In Cinemas: December 2, 2016 — Animation With Love at Carbon Arc, The Bluenose Ability Film Fest, Being 17, and more

December 2, 2016 flawintheiris

This weekend is the quietest in new releases in months, which is fine as there are still plenty of films I've yet to see—though most of them are stuck out at Bayers Lake—such as Rules Don't Apply, Moana, Bad Santa 2, Bleed For This, and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. I gotta say, the reviews…Read More

Loving review — Social justice in deeply felt love story

November 28, 2016 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols | 123 min | On Demand Loving is Jeff Nichols' second feature film of the year, following his excellent Spielberg-esque science fiction drama Midnight Special, and this one is just as good. It still features his elegant, spare direction, but tells a very different tale, one based in fact, about…Read More

In Cinemas: November 24, 2016 — Allied, Bad Santa 2, Loving, Moana, Rules Don’t Apply, Wait Till Helen Comes, Carbon Arc, and more…

November 24, 2016 flawintheiris

The big news about the end-of-2016 releases this week was the fresh trailer for Silence, the long-gestating production from Martin Scorcese. The film, due in late December, is the story of Jesuit priests looking for one of their own in ancient Japan. It stars Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson. Garfield is starting to look…Read More

Allied review — Wartime spy drama a clunky bomb

November 24, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Written by Steven Knight | 124 min Zemeckis is a disciple of Spielberg, the creator of high-end Hollywood entertainment like Back To The Future, Forrest Gump, and Contact. More recently he's been as interested in computer generated imagery as in story and character, with films like last year's The Walk. It was a picture…Read More

The Edge of Seventeen review — Teen movie of the year

November 23, 2016 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig | 104 min | Netflix Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is a junior in high school and she's struggling. Her father died four years ago, leaving her neurotic mother (Kyra Sedgwick) raising two teenagers alone. Nadine's brother, Darian (Blake Jenner), was always the golden boy, the popular one free of…Read More

In Cinemas: November 18, 2016 — Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Bleed For This, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, The Edge of Seventeen, The History of Love, Carbon Arc, and more…

November 18, 2016 flawintheiris

Nice to see Moonlight get another week at the Oxford, to give it a chance to be more widely seen. It and Arrival are the probably the two best films in cinemas right now, but they're being joined by another challenger, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. A return to the Harry Potter universe, it's a…Read More

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them review — Period Potterverse a Treat

November 17, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by David Yates | Written by JK Rowling | 133 min Warner adapting Rowling's guide to the Harry Potter universe's magical creatures seems, on the face of it, a calculated money-grab. The story is even set in the past, in the 1920s, another bad sign: As we all know, quality prequels to beloved fantasy…Read More

In Cinemas: November 11, 2016 — Arrival, Moonlight, two documentaries at Carbon Arc, Shut In, and more

November 11, 2016 flawintheiris

It's been a rough week, the reasons for which should be obvious. Last night's announcement of the death of Leonard Cohen was like a final rancid cherry on this shit sundae. I'm deeply grateful for the work Cohen left us, some deftly selected to improve feature films. Look at this impressive list of inclusion. My favourite appearances…Read More

Arrival review — Idea-based, moving science fiction

November 11, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Denis Villeneuve | Written by Eric Heisserer from Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang | 116 min | on Netflix We meet Louise (Amy Adams at maximum luminosity) in a melancholy prologue that feels like it's out of a dream. Villeneuve, like his fellow Quebecker-in-Hollywood, Jean-Marc Vallée, has a knack for perfectly…Read More

LENS ME YOUR EARS: Tim Burton, Modern Westerns, and Animation

November 8, 2016 flawintheiris

Hello podcast fans! Stephen Cooke and I have been busy recording new episodes of our little show, Lens Me Your Ears, during which we watch new films in cinemas and connect them via genre or creative crew to the films of the past, ones you may not have seen. Up now on iTunes <- THIS IS…Read More