ONDINE
Release Date: 5th March 2010
Director: Neil Jordan
Starring: Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Alison Barry, Dervla Kirwin, Stephen Rea
Details: Ireland/111mins 12A

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…which one Did Neil Jordan take with Ondine? The answer is both as myth, legend and fairytale mix with harsh reality and tough social issues in his latest Irish offering since the decidedly more …well decisive Breakfast on Pluto.
A simple fisherman, Syracuse (Farrell) catches a beautiful and mysterious woman (Bachleda) in his nets. Apparently dead she, miraculously, comes back to life before his eyes. She calls herself Ondine, insists that she be seen by no-one but him so he hides her in his mother’s old home. Soon his ailing and imaginative young daughter Alice (Barry) becomes intrigued by the secret he has hidden by the coast and sets about determining exactly what she is and where she came from.
Casting Farrell as Syracuse was a good move for ticket sales, he never seems comfortable in the role of a broody Corkman. His accent gets less distracting as the film progresses only to be replaced by a complete lack of personality. Alison Barry as Alice is less on the Abigail Breslin side of cute precocity and more on the desperately annoying side with a performance that is entirely too affected. Bachleda is vaguely interesting to watch but the scenes are stolen by the stunning landscape which cinematographer Chris Doyle captures beautifully. An overstuffed story with very little to say.
- Ailish Bracken

LEAP YEAR
Release Date: 12 February 2010
Director: Anand Tucker
Starring: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, John Lithgow, Adam Scott
Details: US/100mins PG

There is no two ways of saying this: Leap Year is a tedious, stereotyping piece of crap that is an insult to the intelligence of even the most undemanding romantic comedy lover. Adams is a successful woman from Boston, with a successful boyfriend. She has a quirky, but obtainable job dressing apartments like they’re nicer than they are when a real estate agent can’t shift them. She’s very good at it and has nice clobber and the like; but what she really wants is a marriage proposal from her surgeon boyfriend. Thinking he’ll ask her over dinner one night, he doesn’t, and must rush off to Dublin for a conference before she can react. She decides to come to Ireland to propose herself. But when her flight diverts to Wales, she must find her own way to Dublin by way of Dingle; via lots of pissed old men making inane observations, and Matthew Goode being all sexy and brooding in an Aran sweater. The story plods along, hopelessly devoid of charm and wit, giving its cast absolutely nothing to work with. Tucker does manage some lovely visuals but he had precious little to work with and ended up making a film that plays like National Lampoons Irish Vacation. The tourism board will be delighted after seeing this, but they’ll probably be the only ones.

THE LOVELY BONES
Release Date: 19 February 2010
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Michael Imperioli
Details: US/124mins (12A)

Peter Jackson doesn’t make a perfect film in The Lovely Bones, some ropey casting and serious issues with pacing aside, the essence of Sebold’s wonderful book is certainly visible. Despite. Ronan is Susie Salmon, a girl we learn will soon be murdered from her opening narration. Stuck in the “in-between,” she watches the effect her death had on those closest to her. Her parents (Weisz and Wahlberg) handle the loss with polarising emotions- her father in denial and obsessed with finding her killer, while her mother can’t deal with his lack of support. Meanwhile, her sister and those she shared the briefest of connections with mourn her death, but can’t seem to let her go. There are undoubted flaws scattered all over Jackson’s adaptation. Wahlberg doesn’t really have the vulnerability for such a role, while Weisz is given a lot less to do, her story being one of the many subplots that became victim to the time constraints of film.  Ronan fills every frame with a unique glow and it’s a testament to her wonderful work that the film suffers whenever she is not around. Tucci’s killer may be too sinister aesthetically for the part, but the always reliable actor does a stellar job of making you hate him regardless. If you connect with the material and buy the world that Susie finds herself in then The Lovely Bones will break your heart.