Directed by Tamara Jenkins, The Savages follows the story of the unfortunately named Savage siblings, Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who are faced with the tough decision of sending their elderly father into care.
If anybody should be the new poster boy for “Say No to Ageism” week, it's Harrison Ford. Reprising perhaps his most famous role as the swashbuckling archaeologist, Indiana Jones, in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ford proves that at the sprightly age of 65 he can crack whips and solve riddles in dead languages with the best of them.
“Welcome to the world of tomorrow”, a bespectacled goofy scientist delcares in his best science fiction voice to Futurama's Philip J. Fry when he is reanimated after spending a thousand years cryogenically frozen. Visitors to Techno Threads, the latest exhibition at the Science Gallery, should be greeted with a similar refrain.
Plans, Sections and Elevations is an insightful new art exhibition that questions the function of architecture past and present.
Ever wondered what artists' studios look like? Curious to find out? VISIT 2008 is a snapshot of the work of over 150 artists in 15 studio organisations across Dublin on 19 & 20 April.
The studios feature works from across a wide range of media including printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, glass-making, ceramics, video, film, photography, installation and conceptual art.
The old Temple Bar Music Centre sign still hangs on the side of the building, but the Button Factory is a new venue. Gone is the dank cellar of the past, entered through a narrow, steep staircase, past the long benches at the back where zombies wandered. Now we have carpets, mood lighting and soft wood, and a wide expanse of stage visible from the bar at the back of the venue. The slight air of yuppiefication is acceptable in the context of what we had in the past. Worth a visit, if you have not yet been.
The Campo Viejo Spanish Film Festival recently came to a close in the IFI with a screening of Robert Pia's La Zona, a movie set in a Mexico that most movie goers would not recognise. The Zone is an area of Mexico City that has been given a large amount of autonomy by the authorities, through a suspicious deal with a judge. It is populated by the rich who can afford to pay to live in such security. Behind a wall and guarded by their own well-armed police, they are under camera surveillance, ostensibly for their own security.
The fact that most of the crowd was listening intently to her music did not seem to lift the spirits of Carly Blackman, known to us as Carly Sings. She has herself described her sound as ‘like Leonard Cohen if he was a girl', so a certain amount of darkness is to be expected, but her performance and body language towards the audience in Whelans on Saturday 22 March was verging on hostile. That said, she does look pretty when she's angry.
The bane of many Dublin gigs was in evidence in Whelans on Sunday 9 March – too many people who seemingly wandered into the gig by accident. With no interest in the music, they were there to talk loudly around the bar. One music-loving punter even took it upon himself to scream ‘Shut the f**k up! in their general direction, but to no avail. He escaped to the balcony, and the crowd eventually settled down enough to make support act Ugly Megan audible.
The first few times I walked by the Bernard Shaw. I was intrigued. Standing alone, defiantly challenging the fate that had befallen the buildings on either side, the run-down yet quaint pub never seemed to be open. The huge steamed-up windows weren't giving much away, but I still got the distinct impression something interesting was afoot inside.