Controversial Comedy ‘The Interview’ Arrives At Tullamore Cinema

By Justin Kelly

Seth Rogen’s latest film, The Interview, which was shrouded in controversy before its release date, will finally arrive at IMC Cinema in Tullamore this weekend. The other new arrivals to the Offaly screens this week are silent family comedy Shaun the Sheep and expensive Sci-Fi blockbuster Jupiter Ascending.

The Interview

The Interview centres around two journalists played by Rogen and his co-star James France as they travel to North Korea, ordered to assassinate leader Kim Jung-un. The film is a satirical comedy, but is a form of comedy that led North Korea to threaten “merciless action” against the United States if Columbia Pictures went ahead with the release of the movie last year.

In November last year, Sony's computer system was hacked by a group the FBI believe has ties to North Korea, and the hackers threatened terrorist attacks against cinemas that screened the film. The group called The Interview “a movie of terrorism,” but over Christmas the movie received a limited cinema release, garnering just over $6 million at the box office as a result. It has racked up $40 million in digital rentals, making it Sony’s most successful digital release to date.

Some critics called the film hilarious, while others like Scott Foundas said it “was about as funny as a communist food shortage.” The New York Times wrote: “After seeing The Interview and the ruckus its mere existence has caused, the only sensible reaction is amazement at the huge disconnect between the innocuousness of the film and the viciousness of the response.”

Beginning at 21:10pm on Friday, February 6, The Interview will screen in the same time slot for the continuation of its run at Tullamore.

Shaun the Sheep

Shaun the Sheep is a spin-off of the hugely popular Wallace and Gromit franchise that follows the animated adventures of Shaun, the head sheep in a flock on a small northern British farm. Shaun the Sheep was a fringe character in previous Wallace and Gromit productions, but now he wants to take the day off, outsmart the farmer’s sheepdog, and have some fun with the rest of the livestock.

Shaun’s day off leads the unusually clever sheep into the ‘Big City’ where he gets more action than he bargained for. A mix-up with the farmer, a very steep hill, and a caravan means that it is left to Shaun to plot the plucky animals’ return to the safety of the farmyard.

Shaun the Sheep has been receiving rave reviews, with The Telegraph saying that “Shaun isn’t a piece of long-form storytelling, but a runaway steam-train of moments, each one self-contained but coupled to the rest, and barrelling forwards on collective crackpot momentum.”

Shaun the Sheep is a family-friendly flick to the core, tickling the toddlers as much as some childlike parents with its universal slapstick comedic style. It has to be slapstick and physical; there is no spoken language in Shaun the Sheep. The odd mumble or bleat is added to accentuate the hair-raising silent adventures of Shaun and his pals.

Shaun the Sheep opens at 19:05pm on Friday evening, and will continue its run in that slot. However, over the weekend, Shaun the Sheep will screen four times (12:50pm, 14:55pm, 17:00pm, and 19:05pm) on both Saturday and Sunday.

Jupiter Ascending

Sci-Fi action flick Jupiter Ascending brings the biggest names to Tullamore this weekend with a cast including Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne and Sean Bean, but the film has been receiving mixed reviews from critics.

In a complicated plot, Mila Kunis is a humble janitor targeted for assassination by the ‘Queen of the Universe’ who has seeded the Earth and all other planets in order to harvest the intelligence of humans, with the hope of eventually producing a serum that will allow her to live forever. It turns out that Kunis is an heir to the Queen’s throne, and a genetically engineered warrior, Tatum, comes to Earth to inform her of her royal blood. Tatum must then protect her from the power-hungry alien Queen who would rather kill Kunis than lose control of the Earth.

Jupiter Ascending was given an exclusive preview screening at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, but the media were not invited. It was reported that the theatre was almost empty during the preview, and some viewers even walked out during the showing. The reaction was said to be unanimously negative. However, some reviewers have praised the film visually, for its authentic stunts and smooth special effects, although the muddled plot has been slammed across the board. 

Geoffrey Macnab for The Independent reviewed the film as follows: “Jupiter Ascending, the kitsch new sci-fi blockbuster from Lana and Andy Waschowski, blends astonishing special effects work with plotting that would barely pass muster in a bad Saturday morning episode of Flash Gordon or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

Jupiter Ascending runs at 18:05pm and 20:55pm in Tullamore, starting on Friday, while an extra daytime showing has been added at 15:15pm for Saturday and Sunday.