Today 4.45 and my ticket for the ‘Surprise Film’ at 5.30 is nowhere to be found. Proceeding to the Savoy at much haste, a woman who I never wanted to see again having begged her to sell me extra tickets to the Gala showings of ‘In Bruges’ and ‘There Will Be Blood’ calmly replaced my ticket while my bronchioles strained to start working again. The foyer was a buzz with discussion as to what the film would be - entering a competition to guess what the showing might be I settled on ‘Iron Man’. The Director of the Festival, introducing the film told us she had considered going classic, considered going black and white and told of the strain of having to keep the name of the film secret for the past weeks. It wasn’t Iron Man, neither was it Indiana Jones despite my heart stopping momentarily when the Lucas Film logo appeared (it was the trailer). The film was a a prison set drama, called ‘The Escapist’ a film made in conjunction with Bord Scannan na h Eireann and the UK Film Council, Brian Cox and Liam Cunningham notable among the cast. An excellent movie, despite my hopes of seeing a blockbuster it was a far better experience to have discovered this treat of a movie than see a blockbuster I would inevitably see. Anyway the movie closed off a great week of movie watching, each of which are worth checking out on release in the coming weeks.

‘In Bruges’: Smart, intelligent film making, a welcome combination of Irish talent delivering humour and drama with distinct quirkiness, a perfectly measured ending, all wrapped in a beautifully made film.

‘There Will Be Blood’: One of the blurbs in the advertising for this movie compares it to ‘Citizen Kane’, and while I can’t comfortably follow this comparison there is no doubting the outstanding film making on show. We live in a world where talent and its appreciation is tied entirely to the wrong values, usually vacuous ideas of fame. This film is the type of art I can appreciate most and in the people involved in this film giving up their work for my judgement I feel grateful and know why I love film.

‘Cassandra’s Dream’: Woody Allen’s output for 2008 stars Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor. The movie is a strange creation, having uprooted his setting to England for the 3rd time Allen seems to think this changed setting relieves him of the need to create realistic or engaging characters. With only a trace of Allens’s signature depth and wit, I fully appreciate his decision to deliver a serious work however such a lukewarm, theatrical result left me disappointed.

‘Margot at the Wedding’: A follow up to ‘The Squid and the Whale’, this examination of an estranged family is drowning in dysfunction. Starring an excellent Nicole Kidman, with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black the film seems to overload on dysfunction for the sake of dysfunction and leaves you somewhat alienated from such a collection of monstrous characters. I don’t know the mood you need to be in to watch this type of movie - its a frighteningly raw look into human weakness, one that will leave you thinking after.

‘Comrades in Dreams’: This is a charming documentary looking at efforts made in places as diverse as Korea, India and small town America to run cinemas whether they be in a tent, community hall or one screen show house. The insight into the lives and attitudes of these people, and especially the contrast of the lives of a woman running a cinema to keep her busy, distracting from the empty house she must go home to and the empassioned commitment of a woman to the cause of showing films in Korea delivers the best kind of story telling in my book - small stories set to a large canvas.

‘Jellyfish’: An Altmanesque style story of multiple overlapping lives of struggle in Tel - Aviv, this film achieves little new yet is thoughtfully and heartfully made and you can’t but be drawn into the story.

‘The Lookout’: This is maybe the most disappointing work of the film, I looked on it as a Memento at college, with Joseph Gordon Levitt (’3rd Rock from the Sun’, ‘Brick’) and the writing talent behind Out of Sight all giving me high hopes. The premise is never consistently delivered on, with the film never being as smart as it likes to think it is, its villains and resolution poor imitations of better thrillers that have gone before.

‘Lars and the Real Girl’: This movie was a revelation, the odd ball premise of a man beginning a relationship with a blow up doll can’t but raise a eye brow, yet all cynicism is washed away by what follows, as his family and friends gather around to support him, the film takes on an other worldly demeanour, one you can’t but want to visit. An outstanding Ryan Gosling continues to impress, check your scepticism at the door and earn back some faith in humanity. The distinction that means ‘Juno’ earns more plaudits for this is beyond my comprehension - this is the indie I want to see be a success story.

‘The Escapist’: 99 minutes long, a prison escape movie hardly smacks of novelty yet this expertly put together thriller is a great character piece, convincingly bringing together prison set stereotypes in a smart execution of tense plot. More ‘Oz’ than ‘Prison Break’ (thankfully) the film is a quality treatment of a traditional genre only disappointing in its closing minutes. Ultimately the festival ended as it begun with quality Irish movie output.