JOE brings you the run-down, the low-down and the ups and downs of the top 5 films in this week’s Irish Box Office (19/4 – 21/4).
By Eoghan Doherty
1. Olympus Has Fallen 
Gerard Butler stars as Special Agent Mike Banning in this fun, explosive ‘Die Hard in the White House’ action thriller. Sure it’s cheesy and it’ll make you proud to be an American but the action is solid and Butler is perfectly suited to playing the role of the right man in the right place at the right time.
Plus it’s worth going to see simply to hear Butler utter the destined-to-be-a-classic line: “Why don’t you and I play a game called ‘f*ck off’… and why don’t you go first.”
TAKE THAT BAD GUYS!
Check out the official JOE review here.
2. Oblivion 
Starring brand new Irishman Tom “Begorrah, ‘tis a soft day” Cruise, Oblivion is the tale of one man’s search for the truth as he and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) believe they are the last humans left on Earth.
Joseph Kosinski’s second feature film owes a lot to the great sci-fi classics of the 70s and is a beautiful looking, but ultimately empty, derivative futuristic thriller.
JOE caught up with one of the film’s stars, Olga Kurylenko here and the director Kosinski here.
3. Evil Dead 
A remake of Sam Raimi’s cult 1981 classic, this update is light on the hilarious scares and heavy on the gore. Not the worst horror remake to ever be made, but this lacks the wit of the original and of even more recent additions to the genre like the superior Cabin in the Woods.
Not so groovy.
4. The Croods
This Dreamworks animated family adventure sees The Croods, a neanderthal family, set off on the first ever road trip as they leave the saftey of their cave to discover the big bad world. Just think Ice Age meets The Incredibles.
Released over Easter and still proving popular with the kids, this is a great choice for a family day out and has plenty of laughs for the adults too – Nicholas Cage, in his best (albeit animated) performance for quite a while, is constantly trying to kill off his mother-in-law and we can all relate to that, right?
5. The Place Beyond the Pines
Get ready for a man-crush overload as Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling star as rival cop and robber respectively in this crime drama from Derek Cianfrance, the director of the excellent Blue Valentine. There’s plenty of wistful looking off into the middle-distance and Eva Mendes and Rose Byrne co-star as the lead love interests, just to ram home the realistic point that everyone in small-town America looks AMAZING.
Source: Irish Film Board and Rentrak. Correct as of 24th April 2013.
