Brendan Gleeson, John Wayne and others: 10 GREAT FILMS FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY (PURSUITIST)

St. Patrick’s Day. A day for Guinness, Corn Beef and an Irish movie (at least in my house). Here’s a collection of wonderful Irish films – and not films about Irish people in America – but the Irish in Ireland. The main themes that seem to run through them are drinking, music and the tragedy of an occupied, divided land. The first two themes are the fun ones – the latter the tragic tales. All are well worth a looksee.


The Guard 
Brendan Gleason commands the screen in the riotously funny film. He plays seemingly dense Irish policeman who works with CIA agent Don Cheadle to bust a drug smuggling ring.





Quiet Man (1952) 
The Duke tames a red-headed l and beats the heck out of Victor McLaglen. This John Ford epic shows an Ireland that exists only in the minds of Americans of Irish descent. And it’s wonderful.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH4OFXlvzKA&feature=player_embedded


READ MORE ABOUT THE OTHER MOVIES, WAKING NED DEVINE, SECRET OF ROAN INNISH, ONCE AND MORE:   http://pursuitist.com/arts/10-great-films-for-st-patricks-day/

Brendan Gleeson: The Guard was by far the funniest movie in 2011

“I though black people couldn’t ski. Or is that swimming?”

Tue, 31/01/2012 - 15:39 by Tim Chipping

John Michael McDonagh’s debut feature The Guard was one of Holy Moly’s favourite films of 2009, and it was certainly the funniest. But like his brother Martin’s under-the-radar, violent comedy masterwork In Bruges, there’s every chance you’ve not seen The Guard yet. But now you can, as it’s out on DVD and Blu Ray with a big bag full of extras.

When we reviewed The Guard back in August we suggested it might be every bit as good as In Bruges. But it doesn’t quite reward repeated viewings, in the same way. Although that’s chiefly because it’s a far simpler, more immediate story, rather than any flaw in the film.

Brendan Gleeson plays Sergeant Boyle with an almost zen-like approach to not giving a fuck, whilst keeping a careful balance between being loveable and obnoxious as he callously gropes the balls of a freshly shot corpse, insults everyone he works with, takes drugs stolen from car crash victims and treats himself to hookers.

His unlikely and reluctant investigative partner Wendell Everett is never sure if he’s dealing with an idiot or a genius, a situation that gives veteran US actor Don Cheadle every opportunity to run the gamut of incredulous facial expressions


Read the whole story on Holy Moly! http://www.holymoly.com/film-dvd/reviews/guard-2011s-funniest-film-now-out-dvd-and-blu-ray61472#ixzz1l99N8aOb
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Brendan Gleeson: 'The Guard' gets nine IFTA nominations (Irish Times)

Brendan Gleeson in The Guard, nominated for nine Ifta awards

The Guard, John Michael McDonagh’s hit comedy, came out on top when nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards (Ifta) were announced earlier today.

The film received nine nominations including nods for Brendan Gleeson as best actor and McDonagh for both director and screenwriter.

However, two other films also received nine mentions. Stella Days, Thaddeus O'Sullivan’s story of a priest’s efforts to maintain a cinema in rural Ireland, and Alfred Nobbs, featuring Glenn Close as a woman forced to cross-dress in 19th century Ireland, jostle with The Guard at the top of the nomination hit parade.

Now the most successful ever independently released Irish picture at the domestic box-office, The Guard must, nonetheless, be regarded as a strong favourite for the big prize. Gleeson has already received a Golden Globe nomination for his amusingly profane performance and the picture was very well reviewed on its US release.

Joining those three films on the shortlist for best film is Terry McMahon’s controversial Charlie Casanova. The story of a violent misanthrope adrift in contemporary Ireland, the picture shared the prize for best first feature at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh.

As is often the case with the Iftas, most of the nominees for best film still have a relatively low profile with general viewers. The Guard is the only one of the four to have received a commercial release in Ireland at this point.

