In Cinemas. January 23, 2015 — Cake, Mortdecai, The Boy Next Door, Strange Magic

January 22, 2015 flawintheiris

Cake I gather Jennifer Aniston campaigned to earn herself an Oscar nod for this role, but it didn't happen. I suspect it's not because she didn't give a solid performance, but the film around her isn't much to write home about. For my full review, please go here. Now that the Academy Award nominees have…Read More

Cake review — No surprises in chronic pain dramedy

January 21, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Daniel Barnz, written by Patrick Tobin When we meet Claire Bennett (Jennifer Aniston) she's getting kicked out of her all-female chronic pain support group due to her anger issues. She'd spoken ill of the dead, and offended the other women, including the therapist. It's a funny moment, but I kept thinking back to…Read More

American Sniper review — Effective under fire but missing the big picture

January 18, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Clint Eastwood, from the book by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim Defelice Films about the war in Iraq haven't been embraced by the public. Consider The Hurt Locker, which still holds the record for an Academy Award Best Picture winner with the smallest box office. There are any number of reasons…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

In Cinemas. January 16, 2015 — American Sniper, Blackhat, Paddington, The Wedding Ringer (and Oscar thoughts)

January 16, 2015 flawintheiris

Another year, another indication that the Academy is full of 60-something white folks. And, you know, not that there's anything wrong with that, but like a lot of people in Twitterville, I was not impressed by the lack of Oscar nominations for Selma, easily one of the best movies of 2014. Along with David Oyelowo for…Read More

Taken 1, 2, and 3 review — Liam Neeson’s special skills and bad parenting

January 15, 2015 flawintheiris

Taken (2008) Directed by Pierre Morel, written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen "You live in your little bubble here with your maids and your servants!" It's like Liam Neeson's Bryan Mills is admonishing all of America when he tries to tell his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), that she and their 17-year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie…Read More

The Best of 2014 — Honourable and Dishonourable Mentions

January 11, 2015 flawintheiris

I can never restrict my list of the year's best movies to just a handful. I love movies too much for that. There are always a few extra that didn't quite fit, though this additional list often features the more quirky, and, therefore, maybe more interesting films. Here are films I really enjoyed but for one…Read More

Selma review — History is alive, history is today

January 11, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Ava DuVernay, written by Paul Webb In the past few years one of the issues American Democrats and Republican parties have been disagreeing on is voter registration. Republican lawmakers in several states have been tightening up the rules around voting—requiring two picture IDs, reducing the days in the early voting period, denying same-day registration—to…Read More

The Best of 2014 — The Top 10 (scratch that: 13) Movies of the Year

January 11, 2015 flawintheiris

I really struggled to choose a single film from 2014 that stood above the others. A short list of about three kept shifting and wouldn't settle. So, as the deadline approached, I decided the most honest thing to do was simply to provide an alphabetical list of films I thought were the best of the…Read More

Inherent Vice review — Messily brilliant or simply a mess?

January 10, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, from the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice is the kind of movie you walk into and it envelops you. You're visiting a world while you're in the cinema. It may not be one you understand. The denizens may speak strange languages and enact peculiar rituals. The universal narrative…Read More