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Sunday Independent (Ireland)

Tomatometer-approved publication.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
The Howling (1981) Ciaran Carty Cinema is all about making connections: finding unlikely affinities. So that we see the familiar in a new and unexpected light. That's the fun about "The Howling."
Posted Mar 18, 2026  Edit critic review
RoboCop 2 (1990) Ronan Farren Robocop 2 has all the attributes of the comic book movie. You are not expected to believe a word of it and you've forgotten most of it three days after seeing it. It's also highly enjoyable.
Posted Mar 11, 2026  Edit critic review
Anastasia (1956) Noel F. Moran Miss Bergman's performance is cast in the classic mould, her torrent of emotion, so infinitely varied and exquisitely controlled ebbs and flows with a magical fascination.
Posted Mar 06, 2026  Edit critic review
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Ciaran Carty Another triumph for Audrey Hepburn. Never before have I seen her get so completely inside a part. She IS Holly Golightly...
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Ciaran Carty Director Milos Forman is not laughing at the mad, he's laughing with them. And through their laughter he enables us to look at murky undercurrents in society that normally we might prefer to ignore.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Nashville (1975) Ciaran Carty Nobody need bother making a movie to mark the bicentennial of American independence. Robert Altman has already done so with Nashville... It will probably come to be accepted as the definitive American movie of all time.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Barry Lyndon (1975) Ciaran Carty Barry Lyndon is 2001 in reverse -- a visual poem of haunting beauty which, through its freedom from the rooted-in-time artifice of dialogue, magically evokes the sensation of being in the past in the same way 2001 evoked the future.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Braveheart (1995) Ronan Farren Altogether, as epics go, Braveheart is worthy of a skirl of the pipes and a toast in Glenmorangie.
Posted Feb 27, 2026  Edit critic review
Six Degrees of Separation (1993) Ronan Farren A highly intelligent and immensely enjoyable film that leaves you with lots to think about.
Posted Feb 27, 2026  Edit critic review
Apollo 13 (1995) Ronan Farren Tense, thrilling and superbly made, Apollo 13 is likely to become one of the box office successes of the year.
Posted Feb 27, 2026  Edit critic review
Sense and Sensibility (1995) Ciara Dwyer Thompson has done more than made the bed of herself, she has made herself the best.
Posted Feb 26, 2026  Edit critic review
French Kiss (1995) Ronan Farren It's sad to see Lawrence Kasdan, the director of Body Heat and The Big Chill, descending to the banal depths of French Kiss.
Posted Feb 23, 2026  Edit critic review
Jade (1995) Ronan Farren The sound acting by the principals can't conceal the fact that the screenplay is sadly unoriginal.
Posted Feb 23, 2026  Edit critic review
Funny Bones (1995) Ronan Farren A comedy that strikes me as an unmitigated disaster but which has apparently attracted a small coterie of ardent fans.
Posted Feb 23, 2026  Edit critic review
The Postman (1994) Ronan Farren The success of the film, a tale of the triumph of the simple over the sophisticated, is due largely to the lovely performances by the three principals.
Posted Feb 23, 2026  Edit critic review
Gladiator (2000) Ronan Farren The real revelation is Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus. Nothing in his career to date gave a hint of the subtlety and control he brings to the part of the cold, misanthropic emperor.
Posted Feb 18, 2026  Edit critic review
Chocolat (2000) Ronan Farren Director Lasse Hallström keeps this amiable comedy bubbling merrily, getting likeable performances from Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Alfred Molina, British actor John Wood, and Hugh O'Conor.
Posted Feb 17, 2026  Edit critic review
Pretty in Pink (1986) Ronan Farren A sticky mass of cliches aimed at the teen market.
Posted Feb 14, 2026  Edit critic review
Jaws (1975) Ciaran Carty Let me just take Jaws as it is -- as a first-class fun spectacle that manages to make audiences scream without actually frightening them. It's in the splendid hokum tradition of the fairground, rather like a ride on a ghost train.
Posted Feb 07, 2026  Edit critic review
A Face in the Crowd (1957) Noel F. Moran It is a provocative picture that, beneath its ranting melodrama, provides food for thought.
Posted Feb 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Vanishing Point (1971) Ciaran Carty A virtuoso exploitation of the astonishing range of the movie camera.
Posted Feb 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Camille (1936) M.A.T. Presented... with convincing power.
Posted Feb 04, 2026  Edit critic review
Manhattan (1979) Ciaran Carty Manhattan is a latter-day Modern Times with Allen as a Chaplin of the psyche. But in putting down cultural chic, it comes near to being what it satirises.
Posted Feb 04, 2026  Edit critic review
Days of Heaven (1978) Ciaran Carty People are only elements in the grand order of life: as much attention is lavished on a close-up of a locust destroying the corn crop as on Miss Adams. It's an eerie, haunting poetic movie; completely out of ordinary run of commercial cinema.
