In Cinemas: July 17, 2015 — Ant-Man, Trainwreck, Amy

July 17, 2015 flawintheiris

The newest costumed warrior in the Marvel Universe is Ant-Man, opening today and starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and Evangeline Lily. I feel about Ant-Man the way I felt about Guardians of the Galaxy last summer when it was released around this time. Of the multitudes of Marvel heroes that could be brought to the screen in this…Read More

Amy review — You know she was so good

July 15, 2015 flawintheiris

A documentary by Asif Kapadia Kapadia has said he wasn't particularly a fan of the British singer Amy Winehouse, who died in July 2011, before he made this doc. That claim of objectivity—this isn't a fan letter of a movie—is something to keep in mind while watching. With dozens of interviews with people in Winehouse's inner circle,…Read More

Self/less review — Immortality for dummies

July 13, 2015 flawintheiris

Written by Tarsem Singh, Written by David Pastor and Alex Pastor In the midst of a summer crammed with fantasy franchises, sequels, and prequels, comes this oddity, a free-standing scifi thriller starring Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds, with a plot that channels elements of both John Frankenheimer's Seconds and an obscure Mick Jagger picture, Freejack. It's…Read More

Minions review — Five random musings about the Despicable Me prequel

July 11, 2015 flawintheiris

1. They may be ambulatory pills. They may be Hostess Twinkies. What this origin story/spin-off neglects to inform us is why some of these little yellow dudes have two eyes while some are cyclopses. And what's up with the goggles? Inquiring minds demand to know. 2. Comic support doesn't automatically make for a compelling…Read More

Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy review

July 11, 2015 flawintheiris

Watching Interstellar for a third time, I felt very much like I had a sense of what Christopher Nolan was going for. But it took three views to really feel like I got it. I love that, when movies have enough depth and complexity that it takes more than one viewing to fully grasp what's…Read More

CTV Morning Live: July 10, 2015 — Terminator Genisys, Magic Mike XXL, Minions, Salt of the Earth, and Amy

July 10, 2015 flawintheiris

Thanks to the good people at the Halifax CTV morning show and host Heidi Petracek for having me on again this morning to talk movies! We chatted about Terminator Genisys and Magic Mike XXL,both of which have been out for a week or so, and Minions, which opened last night and I'll review here on…Read More

In Cinemas: July 12, 2015 — Minions, The Salt of the Earth, The Gallows, Self/Less, Max

July 9, 2015 flawintheiris

Just as the Madagascar franchise had some success with its Penguins spin-off, so does Despicable Me try a similar thing, recognizing that Gru isn't necessarily what the kiddies love, it's those little mewling, gibberish-spouting, hapless Hostess Twinkie-lookin' little dudes who do all his bidding. They're known as Minions. The other night on The Daily Show…Read More

Reviews: Assassin, Copenhagen, Night Train To Lisbon, Son Of A Gun, and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her

July 9, 2015 flawintheiris

And now for some recent releases on VOD, iTunes, Netflix, Blu-Ray and the like. Assassin A London hitman named Jamie (Danny Dyer) works for a pair of shady gangster brothers (Martin and Gary Kemp, Spandau Ballet founders who were terrific as another pair of gangster brothers years back in The Krays). On his off hours…Read More

LENS ME YOUR EARS Ep. 09 — Submarine movies

July 6, 2015 flawintheiris

Stephen Cooke and I DIVE DIVE DIVE into the somewhat maligned but extremely hardy genre of submarine movies on this instalment of Lens Me Your Ears, our movie podcast. We springboard into the depths with Jude Law in Black Sea before discussing movies as diverse (or not so...) as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Run Silent…Read More

Terminator Genisys review — Fan fiction goes back in time

July 4, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Alan Taylor, written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, with characters by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd I'm a fan of time travel pictures, post-apocalyptic visions, and stories of how our tech will destroy us, so James Cameron's The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day scratch multiple itches with me. Then things…Read More