Into the West (1993)
Nov 14, 1999Mystical Horse/Irish Magical Realism
A Magical Realist film sets against the harsh backdrop of a dreary present-day urban Dublin as two boys befriend the mythical horse Tir na Nog and go on a cross-country journey
Colm Meaney
The Magical Land of the Leprechauns (1999)
May 1, 2010Leprechaun Fantasy
Lively and undeniably likeable Hallmark mini-series that celebrates Irish myth. Giddily silly nonsense conducted with a boisterous energy
Caved In (2006)
Aug 2, 2016Giant Bugs Underground
One of the spate of underground horror films that came out in 2005 including The Descent and The Cave. This is a B-budget wannabe obviously shot in a studio. The addition of giant beetles takes it into the cheesily ridiculous
A Lobster Tale (2006)
Jan 17, 2010Magical Realism/Miracle Healing Moss
Set in a nowhere New England town where fisherman Colm Meaney discovers a moss with miracle-healing properties. Sort of a Magical Realist version of The Shipping News
Alice (2009)
Feb 17, 2011SF Version of Alice in Wonderland
Following on from his reworking of The Wizard of Oz in Tin Man, this is a tv mini-series where Nick Willing rather fascinatingly reinterprets Alice in Wonderland in SF terms
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Nov 2, 2009Jailed Genius Enacts Vigilante Justice
Vigilante film where Gerard Butler exacts revenge against the justice system while imprisoned in a jail cell. The dispatches become entertainingly improbable to the point that Butler almost becomes a Batman villain in all but name
Free Birds (2013)
Nov 1, 2013Animation/Time-Travelling Talking Turkeys
Animated film designed for the US Thanksgiving holiday. With a completely insane plot involving turkeys travelling back in time to stop turkeys being served at the first Thanksgiving
Where the Devil Hides (2014)
Dec 20, 2016Devil Child Prophecy in a Religious Cult
This is a modestly effective effort that sits just on the dividing line between interesting and cliched - the undeniably captivating premise involves an Amish-like cult dealing with a series of prophecies about devil children and killings of their number
Childhood’s End (2015)
Jan 17, 2016Alien Visitors/Arthur C. Clarke Adaptation
Arthur C. Clarke's book is one of the all-time SF classics; this mini-series adaptation counts as one of the biggest book-to-film abortions in the SF genre handled by people who know nothing about SF
Norm of the North (2016)
May 20, 2016Animation/Talking Polar Bear
As animated films go, there are few that feel like a constructor set of pieces copied from every other film than this. Audiences found the adventures of a twerking polar bear lacking too and it made a record for the lowest weekend gross for an animated film ever
Tolkien (2019)
Aug 2, 2019Fantasy Author Biopic
Biopic of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings. This covers many of the key areas of Tolkien's early life but you also cannot help but notice what it leaves out
Unwelcome (2022)
Sep 3, 2023Faerie Creatures at the End of the Garden
Irish horror about a couple who inherit a house with faerie creatures at the end of the garden