Best Irish Movies
by davidobrien1995 | created - 12 Feb 2012 | updated - 26 Feb 2012 | PublicHere's a list of some of the best Irish Movie to be made, in my opinion. Please note that the list is in NO particular order. The list is for people who are interested in Irish films and are looking for some Irish films to watch.
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1. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
Not Rated | 127 min | Drama, War
Against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald
Votes: 54,600 | Gross: $1.83M
2. The Commitments (1991)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Votes: 38,774 | Gross: $14.92M
3. Michael Collins (1996)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
Neil Jordan's historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Julia Roberts, Ian Hart
Votes: 33,745 | Gross: $11.09M
4. The Field (1990)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
When a field (which has been farmed by the McCabe family for generations) goes up for auction, the patriarch of the McCabe family will stop at nothing to prevent a rich American from buying it.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Richard Harris, John Hurt, Sean Bean, Frances Tomelty
Votes: 6,765 | Gross: $1.41M
5. The General (1998)
R | 124 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the I.R.A., the U.V.F., and members of his own team.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Adrian Dunbar, Sean McGinley, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Votes: 9,242 | Gross: $1.21M
6. My Left Foot (1989)
R | 103 min | Biography, Drama
Christy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Kirsten Sheridan
Votes: 79,759 | Gross: $14.74M
7. Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)
TV-MA | 94 min | Drama, History
The true story of a single teacher's courage to stand up against an untouchable prefect's sadistic disciplinary regime and other abuse in a Catholic Reformatory and Industrial School in 1939 Ireland.
Director: Aisling Walsh | Stars: Aidan Quinn, Iain Glen, Marc Warren, Dudley Sutton
Votes: 4,782
8. In the Name of the Father (1993)
R | 133 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie, Philip King
Votes: 187,059 | Gross: $25.01M
9. The Guard (2011)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is partnered with an uptight F.B.I. agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.
Director: John Michael McDonagh | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Ronan Collins
Votes: 95,595 | Gross: $5.36M
10. The Van (1996)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
Set in the fictional Dublin suburb of Barrytown, Bimbo is a baker who loses his job after being made redundant. Bimbo then acquires the help of his best friend, Larry, to set up a successful burger van.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly, Ger Ryan, Caroline Rothwell
Votes: 4,853 | Gross: $0.62M
11. Rory O'Shea Was Here (2004)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
When the kinetic Rory moves into his room in the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, his effect on the home is immediate. Most telling is his friendship with Michael, a young man with cerebral palsy and nearly unintelligible speech. Somehow, Rory understands Michael, and encourages him to experience life outside the confines of home.
Director: Damien O'Donnell | Stars: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, Alan King
Votes: 16,023 | Gross: $0.02M
12. Knuckle (2011)
R | 97 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
An epic 12-year journey into the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans.
Director: Ian Palmer | Stars: James Quinn McDonagh, Paddy Quinn McDonagh, Michael Quinn McDonagh, Ian Palmer
Votes: 3,233 | Gross: $0.00M
13. Veronica Guerin (2003)
R | 98 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An Irish journalist writes a series of stories about drug dealers.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, Brenda Fricker, Ciarán Hinds
Votes: 21,888 | Gross: $1.57M
14. The Most Fertile Man in Ireland (2000)
96 min | Comedy
The most fertile man in Ireland is in serious demand.
Director: Dudi Appleton | Stars: Kris Marshall, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Bronagh Gallagher, James Nesbitt
Votes: 614
15. Intermission (2003)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A variety of losers in Dublin have harrowingly farcical intersecting stories of love, greed and violence.
Director: John Crowley | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Kelly Macdonald, Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson
Votes: 16,588 | Gross: $0.90M
16.
Screen Two (1985–1998)
Episode:
The Snapper
(1993)
R | 91 min | Drama
20 year old Irish girl Sharon Curly lives at home with her large family. But notoriety in her neighbourhood suddenly arrives when, after a night out on the town, she becomes pregnant and refuses to divulge the identity of the baby's father.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Colm Meaney, Tina Kellegher, Ruth McCabe, Eanna MacLiam
Votes: 6,126 | Gross: $3.32M
17. Strength and Honour (2007)
R | 95 min | Action, Drama
A single father decides to break his dying wife's last wish to not box again in order to save his young son from certain death.
Director: Mark Mahon | Stars: Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Patrick Bergin, Richard Chamberlain
Votes: 1,628 | Gross: $0.05M
18. Disco Pigs (2001)
TV-MA | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Pig and Runt - born on the same day, in the same hospital, moments apart. Twins, all but by blood.
Director: Kirsten Sheridan | Stars: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy, Sarah Gallagher, Charles Bark
Votes: 5,209
19. War of the Buttons (1994)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
The children of Ballydowse and Carrickdowse engage in battles in which they cut off the buttons, shoelaces, and underwear of their captured opponents, in order to get the boys in trouble ... See full summary »
Director: John Roberts | Stars: Gregg Fitzgerald, Gerard Kearney, Darragh Naughton, Brendan McNamara
Votes: 4,593 | Gross: $0.01M
20. The Butcher Boy (1997)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The antisocial son of an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother grows up in 1960s Ireland.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Eamonn Owens, Alan Boyle
Votes: 11,464 | Gross: $1.82M
21. I Went Down (1997)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Irish action comedy. An ex-con is forced into taking on a new task by a ruthless crime-boss, but finds he is hindered by the partner he has been teamed up with. However, he soon realizes they must work together if they are to survive.
Director: Paddy Breathnach | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Peter McDonald, Antoine Byrne, David Wilmot
Votes: 2,277 | Gross: $0.41M
22. Angela's Ashes (1999)
R | 145 min | Biography, Drama
An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens
Votes: 23,247 | Gross: $13.04M
23. Once (I) (2007)
R | 86 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.
Director: John Carney | Stars: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh, Gerard Hendrick
Votes: 121,262 | Gross: $9.44M
24. The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
R | 114 min | Drama
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
Director: Peter Mullan | Stars: Eileen Walsh, Dorothy Duffy, Nora-Jane Noone, Anne-Marie Duff
Votes: 28,459 | Gross: $4.89M
25. In America (2002)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama
A family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger
Votes: 44,274 | Gross: $15.54M
26. Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
G | 93 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery, Jimmy O'Dea
Votes: 9,363
27. The Quiet Man (1952)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond
Votes: 42,389 | Gross: $10.55M
28. Waking Ned Devine (1998)
PG | 91 min | Comedy
When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money.
Director: Kirk Jones | Stars: Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan, Susan Lynch
Votes: 28,037 | Gross: $24.79M
29. The Crying Game (1992)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 60,049 | Gross: $62.55M
30. Bloody Sunday (2002)
R | 111 min | Drama, History, War
A dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Allan Gildea
Votes: 25,753 | Gross: $0.77M
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