You Have Been Listening To… : Part III

It is time to discreetly begin to draw the curtains for Christmas. There will be no more reviews by me of new releases on 103.2 Dublin City FM this year. But here’s a round-up of links to the previous editions of Sunday Breakfast with Patrick Doyle and a list of the many films we discussed since June if you’re eager to explore the back catalogue.

JUNE

X-Men: Dark Phoenix + Classic Ghostbusters II + Classic The Matrix

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/9619-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Balloon + TV Choice The Accountant + Classic Dr Strangelove

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/16619-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Brightburn + TV Choice Dial M for Murder + Classic Mean Girls

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/23619-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Yesterday + TV Choice Casino Royale + Classic Superman II

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/30619-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

JULY

Apollo 11 + TV Choice Bullitt + Classic Rear Window

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/7719-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Stuber + TV Choice Jaws + Classic Ma Nuit Chez Maud

https://soundcloud.com/patrickseandoyle/the-sunday-breakfast-show-film-review-14719

The Current War + TV Choice Arrival + Classic Gone with the Wind

https://soundcloud.com/patrickseandoyle/the-sunday-breakfast-show-film-review

AUGUST

Hobbs & Shaw + TV Choice The Guest + Classic It Happened One Night

https://soundcloud.com/patrickseandoyle/the-sunday-breakfast-show-film-review-1

The Art of Racing in the Rain + TV Choice Patriots Day + Classic Phase IV

https://soundcloud.com/patrickseandoyle/talking-film-on-the-sunday-breakfast-show

Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood + TV Choice Dirty Harry + Classic Army of Shadows

https://soundcloud.com/patrickseandoyle/talking-film-on-the-sunday-breakfast-show-1

Pain and Glory + TV Choice White House Down + Classic Little Women

 SEPTEMBER

Crawl + TV Choice Gone Girl + Classic Whiskey Galore!

IT: Chapter 2 + TV Choice X-Men: Days of Future Past + Classic The Italian Job

https://soundcloud.com/patrickseandoyle/talking-film-on-the-sunday-breakfast-show-2

Extra Ordinary + TV Choice Batman Begins + Classic Ghostbusters

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/15919-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Ad Astra + TV Choice Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me + Classic The Godfather: Part II

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/22919-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Ready or Not + TV Choice L’Avenir + Classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/29919-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

OCTOBER

Joker + Judy + Classic White Heat

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/61019-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Gemini Man + TV Choice Now You See Me + Classic Fight Club

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/131019-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Dark Lies the Island + TV Choice Good Night, and Good Luck + Classic Crimes & Misdemeanours

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/201019-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

Countdown + TV Choice The Shallows + Classic Them!

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/the-halloween-show-with-patrick-doyle/

NOVEMBER

Doctor Sleep + TV Choice Kingsman: The Secret Service + Classic Girl, Interrupted

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/101119-the-sunday-breakfast-show/

Le Mans ’66 + TV Choice Funeral in Berlin + Classic Rio Bravo

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/171119-the-sunday-breakfast-show-with-patrick-doyle/

DECEMBER

Marriage Story + TV Choice World War Z + Classic Field of Dreams

https://www.mixcloud.com/patrickdoyle/

Notes on Extra Ordinary

Irish comedy-horror Extra Ordinary (sic) was the film of the week much earlier today on Sunday Breakfast with Patrick Doyle.

Extra Ordinary left me feeling unmoored in time and space. Everybody seems to be using Nokia phones from at least fifteen years ago without mentioning that this is not set now. And while initial aerial shots of flat fields and peat bogs seem to locate us in the Midlands as the film goes on more and more the accents bend towards Cork. At least something was easy to grab hold of with both hands: the ‘twist’. Will Forte, playing a mockery of Chris De Burgh as ‘Cosmic Woman’ one-hit wonder Christian Winter, decides to make a deal with the devil. But he must make a sacrifice. When his abrasive girlfriend (Claudia O’Doherty) explodes their intended sacrifice, he must find another pronto. And his triumphant moment of villainy early in the film has a note of ambiguity which I noted unambiguously, hoped it wasn’t going to be a ‘twist’, and then an hour later was hit over the head with as the twist. Rarely has the pay-off of a plant annoyed me so much. And not only that but how this twist was then resolved.

Forte paints in the broadest of brush strokes, as does O’Doherty, while Jimmy’s Hall star Barry Ward as the posthumously henpecked Martin Martin takes full advantage of showing off his range as he is possessed by a range of ghosts including his dead wife Bonnie. Also a presence from beyond the grave, via a preposterous VHS series on ‘The Talents’ (think the Shining) is a glorious Risteard Cooper as a pompous 1980s paranormalist. Against all this madness Maeve Higgins’ driving instructor Rose ends up being the straight man, grounding the film so that everyone else can go over the top. There are some wonderful conceits in the film (Forte’s business with gloves, a high-stakes chase at a very low speed), and Frank cinematographer James Mather makes the film look better than it has any right to be. And yet for all that I did not like it. I can see that there is much good in it, but the increasing gore and ludicrousness saw me zoning further and further out.

Listen here: