Black Bag review — Sexy spymasters play their games

March 16, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Written by David Koepp | 93 min | ▲▲▲▲ | Amazon Prime Full marks to Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp, who in this third month of 2025 have had two feature films in cinemas since the new year. The first, a haunted house movie called Presence, felt like more of…Read More

Novocaine review — No pain, big gain

March 13, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen | Written by Lars Jacobson | 110 min | ▲▲▲1/2 San Diego assistant bank manager Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) lives with an invisible disability — a disorder of his nervous system that means he's unable to feel pain. Since he was a kid he's been adding cushions to…Read More

Seven Veils review — Atom Egoyan’s disastrous soap opera

March 12, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Atom Egoyan | 107 min | ▲1/2 This film is a testament to Amanda Seyfried's astonishing talent. She's at its centre, delivering a passionate, emotionally grounded performance. It's also the one thing keeping this ill-advised effort on the rails. I don't blame Seyfried's cast mates for this — it's as if…Read More

Mickey 17 review — A sharp, busy sci-fi satire from Bong Joon Ho

March 10, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Bong Joon Ho | Written by Bong Joon Ho and Edward Ashton | 137 min | ▲▲▲ It's a challenge to write a review for this film. It bangs up against the wild expectations following with the world-conquering Parasite, the Oscar-winning triumph by Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho. From any other filmmaker, Mickey 17…Read More

Nickel Boys review — Colson adaptation both artful and artsy

March 1, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by RaMell Ross | Written by Ross and Joslyn Barnes, adapting the book by Colson Whitehead | 140min | ▲▲▲ 1/2 | Amazon Prime This is the only film nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards that didn't play in cinemas in Halifax. It's a dubious and disappointing distinction. The film is distributed…Read More

The Knox Office: Two new movies, the #Oscars, the #HBFF, and more

February 28, 2025 flawintheiris

On Friday morning we reopened The Knox Office, my regular film column on CBC Information Morning in Nova Scotia. I spoke with guest-host Preston Mulligan about Last Breath and My Dead Friend Zoe. We then veered into a few of my predictions for the Academy Awards airing this Sunday evening, and previewed the Halifax Black…Read More

Last Breath review — A visceral underwater survival thriller

February 27, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Alex Parkinson | Written by Parkinson, Mitchell LaFortune, and David Brooks | 93 min | ▲▲▲▲ | Amazon Prime A surprisingly simple and effective survival picture, probably the most compelling real-life ocean-going thriller since Peter Berg's Deepwater Horizon almost 10 years ago. Directed by the filmmaker who made a Netflix documentary on the…Read More

My Dead Friend Zoe review — Sisters in arms

February 26, 2025 flawintheiris

‌Directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes | Written by Hausmann-Stokes, Cherish Chen, and A.J. Bermudez | 98 min | ▲▲▲1/2 Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) is an American veteran who served in Afghanistan with her pal, Zoe (Natalie Morales). Now back stateside, Merit is skipping her group therapy sessions, and when she does show, Zoe's hanging out, keeping her…Read More

The Monkey review — Simian splatterfest with laughs

February 24, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Osgood Oz Perkins | Written by Perkins, from a Stephen King short story | 98 min | ▲▲▲1/2 | Amazon Prime While a lot of people loved Perkins' supernatural serial killer picture from last summer, Longlegs, I found it entertaining while wasn't so quick to proclaim Perkins as a new genre master. This…Read More

The Knox Office: Paddington In Peru, I’m Still Here, and the Before films

February 19, 2025 flawintheiris

ICYMI I was on CBC Information Morning on Friday to speak with guest host Preston Mulligan about a couple of movies in cinemas: the little bear sequel Paddington In Peru... the Oscar-nominated Brazilian political drama I'm Still Here... and for Valentine's Day I suggested listeners catch up with Richard Linklater's Before series on Crave. You…Read More