Luke Maxwell is the host of the film review show, Viewfinder on 103.2 Dublin City FM. He also hosts The Movie Express Podcast, which you can find at www.movieexpress.org.
Frank Berry’s “heartbreaking” drama follows the downward spiral of a naive teenager who, sent to prison, finds the opposite of redemption, writes Luke Maxwell.
A struggling stand-up comedian teaches life skills to a group of oddballs as part of a back-to-work programme in this “squirmy and appealing black comedy with a bleeding heart”, writes Luke Maxwell.
“Whenever I felt as though I had a handle on director Niall McCann’s tricks or the limits of the film’s form, there was another surprise waiting for me,” writes Luke Maxwell.
A reluctant banker goes rogue in this Dublin-set thriller. The debut picture is “a little sloppy in its plotting, but never dull and always visually pleasing”, writes Luke Maxwell.
This new film dramatises Charles Dickens’s writing of A Christmas Carol in a style that’s “silly and sincere all at once”, writes Luke Maxwell. In it, Dublin does a fine job as a stand in for 1840s London.
The film-makers have crafted an “intriguing knot out of their shoestring budget”, which brings the audience “uncomfortably close to these desperate characters, but we want to be there”, writes Luke Maxwell.
Mixing the social-problem and horror genres, this new film explores one of Ireland’s most notorious murder cases, and its effects on those it left behind.
This film about the renowned Dublin-born architect offers great insights into his philosophical approach, but few into his inner self, writes Luke Maxwell.
An unlikely and at times harrowing love story, “Maudie” presents the life and times of Canadian folk-art institution Maud Lewis. It’s a film that looks for the little sparks of light in the dark.
