Cineplex Cinemas reopen in Nova Scotia… one more time!

June 23, 2021 flawintheiris

...and hopefully this time they'll stay open. We've seen the closing and the opening once or twice in the recent past, but my fingers are crossed the vaccines will mean cinemas and their big-screen delights will remain available to us right through the summer and beyond. Opening this week are a cornucopia of summer-styled sequels…Read More

Cowboys review — Family drama well-intentioned and well-acted

June 21, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Anna Kerrigan | 86 min | Hoopla Cowboys is a well-meaning if somewhat clumsy indie drama about an American family, the Johnsons, where the father, Troy (Steve Zahn) who appears to suffer from a bipolar disorder, abducts his trans son, Joe (Sasha Knight), from the care of Joe's conservative mother, Sally…Read More

My Days Of Mercy (2018) review — Passionate, political romance balances dark and light

June 20, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer | Written by Joe Barton | 108 min | On Demand Every once in awhile you stumble on a film that has next to no profile in the culture, and you wonder how that's possible. How did My Days Of Mercy, starring local boy done good, Elliot Page, not receive a…Read More

Censor review — VHS nostalgia for hardcore horror-heads only

June 18, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond | Written by Bailey-Bond and Anthony Fletcher | 84 min | On Demand A movie about movies, Censor will likely appeal to anyone who has nostalgia for the Video Nasty era — the VHS-enabled glut of low-budget exploitation thrillers and horror in the 1980s. That's the world Censor lives in, telling…Read More

The Glorias review — Sprawling Steinem biopic shines and sputters

June 16, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Julie Taymor | Written by Taymor with Sarah Ruhl, based on the book My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem | 147 min | Amazon Prime Somehow this biography of American journalist and feminist leader Gloria Steinem got next to no visibility on release. It may have been a pandemic casualty, dropped…Read More

Girl review — Moody little thriller carried by Bella Thorne

June 12, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Chad Faust | 92 min | Crave And the gritty b-picture with the least imaginative title award for 2021 goes to...! The good news is despite the generic marquee, the picture offers a passable family drama punctuated by a few moments of humour, an efficient action scene or two, one involving…Read More

Undine review — A somewhat larger mermaid

June 11, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Christian Petzold | 91 min | Carbon Arc Cinema Here's a genuine puzzle of a film, one that sets off as a straight ahead romantic melodrama, more the type I'd expect to see in French movies than German, but then reveals itself to be something entirely different, a fantastic parable. The…Read More

In The Heights review — The musical as a joy delivery machine

June 10, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon M Chu | Written by Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda, based on their musical stage play | 143 min | Crave Plus, On Demand Lin-Manuel Miranda's earlier, somewhat less famous musical finds its way to the movies, and a big screen is what it deserves. This is a huge production, full…Read More

Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar review — More fun than a freakin’ clam with googley eyes

June 3, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Josh Greenbaum | Written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig | 107 min | Crave Plus Barb and Star is a bonkers comedy about two middle-aged suburbanites who take a trip to the beach community Vista Del Mar, Florida, and have the time of their lives. They then get drawn into a plot…Read More

LENS ME YOUR EARS Podcast: June Update

June 1, 2021 flawintheiris

LENS ME YOUR EARS, the film podcast I co-host with Stephen Cooke continues unabated, despite the fact we had to go back to recording remotely these past few weeks of the third wave lockdown here in Nova Scotia. The podcast, for those who don't know, is all about the movies: We see something new in…Read More