The Morrigan review – spirit of pagan demon queen unleashed in Irish burial chamber horror

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Archaeologists blunder into an ancient and unwittingly release a vengeful monster – with predictable and conventional results In Irish folklore, the Morrígan is a powerful goddess of death and war. This horror movie imagines her as an actual historical figure: a pagan queen massacred with her followers by Christians. A quick scene at the start of the film shows the dirty deed. The Morrígan’s rage against misogyny has screamed down through the centuries – so it’s a shame the film frames her not as a feminist icon but a highly conventional horror movie nemesis; a malign vengeful female to be crushed and destroyed. There is nothing to punch the air about in the end. Saffron Burrows plays an archaeologist called Fiona who has been repeatedly passed over for tenure at her US university. When Fiona presents her radical theory that the myth of the Morrígan may have a basis in real life, her slippery colleague Jonathan (Jonathan Forbes) is made the lead on the dig. Fiona is forced to bring al...
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Making a movie about 64-year-old Diana Nyad’s 110-mile swim: ‘She wasn’t bothered about sharks. The box jellyfish we didn’t know about’

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A new drama charts the endurance athlete’s attempts to swim from Havana to Florida, accompanied by former girlfriend Bonnie Stoll and assorted marine predators. It’s a story of friendship, survival – and sharp elbows

In 1978, Diana Nyad, then 29, decided to swim from Havana to Key West, Florida. Like everything else this endurance athlete does, she made the challenge seem like no biggie: a natural progression, even, for someone whose surname is derived from the word “naiad” (water nymph) and who has been accused of having a “superiority complex”. At about 110 miles, the journey would dwarf her previous accomplishments, such as circling the island of Manhattan in just under eight hours. But it wasn’t to be. Violent storms put paid to her attempt after she had covered nearly 80 miles in 42 hours and been blown far off course.

Nevertheless, the Havana-to-Florida dream endured. As her 60th birthday loomed, and with three decades behind her as a sports broadcaster, Nyad set out to have another crack at it. Unlike the previous time, she would not be swimming inside a shark cage; instead, there would be shark divers and electronic “shark shields” to deter any Jaws wannabes in the vicinity. And there was another weapon, every bit as vital to her success: Nyad’s devoted, tough-cookie BFF Bonnie Stoll, whom she enlisted as her coach. Stoll watched over her from the accompanying boat throughout the various abortive attempts during which Nyad was thwarted by bad weather, deadly box jellyfish and a severe asthma attack. Her eventual triumph came in 2013 at the age of 64.

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