The number of new releases at Irish cinemas over the first three months of this year was 73, up from 66 over the same period in 2008. However, many movies released in the UK so far this year were bypassed for cinema release here, despite some featuring high-profile talent.
These include The Burning Plain, the directing debut of 21 Grams screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger; Bottle Shock, a factually based wine industry story with Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Chris Pine; and the memory-loss comedy Diminished Capacity, starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda and Virginia Madsen.
Suffering the same fate are: family drama The Life Before Her Eyes, starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood; Better Things, a well-regarded picture of alienated youngsters in the Cotswolds, directed by Duane Hopkins; and Paris 36, directed by Christophe Barratier ( The Choir) and set in 1930s Paris as theatre workers decide that the show must go on, even though their venue is closed.
Screened at Cannes last year, Boogie, Rada Muntean's impressive Romanian drama, observes a young married man tempted to revisit the fun of his single days when he meets old mates. It also will go directly to DVD here, as will Re-Animatordirector Stuart Gordon's Stuck, for much of which Stephen Rea is embedded in a car windscreen.
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