It’s great to see that Irish audiences have embraced The Guard. To date, it has taken in over €2million at the Irish Box Office, putting it up there with Hollywood blockbusters like Transformers, Bridesmaids and Pirates of the Caribbean. This is the biggest Irish release, in Ireland, since The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
John Michael McDonagh’s debut feature about Irish Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) teaming up with FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) to bring down an international drug-smuggling gang, can hold it’s own against the multimillion dollar Hollywood blockbusters because of its witty script (which doesn’t rely on Irish stereotypes to move the story along or get the laughs) and the charisma and charm of it’s leading man Brendan Gleeson. He really does play a blinder in his role as the Sergeant!
Let’s hope US audiences love it just as much as we do when it is released over there on 29 July.
If you haven’t had a chance to see it, do yourself a favour and get to a cinema near you and check it out.
My name's Sarina Bellissimo and I am a TV/Movie junkie. I can’t remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by all things Hollywood/showbiz. I blame my parents!
As a child my mum used to force me to watch Elvis Presley films with her, and both my mum & dad would take my brothers and I to the Drive-In to watch the latest films (this is where my love for ROCKY began!). When not watching movies, I was trying to figure out ways to pull the back off the TV so I could somehow get into it and be a part of all the action on the screen!
In 2007 I started as a regular contributor to We Love Movies. This means that I get to watch movies, talk about them and even interview some of my screen idols. I’ve interviewed the likes of Robert Pattinson, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Craig, Uma Thurman, Colin Farrell, Cameron Diaz, and U2, to name but a few. One of my favourite interviews for We Love Movies was the one where I ended up sitting on Ashton Kutcher’s lap! Interviewing Sylvester Stallone would be a dream come true for me.
I also appear regularly on Plan B to talk movies with Michelle Beatty as well as regularly contribute to Moncrieff’s Movies and Booze segment on Newstalk 106-108. I co-presented channel 6’s (now 3e) movie show Take Six and have appeared on Ireland AM's Movie & I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here segments.
Twitter: @SBellissimo
