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  There was something wonderfully no nonsense about Brenda Fricker. The first Irish actress to bag an Oscar, she never let her head be turned by success in Hollywood. She called things as she saw them and was quite happy to turn her back on luxury homes in London, LA or her native Dublin, opting instead for a modest dwelling in her home city's inner city neighbourhood the Liberties. Born in Dublin in 1945, her mother Bina was a schoolteacher from Gneeveguilla in Co Kerry who specialised in languages and father Desmond was a journalist with The Irish Times and later the national broadcaster, RTE Brenda had an older sister and grew up in the Dublin neighbourhood of Dundrum. While publicising her very frank autobiography 'She Died Young: A Life in Fragments' in 2025, Fricker spoke honestly about being on the receiving end of her mother's volcanic temper which would result in beatings. Doctors later believed a brain tumour may have been the reason for Bina's irascibilit...

  Some actors exude a sense of decency, even when they are playing deeply flawed people. Sam Neill was that kind of actor. Born into a British military family in Omagh in the west of Northern Ireland in 1947, he was very much seen as an Antipodean acting great - having moved to New Zealand with his family moved when he was seven. With roots on his father's side in Northern Ireland and an English mother, there was a definite Anglo Irish sensibility to him that audiences really responded to. Neill was wonderfully self-deprecating, modest, generous and supportive of other actors and performers. He was also, as many people have observed following his passing, a versatile and daring screen actor who was as comfortable in indie movies as he was in big budget TV dramas or major Hollywood blockbusters. Originally christened Nigel John Dermot Neill, his father Dermot was a New Zealander who served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers - a career which brought the family to Omagh. His mother Priscill...

THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT 250 years is still relatively young in terms of the lifespan of any nation. But today, cities, towns and villages across the United States will turn out to celebrate its anniversary and revel in the sights and sounds of the Fourth of July. US President Donald Trump is planning a speech in Washington DC's National Mall during a celebration event that will culminate with a massive fireworks display. A heatwave has put paid to the President's plan for "Freedom 250" concert performances, while another musical celebration saw a number of acts pull out due to concerns over the political nature of the event. The jury is also out on the Great American State Fair that the Trump administration has organised. At a time when the US is coping with possibly the most controversial President in its history, the 250th anniversary is a good time to reflect on the vision of The Founding Fathers and whether it still endures. Enter Netflix, then, with the five p...

BAD: THE SONG THAT SAVED MY LIFE Some songs are so striking on your first listen that they immediately make you sit up as they command all your attention. Little Richard's ' Tutti Fruitti ,' Elvis Presley's ' Hound Dog ,' Bob Dylan's ' The Times They Are A Changin '' and The Beatles' ' All You Need Is Love ' fall into that category. Similarly, Joni Mitchell's ' Both Sides Now ,' The Rolling Stones' ' Gimme Shelter ,' Simon and Garfunkel's ' Bridge Over Troubled Water ,' David Bowie's ' Life On Mars ,' and Bob Marley's ' Redemption Song '. You could add to the list as well The Police's ' Every Breath You Take ,' Talking Heads' ' Once In A Lifetime ,' Bruce Springsteen's ' Born In The USA ,' New Order's ' Blue Monday ,' Prince's ' Purple Rain ,' Kate Bush's ' Running Up That Hill ' and Oasis' ' Wond...

THE BEAR: GARY (SPECIAL EPISODE) For a TV show about the restaurant business, it seems fitting that the creators of 'The Bear' have given us an appetiser for the final season. 'Gary' is a prequel of sorts for the Chicago based drama about a sandwich joint that becomes a fine dining restaurant. How consequential the appetiser is will only really be understood once the final season of 'The Bear' is devoured by fans on FX, Hulu and Disney+. But how does 'Gary' fare as a standalone episode of the show? 'Gary' centres on a road trip from Chicago to Gary, Indiana by Ebon Moss-Bacharach's Richie Jerimovich and Jon Bernthal's Mikey Berzatto. Set in the days when Mikey ran The Bear before taking his own life, it fills in some of the blanks about the big brother of Jeremy Allen White's Carmy Berzatto. Asked by Oliver Platt's Uncle Jimmy to deliver to Gary a box whose contents are not disclosed to them, we see Richie pack a handgun just in c...

BACKROOMS And now for something very creepy. 'Backrooms' is a psychological horror sci-fi film whose characters discover a secret passage into another world in a retail park furniture store. From the fevered imagination of 21 year old You Tube filmmaker Kane Parsons, it is based on a concept he developed into a web series where viewers watched "found footage" of characters exploring distorted, mostly vacant rooms. The 'Backrooms' web series he created in 2022 attracted a cult following and over 24 episodes became a "creepypasta" -  the name given to a cult online horror series that inspires its own lore. In the film version, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, the owner of a pirate themed furniture warehouse in a largely ignored retail park that you suspect has seen better days. Early on, we learn Clark is a failed architect whose marriage has fallen apart due to his drinking. Visiting Renate Reinsve's therapist Dr Mary Kline, she encourages him to rol...