The Bells of St. Mary's: a tribute to a classic that humanizes Catholicism Anyone who has survived Catholic schooling -- in my case, eight years of torture by Dominican nuns, then four years of more refined sadism at the hands of Jesuit priests -- cannot help watching Leo McCarey's The Bells of St. Mary's with deeply mixed emotions. One of Hollywood's most popular religious … [Read more...] about My Guiltiest Pleasure
Film & Television
The Last September: The Rules of Ascendancy
The spirit of Chekhov hovers over the Irish countryside in The Last September. Director Deborah Warner and screenwriter John Banville bring a powerfully elliptical sense of inevitable loss to this film about the waning days of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. Based on the 1929 novel by Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, The Last September is set on a country estate in Cork in 1920 … [Read more...] about The Last September: The Rules of Ascendancy
Fiona Shaw: A Modern Classic
She says she's jetlagged, that her head feels as if an arrow is piercing both temples, but Fiona Shaw is the picture of vitality. She strides into the lobby of the Lombardy Hotel in New York City, her long brown coat swinging behind her. The hair that often appears close cropped in publicity photos is a little longer now, sweeping back from her face in soft brown waves. She's … [Read more...] about Fiona Shaw: A Modern Classic
News Roundup January 14, 2023
IA Newsletter January 14, 2023
Banshees of Inisherin Takes Home 3 Awards at the 2023 Golden Globes The Banshees of Inisherin proved itself as the best film of the year after taking home three of the eight Golden Globes it received nominations for. Colin Farrell won Best Actor – Musical or Comedy, writer-director Martin McDonagh won Best Screenplay, and the film won Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. In … [Read more...] about News Roundup January 14, 2023
The Star of County Down
‘In Banbridge Town in the County Down One morning last July, From a boreen green came a sweet colleen, And she smiled as she passed me by.' What is absolutely, positively true about Greer Garson is that she was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson to George and Nina Garson. From the beginning of her acting career until her death in 1996, she maintained her birthplace was … [Read more...] about The Star of County Down