Congratulations to our good friends at Film Ireland, the prestigious movie magazine, which this month offers readers the first ever Irish magazine cover in 3-D.
Beyond the dizzying colour shot from the forthcoming Up(glasses are provided) you will encounter a lengthy interview with Pete Docter, director of the Pixar release, and further articles from Irish animators, writers and critics.
Cathal Gaffney of Brown Bag Films, creators of the gorgeous Give Up Yer Aul Sins, edits this special animation-related issue.
Film buffs get their just deserts
Have you noticed that the most unlikely places now offer loyalty cards? A few weeks ago, while covering the Edinburgh Film Festival, Reel News actually encountered a pub that ran such a scheme. Burp! Isn’t it about time an art-house cinema rewarded punters in this way?
Wait, wait, what’s this? The Irish Film Institute in Dublin has just announced the launch of its own loyalty scheme? We haven’t space to include the details, but it sounds as if two or three Loaches and one Haneke will get you a free Almodóvar.
Pope gets on Harry’s good side
After initially regarding Harry Potter as a kind of junior Satan, the Vatican appears to have come around to the young wizard and his aging chums. Four years ago, the current Pope, then still a cardinal, warned that the films involved “subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly.”
This week, L'Osservatore Romano,the Vatican's official organ, offered a positive review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is reviewed elsewhere in this issue. The paper praised the film's handling of teenage romance and its treatment of the clash between good and evil.
You must judge for yourself whether such a recommendation counts as a good thing. After all, they hated Elvis.
Now I’ve heard everything
Here's a thing. Paris Hilton is being sued for not being sufficiently visible in the media. What next? Rob Schneider accused of being too funny? Lars von Trier accused of being too humble? The producers of National Lampoon's Pledge This!, a gratefully forgotten comedy from 2006, have suggested that the film's failure was, in part, due to Ms Hilton's reluctance to do publicity for the movie.
Bryan West, lawyer for Worldwide Entertainment Group, which has since gone bust, told the court: “At no time would she take 10 minutes to do a phone interview.” It’s like suing Mickey Rourke for not being weird enough. And so on.
Who’s who in Doctor Who
Word reaches us that the big news at this year's ComicCom geekathon, which begins Thursday in San Diego, is an announcement of a Doctor Whofilm. David Tennant, who is currently handing over the reins to young Matt Smith on TV, will attend the supposed pronouncement.
Well, Peter Cushing, never the Doctor on telly, did play the Time Lord in the previous two cinema releases, so it’s not out of the question that Tennant could return to the role. Watch this space-time continuum.
