GIG WISE: With Electric Picnic out of the way, the next biggie on the Irish music horizon is the Guinness Amplify festival taking place through the five provinces on different weekends in September and October.

A prequel to Monsters, Inc. (2001), the animated tale Monsters University (G) takes us back in time to discover how Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) became the fearsome, child-scaring beasts we all know and love.

SINCE its foundation, in 1989, the Galway Film Fleadh has shown the best in international cinema, while being a platform for Irish filmmakers to screen their work, all in an intimate, relaxed atmosphere, full of passion and with the odd beverage.

As well as the Eurovision, highlights include the return of The Good Wife to RTÉ

Alex Gibney’s documentary Maxima Mea Culpa may have influenced Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation.

Dublin’s film festival mixes star power with an impressive roster of movies, says Pádraic Killeen

The Kanturk native behind the hugely popular Sminky Shorts cartoons has been named as Cork Person of the Month for December.

SATURDAY

Alex Gibney, an award-winning documentary maker whose work has focussed on Lance Armstrong, Julian Assange, and Enron, has found his most contentious topic yet.

A superb documentary – narrated by Depp – recounting the life and times of the great hero of the counter-culture, a man of both wild excess and insight who speared the givens of life circa l965-75 (considered his most important period of searching, caustic journalism).