The most puzzling of the nominations must, however, be the one granted to Ciarán Hinds as actor in a “lead role” for his performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Though reliably impressive, Hinds has only a handful of lines in the John le Carré adaptation. His role in The Debt – for which he received a best supporting nod – is, if anything, slightly larger. Michael Fassbender, hugely acclaimed as a sex addict in Steve McQueen’s Shame, and Martin Sheen, star of Stella Days, compete with Hinds and Gleeson in the race for best actor.

Saoirse Ronan, nominated for the thriller Hanna, is up against Antonia Campbell Hughes, Marcella Plunkett and Aoife Duffin in the best lead actress competition.

The Iftas also acknowledge achievement in television. Love/Hate, RTÉ’s gangland drama, was way ahead of the pack with an impressive 10 nominations. Game of Thrones , the fantasy epic filmed in Northern Ireland, wheezes into a distant second place with five mentions. Created by distinguished playwright Stuart Carolan, Love/Hate has been picking up good reviews and strong viewing figures since its debut in 2010. Aidan Gillen, the show’s star, received a nomination in the best actor category.

Other shows receiving multiple nominations included Corp & Anam , the Irish language crime series, and the flouncy Arthurian epic Camelot .

Ifta chief executive Aine Moriarty said: “Ireland’s economic struggles have been well documented, but against this pressure it’s heartening to see how Ireland’s hard-working creative community continues to punch above its weight and really deliver.”

The awards will be handed out on February 11th in the Convention Centre Dublin at a ceremony hosted by actor Simon Delaney.

List of Nominations
BEST FILM

Albert Nobbs - Alan Moloney, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn and Glen Close

Charlie Casanova - Terry McMahon

Stella Days - Jackie Larkin& Leslie McKimm

The Guard - Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Chris Larke, Flore Fernandez Marengo

DIRECTOR FILM

Rebecca Daly - The Other Side of Sleep

John Michael McDonagh - The Guard

Terry McMahon - Charlie Casanova

Thaddeus O’Sullivan - Stella Days

SCRIPT FILM

John Banville & Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

John Michael McDonagh - The Guard

Terry McMahon - Charlie Casanova

Antoine O’Flaherta - Stella Days

ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM

Michael Fassbender – Shame

Brendan Gleeson - The Guard

Ciarán Hinds – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Martin Sheen – Stella Days

ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM

Aoife Duffin - Behold The Lamb

Antonia Campbell Hughes - The Other Side of Sleep

Marcella Plunkett - Stella Days

Saoirse Ronan – Hanna

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM

Liam Cunningham - The Guard

Brendan Gleeson - Albert Nobbs

Ciarán Hinds - The Debt

Chris O’Dowd - Bridesmaids

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM

Maria Doyle Kennedy - Albert Nobbs

Fionnula Flanagan - The Guard

Brenda Fricker - Albert Nobbs

Amy Huberman - Stella Days

INTERNATIONAL FILM

Bridesmaids

Drive

Senna

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST TV DRAMA
Corp + Anam - Paddy Hayes

Game of Thrones - Mark Huffam

Love/Hate - Suzanne McAuley/Steve Mattews

The Borgias - James Flynn

ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE TELEVISION

Diarmuid de Faoite - Corp + Anam

Aidan Gillen - Love/Hate

Chris O’Dowd - The Crimson and the White Petal

David Pearse – Trivia
ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE TELEVISION

Maria Doyle Kennedy - Corp + Anam

Michele Fairley - Game of Thrones

Ruth Negga - Shirley

Aisling O’Sullivan - Raw

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Hardy Bucks

MasterChef Ireland

Mrs Brown’s Boys

The Savage Eye


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0110/breaking41.html

Brendan Gleeson: Filming The Guard (RTE)

My Blue Heaven

Tuesday 27 December 2011

750,000 paying punters resulted in a €4.3m Irish box-office haul, and now the home invasion of The Guard on DVD has begun. Harry Guerin hears writer/director John Michael McDonagh's memories of good vibes and bad weather on the most successful independent Irish movie of all time.

 

The Guard

'First day on set, I was nervous' But then you realise everyone's nervous! The first day was the scene where Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is with the two girls in the hotel!!! So let's say that was a big scene for everyone! You just get into a rhythm of filming. It's strange: because you film Monday to Friday, when you come in the following Monday it's like you're starting over! You get the nerves again and then they gradually go away again. I was still feeling that all the way up to the final week, when we were shooting the shootout.

