Brendan McCarthy Movies

Love and family loyalties square off against dark forces in this thriller from British director Colm McCarthy. Mary (Kate Dickie) and her son Fergal (Niall Bruton) arrive in a small town in Scotland looking for a place to stay. Mary and Fergal tend not to live in one place for long, and not without reason -- Mary is part of a clan who practice a special brand of magic, and she's constantly on the run from rivals who believe Fergal has unusual talents they'd like to exploit. As Mary and Fergal settle into their shabby new home, a man named Cathal (James Nesbitt) arrives in the village; he's looking for Mary and has the talents to defeat Mary in a battle of witchcraft. But as Mary and Fergal try to outrun and outwit their pursuer, Fergal has fallen in love with Petronella (Hanna Stanbridge), a pretty girl who may have some secrets of her own. Outcast received its world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Two brothers are caught on differing sides of the battle for Irish freedom in this politically minded historical drama from veteran British filmmaker Ken Loach. It's 1920, and Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy) has recently graduated from medical school. Damien plans to leave the small village in Ireland where he was born to take a job in London, much to the annoyance of his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney), who is an Irish loyalist and wants to see the British stripped of their rule of his land. While visiting Peggy (Mary Riordan), a longtime friend of the family, Damien and Teddy witness a visit by "Black and Tans," British soldiers who supposedly keep the peace in Ireland; the soldiers turn violent and murder Michaeil (Lawrence Barry), Peggy's grandson, when they discover he only speaks Gaelic. Damien is radicalized by the event, and with Teddy joins the local chapter of the Irish Republican Army, who use violence to drive British troops out of the country. While the IRA is a poor and ill-equipped fighting force, their willingness to give their lives for their cause is taken very seriously by the British, who step up their reprisals against the locals; the Black and Tans even begin directing their violence and torture against women and children, including Damien's girlfriend, Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald). In 1921, Britain attempts to end the violence in Ireland by creating the Irish Free State, a compromise government which will give the Irish greater autonomy while Great Britain still retains final political control of the nation. Teddy sees this as a victory and believes it's an important first step to a truly free Ireland, but Damien sees the IRA's goal as nothing short of complete independence, and the brothers and allies soon become rivals in a battle neither side can win. The Wind That Shakes the Barley received the Golden Palm award as Best Picture at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Brian Kirk's gothic thriller Middletown excoriates the actions and attitudes of the Irish Catholic clergy by honing in on one psychotically deranged fire-and-brimstone preacher. Matthew MacFadyen is Gabriel Hunter, a priest fresh from missions work in Africa. After 15 years of service in the field, Gabriel returns to his hometown in Ireland to occupy the now-vacant pulpit. Once there, he re-encounters three members of his working-class brood: his father, Bill Hunter (Gerard McSorley); his younger brother, the service station attendant Jim (Daniel Mays); and Jim's expectant wife Caroline (Eva Birthistle), who runs the local speakeasy. The family welcomes Gabriel home, but from the first moments of his arrival, he projects a violent, hair-trigger temper; relentless, psychopathic bursts of unchecked anger; and a sadistic obsession with inflicting pain and cruelty on everything and everyone around him -- from squelching live mice beneath his heels to strangling the neck of a chicken that he seizes during a cockfight. From the pulpit, Gabriel uses sermons to relentlessly damn the members of his congregation for their sins, including all activity at the local pub, which he perceives as a den of iniquity. When Gabriel hears Caroline's refusal to have her child baptized, the statement pushes him completely over the edge and triggers a string of increasingly violent acts that will bring the entire community to its knees -- and threaten the lives and safety of Bill, Jim, Caroline, and the newborn baby. Daragh Carville authored the script. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A young boy from a broken home learns the harsh realities of life after adopting an awkward greyhound and befriending a mysterious figure from his mother's past in this tender coming of age story starring Gillian Anderson, Robert Carlyle, and Tyrone McKenna. Donal (McKenna) and his single mother Kate (Anderson) share a small home in Belfast. When their finances start to dwindle, Donal goes to work for local dog trainer Good Joe (Ken Stott) to help make ends meet. Despite the benevolence that his name implies, Good Joe is anything but, and has a reputation for going back on his word. So when Good Joe recognizes Donal's special connection to dogs and offers him the "Mighty Celt" if the canine can win three races in a row, the boy is understandably wary. Things start to look up, however, as the races get underway and a man named O (Carlyle) returns to strike up a warm friendship with Donal. It's obvious from the onset that Good Joe is suspicious of O, and Donal's mother Kate makes no secret of the fact that she would rather O had never returned to town. In the aftermath of a dramatic revelation that will change the lives of all involved, young Donal learns that not all stories have a happy ending. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

They say that just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean someone isn't really out to get you, and a man learns the truth behind that little joke in this British thriller. Sean Veil (Lee Evans) was accused of the gruesome murder of a woman and her two children on the basis of circumstantial evidence, and when the case gained nationwide media attention, he found himself portrayed as a violent psychopath in the press, even though he was cleared of all charges. The constant scrutiny and bitter accusations had a profound effect on Veil, and now, deeply paranoid, he lives in a tiny basement apartment, where he obsessively videotapes his every move in order to have an alibi against future accusations, and even straps a camera to his chest whenever he ventures outside. When noted forensic pathologist Saul Seger (Ian McNeice) publishes a book about the murders, Veil finds himself back in the public eye, and vindictive police detective Emeric (Sean McGinley) decides to take a final stab at hanging the charges on Veil and making them stick. Veil becomes certain that someone is determined to put him away, a belief that gets stronger when parts of his video archive suddenly go missing. Freeze Frame was the first feature film from writer and director John Simpson. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Hostel director Eli Roth's genre-friendly Raw Nerve film group makes its gore-soaked splash with director Tim Sullivan's kitchy remake of Hershell Gordon Lewis' southern-fried splatter-fest. A drunken group of hard partying college-kids are in for a Spring Break they'll never forget when they take a tragic detour through the small southern town of Pleasant Valley. Greeted by the overzealous mayor (Robert Englund) and promised a wild time at the town's annual barbecue celebration, the initially-hesitant teens soon agree to spend the night when the citizen's down-home hospitality simply becomes too much to resist. But things are not what they seem in the timeless town of Pleasant Valley, and as the thrill seeking students begin to disappear one-by-one in the most gruesome of fashions, it soon becomes obvious that they are to be the main ingredient in Pleasant Valley's most tasty tradition. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A teenage girl and her smarty-pants little sister conspire to bring their divorced parents back together while on vacation with their mother in this lively Irish comedy. Mother Monica takes the girls on holiday after quitting her bank job. Before they go, oldest daughter Shelley slyly leaves an invitation for their father to join them. Once at the resort Monica befriends Abbie, an American marine biologist who helps her to cope with her feelings. At the same time, the resort caretaker tries to seduce Monica. Shelley loathes Abbie, and sure that the Yank is a wicked witch, begins practicing a bit of black magic herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi