Ministry of Musicals

We are delighted to announce our new season of classics, 'The Ministry of Musicals'.
Starting on Tuesday the 17th of November with Singing in the Rain, the Screen cinema will be showing a season of musicals from Hollywood’s golden age and more contemporary cult classics and music documentaries.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Dir: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Starring: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor
Originally conceived as a way of using leftover songs from other MGM musicals, Singin’ in the Rain’s postmodern look at the changeover from silent film to “talkies” soon transcended its banal roots and became a favourite of critics and audiences alike. Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” sequence and Donald O’Connor’s “Make Em Laugh” are still considered some of cinema’s finest song n’ dance routines. This film is also notable for Jean Hagan’s outrageously funny turn as diva Lina Lamont.





Oklahoma (1955)
Dir: Fred Zinneman
Starring: Shirley Jones, Gordon McCrae, Gloria Grahame, Rod Steiger
Oklahoma is a story set over the course of one day in a time where farmers and cowboys could not be friends and the last thing on a travelling peddlar’s mind was marriage! Perhaps one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s more frivolous works, Oklahoma nevertheless showcases their songwriting genius with some of their most accomplished songs. With fun and energy, bursting from every frame, and classic songs such as “Oh! What a Beautiful Morning”, “I’m Just a Girl Who Cain’t Say No” and “People Will Say We’re In Love”, this is certainly one to catch on the big screen.
December 1st



The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Dir: Victor Fleming
Starring: Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan, Munchkins!
One of the world’s most adored films, still delighting and terrifying audiences the world over after seventy years. This visual and aural masterpiece and its incredible Technicolour palette has hardly dated at all in that time. Digitally remastered, Dorothy’s trip down the yellow brick road has never looked so opulent.
December 8th


An American in Paris (1951)
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron
This Gershwin-penned musical features some of Gene Kelly’s strongest dance work. Here, Minnelli shows his penchant for visual decadence and Kelly shows what it means to be a true star! Numbers such as “I Got Rhythm” and “’S’Wonderful” are still classics and will have you swinging all the way home.
December 15th


Meet Me in St Louis (1944)
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Judy Garland, Mary Astor
Right slap-bang in the middle of World War II, Minnelli made this beautiful valentine to the talent and beauty of his new wife Judy Garland. Meet Me in St.Louis may be syrupy and sappy to some, but it is a beautiful and electric celebration of youth, beauty and family to others. A disappointed family learn they must leave their family home as their father is relocated, especially to the chagrin of Esther (Garland) who has fallen in love with the boy next door. Culminating in a festive happy ending, and Judy’s heartbreaking rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, this film is sure to warm the cockles of anybody’s heart.
December 22nd

A Night at the Talkies

To celebrate 25 years and its latest digital refurbishment, on Monday, November 9th the Screen hosted a red carpet gala “A Night at the Talkies” to a packed house.

Sponsored by Jameson, the event was a night of cinema nostalgia, old-style Hollywood glamour and a fusion of the best aspects of old and new as the crowd were treated to a screening of the digitally re-mastered Singing’ in the Rain. The evening began with the reignition of the Screen’s famous neon lights that were a landmark in the city so many years ago. The lights were illuminated by our esteemed guest John Kelleher, Director of Film Classification at IFCO with a little help from the lovely ladies of The Tassle Club, who brought a delightful added touch of glitz to the evening.

This event came at the end of two vastly successful seasons of film. Over the past few months, the Screen Cinema has rolled out a season of classic films which included the likes of All About Eve, Casablanca and many more and has also just concluded a Halloween horror movie season, “The Scream Cinema Monster Mash”. Monday night saw the launch of their new season, Ministry of Musicals which will feature the best of time-honored Hollywood musicals and contemporary classics. The full lineup of films was revealed to be Oklahoma, Singing’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Meet Me in St Louis, The Last Waltz, Labyrinth, Little Shop of Horrors, This is Spinal Tap, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Cry Baby. These films will be screened weekly on Tuesday evenings from 17th November starting with Singing in the Rain.

We would like to thank John Kelleher for kindly turning on the lights and wish him the best of luck with his retirement next week. To everyone whose being coming to the screen for the past 25 years or those who are new to it, thank you so much for coming through the doors night after night and keeping the Screen alive.

Screen X

Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock

Directed by: Ang Lee

Starring: Demetri Martin, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Eugene Levy, Liev Schreiber

Director Ang Lee is certainly in no fear of being pigeon-holed. Just file him under “Miscellaneous”. His films have ranged from gay cowboys to period drama to super-heroes. His latest piece of work Taking Woodstock bears many of his signatures but is, yet again, vastly different from his previous work. This film tells the story of the notorious Woodstock festival from the point of view of young, desperate, motel-owner’s son, Eliot (Martin) who initially suggests his tiny town of White River as a possible site for the concert. As chaos descends upon the town it brings new leases of life in spades upon the town, but also brings its fair share of contempt from the locals.

The beauty of this film is the microcosm from which the story grows. The audience doesn’t get to see every little detail of the organisation of the festival, but only sees what Eliot sees. Eliot is smart as a whip, confident and sensible and he is cleverly introduced as a likeable, competent and resourceful guy but as the story progresses it is interesting to see how quickly he is pulled under the current of hippies and suits and farmers and family, barely keeping his head above water.

