Tag Archives: Tobey Maguire

Blonde and Babylon reviews — Two Tinseltown epics, but only one has the goods

December 29, 2022 flawintheiris

Spider-Man: No Way Home review — Amazing and spectacular, both

December 20, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon Watts | Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers | 148 min | Netflix Let's have a chat about the definition of "fan service." It's a term that gets thrown around a lot lately, especially in relation to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's the idea is that these movies' producers are pandering… Read More

Reviews from the Vault Vol. 7 — Big-Budget Fantasy

August 25, 2019 flawintheiris

From 2005 to 2009 I was a programmer on CKDU 88.1 FM in Halifax, every Sunday morning hosting 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

Pawn Sacrifice review — The Politics of Chess Genius

September 28, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Edward Zwick | Written by Steven Knight, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson | 114 min. Despite myself, the question I always ask when I see a conventional biopic like this one: Would this material be more affecting as a documentary or as this feature? In this case I don't have to wonder.… Read More

Labor Day review

February 12, 2014 flawintheiris

Directed by Jason ReitmanWritten by Reitman based on the novel by Joyce MaynardWow, this is a tough one to get my head around. Why would Reitman, director of edgy, hip dramedies Young Adult, Up In The Air and Juno, tackle this kind of material? This is a total Hallmark/Lifetime TV movie, described in at least one… Read More

The Great Gatsby review

May 16, 2013 flawintheiris

Directed by Baz LuhrmannWritten by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, adapting the F. Scott Fitzgerald novelThe one thing I liked about Moulin Rouge, Luhrmann's last hit feature more than 10 years ago, was how he created this grand period spectacle laced with contemporary music. It was fun identifying the songs being performed by Nicole Kidman and… Read More

Life of Pi review

December 3, 2012 flawintheiris

Directed by Ang LeeWritten by David Magee from the Yann Martel novelAng Lee is a great humanist director, someone who finds authenticity in character no matter the genre. I was one of the few who really liked his Hulk, but no apologies necessary for his universally approbated Brokeback Mountain, Ride With The Devil, The Ice Storm,… Read More

The Amazing Spider-Man review

July 17, 2012 flawintheiris

Directed by Marc Webb Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves from a story by Vanderbilt and comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. This film really should credit John Romita, too, because as my friend Dave Howlett remarked, Emma Stone is the spitting image of that legendary Marvel artist's Gwen Stacey, right… Read More

Why I’m not excited to see The Amazing Spider-Man

June 27, 2012 flawintheiris

Every time a superhero movie opens in cinemas, I'm curious about it. That's not to say I'm going to see every one that's out there, but having grown up with the comics, there's always a bit of a thrill to see how they've imagined the character on the big screen. So, The Amazing Spider-Man should be… Read More