A great  contemporary western.   A buddy film with a most unlikely pair of buddies. A cop movie that pits good against brazen, unapologetic evil. The Guard, a new Irish film written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, is audaciously funny as it explores corruption, integrity and heroism.  Starring Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Don Cheadle, The Guard revels in its genre-bending and self-mocking, and glides into epic territory as it tells the story of a local cop in County Galway who finds himself in the…

When Thomas Hardy novels crop up in conversation, does anyone ever say, “wow, he’s one funny guy”? Could anyone possibly think Tess of the D’Urbervilles funny? Jude the Obscure? You kidding? The Mayor of Casterbridge did make me laugh, if only because it stands as the prototype for all self-respecting daytime soaps. Far From The Madding Crowd made me laugh when I was a kid, because like anyone else from the 20th century, I just couldn’t believe that the publishers would misspell a word in…