World famous atheist philosopher Alain De Botton has found himself in hot water over his plans to build a “Temple For Atheists”. Here, talking to Josh Roberts, he responds to critics of the one million pound project which include God Delusion author Professor Richard Dawkins.

“I was in this club with these people born in 1990”, says Stephen Merchant on his sell-out Hello Ladies tour, “and I realized that I was the only person in this club who’s ever watched porn on VHS”. “Nowadays”, he continues, “they’ve got everything – girl on girl, man on girl, girl on toaster, whatever you’re into”.

That is the question. Whether you have never skied before or learnt soon after you could walk, one thing is certain: be it good, bad, fun or terrifying, you have an opinion on skiing.

Eoin O’Driscoll follows the political career of erstwhile presidential nominee Jon Huntsman, from family business to high politics. Illustration by Sinead Mercier.

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller, John C. Reilly
Running Time: 112 minutes
Rating: 1st

By Nicholas Maltby

We Need to Talk About Kevin is, for the most part, an excruciating film to watch. It’s also an exquisite cinematic production that vivifies Lionel Shriver’s story of the same name, to the extent that it seems like a non-fiction narrative. Shriver’s book is partly a fictionalized response to the Columbine massacre of 1999.

Albatross
Directors: Niall MacCormick
Cast: Jessica Brown-Findlay, Felicity Jones, Sebastian Koch
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rating: 3rd
By Nicholas Maltby

Although Albatross is a poor film overall, it does have some merit in its positive, regenerative spirit. Coming of age stories often have this quality. But Albatross’s positive gloss on adolescent life is quite relentless: in almost every sense the film is not only trite, but kitsch.

What happens if, in the middle of a play, the characters, to their distress, realise that they are fictional? And what happens when they decide to take matters into their own hands, and seize control of the writing of the script? Slattery’s Sago Saga, brilliantly staged by The Performance Corporation, and directed by Jo Mangan, is an absurdist comedy, as energetic and imaginative a piece of theatre as one would hope from Arthur Riordan. He has succeeded in turning what was initially an unfinished novel by Flann O’Brien into a play that manages to be both contemporary, and faithful to O’Brien’s very distinctive style.

The plot, involving a maleficent Scotswoman, a human-sized leprechaun, a beautiful and mysterious typist,, and an evil plot to subjugate the nation of Ireland, is ridiculous, of course, and spirals out of control completely once the characters get involved, each manipulating events to suit their own various purposes. It’s all very meta-theatrical. But it never becomes too convoluted, managing to hold the audience’s attention throughout. The cast of five all give strong performances, outstanding among them being Kathy Rose O’Brien as Imelda, the substitute author who takes over the writing while its real author is otherwise occupied, and Michael Glenn Murphy in four distinct roles; the idiot butler, the opium-fiend professor, the corrupt T.D, and the Irish-American millionaire. It’s fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek, entertaining, and completely nonsensical, in a way that somehow makes sense, in keeping with Flann O’Brien’s absurdist logic. Conventionally, theatre attempts to induce in its audience a suspension of disbelief. Slattery’s Sago Saga inverts this, asking the audience to suspend belief, and challenging their perceptions of authorship, performance and reality. O’Brien would have been proud.

Liza Cox

By Nicholas Maltby

In art, publication or release implies a finished product: something that can no longer be altered or finessed. There are notable exceptions, but once finished, a work of art generally stays finished. Like an itch, a completed album is advisably left untouched.

Shark Night 3D

Director: David R. Ellis

Cast: Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan, Chris Carmack

Running time: 91 minutes

Rating: III

By Robert O’ Reilly

Let’s face it, good shark movies are like scorching hot days in Ireland, few and far between and possibly overrated too. And although Shark Night 3D is watchable in places (well sort of), it’s likely to sink without a trace to the bottom of the endless sea of bargain-basement rip-offs.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore

Running Time: 118 minutes

Rating: 2:1

By Nicholas Bland

Hollywood comedies generally recommend themselves as films to avoid watching. North American prudery combined with overblown emotional pyrotechnics tends to kill any humour they might otherwise possess. But there’s a moment, about five minutes into Crazy, Stupid, Love, when it becomes delightfully obvious that the worst Hollywood tropes have been left at the studio door in making this film.