Dream House
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Written by David Loucka
Starring Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Marton Csokas, Claire Geare, Taylor Geare, Elias Koteas
Release Date: September 30, 2011

Jim Sheridan‘s Dream House is a distorting and turning journey of mind-bending proportions, taking elements of popular horror fiction and re-energizing them as 21st century psychological thriller fares. Featuring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, it takes some unexpected detours, complete with some commendable performances.

(A side note: Before I do continue though, let me preface the rest of this review with the fact that I did not see any trailers for Dream House before seeing the film. I’ve been told that Morgan Creek films blew it by including some significant plot revelations in the trailer, so I went into the film fresh – so if you’re interested in seeing this movie, avoid all the trailers!)

In America
DVD
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Starring Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Samantha Morton
2003

A little girl by the name of Christy (Sarah Bolger) comes to America, Manhattan specifically, from Ireland and captures everything on her little red camcorder. She tapes anything she finds interesting, and that can be a lot. This camcorder sees everything from normal people walking the streets of Manhattan, a little girl beautifully singing Desperado, and even the end of days for two people she dearly loves. She lies on the top bunk, younger sister Ariel (Emma Bolger) on the bottom, and replays these happenings every night on her little video screen.

Some movies shake our emotions, others give us goosebumps, others even make us feel an overwhelming sense of joy but it’s a rarity that one single movie can possess all three of these golden qualities. In America (2003) is that rarity. It works mainly because of the performances but mostly due to the fact that director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot) handles the movie with such delicacy and care because he dedicates this film to his younger brother Frankie who went through a battle with cancer. With that said he creates a realm of reality so personal that the least this movie can do to the human body is to resonate through its soul.

Brothers
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 23, 2010

Detached in genre but alike in context, director Jim Sheridan‘s new film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film titled Brodre, ironically provokes emotions that ran rampant in his 2003 masterpiece In America. In that film an outsider is welcomed into an Irish-American family and in return he forever changes whatever their prior perspective on life was. Most of Mr. Sheridan’s films show an intense interest with man’s ability to detach himself from the parade of inabilities, setbacks, and tragedies that universally correspond with the orders of humanity. The roadblocks that face most of his characters are appropriate given their specificity in life. How Daniel Day-Lewis’ character in My Left Foot or Djimon Hounsou’s character in In America are able to unshackle themselves from their imprisonment to nature is what makes Sheridan’s films rigid and universally true: Man has a desire to deliberately shun away all the perplexities that nature is bound to, paving a path that can eventually lead to some form of freedom.

Daniel Craig has been around for quite some time, but didn’t really catch eyes until 2002’s Road to Perdition. Since then, he’s appeared in movies like Layer Cake, Munich, The Golden Compass, and of course, as the latest and greatest James Bond in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Craig has now added a new job to his schedule with the announcement that he’ll star in the Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek psychological thriller, Dream House.

The movie will be directed by Jim Sheridan, the celebrated writer and director of critically acclaimed films like My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, and In America — three of which featured Daniel Day-Lewis, who’s well-known for choosing his roles very cautiously. He’s currently working on the film Black Mass, which tells the story of the infamous and elusive fugitive mafia godfather, Whitey Bulger. Sheridan has been nominated for an impressive six Academy Awards, but has yet to win one.

Click on over to the other side for the official synopsis.