A Private War review — The costs of reporting human suffering

December 3, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Matthew Heineman | Written by Arash Amel, based on a Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner | 110 min Matthew Heineman is the award-winning documentarian who made the gritty drug war doc Cartel Land. This is his feature debut, and it's a perfect pairing of material and filmmaker—he tells the story of the final decade in…Read More

The Front Runner review — Charts political scandal when dignity mattered

November 29, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Jason Reitman | Written by Reitman, Jay Carson, and Matt Bai, based on the book All The Truth Is Out by Bai| 113 min A prestige drama getting no buzz at all this 2018 fall film season is The Front Runner, which is about the 1988 run for president by Democrat Gary Hart. His dreams…Read More

Creed II review — Rote sequel kisses the canvas

November 28, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Stephen Caple Jr | Written by Juel Taylor, Sascha Penn, Cheo Hodari Coker, and Sylvester Stallone | 130 min | Amazon Prime Creed was a clinic on how to reboot a fallow franchise. Stallone had redeemed his character with the better-than-it-needed-to-be Rocky Balboa in 2006 and there was no call for a return,…Read More

Green Book review — A lot of white people will like it

November 27, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Peter Farrelly | Written by Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, and Brian Hayes Currie | 129 min There's a lot to admire in Green Book. This is a handsome production, well-shot, with great era details. It has two committed and capable leads, telling a story based on actual events in the American south of the early…Read More

Robin Hood (2018) review — Turgid actioner departs from myth for lame superheroics

November 26, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Otto Bathurst | Written by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly | 116 min One of the reasons myths and folk tales are so popularly adapted—along with the ease with marketing a recognizable, yet public domain brand—is their elasticity. You can update it, change it, as much as you like, so long as…Read More

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald review — Overstuffed to a fault

November 25, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by David Yates | Written by JK Rowling | 134 min I read the first three Harry Potter novels, though when the movies started coming out at regular intervals I started watching them instead. The films were fun, if a little too repetitious, but the kids were adorable, and the production values and the…Read More

Can You Ever Forgive Me? review — Perfectly pitched tale of forgery and loneliness

November 20, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Marielle Heller | Written by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, based on the book by Lee Israel | 106 min You might never have heard of Lee Israel, and that wouldn't be a surprise. She was a journalist, a writer of celebrity profiles when once you could make a living doing just that.…Read More

Widows review — McQueen’s art house crime drama thrills and spills

November 16, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Steve McQueen | Written by McQueen and Gillian Flynn, from a book by Lynda La Plante | 129 min | Netflix We're in good hands from the start. In the opening scenes the film jumps between the bedroom intimacies of couple Veronica and Harry Rawlings (Viola Davis and Liam Neeson) and Harry's life…Read More

Hearts Beat Loud review — Father-daughter picture an unassuming charmer

November 15, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Brett Haley | Written by Haley and Marc Basch | 97 min Imagine if Barry Judd, Jack Black's character from High Fidelity, finally grew up, got together with someone, became a father, and opened his own record store in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Twenty years later he'd probably be Frank Fisher, the guy Nick…Read More

The Girl in the Spider’s Web review — Stylish thriller is too Bond-ed for comfort

November 12, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Fede Alvarez | Written by Alvarez, Jay Basu, and Steven Knight, from the book by David Lagercrantz, based on characters by Stieg Larsson | 117 min For Sony Columbia to dive back into this popular series of books so late in the game feels like a calculated gamble, but not one likely to…Read More