'Brendan wants to make a film as good as it can be'I have a tendency to be lazy if I'm allowed get away with it! The main thing with Brendan was that he never allowed me to be lazy. There was a scene when he discovers the other guard's abandoned car and then he's talking to the widow and they're looking at the car. It was a really windy night and Brendan came to me later and said, 'I don't think that worked', because of the conditions. I said, 'Yeah, I kind of agree with you, but I'm on a pretty tight schedule'. And he said, 'Is there some way we can re-do it?' So we made time in the schedule where they're in a cafe and it's a really lovely scene. That was something where Brendan pushing me helped the overall film.

'Don was the ultimate Hollywood professional'He just does it - there's no psychodrama. The main thing that impressed me was the technical stuff he knew, like shooting the AK-47. In phone conversations in movies you usually have another actor at the other end of the line. But Don had learnt his script so well that he just did his lines and did the pauses - he didn't need anyone at the other end of the line. I thought that was terrific, to have that sort of rhythm and focus.

'The funniest thing with Don was the day where his character was trying to ask the locals some questions' Don thought we wouldn't be shooting because of the weather. I said, 'No, no, we're shooting it!' And he was like [faltering voice] 'Oh... alright'. What was funny was that Americans watching just assume it rains in Ireland all the time anyway, so it worked for the scene. It didn't really matter that it was bucketing down on him and him traipsing around with his umbrella! We had a late night out in Spiddal one night and Don goes, 'I'm just going to go over the road to get a Chinese'. I always wondered what the people serving him thought when Don Cheadle walked in!

'I thought The Guard was a good enough film that it would make its money back' But when it looked like we were going to overtake In Bruges - which we did - and then we actually closed in on [record holder] The Wind That Shakes the Barley, that's when I started to realise, 'People must be going back to see it'. It was fantastic, well it was fantastic to beat me brother [In Bruges director Martin McDonagh] for one thing! The film's done really well in the States - it's still playing there, 17 weeks later. It's doing well in Australia; Germany seemed to like it; it's about to be released in France and there are still lots of other places to go. Apparently, when there was a special screening for guards, the scene that got the biggest cheer was when it reveals Boyle with the AK-47!

'There are extra scenes on the DVD'There's a really good one where Don's character tries to get Gary Lydon's, the inspector, to make up with Boyle and neither of them are having it. We've also got my short film, The Second Death - where the character of Boyle first appeared in a way - and Brendan, Don and I do a Guard commentary. I was thinking, 'I'd like to do a really pretentious, artistic commentary where I'm talking about all my influences'. Of course I started doing it and Brendan and Don just started taking the mickey out of me! So it became more of a jokey commentary. Maybe I'll do my pretentious one further down the line!

'My best memory of The Guard is the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere and it's all of you together against the elements'It's like your own little circus in a way. I liked being in that landscape. American and British audiences hadn't really seen that Connemara landscape and it was great to be able to put all that on screen. If my career doesn't go as well I'm hoping maybe I'll end up doing one of those location bus tours and being the MC on it!


http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1227/mcdonaghjm.html

JOE's Top five movies of 2011 (Joe.ie)

today at 8:00 am

 

Forget about the Oscars, what every filmgoer wants to know is what movie did JOE pick as its favourite for 2011. Thankfully, the wait is over.

5. The Guard

Without doubt the biggest success story in Irish cinema for many a year, The Guard and its titular character are likely to be the first two things to spring to mind when one now considers Brendan Gleeson's legacy. Oh, and it will certainly be essential viewing anyone looking to see Don Cheadle get insulted as Gaeilge by someone repairing a lamp.

With diametrically opposed stars in the seemingly apathetic Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) and bewildered FBI agent Wendell Everett (Cheadle in masterful form), The Guard is simply one of the finest Irish movies and directorial debuts (John Michael McDonagh, brother of In Bruges director Martin) we've ever seen.

4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Let's face it, the idea of rebooting the Planet of the Apes franchise sounded like a horrible one a year ago, while we admit to mocking the seemingly poor CGI of the apes in question when saw the first trailer. The laughs were on us, however, when we sat down months later and watched the smartest Hollywood blockbuster of the year.

