Mal Whyte Movies

A Dublin-based busker and vacuum-cleaner repairman enters into a fruitful relationship with a piano playing florist in a toe-tapping "video album" directed by John Carney and featuring a cast comprised entirely of professional musicians. He (Glen Hansard of the Frames) was a six-stringed street musician. She (Markéta Irglová) was a flower woman who couldn't afford to purchase a piano of her own. One day, after admiring the musician's songs and asking if he would take a look at her broken vacuum, the flower-pushing piano player discovers that she shares a remarkable sonic rapport with the mechanically savvy guitarist. As their musical sensibilities quickly converge to striking effect, the talented pair soon determines to record an album together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The rise and fall of one of the most important and controversial figures in Ireland's struggle for independence is chronicled in this biographical drama. In 1916, the British government ruled Ireland with a firm and cruel hand, as they had for 700 years. When a group of Irish rebels staged a six-day siege at Dublin's General Post Office, only one of the leaders was able to escape execution -- Eamon De Valera (Alan Rickman), an American citizen of Irish blood. A number of De Valera's followers are sent to prison, and one of them, Michael Collins (Liam Neeson), walked out of jail convinced that a new approach was needed to free his homeland from British rule. With his compatriot Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn), Collins formed the Irish Volunteers, who used a combination of terrorist violence and guerilla warfare to attack the British where their defenses were weakest, and employed espionage and a key inside informant (Stephen Rea) to learn what the British planned to do next -- and what they knew about Collins and his supporters. Collins' strategic skills and talent for warfare made a major impact on the British, and he became the hero of the new-born Republican Movement, which seemed to offer a real hope of freedom, despite the violent reprisals of the vicious paramilitary police, the Black and Tans. De Valera, however, was often in conflict with Collins in terms of the methods and approach of their struggle. Collins also found himself in a different sort of conflict with Boland when he fell in love with his girlfriend, a strong-willed advocate of Irish freedom named Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts). Eager to gain support for the Republican cause, De Valera sought economic and military support from the U.S.; when he returned, the Volunteers seemed to have finally won a real victory, as the British government announced that they were willing to formally negotiate with them. While Collins was once the radical and De Valera was the moderate, once negotiations began, Collins sought to end the violence that he saw killing so many young people and was willing to agree to a compromise that would create the Irish Free State. While the agreement would still leave final political control with the British, it would bring a greater self-determination to Ireland, and Collins believed that it was a crucial first step that could lead, in time, to true freedom for his people. De Valera, however, was strongly opposed to the treaty with Britian, and this led to violence among pro- and anti-treaty factions; soon Ireland's most loved leader was now branded a traitor by many of his countrymen. Michael Collins was voted Best Picture at the 1996 Venice Film Festival, and Liam Neeson was awarded the prize for Best Actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The ghosts of Jonathan Swift and friends pay a visit to two Dublin spiritualists in this Irish drama, adapted from Yeat's one-act play. In 1928, Miss McKenna, an aging spinster and the head of the Dublin Spiritual Society invites a visiting medium, Mrs. Henderson over to try to contact Jonathan Swift. He comes with his two women in tow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Neil Jordan's lyrical Irish romance takes place in the small seaside town of Bray (near Dublin) and concerns two teenage friends, Jimmy (Niall Byrne) and Rose (Lorraine Pilkington). They spend their days roaming the cobblestone streets and waterlogged piers. To while away the time, Rose and Jimmy make up stories about strangers on the street. One day, while watching people at the train station, a sophisticated and glamorous older woman, Renee Baker (Beverly D'Angelo), stands out so imposingly from the drab townsfolk that Jimmy and Rose decide to follow her, obsessed with knowing everything about her. They follow her to the beach and at last Renee speaks to them. When she looks at Jimmy, he's immediately smitten by this mysterious woman. Rose, who has feelings for Jimmy herself, decides to make him jealous by trying to attract a young lion tamer from a traveling circus. But Jimmy is completely attached to Renee and his desire leads him to fateful consequences. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide