Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide review — Artist plays in colour

April 16, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Max Basch and Malia Scharf | 77 min | Carbon Arc Cinema The second '80s New York artist documentary to show up at Carbon Arc in as many months, but the films' tonal differences and only slight overlap — mostly in the way AIDS impacted the scene — actually make them complementary. If…Read More

Coming To America/Coming 2 America reviews — Eddie Murphy goes back to Zamunda

April 11, 2021 flawintheiris

Coming To America (1988) | Directed by John Landis | Written by Eddie Murphy, David Sheffield, and Barry W Blaustein | 117 min | Amazon Prime I was a fan of Eddie Murphy when I was a teenager, and so I went to see this hit comedy when it opened in cinemas — and it…Read More

Nomadland review — Beautiful, elemental, and essential

April 9, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Chloé Zhao, based on the book by Jessica Bruder | 107 min | Disney + A version of this review first appeared on Flaw In The Iris in September 2020, when it screened as part of the Toronto International Film Festival. There's no ignoring the accolades heaped upon Nomadland since its…Read More

Concrete Cowboy review — Tells a conventional story of an unconventional culture

April 5, 2021 flawintheiris

Concrete Cowboy | Directed by Ricky Staub | Written by Staub and Dan Walser, based on the book by Greg Neri | 111 min | Netflix A version of this review was first posted during the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2020. Knowing Concrete Cowboy is based on a Young Adult novel explains a lot about…Read More

French Exit review — Pfeiffer impresses throughout, the movie occasionally

April 4, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Azazel Jacobs | Written by Patrick DeWitt, based on his book | 113 min | In Cinemas An Irish-Canadian co-pro, which explains the Canadian novelist writing the thing, and the presence of veteran Canuck thespian Susan Coyne in a key role, French Exit is a comedy soufflé of sorts — equal parts droll chamber…Read More

Godzilla vs Kong review — It’s a mighty creature feature

March 31, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Adam Wingard | Written by Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein, Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, and Zach Shields | 113 min | In Cinemas A cinematic monster genetically spliced from two different franchises, featuring cinematic DNA from the good-time Kong Skull Island and the last two American Godzilla movies, the 2014 Gareth Edwards effort (not…Read More

20 Best Movies on Disney Plus: Star (from the 20th Century)

March 29, 2021 flawintheiris

Last month Disney Plus launched the Star channel (in Canada and elsewhere beyond the US) as a place to carry more mature fare, which is rumoured to double the content for Disney Plus subscribers. I'm not sure about that — it's pretty thin on the ground so far — but the best part of this…Read More

Six Minutes To Midnight review — Clunky wartime drama never takes flight

March 27, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Andy Goddard | Written by Goddard, Eddie Izzard, and Celyn Jones | 99 min | On Demand Fans of Eddie Izzard, Judi Dench, or relentlessly middlebrow wartime dramas will likely find this picture hard to resist, but I'd wager they'll also find it a bit of a disappointment. Despite a lot of compelling…Read More

Wojnarowicz review — Artist rages against the darkness

March 26, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Chris McKim | 108 min | Carbon Arc Cinema This is an intense, art-filled documentary about David Wojnarowicz, a New York queer multi-media artist from the 1980s. The film is a montage of photos, film, music, painting, illustration, text, answer-machine messages and recorded monologues from Wojnarowicz, spiked with commentary from others in the…Read More

Softie review — A portrait of grassroots political change

March 25, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Sam Soko | 96 min | Carbon Arc Cinema This film is about Kenyan news photographer-turned-politician Boniface "Softie" Mwangi as he runs for public office in Nairobi. Director Soko gets an all-access pass to Mwangi's family, life, and campaign, and as an audience we're given a window into a former colonial culture where…Read More