#FIN2018 reviews — Mandy night at the movies, Colette, What They Had

September 18, 2018 flawintheiris

Though I'd seen it before on a screener, I poked my head into the first Extreme Screening of the festival on Monday, Mandy. I really just wanted to see some of those visuals on the big screen, and get a sense of the audience reactions, but I found couldn't leave. I got there just at…Read More

#FIN2018 reviews — The Guilty, Bad Reputation

September 17, 2018 flawintheiris

That enormous wooshing sound you may have heard around 3:30 on Sunday afternoon was my exhalation of relief for having survived the Script Development Program Pitch Session. All my fellow workshop participants were terrific, and people say I did OK. It's all a bit of a blur right now. Then I went to see a…Read More

#FIN2018 reviews — Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, Hopeless Romantic, Halloween Party

September 15, 2018 flawintheiris

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch It's been something, watching Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky meld their visual storytelling from Manufactured Landscapes (2006) to Watermark (2013) to this, completing the trilogy with cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier, an observation of the sublime beauty and horror of human industry. This final film is simply about the nightmare of there being…Read More

#FIN2018 — What I’ve seen in advance from FIN Atlantic International Film Festival

September 13, 2018 flawintheiris

I don't know about you, but for me that summer went by waaay too quickly. The arrival of September does come with a consolation—the film festival. As I always say, it's Christmas for film lovers. This year's a little different for me. From the full-disclosure department: I am one of the fortunate few to be…Read More

#FIN2018 — Top 20 Most Wanted at the Atlantic International Film Festival

September 9, 2018 flawintheiris

It's begun again, the crazy days leading up to FIN Atlantic International Film Festival. I've even gotten used to calling it FIN. Only took a year or so. I'm busy preparing coverage for various venues—more detail on that in the days to come—and watching as many advance screeners as I can get my hands on.…Read More

Juliet, Naked review — Byrne and Hawke bring it

September 4, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Jesse Peretz | Written by Evgenia Peretz, Jim Taylor, and Tamara Jenkins, from a Nick Hornby novel | 105 min | On Demand My mother read Nick Hornby's High Fidelity and recommended the book to me, telling me that the lead character was just like me. Really, Mom? You think I would cheat on my…Read More

Trench 11 review — Great War horror delivers subterranean creeps

August 30, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Leo Scherman | Written by Scherman and Matt Booi | 90 min A World War I horror—which isn't unprecedented—though maybe a Canadian one is. The film has a remarkably effective production design despite being done on what must've been a shoestring—what Canadian film is made with much more these days—and it's effective in…Read More

The Meg review — Big, bad shark has no bite

August 27, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon Turteltaub | Written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, based on the book by Steve Alten | 113 min | Netflix A giant, prehistoric shark movie arriving in late summer? You give it a lot of rope. It's fair to expect a likely ridiculous but a fun time-waster, especially given…Read More

McQueen review — Testament to fashion genius

August 23, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui | 111 min | Crave Plus A portrait of British fashion designer, Lee Alexander McQueen, the film is wall-to-wall talking heads and stock footage of fashion shows going back to the early 1990s, with connective tissue of glitzy, horn-adorned skull imagery and a Michael Nyman orchestral score. The…Read More

Crazy Rich Asians review — Traditional romcom with diverse approach

August 22, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by John M. Chu | Written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, from the novel by Kevin Kwan | 120 min | On Demand First, lets all celebrate the arrival of a full-on, undeniably old-fashioned romantic comedy. Crazy Rich Asians triples down (is that even a thing?) on all the well-established cliches of the…Read More