Granny O' Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

The Irish are coming! Can you hear us, Hollywood? That's right, kids: the Green Army will be present and correct at next month's Academy Awards; courtesy of a trio of nominees: The Secret Of Kells for Best Animated Feature (beating off the likes of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs to Ice Age 3), Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty for Best Animated Short, and The Door for Best Live Action Short. Having seen all these films, we can indeed testify to their exceptional quality, and celebrate their success. Now: how do we get Irish audiences to watch Irish movies? The Secret Of Kells didn't set the box-office on fire when it was released here last year, despite rave reviews and the clout of Disney, who distributed the film locally. Likewise, Once failed to pull punters on two separate occasions, before and after its Oscar triumph, and any number of international awards couldn't persuade cinemagoers that Kisses or Garage were worth a punt over any amount of generic Hollywood fare. What's the solution? Better movies? Better marketing? Or good old fashioned star power? What about an Irish version of Heat: master crook Liam Neeson faces off against seasoned cop Brendan Gleeson, as Neeson boosts ATM machines across the border counties in his pimped-up JCB… We'll be happy with an Executive Producer credit.