Posted Feb 04, 2026  Edit critic review
Ace in the Hole (1951) Noel F. Moran This is juicy cinema, skilfully prepared by Mr. Wilder. One would like to think that it couldn't possibly happen -- even in America.
Posted Feb 03, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Nouvelle Vague (2025) Chris Wasser True, Godard was a pain in the neck, and the real Breathless shoot caused a great deal of stress for its cast and crew. This witty and enchanting reconstruction, however, looks as if it was a joy to make, from start to finish.
Posted Jan 29, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Is This Thing On? (2025) Chris Wasser This isn’t a film about telling jokes; it’s about what happens when couples forget to make the effort with one another. It’s also a bit of a hoot.
Posted Jan 29, 2026  Edit critic review
North (1994) Lise Hand North is a complete exercise in self-indulgence on the part of Reiner.
Posted Jan 26, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
H Is for Hawk (2025) Chris Wasser There is a sense of strain throughout this respectable, warm-hearted film from director Philippa ­Lowthorpe and co-writer Emma ­Donoghue. A ­responsibility, perhaps, to honour the ­nature side of Helen’s tale, and the real human drama.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
Misery (1990) Ronan Farren Tightly and wittily scripted by William Goldman, Misery is a tense and sophisticated thriller that never misses a beat.
Posted Jan 21, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
The History of Sound (2025) Chris Wasser Give [Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor] the spotlight, and a tale worthy of it, and The History of Sound reaches dizzying heights. Keep them apart and this film loses its sheen and its colour.
Posted Jan 21, 2026  Edit critic review
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Noel F. Moran In these days of scientific development, almost nothing seems fantastic. Personally, I found the bold imagination of this film most intriguing, even if it does run to extremes towards the close.
Posted Jan 16, 2026  Edit critic review
Bite the Bullet (1975) Ciaran Carty Based on a true event, a gruelling 700 mile horse race over savage country, it becomes as much as an endurance test for the audience as for the riders.
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
The Magnificent Seven (1960) Ken Shaw Believe me, this is a Western that is different. It will stand high on the lists when the greatest of these films are mentioned in future.
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Evan Fanning The word epic is much overused in cinema, but with The Return of the King, Peter Jackson has created a true epic which is ultimately about the price of triumph.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
Stand by Me (1986) Ronan Farren River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton are particularly good, catching the basic sympathy that exists between boys of that age.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
Gaslight (1944) Noel F. Moran It is another sound picture, satisfying without being brilliant, despite a somewhat fantastic theme.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
Sweet Home Alabama (2002) Sarah Caden The joy of this tidy little comedy is not in the ending, but in spending time with the totally endearing, spiky but sweet, Witherspoon and the excellent eccentrics who surround her.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Evan Fanning The Two Towers is a much darker and moving effort than "The Fellowship". Personalities are added to the courageous fighting skills of our heroes.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
A Few Good Men (1992) Ronan Farren The courtroom scenes are gripping, the complexities of the plot (screenplay by Aaron Sorkin from his play) well controlled. And Jack Nicholson lights up the screen with his rage and bitterness and his final bluster.
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
Watch the Birdie (1951) Noel F. Moran Amusing, without striking a particularly high note.
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
Bright Leaf (1950) Noel F. Moran The obvious striving for melodramatic effect makes one doubt the sincerity of the characters in Warner's "Bright Leaf."
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
Alice in Wonderland (1951) Noel F. Moran Mr. Disney has taken the bare bones of the story, has improvised, substituted, deleted, in accordance with cinematic licence. Under his inspiration, Alice in Wonderland has become a vision of dazzling -- almost bewildering -- colour and beauty.
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
2/5
Giant (2025) Chris Wasser ...Giant is too broad, too cartoonish, and talks too much without ever really finding its voice.
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
3/5
David Bowie: The Final Act (2025) Hilary A White ...Stiasny’s more conventional documentary sometimes struggles to keep its feet on the ground, neither comprehensive enough to be a rounded career retrospective, nor cleanly focused enough on that final journey towards Blackstar.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
Death Race 2000 (1975) Ronan Farren It is an original, funny, fully realised film which blends black humour and science fiction into a crazy witch's brew.
Posted Dec 22, 2025  Edit critic review
The Doctor (1991) Ronan Farren It holds the interest but hasn't a lot in the way of profundity.
Posted Dec 19, 2025  Edit critic review
Hook (1991) Ronan Farren We are left in no doubt that money was thrown at this production, which is not necessarily a bad thing: little Steven's latest box of magic tricks should enthrall the youngsters most of the time.
Posted Dec 19, 2025  Edit critic review
Christine (1983) Ciaran Carty Never mind that the whole idea is outlandish. What matters is the conviction with which Carpenter builds up Stephen King's story, hooking us with its horrifying logic.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Goodbye June (2025) Hilary A White You’d need to be hard of heart to discard this star-studded hymn that salutes not only the malleability of family bonds but also the incredible staff on our hospital floors (take a bow, Fisayo ­Akinade, as June’s nurse).
Posted Dec 16, 2025  Edit critic review
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