Tag Archives: Oscar Isaac

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse review — Exalted but exhausting

June 4, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson | Written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham | 140 min | ▲▲▲△△ When I saw the first entry in this animated Spider-Man franchise, I was certainly in the minority for not gushing wildly over it. It's good, but the various plot issues… Read More

Dune review — A cinematic feast

October 22, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Denis Villeneuve | Written by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth, based on the Frank Herbert book | 155 min | Netflix Oh, how we have waited for Dune. Of all the 2020 features postponed by the pandemic, this is the one I was most looking forward to seeing, and seeing on the… Read More

The Card Counter review — Paul Schrader’s all in with dark thriller

September 9, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Paul Schrader | 109 min | In Cinemas "Nothing can justify what we did. If you were there you’d understand that. Otherwise, there is no understanding.” This is a little truism spoken by William Tell (Oscar Issac) —his surname's actually Tolliver, but his nom-de-pari is the poorly chosen Tell. He's a professional… Read More

Operation Finale review — Nazi hunter drama on target, mostly

June 20, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Chris Weitz | Written by Matthew Orton | 122 min | Netflix As a dramatization of Israeli agents' Argentine efforts to secure and extract the fugitive Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi "Architect of the Final Solution," it's hard to believe this picture was made in 2018. It moves and twists and shakes like a… Read More

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker review — It’s better than we had a right to expect

December 20, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by JJ Abrams | Written by Abrams and Chris Terrio, with Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow | 141 min Overnight doesn't feel like enough time to have the final film in this 42-year-saga settle in. It's just too big, with too much going on. But that's to the blockbuster's credit. Star Wars: The Rise… Read More

Now on Canadian Netflix — March 2019

April 1, 2019 flawintheiris

Polar It took me a minute or two to get over the fact that Mads Mikkelsen had a feature in cinemas recently called Arctic, and there's this one on Netflix called Polar. I bet the producers of both films were annoyed. This is a John Wick-esque action picture from Swedish music video director Jonas Åkerlund,… Read More

At Eternity’s Gate review — Arty biopic tells over-familiar story

December 7, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Julien Schnabel | Written by Schnabel, Jean Claude Carriere, and Louise Kugelberg | 110 min My first question: Why? Why yet another Van Gogh biopic? Was last year's beautiful-but-dull animated feature Loving Vincent not enough for audiences? You don't have to go back too far to find a whole lot more, such as Van… Read More

Annihilation review — Fresh fantasy fascinates and frustrates

February 26, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Alex Garland | Written by Garland adapting the novel by Jeff VanderMeer | 115min Idea-based science fiction on the big screen is a rare gift. The genre trades in ambiguity and fear of the unknown, and Annihilation has a bucketload of both. It didn't give me the same thrills or chills I found… Read More

Star Wars: The Last Jedi review — The Force could be stronger with this one

December 15, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Rian Johnson | 152 min By now we're all amongst the initiates, if not the disciples, of Star Wars. And while these movies were the base mythology of my childhood, I can't overlook how these fan-fiction sequels absent George Lucas bend over backward to echo the early trilogy—with frequent and direct… Read More

Suburbicon review — Domestic noir clashes with earnest elements

November 2, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by George Clooney | Written by Joel & Ethan Coen and Clooney & Grant Heslov | 104 min The prospect of directing a Coen Brothers script that's been sitting in the drawer for awhile must've been just too tempting for Clooney. I get that. I also get the tastiness of this material on the… Read More