On our RADAR
STREAMING: Blarney Street Irish Wish, Friday, Netflix
It has The Corrs (‘Breathless’) on the soundtrack, panoramic shots of the Wicklow hills and the Cliffs of Moher and a naked guy (discreetly filmed) stepping out of a shower. What more could you want from a Paddy’s Day-timed romcom about an American getting her magic wish granted and a giant emerald-green ring on her finger? Irish Wish, with Lindsay Lohan as the bridesmaid who magically becomes the bride-to-be, looks like a mish-mash of My Best Friend’s Wedding, Darby O’gill (well at least that magicky bit) and that film where a naked guy steps out of a shower. Lindsay gets to play darts, drink stout, do some Irish dancing and see that well-washed naked guy, with Jane Seymour as her no-nonsense mother. Of course, nothing good can come of all this wish-making and stealing your best friend’s fiancé, or can it? The trailer suggests that no Irish accents were harmed in the making of Irish Wish, but we live in gleeful hope. It could very well leave you breathless: hopefully in a good way.
Girls’ talks Girls5eva, Thursday, Netflix
It’s being hyped as the biggest comeback in pop music history and no, we’re not talking Oasis or ABBA (the real version not avatars) but fictional 1990s girl group Girls5eva who will reunite for a third season on Netflix this month. The show, produced by Tina Fey (and you don’t have to look to hard to see the 30 Rock similarities), sees the band back with a new album, Returnity (echoes of Spinal Tap too) and an imminent comeback tour. But there are a few problems as they have no tour manager, no venues secured and no real plans as such. No worries. All five pile into their van and hit the road for a second bite at immortality (if you follow). But the highway to pop fame is paved with problems as relationships are tested, oats are sown (that’s what it says here) and a billionaire’s birthday party very nearly derails the comeback.
Taylor made Taylor Swift The Eras Tour, Friday, Disney+
Lauded by her fans as a latter day Shakespeare or Jane Austen (or whatever cultural genius floats your boat) and castigated by Donald Trump supporters as a big baddie (she called out the former US President in 2019 for “gaslighting the American public”), the hugely influential Swift is impossible to ignore, whatever side of the fence you’re on. With 14 Grammy awards on her mantlepiece and a global reach, the 34-year-old megastar last year released a concert film that put it up to the Barbenheimer behemoth at the box-office, grossing more than $260 million worldwide, which made it the top-selling concert film of all time. Swift described the film, which was filmed over three nights at LA’S Sofi Stadium in August 2023, as “the perfect capture of what this show was like for me”. But it also captures in forensic detail a billion-dollar touring production that was bigger than any other last year as it shoehorned 17 years of music and 10 studio albums into one stellar show.
The man who shot Abraham Lincoln Manhunt, Friday, Apple TV+
Based on the bestselling book from author James L. Swanson ( Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Abraham Lincoln’s Killer), Manhunt is a conspiracy thriller about one of the best known but least understood crimes in history, the astonishing story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC on April 14, 1865. Booth, a well-known actor, shot the president in the head before making his escape. The city was immediately locked down and Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), who was US Secretary of War under Lincoln, is charged by the President’s widow, Mary Todd Lincoln, to track down his killer. The charismatic Irish actor Anthony Boyle ( Masters of the Air) plays Booth, a man with nothing to lose as he attempts to evade detection. Booth’s motivations – his actions were part of a wider conspiracy to restore the Confederacy – are also investigated in this lavish true-crime drama.