The Sigla Blog

Every time there’s a mention of the film Teeth, I can’t wait to see it. If you haven’t heard about it, New York Magazine sums it up as the story of “Dawn, a high-school student with a fanged, carnivorous vagina that exacts bloody revenge on all males who dare go near it.” Now the magazine […]

* Shane sent a shiver of remembrance up my spine with this post. The very same thing happened to me after interviewing John Banville, when the mini disc messed up while writing the recording to disc. When I got home and discovered it was blank, I felt ill. I found him pleasant if a little […]

Taking film as a fulcrum to pivot her argument around, Julie Burchill is spot on in many things she says in an article titled “Bring Back the red-blooded bitch”. She laments the loss of good bitching, something she believes is not about women criticising other women for their choices, because “envy isn’t what creates a […]

One of the best Christmas presents I received was the DVD of Heima, a documentary of Sigur Ros’ epic free tour of Iceland. I haven’t watched it yet for two reasons: I’m working my way through a Hitchcock box set and because I’m saving it up. Why? Mainly because I want to watch and savour […]

As it’s taken me an age to get around to my best albums of 2007 list (still not finished) and I’ve got a few book recommendations to post too, I won’t get time to do a best film round-up. However, let me hyperlink you in the direction of the very capable John Maguire, who has […]

There seems to be no end to Hollywood’s lazy recycling. The slew of pointless film remakes on the horizon continues. Next up: Pretty Woman. It’s bad enough that it was cringy and patronising first time around, but now Jessica Simpson wants the Julia Roberts role.
I’m with Medbh who asks: “Do we really need to […]

In January, when you’re broke, off the booze and slumped in a post-Chrimbo funk, you’ll be thanking the IFI. From January 5th - 27th, they’re showing a Coen Brothers Retrospective, no doubt thanks to the glowing praise (not to mention four Golden Globe nominations) No Country for Old Men has picked up in the US.
There […]

Still can’t access anything at all on my laptop so tonight I’ll be distracting myself by watching Boy A on Channel 4 at 9pm. It tells the story of 24-year-old Jack who, when he was 11, was imprisoned for killing a young girl. The drama follows his life and new identity post-release and has obvious […]

Seeing as an Irish film discussion featured so recently around these parts, let me point you in the direction of an excellent new Irish film blog, Technicolour Talkies of Hibernia. Presided over up by film writer Gavin Burke (brother of crime author and blogger Declan Burke), it features reviews, interviews, commentary on Irish cinematic […]

Earlier this week someone asked me what my favourite Irish film was.
“Eh…”
But before I had a chance to rack my brain, I was asked to define what an Irish film is. If it’s made by Hollywood is it Irish? Does it have to be set here? Even if there’s one lone Irish character, does that […]

For Father’s Day this year, I presented my dad with a three-day-old grandchild and a book called The A to Z of All Old Dublin Cinemas by George Kearns and Patrick Maguire. It’s self-published and as far as I know Hughes & Hughes have some sort of exclusive deal with the authors to stock the […]

Anyone (particularly Omani) who participated in this discussion about Irish women writers might be interested to know that this Saturday, The Irish Independent are starting an Irish Women Writers book series. I’ve only seen a shop poster and can’t find any details on the Indo site but it runs for 20 weeks and I presume […]