The Matrix: Resurrections review — You may want to take the red pill

December 31, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Lana Wachowski | Written by David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon | 148 min | Netflix | ▲▲▲△△ When I heard about this return to The Matrix, I didn't know what to think. Encouragingly, one of the two Wachowski siblings who helmed the original trilogy is back to bring us this new iteration of…Read More

Licorice Pizza review — ’70s nostalgia served on a giant slice

December 30, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson | 133 min | Amazon Prime It's an interesting choice by the renowned American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, now in his 50s, to look backward. Not just make a film set in the early '70s, when he would've been a baby, and where he grew up — the…Read More

Don’t Look Up review — Killer comet satire crushes

December 29, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Adam McKay | Written by McKay and David Sirota | 138 min | Netflix The biggest movie on Netflix this season has also turned out to be the most controversial. The screeds against it are plenty — a passel of well-regarded reviewers have called the disaster movie, cleverly, "disastrous," and its director a…Read More

A look at the filmography of Jean-Marc Vallée

December 28, 2021 flawintheiris

I spent most of Monday coming to terms with the news that the wildly talented, Montreal-born filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée has died at age 58. He was a deeply humanist, spiritual storyteller, with a real gift for incorporating music in his work — he understood instinctively how to use a song to make his audience feel…Read More

Being the Ricardos review — I liked Lucy

December 27, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Aaron Sorkin | 131 min | Amazon Prime It's the mid-1950s and comedian Lucille Ball is the biggest thing on TV. Her sitcom I Love Lucy earns 60 million viewers a week. We know this because we're being told as much in the movie by the show's writers, interviewed in a…Read More

Top 10 Under-The-Radar films of 2021

December 25, 2021 flawintheiris

Almost every year when I assemble my list of the best films of the past 12 months I end up with a slate of lesser-known gems that don't quite fit among the ones I most want to highlight. These alternates strike me as important to mention for those looking for something a little off the…Read More

The Matrix Trilogy: Revisited

December 24, 2021 flawintheiris

With The Matrix: Resurrections now in cinemas, it seemed an appropriate time to go back to the original films. My 2021 reviews of those movies are below: The Matrix (1999) | Written and Directed by Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski | 136 min | Crave and VOD This is the movie that launched a million memes, internet…Read More

Nightmare Alley review — del Toro’s noir is grim, gorgeous, and glacial

December 21, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Guillermo del Toro | Written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on a novel by William Lindsay Gresham | 150 min | Crave In October 2017 I was in Toronto for two reasons: One to attend the 50th birthday party of a good friend, the other to see Guillermo del Toro's remarkable…Read More

Spider-Man: No Way Home review — Amazing and spectacular, both

December 20, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon Watts | Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers | 148 min | Amazon Prime Let's have a chat about the definition of "fan service." It's a term that gets thrown around a lot lately, especially in relation to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's the idea is that these movies' producers are…Read More

Kate review — Neon cool killer thriller delivers familiar, fun kicks

December 19, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan | Written by Umair Aleem | 106 min | Netflix Kate is a slick, propulsive and immersive solo assassin thriller featuring the always watchable Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Nicolas-Troyan came out of visual effects, which pretty much guarantees his film has a terrific production design. The cream on top are a selection…Read More