Category Archives: Spies

Reviews From The Vault: Vol. 1

August 27, 2015 flawintheiris

Between 2005 and 2009 I was a programmer on CKDU 88.1 FM every Sunday morning with something called The Love & Hate Movie Show. I talked about what I was seeing and revisited some of my favourite films of old, pretty much what I do now here on FITI. I still have a lot of…Read More

American Ultra review — A spy-action-stoner mash-up

August 22, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, written by Max Landis Sometimes when you bring together two disparate influences in an odd little brew you get something fresh. For the most part, that's what's happened here. It's clumsy in places, but it entertains as the world's first stoner comedy/action thriller. American Ultra is being marketed on its action comedy…Read More

The Man From UNCLE review — 1960s Stylegasm

August 13, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Guy Ritchie, Written by Ritchie and Lionel Wigram, from a story by Ritchie, Wigram, Jeff Kleeman, and David C. Wilson. Based on the 1960s TV series created by Sam Rolfe In the lowest-common denominator landscape of the summer blockbuster season, with every feature pre-masticated and audience-tested for the broadest possible appeal, it's easy…Read More

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation review — Spy thriller franchise hits a high point

July 31, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, from a story by McQuarrie and Drew Pearce, based on the TV series created by Bruce Gellar | Prime Video We get 19 years, and the fifth entry is the best so far? How is that even possible?!! But it is. I give it a slight edge over the…Read More

Mission: Impossible series review

July 28, 2015 flawintheiris

My mother loved the 1960s TV series, created by Bruce Gellar. I remember that much about it, and that it starred, at one time or another, Leonard Nimoy, Sam Elliot, Greg Morris, Barbara Bain and Martin Landau—who I knew better as a kid from Space: 1999—and Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, the guy calling the…Read More

Kingsman: The Secret Service review — Spy movie pastiche delivers OTT violence

February 14, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman, from a comic by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons Vaughn and Millar were responsible for Kick-Ass, the indie superhero movie. It had a lot going for it, but it left a bad taste in my mouth—aside from being genuinely kick ass in its action sequences and…Read More

Blackhat review — Sometimes clicks, often just spins

January 17, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Mann, written by Morgan David Foehl | 134 min | Netflix I like Michael Mann as much as the next guy, unless the next guy is Christopher Nolan, who owes much of his aesthetic to Mann's high-tech, violent, largely nocturnal urban thrillers—including Thief, Manhunter, Heat, Collateral, and Miami Vice—set on gorgeously shot neon- and automatic…Read More

The Imitation Game review — Quality historical drama

December 24, 2014 flawintheiris

Directed by Morten Tyldum, written by Graham Moore adapting a book by Andrew Hodges Alan Turing was a British mathematician who helped break the Enigma code, the encrypted communications the Nazis used to direct U-Boat attacks in the North Atlantic, amongst other things. His contribution to that code-breaking—including the creation of one of the world's…Read More

The Worricker Trilogy — Terrific spycraft for a rainy day

December 14, 2014 flawintheiris

A series of features made for British television, these are now available on Blu-Ray and online. Pravda playwright and The Reader screenwriter David Hare is a legend in British theatre circles. He's written and directed a bit of a John le Carré-style British spy classic in Page Eight. Made for the BBC, it was released here in 2011 and now…Read More

CitizenFour review — Edward Snowden’s sacrifice

December 11, 2014 flawintheiris

Directed by Laura Poitras I read the articles in the summer of 2013 when we all learned Edward Snowden's name. I understood the ways the NSA had trampled upon the rights of privacy of American citizens and people around the world. What Poitras' documentary does is put you right there as the story is breaking in…Read More