Side Door Cinema

Most of us savour the quiet nights in when we batten the hatches on the forces of nature and the world around us. As you get ready to devour another box set series in the cold nights ahead, spare a moment to look back on some terrific films from last year. We’ve listed some of our favourites which you might enjoy catching up on this winter. Room | Based on a novel by an Irish-turned-Canadian writer and orchestrated by an Irish director, this is a remarkable story told delicately and creatively. With outstanding performances, the film explores the issue of abduction and…read more

2015 was another fine year of film with some huge box office hits helping global cinemas pull in record revenues. As always there were surprises, disappointments and a few treasures. Here’s a list of some favourites released last year: 1. Birdman  Winning best picture at last year’s Oscars, this is the story of a faded Hollywood star struggling to regain fame by producing a new Broadway play. There’s a fair chance that Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárrituj could repeat the feat with new film The Revenant already scooping big at this year’s Golden Globes. Everything about Birdman is brilliant:…read more

The crime drama has been an ever-present throughout cinema. Its durability is a testament to our love of good and bad, deception, redemption, crime and punishment. The film noirs of the 1930s and 1940s have their own rhythm but no crime film transcends genre quite like Miller’s Crossing by Joel and Ethan Coen. It doesn’t seem to know whether it is a gangster picture or a film noir. Maybe both. Maybe neither. But it doesn’t matter. This film, undoubtedly the Coen’s finest, is the greatest gangster film of them all….read more