returning to Tokyo after three years in prison and noting that ‘nothing has changed’. As the camera…

Film Review

Why Jackass Is Forever | Jackass Forever Film Review

Cal Ó Muirí Feb 25, 2022 0

After 11 long and painful (or painless depending on who you ask) years the Jackass crew is back and bigger than ever. Jackass Forever is a critically acclaimed box office hit, but in a time when blockbuster cinema is more sanitised than…