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To think of Italy is to conjur up images of beautiful women, wonderful scenery and mouth watering food. The Italy portrayed in this book is very different. We follow the lives of a cast of characters in a small Italian village over a period of 6 days. They are a sorry bunch living desperate lives in an economically depressed area.

The introduction to 13 year old Cristiano and his alcoholic father, Rino, gives some measure of what is to come. The boy is woken from his sleep and ordered to shoot a dog to stop its incessant barking. Despite the boy living in terror of his father, he truly loves him.

Rino and his drinking buddies hatch a plan to rob an ATM believing it will lead to a better life. The story moves at a breathtaking pace leading up to the night of the robbery and the tragedy that unfolds. Violent, tragic, tender, melancholic, loving, brutal & humourous are all words that spring to mind as I try to sum up this stunning example of human emotions in raw form.

An absolute gem.

Rating 5 out of 5

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Despite being the most loved snack food in Ireland, we dont know much about the man whose face has been smiling happily from bags of crisps in Ireland for over 50 years.

Many people cite Bill Cullen’s rags to riches story as being an example for all entrepreneurs to follow. The Mr. Tayto story gives oul penny apple man a run for his money.

For the first time ever, we get an insight into the life of this enigmatic icon. Written in plain language and with plenty of photographs sprinkled throughout, Mr Tayto tells it all with help from the men behind Podge and Rodge.

The book is a limited edition and for under six quid it’s a bargain. A contribution from the sale goes to Aware as well. Just buy it.

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The average nine year old boy has a very active imagination. Max, the star of this film is no exception. He goes on an attention seeking bender one evening and ends up biting his mother.

Running out of the house, he reaches a lake and sails away to a magical land where he meets up with a bunch of big furry creatures who crown him their king.

Max is happy for a while in this new world of his own creation but things soon change…

What could have been a magical, wondrous and heartwarming expression of childhood imagination is, instead, a slow lumbering train wreck of wooden dialogue, hidden meaning and dark thoughts wrapped up in a big black knot of adult neuroses. I have never been as disappointed in a film as I was with this.

Rating 1 star out of 5.

Extra note: Saw this  in IMAX format on trip to NYC and the only thing that kept me in the cinema was the massive cup of diet coke and the truckload of popcorn to get through. Which leads to the question – why on earth do portion sizes need to be so big in the USA?

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The successor to the crown of England’s favourite Irishman will surely be taken by Dara O’Briain when the time comes for Terry Wogan to take a permanent lie down in a darkened room.

The English need a funny Irishman as much as their stiff upper lip. O’Briain’s book sheds a bit more light on a country and its people from the point of view of a comedian on a countrywide tour.

His account is fast paced, witty, intelligent and informative. We learn a lot about Dara and the craft of comedian as well as England and the English. A must read for anyone living on ‘these islands’.

Rating 5 out of 5 stars.

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Chutzpah. Ask 100 people for a definition and you’ll get many different definitions. Some will be positive, others negative.

The majority will say it’s a get up and go, can do attitude. This is the Chutzpah evident in the book. Its 200 pages are filled with inspiring business success stories.

The common thread among them all is that the people behind the stories had big dollops of Chutzpah that made the difference between success and failure.

This is the perfect antidote to the doom and gloom stories that dominate the media. Highly recommended as an idea generator for anyone in business or considering starting one.

Rating : 5 out of 5 stars.

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Snow falls in the darkness. Wind whistles through trees. A boy whispers. His ghostly image appears reflected in a window looking out over the courtyard of a bleak apartment complex in a Stockholm suburb. It’s the dead of night when the boy, Oskar, first sets eyes on his new neighbour, Eli.

The two 12 year olds eventually meet and become friends. Both of them feel like outcasts. Oskar is bullied at school whereas Eli is a 200 year old vampire stuck in a 12 year old body. They become good friends and find acceptance in each others company that they cannot find anywhere else.

Along the way, there is plenty of blood letting as you would expect from a film with a vampire. What you dont expect is everything else – you will just have to go see this absolute gem for yourself.

Rating 5 out of 5 stars

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The opening titles of this film tell us everything we need to know about Randy “The Ram” Robinson. His best bits from the glory years as a professional wrestler are presented in a rolling montage of  magazine and newspaper headlines, ticket stubs, fight posters and studio shots accompanied by the sound of roaring fans and fight commentators.

20 years on, The Ram is still doing some wrestling but he is a broken man unable to adjust to life outside the ring. Everything about this film feels real – almost like a fly on the wall documentary. Mickey Rourke gives a superbly gritty performance in this sometimes hard to watch film which may leave you feeling a little out of sorts for a while.

Rating : 5 stars

On Sunday, October 1st 2006 in a cottage somewhere in the Wicklow Hills, a Grandad switches on his computer and says hello to the world via a personal website called Head Rambles. Almost every day since, he has been sharing his thoughts on everything from politics to the weather in a very humorous and entertaining way.

The book is a collection of these thoughts from the the last 3 years. It’s not hard to see why the author has attracted a large and loyal readership to his internet home. Grumbling has never been so funny. Highly recommended

Rating 5/5 stars

Head Rambles is at http://www.headrambles.com

Attractive young couple plan to spend a romatic weekend by a lake. An unpleasant encounter with a group of hooded teenagers shortly after their arrival eventually descends into a brutal and terrifying ordeal for the pair.

Eden Lake is a bit of an oddity. It falls somewhere between thriller and horror but doesn’t succeed in either category. It tries to say something about modern society by having the victims as a middle class, hard working couple pitted against ne’er do well, hooded chavvy youths whose parents aren’t much better.

This preys on people’s fears about an underclass who are so detached and disaffected that they have no respect for authority, property or human life. The portrayal of the teenagers just isn’t believable. They are about as threatening as a leaf of lettuce. Sure, there are a few jump in the seat moments and more than a few wince inducing bloody scenes but a good thriller/horror needs much more than that to succeeed. A disappointment.

1 out of 5 stars