In retrospect, they should've just let the apes take the bridge

With a tight script and an astonishing performance from Andy Serkis (whose motion-captured portrayal of ape Caeser is gaining Oscar buzz), Rise of the Planet of the Apes works hard for the emotional intensity that punctuates its final act.

In a world where ADD-addled action directors can't go five minutes without an explosion, the film leaves the action aside until the last 20 minutes and instead focuses on a myriad of themes, from animal exploitation to what it means to be human. That's pretty ambitious for a $100m+ project.

3. Senna

As our reviewer wrote earlier this year at the release of this stunning feature: "Who’d have thought a documentary consisting purely of archive footage of the career of a racing driver could be so compelling?"

Pieced together from thousands of hours of raw footage, Senna is the incredible yet tragic story of the F1 legend and is quite simply must-see viewing for everyone, no matter your personal taste in racing.
Both enthralling and ultimately heartbreaking, this painstakingly recreated documentary provides the narrative, pace and memorable moments that any live-action version could hope for, which is probably the highest compliment we can pay to filmmaker Asif Kapadia.

2. The Fighter

Following its Oscar glory (Best Supporting Actor for Christian Bale, Best Supporting Actress for Melissa Leo) in early February, it's easy to forget that The Fighter hit Irish cinemas very early this year. Hyped as the best boxing movie since Raging Bull, critics and audiences were quickly won over by a tale of family ties, overcoming the odds and perhaps the most frightening gaggle of sisters in cinematic history.

We believe that Wahlberg downed a can of spinach or two before this scene

While Bale's goggle-eyed scenery-chewing is probably what many will immediately take from their initial viewing of The Fighter, repeated watches have opened us up to the understated work from Mark Wahlberg - possibly one of the most maddeningly inconsistent actors in Hollywood when you consider his chequered filmography.

It's Wahlberg's performance that helps anchor Bale's sometimes cartoonish approach and it's a shame that he was so resoundingly overlooked in the awards season.

1. Drive

Of all the movies that Ryan Gosling starred in this year (we'd estimate that it was at least 11), he may never top his role in Drive, where his near-silent protagonist evoked comparisons to the great Steve McQueen.

Making what is in a retrospect a fairly rubbish jacket look good, all to the best film score in years, Gosling's magnetic presence ensured that he would never again be derided by men as "that guy from The Notebook". An impossibly stylish modern take on the noir genre, Drive is easily our film of 2011 - even if not everyone agrees.

---

About the author

Emmet Purcell

Likes beer, dinosaurs and explosions. In that order.

emmet.purcell@joe.ie

emmetpurcell

 

http://www.joe.ie/entertainment/film/joes-top-five-movies-of-2011-0018745-1

The Guard (Brendan Gleeson) (Sky Movies top 20 movies of 2011)

The Guard

"I'm Irish, sure, racism is a part of me culture."

Don Cheadle may have been wheeled in to appeal to audiences Stateside (and he is rather good, to be fair) but Brendan Gleeson is the true star of this irreverent black comedy.

Packed with gallows humour and directed by John Michael McDonagh, brother of In Bruges helm Martin McDonagh, it went down a storm in its native Ireland and is now the most successful Irish film of all time, in terms of Emerald Isle Box Office receipts.


http://movies.sky.com/top-20-films-of-2011

The Guard: The Funniest Film Of 2011 (Sabotage Times)

By Dave Lee

Local Hero crossed with In Bruges or Father Ted meets Bad Lieutenant? Either way, get yourself into The Guard.

There’s a little sub-genre of film that seems to be developing that may best be described as ‘Irish Black Comedy’. Every couple of years the Emerald Isle kicks up a little belter like Intermission or In Bruges and now we’ve got another to join the gang – the funniest film of 2011, The Guard.

Centred around a superb performance by everyone’s favourite Irishman Brendan Gleeson, the film tells the story of a couldn’t-give-a-shit Garda sergeant who takes a break from his life of small town ennui, corruption, drug-taking and whoring to sort out a gang of international drug smugglers. It’s like Father Ted meets Bad Lieutenant.

