Godfather is still the movie we can't refuse

MICHAEL DWYERon film

Francis Ford Coppola has produced wines far more satisfying than his movies over the past 20 years, but his vintage pictures reign supreme in Empiremagazine's new poll to select cinema's all-time greats. Coppola's The Godfathertops the chart, and he's the only director with three movies in the top 20: Apocalypse Nowis seventh and The Godfather, Part II, arguably his finest film, ranks 19th.

The only other director with two movies in the top 10 is Steven Spielberg, whose Raiders of the Lost Arkis placed second and Jawsis fifth.

The news is not so good for former Empirepoll favourites George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino. The Empire Strikes Backis third and the original 1977 Star Warshas slipped back to 22nd. Pulp Fictionnow ranks ninth and Reservoir Dogsis 97th.

Completing the top 10 are The Shawshank Redemption(fourth), GoodFellas(sixth), Singin' in the Rain(eighth) and Fight Club(10th).

Movies made before Star Warsfeature more prominently than in previous Empirepolls, as do foreign- language productions - although you have to go down to 41st place to find the first one, Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows.

Perennial critics' favourite Citizen Kaneis ranked 28th in a poll that offers ample omissions and inclusions to provoke arguments all the way down to the disgusting Sawat number 499. www.empireonline.com

Irish take a chance on 'Mamma'

The winner takes it all. Despite being trashed by some reviewers, the exuberant movie musical Mamma Mia!has eclipsed The Dark Knightto become the biggest hit of the year at cinemas in Ireland, north and south. Now in its 13th week on release here, the film defied box-office trends by registering a 25 per cent increase in takings last weekend.

On Monday it became the second film to earn more than €8 million mark in the 32 counties (behind Titanic, which made €9.5 million). That sets the bar very high indeed for the most fancied end-of-year contenders - High School Musical 3(which has achieved remarkable advance booking figures) and the 007 adventure Quantum of Solace, both of which open here this month.

Brideshead unreleased

Released in Britain last Friday and set for its first Irish screening at the Cork Film Festival next Friday, Julian Jarrold's movie of Brideshead Revisitedwill not open here until January 9th. The film stars Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte and Matthew Goode as Charles Ryder.

Trish Long, who heads Disney's Irish distribution division, points out that it's not unusual for the company to release films at different times in Britain and Ireland. She cites Veronica Guerinand Intermissionas examples of highly successful Irish releases that opened here ahead of the UK.

There are other factors, she adds, such as differences in school break periods and bank holidays, and finding the right "season fit".

She told Reel News: "We have found time and again that quality movies are particularly well received by Irish audiences in January and February, when filmgoers are hungry for post-Christmas non-popcorn fare, especially those with a literary core such as Emmaor There Will Be Blood."

A new sheen to his performances

Chameleonic actor Michael Sheen is returning to fictional characters after playing Tony Blair in The Dealand in The Queen, TV interviewer David Frost in Frost/Nixon, and former Leeds United manager Brian Clough in The Damned United(the latter two open here next year).

Sheen has joined Samuel L Jackson and Carrie-Anne Moss in Unthinkable, which is now shooting. Directed by Gregor Jordan ( Buffalo Soldiers), the drama explores the ethics of torture during the questioning of a terrorist suspected of threatening to detonate nuclear devices in the US. And Sheen has joined the cast of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, in which Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter.

Mr Rhys Myers goes to Paris

Fresh from filming the third series of The Tudorson home turf, Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers has started an 11-week shoot in France, cast as an embassy employee crossing paths with an undercover US secret agent (played by John Travolta) in From Paris with Love. Leondirector Luc Besson collaborated on the screenplay for the thriller, which is directed by Pierre Morel, who made Taken, now on release here and starring another Irishman, Liam Neeson.

QUOTE

"To deal with the (Hollywood) studios now is absolute hell" - Director Richard Attenborough, promoting his autobiography,Entirely Up to You, Darling

3/6 - The international release date is already set for theKung Fu Panda sequel,Pandamonium . That's June 3rd, 2011