The Power Of The Dog review — Stylish western delivers dark twist

December 14, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Jane Campion | Written by Campion, adapting a novel by Thomas Savage | 126 min | Netflix The Power Of The Dog is a story of brothers in the new west, in 1925, with grim, biblical overtones. George (Jesse Plemons) and Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) have 25 years ranching in the Montana badlands…Read More

West Side Story (2021) review — Spielberg refreshes classic musical

December 11, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Steven Spielberg | Written by Tony Kushner, from the stage play and book by Arthur Laurents | 156 min | Disney+ Why remake a beloved musical — even if you go back to the original stage show? It seems a wildly counter-intuitive move, doomed to fail because those who loved the original, which…Read More

Drive My Car review — Two riders approach tragedy and theatre

December 10, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | Written by Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami | 179 min | Carbon Arc Cinema Having seen my first Hamaguchi picture a few weeks ago for a Carbon Arc screening, the charming anthology triptych, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, I came to his newer…Read More

King Richard review — Authorized sports picture tells inspirational story

December 7, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green | Written by Zach Baylin | 144 min | In Cinemas Full credit to broadcaster, writer, and filmmaker Tara Thorne for pointing this out on social media: They finally get around to making a biopic of two of the greatest athletes we've seen in our lifetimes, Venus and Serena Williams,…Read More

Pig review — Nicolas Cage a revelation in swine hunt thriller

December 6, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Sarnoski | Written by Sarnoski and Vanessa Block | 92 min | Amazon Prime Nicolas Cage's reputation precedes him. His career choices veer from the brilliantly idiosyncratic — consider Mandy from a few years back — to the depressingly forgettable. Pig is very much in the former category, a modest feature from…Read More

C’mon C’mon review — Beautiful to see, but awkward and disappointing avuncular drama

December 3, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Mike Mills | 109 min | Amazon Prime Jesse ((Woody Norman) is a bit of a weird kid — preternaturally composed, bright but quirky, with flashes of great intelligence and understanding and also unpredictable and demanding. In other words, an entirely cinematic creation that we've seen in many films, and C'mon…Read More

LENS ME YOUR EARS takes on #Noirvember (and other episodes!)

December 1, 2021 flawintheiris

In what's becoming an epic project — 135 episodes and counting — Stephen Cooke and I have finally done a Noirvember episode of LENS ME YOUR EARS. That's our film podcast, where we watch something new — usually — in cinemas or on a streaming service and compare and contrast it with older films. In…Read More

tick, tick… BOOM! review — Lin-Manuel Miranda’s heartfelt tribute to his hero and to Broadway

November 29, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Written by Steven Levenson, based on the musical by Jonathan Larson | 115 min | Netflix Jonathan Larson is best known as the creator of Rent, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning '90s rock musical. Tragically, he died suddenly in 1996 just as Rent was premiering off-Broadway. Before Rent he…Read More

House of Gucci review — Could’ve been a camp classic. It isn’t.

November 27, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Ridley Scott | Written by Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna, from a book by Sara Gay Forden | 157 min | Amazon Prime Now in his 80s, Ridley Scott is still a supreme stylist with a seemingly unquenchable thirst to make movies. Given his track record of quality — Alien, Blade Runner and…Read More

The Humans review — A grim meal at Thanksgiving

November 25, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Stephen Karam | 108 min | Crave Plus American studio A24 continues to deliver unusual and quality indie pictures, though maybe hasn't quite figured out how to market them. Witness the trailers for The Green Knight. A24 tried to sell the movie as a horror. It really isn't — it's more an…Read More