There’s a bit more to it, but not much and (quite honestly) the intricacies of the plot run second to a series of hilariously foul-mouthed, dead-pan scenes that rightly seem more concerned with seeking laughs through cracking wise than building a cohesive narrative. A few deleted scenes on the DVD help to flesh out some of the underexplored relationships in the film and tidy up a couple of plot points but it’s best not to worry about the deficiencies of the film, just enjoy the highly quotable lines.

It shouldn’t really work but all the way through the script consists of the kind of marvellously-written and delivered bollocks that make the whole enterprise well worth 90 minutes of anyone’s time.

It’s a film that you occasionally feel like you’ve seen before; Don Cheadle turns up as a CIA agent and you think things are going to go a little Local Hero and a couple of times you sense the shadow of Welsh caper Twin Town, but the film manages to steer it’s own course and by the end you know you’ve seen something quite of itself. Worthy of note is the fact that The Guard is written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, brother of Martin McDonagh, the writer and director of In Bruges. There must have been the taste of Guinness in the water round their house as (considering the pair of them were born and raised in London) they seem to have a way with zingy dialogue rattled out in an Irish accent and definitely know how to get the best out of Brendan Gleeson. Also, music fans will be glad to know that the mariachi/ Morricone soundtrack is provided by Calexico.

The Guard is superb character comedy which rings the laughs from the old staple of dozy-gits-doing-clever-stuff-and-clever-gits-underestimating-the-dozy-gits. It shouldn’t really work but all the way through the script consists of the kind of marvellously-written and delivered bollocks that make the whole enterprise well worth 90 minutes of anyone’s time. It’s a form of comedy that the English occasionally do well over 30 minutes but it seems that you need to get our Gaelic cousins on board if you want to make it work over the length of a film. Or should I say fil-um?

The Guard is released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Jan 3.

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/the-guard-the-funniest-film-of-2011/

'The Guard' a caustic comedy with sass and style (we loved this movie - best one we saw in 2011. Brendan Gleason is brilliant)

Published: Thursday, December 08, 2011, 5:45 PM Updated: Friday, December 09, 2011, 7:39 AM

By James SanfordThe Kalamazoo Gazette
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Mismatched men: FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle, left) and small town police sheriff Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) fight drug dealers in the comedy, "The Guard."

Mismatched cop comedies are certainly nothing new, but leave it to writer-director John Michael McDonagh to put a bit of Irish spring into an all-too-familiar concept.

“The Guard” teams dumpling-faced, plain-talking small-town police sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) with the considerably more polished and professional Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), an FBI agent assigned to track down international narcotics traffickers who are bringing a boat full of cocaine to the Emerald Isle.

Boyle and Everett get off to a shaky start minutes into their first meeting when the blustery Boyle scoffs at Everett’s pictures of the suspects, all of whom are white. “I thought only black lads were drug dealers,” Boyle muses. “And Mexicans.”

Movie review

‘The Guard’

*** (out of four)

Rated R: for pervasive language, some violence, drug material and sexual content
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Fionnula Flanagan
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Running time: 96 minutes
See it: 7 and 9 p.m. Friday; 4:30, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday and 2:30, 5 and 7 p.m. Sunday, the Little Theatre, corner of Oakland Drive and Oliver Street
Cost: $5
Contact: 269-387-8221 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 269-387-8221 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, kalfilmsociety.net

Everett, an African-American, is stunned by such out-in-the-open ignorance. “I’m Irish,” Boyle reasons. “Racism is part of my culture.”

There’s a surprising sting in much of the humor in “The Guard,” but Gleeson and Cheadle never allow the verbal violence to degenerate into shock for shock’s sake. In Gleeson’s masterfully molded characterization, Boyle is uncouth but not insufferable.

He’s simply a guy who takes his work seriously — he calls himself “the last of the independents” — takes his time off even more seriously and lives by his own (admittedly shaky) moral code. The film opens with him surveying the wreckage of a fatal car crash that claimed the lives of a bunch of party-hearty types; Boyle checks one of the corpses, reaches into the man’s jacket and finds a tab of Ecstacy — which he nonchalantly pops into his mouth.

