Irish Parents Review English Curriculum

  What is the movie Some Like It Hot about? After witnessing a Mafia murder, slick saxophone player Joe (Tony Curtis) and his long-suffering buddy, Jerry (Jack Lemmon), improvise a quick plan to escape from Chicago with their lives. Disguising themselves as women, they join an all-female jazz band and hop on a train bound for sunny Florida. While Joe pretends to be a millionaire to win the band's sexy singer, Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), Jerry finds himself pursued by a real millionaire (Joe E. Brown) as things heat up and the mobsters close in. Verdict: Innocent comedy (but revisionist academics reinterpret it for the modern audience through a supposed gay/bi-sexual lense). Suitable for study in the classroom but parents should be aware of teacher's reason for choosing it.

  When Buddy's Mum walks out on his Dad, Buddy and his inept, no-good Father have to work at forging a relationship with each other. A funny, gritty, poignant and moving story which deals with the very real issues of racism, neglect and moral dilemma (when Buddy needs to own up to stealing).The story is realistic and witten in simple language which makes this a good read for weaker students. Despite this, the issues are still complex and Hinton cleverly helps his readers to examine the characters and their motives from all angles and to understand their point of view. Verdict: suitable for study at junior level

  Directed by Ken Wardrop. 70 Irish females of all ages, from kids to grandmothers, share bits and pieces of their lives with us, in relation to the topic of the significant men in their lives. Tales are told of childhood and teenage years, featuring the importance mainly of fathers and boyfriends and stories of dating, marriage and old age focus on the importance and role of husbands/partners/brothers and sons. The interviewees are very open and honest and at times the stories move us to laughter or tears. This piece of work is an important record and window into the Irish female psyche throughout the last 80 years or so and reveals the changing female attitudes to marriage which this century has witnessed. One reviewer  (IrishJoe78 ) comments that "Wardrop does a wonderful job of establishing continuity through the film, by careful assembling the interviews from young to old, giving the impression of a life being described. His lighting and cinematography are first-class and...

  Nightjohn  is set deep in the American south in the 1850s, around the time of the American Civil War. The story is related by Sarny, a twelve-yr-old slave girl on the Waller plantation who learns to read with the help of a return escapee, an older man, Nightjohn, who feel self-sacrifice is worth it if he can pass on the ability to read and write so that slaves will be able to write a record of their experiences of slavery, for  future generations. The story is grim and shocking in parts due to the descriptions of the cruelty which slaves underwent at the hands of their traders and masters, but ultimately this book is about the resilience and tenacity of the human spirit and the ability to keep hope alive against all the odds.  Verdict: suitable for study at junior level although parental discretion is needed as sensitive teens could find certain  parts upsetting.  I love this book -so much scope for teaching in the classroom. Great themes and history to ...

  LOS ANGELES TIMES FILM CRITIC: Kenneth Tura . “About Elly” is a picture of life in a sector of Iranian society we don’t often see. We are in the realm of the educated middle class, where women wear fashionable jeans along with their hijabs and screaming imprecations against imperialists has given way to renting vacation villas on the Caspian Sea. “About Elly” involves its players, young professionals who have been friends since university, in a compelling interpersonal story that manages to be specifically Iranian and broadly universal. It examines the way the small evasions of truth that are the well-intentioned currency of everyday life play out in devastating ways when situations get unexpectedly extreme. The film opens with eight adults and three children headed for a holiday weekend at the beach. Six of the grown-ups are couples, and one of the unattached adults is everyone’s friend Ahmad (Shahab Hosseini), newly divorced and visiting from his home in Germany. The eighth per...

 Moonsrise Kingdom deals with teenage angst, rebellion, falling in love and sexual awakening. Reviews for this movie are quite mixed with some viewers finding it "refreshing", while others label it "boring and dull". I did find myself feeling bored and frustrated at the dull acting and slow pacing of the story and certainly would not think highy enough of the film to include it for study on a school curriculum. I suspect it was chosen more because it contains scenes of a sexual nature where erections and breasts are discussed/touched, a bloody stabbing scene and a scene in which the Sheriff offers beer to a minor, who accepts it and of course the movie contains the usual dose of bad language and blasphemy which I would never stand for in my own home........makes me wonder why I send my kids to school at all these days! Verdict: Not suitable for study under the guise of "literary text" in the classroom at Junior Cycle Level Rory, Teacher & Father of tw...

   Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd is an historical novel set in the 1980’s and is set against the backdrop of the troubles of Northern Ireland. The themes of this book are quite dark and heavy including the fact that the brother of the main character, Fergus McCann, is on hunger strike. Other themes include the discovery of a body in a bog, illegal couriering for the IRA and the story contains dark flashbacks and dreams throughout.  I personally found this book extremely difficult to read. I am an avid reader normally and I am usually happy to read a variety of book types. However, it's a long time since I struggled to finish a book like I did with this one. I found it disjointed, hard to follow, dark in parts, boring and I really think the average teenager would struggle to read this book. It contained some coarse language and one scene of intimacy with the opposite sex. Perhaps it would have a place on the history curriculum as the subject matter is, I’m sure, an insigh...