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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The Miracle Club review – Maggie Smith can’t save this rocky road trip to Lourdes

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Laura Linney is upstaged by older co-stars Smith and Kathy Bates in this sentimental tale about a group of Dublin women who go on a spiritual journey together

Who’s up for a golden-hued heartwarmer set in 60s Ireland starring Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith about women with secret fears and dreams going on a church trip to Lourdes and finally finding the real miracle is their new compassion for each other? The answer to this question could well have been … me. I have a liking for a gentle tale and there is nothing necessarily wrong with, just occasionally, showing Ireland and the church of this period with something other than outrage and horror. But The Miracle Club does not at any time, to use a discredited metaphor, throw away its crutches and walk. And it’s painful to note that this is largely because of the way film can’t convincingly use that estimable actor Laura Linney in a central role. She is upstaged by the older, fruitier performances and doesn’t hold her own with a more serious persona.

In a tough district of Dublin, four women each have reasons for going on a trip to Lourdes. Tough-as-nails Eileen Dunne (Bates) is worried about the lump she has found in her breast, but would rather go to Lourdes than see a doctor; her shiftless husband Frank (Stephen Rea) wonders grumpily who is going to cook his supper. Maggie Smith is Lily Fox, a woman with a small disability in her leg, but whose reasons for going to Lourdes are more to do with her spiritual pain at the loss of her son. Twentysomething Dolly Hennessy (Agnes O’Casey) is going to bring along her little boy who for some reason will not speak. All find that their menfolk are obstructive about wives going to Lourdes or indeed doing anything independent whatsoever.

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