Mank review — Fincher’s ode to Old Hollywood is clever, good-looking, and self-aware

November 23, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by David Fincher | Written by Jack Fincher | 131 min | In Cinemas, on Netflix from December 4, 2020 On the face of it, this is an unlikely pairing of filmmaker and subject: The master of the modern, chilly thriller, David Fincher, making a movie about the writing of the Oscar-winning script for…Read More

The Last Vermeer review — Post-WWII thriller improves as it goes

November 19, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Dan Friedkin | Written by John Orloff aka James McGee, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby, based on The Man Who Made Vermeers by Jonathan Lopez | 117 min | In Cinemas Dan Friedkin is a Texas billionaire, owner of a chain of car dealerships, with a sideline as a film producer. In The Last…Read More

Ammonite review — Lesbian love story worth seeing for the performances

November 16, 2020 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Frances Lee | 120 min | Netflix Francis Lee’s follow-up to God’s Own Country is a period drama set on a surf-swept shore featuring a romance between two women, but don’t let any surface similarity to Portrait Of A Lady On Fire lead you on. The tone here, of muted English…Read More

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel review

November 13, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan | 105 min | Crave This documentary screened at the FIN International Film Festival and the Lunenburg Doc Fest and is now in cinemas. This is my festival review, slightly edited. The Corporation (2003) was a left-leaning, eye-opening documentary that explored the idea of corporations having all the…Read More

The Climb review — Bromance deconstructed

November 12, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Angelo Covino | Written by Covino and Kyle Marvin | 94 min | Crave Plus The Climb opens with two American friends riding their bikes up a hill in France. Mike (Covino) is mustachioed and fit, while Kyle (Marvin) is a little stout and a little out of breath. Kyle's about to…Read More

#HIFF2020 review: Bait

November 11, 2020 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Mark Jenkin | 89 min | Halifax Independent Film Festival The 2020 Halifax Independent Film Festival runs from Thursday, November 12 to Sunday, November 15. It includes international features and local shorts screenings. They're all online and free. For screening information, go to hiff.ca. Some have called Bait experimental, and I…Read More

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life review — Empathy and patients

November 10, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Ric Burns | 114 min When an individual rises to the top of their field, writes a lot of books and even has a movie made from one of them, it's hard to imagine it wasn't somehow preordained. Wasn't this renowned figure always there, fully formed? Their brilliance must have made it all…Read More

The True History of The Kelly Gang review — Bloody empty

November 9, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Justin Kurzel | Written by Shaun Grant, based on the book by Peter Carey | 124 min | Netflix A visceral, anger- and spite-filled Australian western that plays fast and loose with the legend of the country's famed outlaw, Ned Kelly. It's upfront with its fictionalizing right up to the picture's ironic title,…Read More

The Cuban review — Music makes magic, but film otherwise ordinary

November 6, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Sergio Navarretta | Written by Alessandra Piccione | 109 min | On Demand A modest, heartfelt drama about Mina (Ana Golja), a young pre-med student working at a longterm care facility, and one of the clients, musician Luis Garcia (Louis Gossett Jr), who's living with vascular dementia and Alzheimer's Disease. Her background is…Read More

Color Out Of Space review — Lovecraftian horror a mixed bag

November 5, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Richard Stanley | Written by Stanley and Scarlett Amaris, based on a short story by HP Lovecraft | 111 min | On Demand Lavinia Gardner (Madeleine Arthur, terrific) is a willful teenager dipping into witchy rituals down at the river in order to cleanse her mother, Theresa (Joely Richardson), of her cancer. They…Read More