Lee, as always, creates a beautiful world. A world that shows as many sides of the story as possible; the lunacy of hippies, the beauty of hippies, the close-mindedness of small towns, the open-mindedness of small towns, the muck, the sunshine, the pain, the freedom, it’s all here in a mix of stories and characters.

This is a pleasant film to watch with some strong performances from comedian Demetri Martin in a very demanding but successful lead role and from two Brits (Staunton and Goodman) playing his wonderfully over-the-top Jewish parents.

This is a beautifully shot, carefully constructed piece of work so sit back and soak in the atmosphere of the greatest music festival the world has ever seen.

- Charlene Lydon

The Men Who Stare At Goats

“More of this is true than you would believe”...

This is how the film starts and as it progresses one can’t help but become fascinated by what the true parts are because every facet of this film is quite simply insane! The film revolves around journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) who becomes involved with former “psychic spy” Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney) while trying to get across the Iraq border. As he uncovers Lyn’s story through a series of very entertaining flashbacks he finds out more than he wants to about the lengths his government is willing to go to out-think the Russians and, later, the Iraqis.

The film stays somewhat on the fence about whether Cassidy is an eccentric super-soldier or a crazed hippie madman but the heart of the film lies in the tragedy of the corruption of something you believe in. Whether or not these people are insane doesn’t matter when you see the evil Hooper (Kevin Spacey) abusing what he has learned from the shaman-like Bill Django (Jeff Bridges).

This film for all its insanity is really entertaining, extremely funny and the cast, particularly Clooney and Bridges turn in some fantastic performances. Also, for an Iraq movie, it nicely avoids waxing lyrical on the subject and keeps quiet to a large extent, remaining within its own world, only coming in contact with the war when it suits the plot.

This is a very unusual, very funny and very clever film, made all the more interesting because of its unlikely basis on fact.

- Charlene Lydon

An Education

Director: Lone Scherfig

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Saarsgard, Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams.

The unlikely pairing of former Dogme 95 director Lone Scherfig and pop culture writer Nick Hornby works wonders here as the two bring a fresh, lively but also realistic account of a young girl’s very complicated life in early 1960’s Britain.
The story follows Jenny (Mulligan), a sixteen year old girl who is being forced to Oxford to study English, but whose main passion in life is all things Parisian. When she meets older man David (Saarsgard) she embarks on a love affair which is both dizzyingly romantic and commendably uncreepy. He ignores her slight age and brings her out to see all the chic and worldy things the world around her has to offer. However the story twists and turns and brings things in a new direction in the third act.
The performances here are all fantastic. The young, but by no means inexperienced Carey Mulligan is being touted for an Oscar nomination and tongues are wagging internationally about the strength and depth of her performance.
This is not to say that An Education is merely a coming-of-age drama. It is also period piece concerned with the cultural shift in Britain in the early 1960’s based upon the memoirs of Lynn Barber (the real-life “Jenny”). It is a portrait of the times and the struggle of the youth to shift out of a repressive society.
This is a wildly popular, very enjoyable indie film that is not only entertaining but thought-provoking and beautifully shot.

Swallow This...Evil Dead 2

Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring:Bruce Campbell and Sarah Berry

If you are a stranger to the Evil Dead films you may have a question in your head when its suggested that you go see Evil Dead 2 - "why would I go see that? I never saw the first one."
Don't worry Evil Dead 2 is a strange film that doesn't require that you see the first one, in fact the first 20 minutes almost acts as a quicker, more efficient remake of the first film, with more slimmed down cast going to a cabin in the woods. As of yet there is no word for a part sequel/part remake, but lets not worry about that, all you need to know that if you have not yet seen The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 should be an unconfusing experience.

So Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend Linda goes to a cabin in the woods, they find the Book of the Dead and a tape-recorder which has the words that release the Evil. Which partly takes over Ash, so we get Bruce in a cabin doing what he does best, goofing around, fighting "deadites" and his own hand.

It's a kinetic, hilarious, OTT, giddy, gory, violent, nasty, childish, fast-paced, cartoonish, slapstick, thrill-ride. The camera uses many of director Sam Raimi's home-made rigs to swoop, spin and bash all over the place. Let's not forget that this is the creation of the Ash we all know and love now, this is the big-chinned, one liner spitting, blood splattered, boomstick (shotgun) wielding, walking cheese factory with a ****ing chainsaw for a hand. This was the birth of a legend, a cult icon who went onto star in one more Evil Dead film plus comic-books, video games and many, many action figures. And here he is in his perfect environment, going nuts in a cabin. That's cinema!

A horror comedy that's as shocking and scary as it is silly and hilarious. Watch it with a crowd on the big screen and enjoy the mayhem.

Groovy.

-Bren Murphy

Monster Mash Times

Lay your horrified eyes on our Halloween week schedule, The Surprise film is still a surprise but I might tell you a few days before, Halloween is suprising and scary enough as it is...

Tuesday the 27th

The Thing 8.30pm

Wednesday 28th

Ghost 6.30pm

The Lost Boys 9pm

Thursday 29th

Night of the Living Dead 6.30pm

The Shining 8.40pm

Friday 30th

Evil Dead 2 6.30pm

Surprise Film 8.30pm

Saturday 31st

Child's Play 6.30pm

The Thing 8.30pm

You can buy tickets here http://www.omniplex.ie, over the phone on 0818 300 301, or in house where there's discounted for students and OAPS.

Looking forward to your screams,

Elvira X