anthonymcevoy Reviews

End of Watch (2012)

Awful stuff

[1/10 · 7 May 2021]

This film needs subtitles. Nobody speaks understandable English. The story is totally disconnected and it's just America at its worst.

The Midwife (2015)

Give this a miss.

[1/10 · 19 September 2018]

Unfortunately this has to be the worst Finnish film I have ever seen. It has no redeeming qualities other than the occasional glimpse of the beautiful Lapland landscape and you would have had to have hiked there to feel even the slightest pang. The Finns can make some good, if slightly insular, war films bringing to life a little known part of the Second World War but I fail to see what the point of this was. Maybe it suffered from poor subtitling but I found myself wishing this was over after about half an hour. The characters were flat and unbelievable and the film lacked any pace of any sort.....it just trudged along. I wish I could be more positive but, no.....give this one a miss.

Black '47 (2018)

Surprisingly good.

[7/10 · 11 September 2018]

I went to see this expecting it to be the usual anti-English "begod and begorragh" Hollywood nonsense. It pleasantly surprised me. I heard it described as a "potato western" as opposed to a "spaghetti western" and that sort of describes it. A high plains drifter in the rains of Connemara avenging his slain family but with a difference. I wanted to criticise the Irish/ Gaelic used in it....but I couldn't. It was fluid and believable though I felt the lead actor James Frecheville's "Irish" was a bit too "good Dublin school" rather than natural Gaeltacht. What a surprise to learn he isn't Irish at all and that he learned Irish for the part !. Kudos. His accent in English completely fooled me.....I would have sworn he was Irish.....totally amazed to learn he's Australian ! The only bit I can criticise about this film is the "starving" peasentry looked a bit too well fed.....though some of the kids do look scrawny and the safety glass and door handle in the Pub door in the last scene is a bit of a continuity screw up.....other than that it's a stylish film well made and very believable.

An Everlasting Piece (2000)

I nearly didn't watch this gem

[8/10 · 10 September 2018]

I saw the review on this and it only got 6.3. My IMDB basement is 6.0 so this just about scraped it. There was nothing better on TV so I watched it. Afterwards I thought how the hell did this get only 6.3. All I can say is it must be exclusively American reviewers. When I dug deeper on the reviews it was 8+ which is where I would put it. Not life changing but a real quirky movie that makes you feel good. Yeah if you are not from Ireland/ the British Isles some of the gags might pass you by but if you aren't it's still a cracker. Anna Friel is a revelation. For a Brit her accent is pretty good.....googled her.....her Dad's from Donegal....so that explains a lot. Watch it.....you won't regret it. A real nice under the radar movie that should have got a lot more exposure.

Atlantic (2016)

Prepare to be angered

[10/10 · 9 December 2016]

This is a film about how once sustainable coastal communities along the Atlantic Coasts from Newfoundland through Norway to Ireland have been sold out by terminally shortsighted and self serving Politicians and big Oil companies. This is a devastating story that will fascinate and anger in equal measure. Beautifully filmed and narrated you will be left numb and scratching your head at how the politicians got everything so wrong and how the "little guy" in these communities has been sacrificed. Even where things appear to have been done properly, as in Norway, big Oil Companies are causing devastation to the fishing industry. A must watch film that will change how you think of fishing as a sustainable resource.

The Siege of Jadotville (2016)

About time the record was set straight

[10/10 · 1 October 2016]

My critique may dismissed as an Irish mans view of an Irish story but I was very cynical of this movies ability to do justice to the facts. I am a fan of good war movies but detest whizz bang movies. This is not a whizz bang movie but the action sequences are up there with the best. The best way to describe this movie is using the Finnish word "Sisu". I grew up in 1960's Ireland. We all heard about Niemba, but unless you were an adult at the time you probably never heard of Jadoville. I saw the documentary and was flabbergasted that this had been covered up. I read the book and my blood boiled. So I knew the story. This film is tightly written, brilliantly acted by everyone and the action sequences are superb. I imagined the film would be "interesting" but pedestrian. Not at all. Everything is tight, suspenseful and believable. You are sucked in by the movie. A little known skirmish....with great characters, with a nasty backdrop of geopolitics very adroitly explained by the screenwriters....superb cineamatography and great acting. Hard to better....a must see film.

Love Is All You Need (2012)

Feelgood Movie

[8/10 · 3 October 2013]

Danish Films and TV series generally have high production values that explore their characters psyche so this is what attracted me initially. I hesitated when I saw Pierce Brosnan. Nice on the eye but hardly a heavyweight actor. Don't be put off by this. He is actually quite good. Obviously he can't speak Danish but this is nicely woven into the plot by him being a foreigner who was married to a Dane....so he can understand Danish but won't speak it. If you don't like subtitles don't be put off by this either as about 50% of the film is in English. This film grows on you from the start and all the characters are strong and very well acted. There are nice bits of quirky Danish humour that will appeal to English speakers...and a few twists and turns. This is probably a "girly" movie but as a man I enjoyed it and there is a lot more to it than the usual superficiality of Hollywood "Chick Flicks". There are no "black and white" characters...everybody has issues and you learn to accept their issues...just as you would with real people.....and yeah I might just possibly have had slightly moist eyes towards the end.