Reviews Archives - The Phoenix Magazine

Reviews

WINGMAN – RTÉ ONE

May 16, 2019
THE LATEST Baz Ashmawy vehicle got off to a typically improbable start when the manic-eyed presenter assured viewers that, “with the right help, anything... Read more »

THE DIG – DIRECTED BY ANDY AND RYAN TOHILL

May 16, 2019
ANY FILM coming out of Northern Ireland and titled The Dig is, even if not overtly, a ‘Troubles’ film, likely to be viewed as... Read more »

DON’T GO – DIRECTED BY DAVID GLEESON

April 18, 2019
WATCHING David Gleeson’s Don’t Go in a near empty cinema, as Goldhawk did, a viewer’s thoughts may drift to parodies in The Simpsons of... Read more »

THE GHOST FACTORY – JENNY McCARTNEY (4th ESTATE)

April 18, 2019
WITH NO apparent end in sight to fictional accounts of the Troubles, it’s not surprising that this debut novel revisits familiar ground. The author... Read more »

DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE – VIRGIN MEDIA

April 18, 2019
This health-based series offers the same nutritional hit as a visit to McDonald’s. Viewers are left hungry for something actually worth getting their teeth... Read more »

FERTILITY SHOCK – RTÉ 1

March 21, 2019
DEARBHAIL MCDONALD is group business editor at Independent News and Media, but in recent times has been developing her brand beyond the confines of... Read more »

THE HOLE IN THE GROUND – DIRECTED BY LEE CRONIN

March 21, 2019
THERE’S NOT much wrong with Lee Cronin’s technically adept debut, The Hole in the Ground. Its problem is that, although it is streets ahead... Read more »

WHEN ALL IS SAID – ANNE GRIFFIN (SCEPTRE)

March 21, 2019
THIS DEBUT novel from the prize-winning short-story writer takes the form of a series of expansive inner monologues by a recently widowed 84-year-old farmer,... Read more »

GAME CHANGER – CORA STAUNTON/MARY WHITE

December 13, 2018
IT HAS been a bumper year for sports autobiographies, with Andy Lee’s Fighter and Tony 10 by Declan Lynch and Tony O’Reilly leading the... Read more »

DEATH AND NIGHTINGALES – RTÉ1/BBC1

December 13, 2018
THIS IS the first television adaptation of Eugene McCabe’s critically acclaimed 1992 novel about treachery and deception in the 1880s border counties. The three-part... Read more »

THE BELLY OF THE WHALE

December 13, 2018
THERE ARE several indicators that can alert the unwary to ‘troubled’ films in advance of paying money to see them in the cinema. There... Read more »

MILKMAN – ANNA BURNS (FABER & FABER)

November 1, 2018
THIS YEAR’S Man Booker winner (the first from Northern Ireland), Anna Burns, has published two previous novels and is well regarded in literary circles... Read more »

RICHARD III – ABBEY THEATRE

November 1, 2018
GARRY HYNES must have realised that producing another Shakespearean history play demanded another angle. While Richard may be one of Western literature’s greatest villains,... Read more »

FINDING JOY – RTÉ 1

November 1, 2018
AMY HUBERMAN turns her hand to ‘comedy’ in this six-part series set in an air-brushed version of modern-day Dublin. Inevitably, with Mrs Dricco being... Read more »

THE TRICK TO TIME – KIT DE WAAL (VIKING)

August 23, 2018
THIS SECOND novel by Kit de Waal follows her bestselling 2016 debut, My Name is Leon, the story of a vulnerable young boy in... Read more »

THE STAND WITH EAMON DUNPHY

June 13, 2018
WHILE RADIO struggles to hold its place in today’s interconnected world, Ireland’s podcast space is increasingly crowded with pundits battling for listeners. In the... Read more »

THE BREAD WINNER – DIRECTED BY NORA TWOMEY

June 13, 2018
ANIMATION production is the great, but relatively unsung success of the otherwise opaque film and television business In Ireland. With animation production it is... Read more »

SKIN DEEP – LIZ NUGENT (PENGUIN IRELAND)

June 13, 2018
“I WONDERED when rigor mortis would set in, or if it already had.” So begins Liz Nugent’s new novel – which focuses on the... Read more »

CITIZEN LANE – DIRECTED BY THADDEUS O’SULLIVAN

May 31, 2018
WATCHING VETERAN director Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s Citizen Lane, some Irish cinema buffs may be assailed by nostalgia for the rougher, readier and financially straitened early... Read more »

WEST CORK – SAM BUNGEY AND JENNIFER FORDE

May 31, 2018
SCHULL AND its environs seem an unlikely setting for the latest true crime sensation, but they were an unlikely setting for a murder that... Read more »

CONNECT – JULIAN GOUGH (PICADOR)

May 31, 2018
TIPPERARY AUTHOR Julian Gough (now Berlin-based) has already produced three comic novels and a series of children’s stories. He also wrote the ‘ending’ to... Read more »

ON RAFTERY’S HILL – ABBEY THEATRE

May 17, 2018
AT LAST, here’s Marina Carr. As Irish theatres obsess over gender imbalance in the industry following Waking the Feminists, it’s surprising the moody midlands... Read more »

HEARTLAND – PATRICK McCABE (NEW ISLAND)

May 17, 2018
SINCE THE success of The Butcher Boy in 1992, Patrick McCabe has pioneered a distinctive literary genre. His claustrophobic narratives – usually about the... Read more »

THE GREAT HOUSE REVIVAL – RTÉ 1

May 17, 2018
IRELAND’S enduring love affair with home ownership is unlikely to end anytime soon – particularly as so many property porn programmes continue to hog... Read more »

THE DELINQUENT SEASON – DIRECTED BY MARK O’ROWE

May 3, 2018
ON THE face of it there’s not a lot wrong with The Delinquent Season, playwright Mark O’Rowe’s first film as a director, having previously... Read more »

ASSASSINS – GATE THEATRE

May 3, 2018
“EVERY NOW and then the country goes a little wrong,” says one of the classically understated line in Stephen Sondheim’s musical about the killers... Read more »

SILENCE UNDER A STONE – NORMA MacMASTER (DOUBLEDAY IRELAND)

May 3, 2018
SET MOSTLY in the early 20th century in a remote and introspective Co Cavan, this slow-paced story centres on Harriet Campbell whose unfulfilled life... Read more »

MICHAEL INSIDE – DIRECTED BY FRANK BERRY

April 19, 2018
PUT MARK Hamill on a familiar rock in the Atlantic, add a few CGI bells and whistles and we’ll readily believe he’s an ascetic... Read more »

FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA – DONAL RYAN (DOUBLEDAY)

April 19, 2018
DONAL RYAN’S novels have focused to date on damaged and distracted characters experiencing lives of quiet misery. Ryan’s latest book echoes both The Spinning... Read more »

ALISON SPITTLE’S CULCHIE CLUB – RTÉ2

April 19, 2018
ALISON SPITTLE’S one-off documentary tried to discover the meaning of being a modern-day culchie. Over a very long hour, we learned little enough. London-born... Read more »

ALMOST LOVE – LOUISE O’NEILL (RIVERRUN)

April 5, 2018
FOLLOWING THE success of her two Young Adult novels, Only Ever Yours and the hugely hyped Asking For It, Co Cork writer Louise O’Neill’s... Read more »

BOOM? – GAIETY THEATRE

April 5, 2018
THE CELTIC Tiger should still give Irish playwrights plenty to write about. The depths of personal consumption and bad taste may be overly familiar.... Read more »

COUNTDOWN TO CALVARY – RTÉ One

April 5, 2018
ON EASTER Sunday, RTÉ broadcast an impressive documentary focusing on the final six days of the life of Jesus Christ. Fronted by actor Hugh... Read more »

THE UNMANAGEABLE SISTERS – ABBEY THEATRE

March 22, 2018
WITH INTENSE public pressure to ensure that women are sufficiently represented on stage, what easier way for theatre managers (like the Abbey’s co-director Graham... Read more »

THE LODGERS – DIRECTED BY BRIAN O’MALLEY

March 22, 2018
CLEARLY, going to the cinema to see an Irish film is often a risk. Much as you hope for the best there is always... Read more »

THE HOARDER – JESS KIDD (CANONGATE)

March 22, 2018
THE LONDON-based Irish author Jess Kidd published her well-received first novel, Himself, in 2016. Her follow-up is narrated by Mayo-born Maud Drennan, who has... Read more »