Nina Forever review — Getting The Dead Out

February 10, 2016 flawintheiris

Written and directed by The Blaine Brothers | 98 min | On Demand In the annals of cinematic genre mashups, I'd never have imagined a mix of Truly Madly Deeply, Moonlight Mile, and Evil Dead, but here we are. The first feature by filmmakers Ben and Chris Blaine is a fresh take on multiple genres, and…Read More

Hail, Caesar! review — Drop By The Coens’ Hollywood party

February 8, 2016 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Joel & Ethan Coen | 106 min | ▲▲▲▲△ Once again the Coen Brothers celebrate their love of Hollywood's golden age with a knowing comedy in the spirit of The Hudsucker Proxy and Barton Fink, though lighter and sillier than both. Set largely at Fink's Capitol Pictures studio in the early 1950s—complete…Read More

Carbon Arc post and CTV Morning Live, February 5, 2016

February 7, 2016 flawintheiris

I have a brand new post up at the Carbon Arc Cinema website, reviewing the weekend's screenings, Hitchcock/Truffaut and Boy & The World. Stephen Cooke and I also recorded an episode of Lens Me Your Ears after the Friday night screening. Go here to read all about it. I also appeared on CTV again on Friday…Read More

In Cinemas: Friday, February 5, 2016 — Hitchcock/Truffaut, Boy And The World, Hail, Caesar! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The Choice, The Digital Film Festival

February 4, 2016 flawintheiris

As I mentioned earlier this week, Carbon Arc Cinema has returned for its winter season, and I'm on board as the Writer-in-Residence. On Friday night at 7pm (only tickets at the door) we've got the documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut, and on Saturday at 7pm and 9pm we're showing the Oscar-nominated animation Boy And The World. For more info about…Read More

Nina Forever Ticket Contest

February 4, 2016 flawintheiris

Flaw In The Iris has two pairs of tickets for the upcoming indie comedy horror film Nina Forever to give away. They'll get you and a cinepanion in to see the film anytime during the first week's run of the picture in Halifax. Nina Forever opens on Friday, February 12. (There'll be a review of…Read More

The Return of Carbon Arc Cinema

February 2, 2016 flawintheiris

The sun is starting to return, every day a minute longer, but we're still in the midst of a typically chilly Canadian winter. What better time to see a few great international films and documentaries, right? Last fall I was helping out at Carbon Arc, Halifax's only dedicated repertory screening series. I'm back with them…Read More

In Cinemas: Friday, January 29, 2016 — Son of Saul, The Finest Hours, Kung Fu Panda 3, Lazer Team, 50 Shades of Black

January 29, 2016 flawintheiris

Hey, Cineplex... Steve Jobs has returned to Halifax, and now Amy. You moved The Big Short to Park Lane. How come we're not seeing another Oscar-nominated picture Spotlight reopen and screening downtown? It was on one screen in Bayers Lake a while back... I know a lot of people who missed it during the first run who'd…Read More

The Finest Hours review — Terminally hokey nautical tale

January 29, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Craig Gillespie | Written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson, based on a book by Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias | 117 min | ▲△△△△ We've seen a lot of movies set in the early 1950s lately—the earnest, lush romance Brooklyn, the austere indie Carol. Now we have a movie that doesn't…Read More

Son of Saul review — Hell Just Outside The Frame

January 27, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by László Nemes | Written by Nemes and Clara Royer | 107 min | ▲▲▲▲△ The Sonderkommando were the prisoners in Nazi concentration camps chosen to help administrate the dealing of death—organizing victims for the ovens, rifling through their belongings for valuables, disposing of the bodies—all to delay their own extermination by a few short…Read More

In Cinemas: Friday, January 22, 2016 — The Fifth Wave, Dirty Grandpa, The Masked Saint, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, The Boy

January 22, 2016 flawintheiris

Earlier this week I took a bit of a look ahead, with an admittedly jaundiced view, of films opening in the next few weeks. Three of them arrive on Friday. If you want my unvarnished impression of The Fifth Wave, Dirty Grandpa, and The Masked Saint, check this out. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of…Read More