Top 5 – Movies to Watch on St Patricks Day

Happy St Patrick’s Day kids!  If you’d rather kick it at home with some corned beef and a Guiness rather than blacking out from green beer and whiskey, here are some great Irish themed movies you can check out.

5 – The Leprechaun Series 

It’s not St. Patrick’s Day without leprechauns and, amazingly, there are not a lot of movies with leprechauns in it.  Shocker, I know.  I cheated and put the entire series at number five because they are all incredibly ridiculous and fun in their own way.  You could watch the 1993 original, the film that introduced the world to Jennifer Aniston.  You could watch when the Leprechaun goes to the Hood (2000) and when he goes Back 2 tha Hood (2003).  Or, the cinematic masterpiece that was Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996).  These films would probably be best watched while intoxicated.

4 – Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015) 

The first time I saw Brooklyn, I thought it was a good, run-of-the-mill period love story.  I re-watched it before the Oscars and fell completely in love.  Brooklyn tells the story of an Irish girl (an astounding Saoirse Ronan) who immigrates from Ireland to New York to start a new life and falls in love.  This is as classical as cinema gets.  You could have made this film in the 1950’s and it would have worked then too.  It is perfectly made, with beautiful costumes, set design, and music.  Brooklyn puts a smile on your face and never leaves.

3 – Once (John Carney, 2006) 

Once is one of the finest musicals of the 2000’s.  Shot on virtually no budget with no name actors, an Irish man and Czech woman spend a week in Dublin singing, playing instruments, and falling in love.  The movie is incredibly sweet and authentic.  It feels more like a documentary than a narrative.  The songs are extraordinary, featuring the Oscar winning “Falling Slowly” and the love story is beautiful.  Once is as charming and captivating as movies get.

2 – Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002)

Gangs of New York is one of my favorite movies of all-time and probably the most important movie of my cinematic life, as this movie introduced me to Martin Scorsese and changed my world forever.  This is a bloody, bold, epic revenge film about America’s roots being born on the streets of New York.  Set in 1863 Manhattan, Irish immigrants are rolling in by the boatload, causing a street war between The Natives, led by the terrifying Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting (Daniel Day Lewis at his absolute best), and the Irish immigrant gang, The Dead Rabbits, led by Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio, in his first film with Scorsese), who wants to kill Cutting for murdering his father earlier in life.  This is one of Scorsese’s best films and a true American masterpiece.

1 – The Boondock Saints (Troy Duffy, 1999)

I mean, why not, right?  This may not be the most culturally significant Irish film and it has nothing historical to it at all, but I’ll be damned if this movie doesn’t kick some serious ass.  The Boondock Saints is a vigilante story about the MacManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) who set out to rid Boston of evil men while being tracked down by an F.B.I agent (a scene stealing Willem Dafoe).  This movie has a cool plot, the action is violent and explosive, and it’s pretty funny too.  Also, the prayer the brothers say before they slay their victims is almost as badass as Samuel L. Jackson’s ‘Ezekiel 25:17’ speech from Pulp Fiction (1994).  Perfect with a couple shots of whiskey, The Boondock Saints is a badass cult classic.

What are your favorite movies to watch on St Patricks Day?  Comment below and don’t forget to follow Kevflix on Twitter @kevflix and on Facebook at Kevflix.

And Happy St Patrick’s Day!!!!