Good Vibrations
Documenting the raucous life of record shop owner Terri Hooley, played by Lisburn man Richard Dormer, Good Vibrations took us on a rollercoaster ride through a very different side of Northern Ireland in the late 70s.
The film - essentially a look at the rise of punk music in Belfast and Derry during a time of deep division - was widely acclaimed, locally loved, and has generated a cult following.
A Bump Along The Way
A wonderful feel-good film which hit the screens just before Covid closed cinemas, A Bump Along The Way centres on a heavy-drinking Derry single mother, played by the incredible Bronagh Gallager, who becomes pregnant at the age of 44 from a one-night stand, much to the mortification of her teenage daughter (Lola Petticrew).
A touching local film.
Mickybo and Me
Another one of those local films which has stood the test of time, Mickybo and Me is as funny and heartbreaking now as it was when it was first released in 2004.
The movie follows young boys Mickybo and Jonjo as they try to escape the horrors of The Troubles and home life, and emulate the lives of the characters they've seen on the big screen.
Boys From County Hell
Northern Ireland was long overdue a good vampire comedy-horror film, so Boys From County Hell was welcome when it was released last year.
Set in Six Mile Hill, a fictional backwater town, the movie follows a local construction team who accidentally demolish a cairn and unleash a vampire.
Divorcing Jack
Maybe not so much a feel-good film as it is a pitch black satirical comedy, but Divorcing Jack is a rip-roaring look at the dark-but-funny side of Northern Irish political life and criminal underworld at the tale end of The Troubles.
The plot centres around the reporter Dan Starkey who gets entangled in a web of political intrigue and sectarian violence, at the same time as Northern Ireland is set to elect a new leader.
Man About Dog
Telling the story of three West Belfast men who end up on a crime-fuelled adventure around Ireland, Man About Dog is a semi-iconic comedy film which was released back in 2004.
16 years on, the film still manages to provoke laughs, sighs and even gasps at its more squeamish moments.
An Everlasting Piece
An American comedy film directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson, composed by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, and costing - according to reports - £14million to make, An Everlasting Piece was a box office bomb which tells the unlikely story of two wig salesmen, one Catholic and one Protestant, who live in war-torn Belfast in the 1980s.
A complete failure, there were claims that its release in cinemas was intentionally sabotaged by British officials, due to its "sympathetic portrayal" of the IRA.
It may all sound like the fever dream of a Give My Head Peace character, but believe it or not, it's real. And even more incredibly, the movie itself isn't that bad. If you can excuse some bad accents (and you'll have to if you want to watch at least of the films mentioned here), you'll get a kick out of it.
