There was much to savour last year in the world of entertainment, whether it was movies (True Grit, The Artist), TV (Downton Abbey, The Good Wife) or music (PJ Harvey, Adele); but what does 2012 have in store? We take a peek ahead.
5 must-see movies
Lincoln (December)
Liam Neeson was originally pencilled in to play arguably the greatest US president of them all. When the Ballymena man pulled out, director Steven Spielberg found a pretty decent Abe replacement in the shape of Daniel Day Lewis. A cracking cast includes Sally Field as Lincoln’s dutiful wife and Jared Harris as Ulysses S Grant. I smell Oscars.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (December)
There were a few glitches in pre-production but Peter Jackson is finally set to unleash his Rings prequel. Martin Freeman got the nod over Daniel Radcliffe and David Tennant for the key role of Bilbo Baggins, who heads off to the Lonely Mountain in search of treasure. Jackson has shot the movie using 30 new Epic Red cameras and promises a rich visual experience as a result. Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom and Andy Serkis all return.
The Dark Knight Rises (July)
The global success of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) has had audiences clamouring for more capers from Christian Bale’s caped crusader. The geekboys are particularly thrilled that the story, which begins eight years after that last film, finds Batman in fugitive mode, squaring up to a powerful villain, Bane, who first appeared in the graphic novels. In the nemesis role, Tom Hardy gets the chance to join Jack Nicholson in the pantheon of great bat villains.
Prometheus (June)
29 years after Blade Runner, Ridley Scott returns to the sci-fi genre with this intriguing yarn about a group of space explorers who encounter something nightmarish on the edge of space. There are echoes of Alien here but Scott has denied that it’s a prequel to that 1979 classic. Our man Michael Fassender top-lines a sterling cast that includes Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba.
The Sweeney (Sept)
'Shut it! You're nicked, my son!' Who better to take on the mantle of TV's finest Flying Squad geezers, John Thaw and Denis Waterman than Ray Winstone and Ben Drew (aka Plan B). One's the daddy; the other's a right likely lad. Allen Leech also stars.
Michael Doherty
5 must watch TV shows
Moone Boy (Sky 1)
Fresh from his Hollywood success in Bridesmaids, Irish comic actor Chris O’Dowd was commissioned by Sky to write and star in this six-part comedy. Based in his native Boyle, Moone Boy is set in 1989 and follows the antics of 11-year-old Martin Moone, a fictitious character based loosely on O’Dowd’s childhood. Martin has a unique perspective on life and is aided by an imaginary friend, Sean Murphy, who is played by O’Dowd. Filming begins shortly and Moone Boy will most likely feature in the autumn schedule.
Broke Girls (Channel 4)
Set in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn, the series chronicles the lives of two waitresses in their early 20s – Max (Kat Dennings), who comes from a poor working-class family, and Caroline (Beth Behrs), who was born rich but is now disgraced and penniless due to the criminal activities of her father. The two become friends and build their dream of one day opening a cupcake shop, for which they need to raise $250,000. It’s more The Odd Couple than Laverne and Shirley.
Luck (Sky Atlantic)
This could be amazing. David Milch – the man behind Hill Street Blues, LA Law, NYPD Blue, Deadwood and John from Cincinnati – returns with this drama, starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. Michael Mann directed the pilot episode, which follows a number of characters who frequent the same horse-racing track. According to Milch: “The pilot is about a bunch of intersecting lives in the world of horse racing . . . It’s a subject which has engaged and some might say has compelled me for 50 years. I find it as complicated and engaging a special world as any I’ve ever encountered.”
Homeland (RTÉ Two, Channel 4)
Produced by US cable network Showtime (Dexter, Brotherhood, Nurse Jackie), this is a psychological thriller based on the Israeli drama, Hatufim. The series stars Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer who has come to believe that Nicholas Brody (played by Band of Brothers’ star Damien Lewis), a US Marine Gunnery Sergeant who was rescued by Delta Force after being held by Al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war for eight years, was turned by his captors and now poses a significant risk to national security.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (BBC Two)
As this year marks the 200th anniversary of the great writer’s birth, the BBC are running a series of Charles Dickens-related programmes, including this adaptation and completion of his last novel, left unfinished at the halfway mark at his death on June 9, 1870. A strange, disturbing and modern tale about drugs, stalking and darkness visible, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (by writer Gwyneth Hughes) is a two-part psychological thriller about a provincial choirmaster’s obsession with 17-year-old Rosa Bud and the lengths he will go to attain her. The cast includes Matthew Rhys, Freddie Fox, Tamzin Merchant and Alun Armstrong.
John Byrne
5 must-see concerts/gigs
Even the lads on the international space station know who’s playing the 02, Croke Park and the RDS this year, so here are some other must-sees that you won’t need a new mortgage to attend.
Michael Kiwanuka
If you happened to arrive early for Adele’s Olympia gig in April and didn’t catch the name of the support act with the acoustic guitar and nice line in bashful between-song banter, that was Michael Kiwanuka. Big things are expected from the Londoner with the release of his debut album this year, and like his great inspiration Bill Withers, he’s got a voice that purrs Sunday morning. Back in the Olympia, he kept the Rolling in the Deep-hungry hordes at bay and with more road miles racked up since then, his dates in February have the potential to be the ‘I saw him when’ shows of 2012. February 10 – Stiff Kitten, Belfast; February 11 – Sugar Club, Dublin; February 12 – Cyprus Avenue, Cork
Mark Lanegan
He has one of the greatest voices in rock and turning people on to it is a vocation for the smitten (check out One Hundred Days on YouTube for a taster). February sees the release of Blues Funeral, Lanegan’s first solo album in eight years, and the following month the Queens of the Stone Ager, Gutter Twin and one-time Screaming Tree is in with a full band for shows/man crush conventions in Dublin and Belfast. On the one hand it’s a mystery why he’s still playing clubs, on the other it’s a rare gift to see talent like this so close up. March 7 – Academy, Dublin; March 8 – Mandela Hall, Belfast
Ane Brun
Brun’s new album, It All Starts with One, was among the winter highlights of 2011, with loads of room to roam in its spookiness and sadness. Now, just a few months after playing Whelan’s, the Norwegian has graduated to Vicar Street. And it won’t end there. Her potential to ‘do a Florence’ is immense, and if those are the kind of chills you want, you’ll shiver your fill in songs like Do You Remember? and These Days. Music as mysterious as that well turned out lady at the auction in the classic Fry’s Chocolate Cream ad – and twice as tasty as her nibble of choice. April 27 – Vicar Street, Dublin
Kodo
When it comes to wind-your-jaw-back-up factor, Japanese drum masters Kodo bring the magic and shed the pounds every night. Having stress-tested the foundations of the National Concert Hall numerous times in the past, they’re back in February on their 30th anniversary tour. Expect power, joy and humility in equal measure and a remember-for-a-lifetime climax that will incite air drumming all the way home. They’ll also be doing a family show while they’re in Dublin, so rehearse your answer to the inevitable ‘Can I get a drum kit?’ question well in advance. February 11 & 12 – National Concert Hall, Dublin
Tinariwen
Icons in the record collections of Robert Plant, Chris Martin, Damon Albarn and Thom Yorke, Tuareg sons Tinariwen are superpowers in world music with a kick-up-the-dust live show that’s legendary. Their freedom train pulls in at Earlsfort Terrace in April and it’d be a dream come true if it didn’t move off again until the small hours. This Sahara sound is chock full of hypnotic guitars and slinky beats – don’t feel awkward about being the one who gets the dancing in the aisles going. April 12 – National Concert Hall, Dublin
Harry Guerin
5 must-read novels
The Apartment by Greg Baxter (Penguin)
Baxter’s A Preparation for Death was one of the most raw and vivid memoirs of 2010: a sort of real-life variation on The Ginger Man. Now with his debut novel, a slim but sure tale of love, death and imperialism, the US-born writer has penned what is being hailed as one of the must-reads of 2012. Set over one wintry day in an unnamed European capital, it tracks a man hunting for an apartment on a snowy afternoon in the company of a young local woman.
Skagboys by Irvine Welsh (Jonathan Cape)
One masterly work and then what? Not a lot really. But Welsh returns to that groundbreaking hit, Trainspotting, for a book that is a prequel of sorts. We meet again Mark Renton at the birth of the ’80s before he got lost in space. He has a pretty girlfriend, a cosy home life and is well set up in university. But this is Thatcherite Britain, so quicker than you can say ‘Arthur Scargill’, it all goes pear-shaped in this rage at the Age of Aids, heroin and MTV. Fingers crossed that Welsh is back on track.
This is How It Ends by Kathleen MacMahon (Sphere)
The buzz of the 2011 London Book Fair, This is How It Ends prompted a bidding war that netted debut author, MacMahon, a reported £600,000 advance from publishers Little, Brown in one of the biggest book deals of the year. It chronicles a modern love story between an American banker and an out-of-work Irish architect and was written by MacMahon, a journalist in the RTÉ newsroom and the grand-daughter of celebrated short story writer, Mary Lavin, in the smuggled hours between work, family and sleep.
In One Person by John Irving (Simon & Schuster)
A new John Irving novel – his most recent was 2009’s Last Night in Twisted River – was always going to generate a lot of heat. Due in June, In One Person will be Irving’s first work in the first person narrative since A Prayer For Owen Meaney (1989) and his ‘most political’ since 1985’s The Cider House Rules, which dealt with abortion issues. It is the story of Billy, the 60-year-old bisexual narrator, and his life as a ‘sexual suspect’. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (4th Estate) Hardbach’s debut novel featured in many US Best of 2011 lists and arrives (this month) garlanded with praise. As its subject matter is baseball, some critics have been predicting that The Art of Fielding might not score a home run on this side of the pond but then Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland was ‘about’ cricket and a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. I can’t wait for this, a work that took Harbach nine years of hard graft and tells of love, ambition and, yes, baseball.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (4th Estate)
Hardbach’s debut novel featured in many US Best of 2011 lists and arrives (this month) garlanded with praise. As its subject matter is baseball, some critics have been predicting that The Art of Fielding might not score a home run on this side of the pond but then Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland was ‘about’ cricket and a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. I can’t wait for this, a work that took Harbach nine years of hard graft and tells of love, ambition and, yes, baseball.
5 must hear music acts
Azealia Banks
One listen to 212 and you’ll be hooked. That’s the name of the track which appeared last September and sparked an online fire about 20-year-old Harlem MC Azealia Banks. The song pounds with pavement-cracking beats and a machine-gunning rap from the newcomer. And there’s plenty more where that came from – the potty-mouthed Chill$ will turn Rihanna pale and a slow-mo cover of Interpol’s Slow Hands proves her diversity. Now based in London, the NME recently anointed her as their coolest person of 2011 and right now Azealia is working on her debut album with Florence + the Machine producer Paul Epworth.
StooShe
Forget about Little Mix, the only girl-band that will matter in 2012 is StooShe. The London trio of Courtney Rumbold, Alex Buggs and Karis Anderson dress like they’ve just won a catfight with The Spice Girls in a paint factory and they have personality and attitude to burn as well as a gift for frankly, well, salacious, pop that is not very teenybopper friendly at all. Unlike far too many gal bands with fake personas, StooShe want to tell it like it is. At last! The first proper Brit girl band since Girls Aloud. Only a lot, lot ruder. And much more fun.
Ren Harvieu
Is Ren Harvieu the new Rumer? Lancashire-born Harvieu is only 21 but she has a languorous insinuating voice, redolent of a dingy David Lynch cabaret. Her inspirations are just as vintage – think Dusty Springfield and The Walker Brothers. Harvieu is working with producer/writer Jimmy Hogarth (Duffy, Amy Winehouse) and things were shaping up nicely until a freak accident led to two months in hospital. Thankfully she’s back on her feet and working on a debut which will prove that yes, she’s the new Rumer, only with a tang of acrid smoke amid the mellowness. Skip over to YouTube, check out Through The Night and prepare to melt.
Friends
It’s surprising that nobody has named their band after one the most successful TV shows of all time. However, that’s where the comparisons end because this Brooklyn five-piece have a sly, bass-heavy sound which they describe as ‘weird pop’ and which summons up a CBGBs of the mind. Check out their single I’m His Girl, a deceptively simple slice of pure NYC pop that will lodge in your head forever. Actually in reality, Friends got their name from Brian Wilson’s favourite Beach Boys album. We like that much better.
Sinead O’Connor
After some misfiring excursions into reggae and gospel and some eh, interesting changes in her personal life, Sinead is back on form with her new album. Released in February, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? sees a return to the Sinead of old. That means a captivating mix of vulnerability, righteous anger, and that voice soaring once again. On 4th and Vine she sounds happy, her voice breathy and suggestive over a ramshackle band while the spectral Take Off Your Shoes has the haunting quality of her debut. There’s even a cover version of John Grant’s stunning Queen of Denmark. In an industry muffled by conservatism, a new album from O’Connor will be refreshing indeed.
Alan Corr
