25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Five For Your Radar: Michael Harding, Private Ryan, Étoile...
Cinema: Spielberg Season
Omniplex, Mahon, From Friday, April 25
Steven Spielberg's next film, currently untitled and with a vague possibility of a UFO story, is reportedly not due out until summer 2026. Omniplex cinemas around the country are diving into the archive to screen some of his biggest hits over the next week: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, Hook, and E.T. were all made to be seen on the big screen and are all beloved by different film fans. Treat yourself to some silver screen history.
Saving Private Ryan is on at Omniplex cinemas this week as part of Spielberg Season.
Streaming: Étoile
Prime Video, out now
An eight-part series about ballet? We might usually demur but Étoile is from Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator of Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and stars the latter series' alum Luke Kirby as well as Charlotte Gainsbourg. The story: In an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions, two world-renowned ballet companies in New York City and Paris swap their most talented stars. Étoile celebrates the beauty, humour, and unpredictability of a life devoted to the arts, both on stage and off.
Concert: Carsie Blanton
De Barra's, Clonakilty, Friday, April 25
An American songwriter with hooks, chutzpah, and revolutionary optimism, the fiercely independent Carsie Blanton kicks off her Irish tour in West Cork on Friday, also calling to Dolan's Limerick, Coughlan's in Cork, and Fermoy in the next week. Acclaimed by the likes of NPR, Blanton will be playing songs from her 2024 album After the Revolution.
Carsie Blanton plays De Barra's on Friday, April 25, as she kicks off her Irish tour. Picture: Bobby Bonsey
Festival: Cork World Book Fest
Various venues, until Sunday, April 27
Continuing throughout the weekend, Cork World Book Fest has something for everything over the coming days. The festival concludes on Sunday evening with crime writers Catherine Kirwan and Catherine Ryan Howard at the River Lee Hotel (4.30pm, free) and in the Roundy later, Cathy Sweeney and Francis Halsall talking about the new collection, In the Good Seats: Essays on Film (6pm, free).
Talk: Michael Harding
Everyman, Cork. Thursday, May 1
Join writer, podcaster and commentator Michael Harding for an evening at the Everyman next Thursday. He'll be reading from his 2024 book, I Loved Him from the Day He Died. To mark his 70th birthday, Harding took a holiday in Spain, walking a short part of the Camino de Santiago in summer 2024, thoughts of his father, who passed away when his son was 22, revolving in his head. A man who was distant and aloof, but who had a profound effect on the writer's life. Join Michael as he brings to life the Camino walk and the father who shaped his life.