That kind of rule breaking doesn’t sit well with the by-the-book Everett, and the partnership is generally prickly. “Did you grow up in the projects?” Boyle asks Everett, who indignantly replies that he came from a privileged background, attended prep school and was a Rhodes Scholar. Everett doesn’t expect a bumpkin like Boyle to appreciate the significance of that honor, but Boyle once again surprises him: “I do know what a Rhodes Scholar is,” he snorts. “Kris Kristofferson.”

While Gleeson and the dryly funny Cheadle make these conversations crackle, director of photography Larry Smith and production designer John Paul Kelly ensure the look of the movie is every bit as lively and unpredictable as the dialogue. “The Guard” rings with bold colors, marvelously moody lighting and alluring coastal scenery of County Galway.

“The Guard” is not as impressive in terms of its story. McDonagh’s plot dawdles and, despite his unconventional approach to much of the material, the climax is disappointing.

It seems the crime drama was nothing more than a framework for all the amusing incidental bits McDonagh cooked up, including peculiar philosophical debates among the crooks (Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong and David Wilmot) and a disarmingly sweet subplot involving Gerry’s terminally ill but relentlessly feisty mother, Eileen (the priceless Fionnula Flanagan), that gives Gleeson an opportunity to slightly soften his character’s rough edges.

“You never gave me a moment’s grief,” Eileen murmurs as she and Gerry share a night out on the town. “You know that’s not true,” Gerry groans. “Let’s pretend it is,” Eileen quietly tells him.

The clashes between Boyle and Everett provide “The Guard” with much of its humor, but the visits with Eileen give the movie its heart.

Related topics: Ticket

Mlive.com

BRENDAN GLEESON: Delightful, wonderful comedy 'The Guard' has Irish gift of gab'

The Visalia Independent Film Series wraps its fall lineup with one of the best movies of 2011: The profane and delightful "The Guard."

It's hard to put a label on writer-director John Michael McDonagh's debut film. It's one part buddy-cop movie, a dash of culture clash comedy and a surprisingly touching character study all at the same time.

Through it all — at least if you can understand the thick Irish brogues — it's one of the funniest movies of the year, with one-liners and sly observations on everything from pop culture to the relative use of (or lack thereof) British philosophers.

At the center of the action is a terrific performance by burly Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, who plays Sergeant Gerry Boyle with a devilish glint in his eye and a gift for saying utterly offensive things in a charming way.

What makes the film so entertaining is watching various police officials and criminals underestimate Boyle, who plays the clown but really is whip smart and observant despite his taste for prostitutes and the occasional illegal drug.

The plot revolves around a joint Irish police-FBI effort to take down an international drug ring. The FBI agent in charge (Don Cheadle, terrific playing the straight man to Gleeson) soon runs headlong into Boyle, who delights in tweaking the uptight American. Soon, though, the two develop a wary but always believable friendship.

McDonagh's plot is just an excuse to let us follow Boyle as he investigates both the drug smugglers and two connected murders in a decidedly unorthodox manner. At the same time, Boyle is dealing with his mother (Fionnula Flanagan), who is dying of cancer. Their relationship is warm, funny and ultimately moving — and something totally unexpected.

McDonagh, who is the brother of acclaimed Irish playwright Martin McDonagh ("Pillowman" and "The Lieutenant of Inishmore"), has the same knack of writing dialogue full of pop culture references that's funny, smart and profane. Think Quentin Tarantino with an Irish brogue and you'll get an idea of what to expect.

When the movie ends you'll want to know more about Boyle and his peculiar outlook on life and policing — and wanting to know more about a character as the house lights go up is always a sign of a terrific movie.


Visalia Times

Actors Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle in 'The Guard'

WJBC

Normal Theater: The evil-lution of British comedy

By: Dawn Riordan | Yesterday

Actors Brendan Gleeson, right, and Don Cheadle attend the 2011 Friars Club Comedy Film Festival Award presentation at the New York Friars Club on July 25, 2011, in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

No, I’m not going to require you to sit in lecture position for this grand dissertation on an art form from another land.

But seriously, there is a belief that British comedy is just not the same as American comedy, and if you blink or wander into your text messages, you’ll miss the joke. But there really are no jokes in British comedy – only humorous situations, devastatingly sarcastic characters and wily quips that aren’t exactly all-out jokes and therein lies the problem.

In a British comedy, you need to pay attention. The story, the characters and what they say all work in sublime comedy fashion to make for one master work of comedy; and this stuff is hard to follow for a society that takes everything is short spurts. Americans need their comedy segmented, like we get on YouTube. And it’s the kind of comedy that zings a one-liner, or a set up with a clear punch line from Humor 101 – we can all get it, and it’s over with and we’re ready for another pitch.

Traditional British comedy is subtle. It’s the casual way a character says something sarcastic under the breath. But in recent films, British comedy has become quite outrageous, most likely politically incorrect, and done with a blast of over-accommodating randy language impeccably pronounced, of course.

Take the film “Hot Fuzz.” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who also did “Shaun of the Dead,” took two hardcore city cops, plunked them down in rural England and let ‘em go at solving small town hijinks with their urban training. Their harsh talk and big city police violence made you laugh at situations that were so out of whack it seemed the only way to respond.

In the film “In Bruges,” a similar situation occurs, this time with two hit men who, after just doing a “job,” have to hide out in a resort town. This film featured actor Brendan Gleeson as the hit man who makes the best of his down time by sightseeing while his partner in crime wallows in the misery of being sent to a remote place with no direction. The whimsical charm is that these two characters are yin and yang. It’s comedy to see them interact as such polar opposites.

In the interest of science and a good time, this week at the Normal Theater we’re featuring the latest of outrageous British comedy, “The Guard.”

Don Cheadle stars as a strait-laced FBI agent who must partner with a gruff and obstinate Irish cop on an international drug trafficking case. This film is not a blatant comedy-cop-buddy-film; it’s a crime thriller with dark humor and clever writing that only comes through because the actors give the characters so much life.

Gleeson is the Irish cop – and his character is and amazing blend of repulsion and magnetism. His character speaks his mind, sparing no one, and it’s this down-right forthrightedness that makes this film a pleasure to watch. I’d love to see this character in a sequel, but not in an American remake because we’d need to put in the jokes. And this film doesn’t need jokes; it’s got character!
Rated R for colorful, movie-cop inspired language and violence.

“The Guard” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday at the Normal Theater.
Dawn Riordan is director of the Normal Theater.

Brendan Gleeson - The Guard: Irish Film Festival Lond

The Irish Film and Television Network

Darragh Byrne & Risteard O’Domhnaill For Irish Film Festival London

02 Nov 2011 :

The Guard Irish directors Darragh Byrne (Parked) and Risteard O’Domhnaill (The Pipe) are attending the Irish Film Festival London, which is being launched later today at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith London. The festival, which brings Irish film, documentaries, shorts and animation to a London audience, will run until Sunday 6th November and opens with John Michael McDonagh’s ‘The Guard’ staring Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Part 1, Troy) and Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2, Hotel Rwanda). Other films being shown during the festival include director Darragh Byrne’s ‘Parked’, staring Colm Meaney (The Conspirator, Get Him To The Greek), which will receive its UK premiere at the festival, and includes a Q+A session with Darragh Byrne afterwards. ‘Eamon’, a dark drama offering by director and screenwriter Margaret Corkery (Joyride, Killing The Afternoon), about a young boy with behavioural problems, will also get its East London premiere at the Rio Cinema. The festival will also be showcasing documentaries including Fiona Whitty’s ‘The Ganger and The Agent’ and Risteard O’ Domhaill’s IFTA winning ‘The Pipe’ which tells the story of the small Rossport community which takes on the might of Shell Oil and the Irish State . ‘The Pipe’ will also include a Q+A session with O’Domhnaill. Closing the festival is director Paul Fraser’s (Scummy Man, Somer’s Town) award winning directorial debut ‘My Brothers’, set in 1987, it tells the story of three young brothers who embark on an epic quest over the a Halloween weekend. The festival is in association with IFI International 2011 and Culture Ireland. For more information on the festival visit its website at www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk Subscribe to IFTN's industry newsletter - it's free and e-mailed directly to your inbox every week. Click here to sign up.