December 1997 saw the release of Tomorrow Never Dies, arguably the definitive Pierce Brosnan Bond film. It was the first film in the series to be released following the passing of Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, who had spearheaded the…

Tommy Wiseau's The Room, a Tennessee Williams-like melodrama that was seemingly created by a wounded, misogynist alien, isn't just a notoriously bad movie, it is widely regarded as the best bad movie ever made. In large part this is down to…

“Taking Bond back to his roots” is a phrase we hear a lot these days as the producers try to capitalise on the ever reliable appetite for hard, gritty tones in their films. But back in the 80s it was a different story. The phrase was…

"Stop talking about American things and let's watch The Greatest Movie Ever Made,"  - said Alan Partridge of The Spy Who Loved Me to a caravan full of bewildered colleagues, whom he would then berate for their lack of knowledge of the Bond…

The Bond actors always fell into ‘extended family gathering’ archetypes. Lazenby is the aged swinger; fond of telling you about all the women he’s bedded but likely to start crying about his life after a few hours. Craig is your aunt’s new…

They say the best parodies come from a place a true affection, that you can only scathingly send something up if you have real investment in it to start with. This was definitely the case with Austin Powers as Bond had in many ways already…

Casino Royale’s legacy is, ten years on, an impressive and slightly surprising one. I’m not sure anyone fully realised in the immediate pre-Craig era quite how far Bond had fallen as a cultural icon. Sure, Die Another Day was at that point…

Spy is a sharp comedy about a frumpy CIA handler turned field agent with all the expected laughs that come from this take on the tried-and-true fish out of water set-up. What’s surprising is Spy’s ability to sit alongside (and even…

The 13th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival kicks off on March 19th with Mary McGuckian’s The Price of Desire, starring Orla Brady as Irish modernist designer Eileen Gray, and ends on March 29th with The Sound of Music, with Julie…

I’m a big fan of the movies so I am. I’ve always loved escaping into a world of fantasy populated by fantastical characters in fantastical situations being fantastic. In my small midlands town we had a one screen cinema and I grew up in…