Category Archives: Actors & Creators

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

Sean Connery: 10 Of His Best Non-Bond Roles

November 4, 2020 flawintheiris

Sean Connery died on Saturday, October 31, at age 90. The Scottish actor was the first cinematic James Bond, and for many will always be the greatest — defining the mix of suave, stylish, sexy, and ruthless for a generation of fans. While so much of what he did with that character is easy to…Read More

A Rosamund Pike Primer: Redux

August 7, 2020 flawintheiris

Since I first wrote about Rosamund Pike, she has strongly avoided the Hollywood A-list, despite it being entirely available to her. Full marks, then, for her left-of centre choices since Gone Girl, in films like A United Kingdom, Hostiles, and especially A Private War. I look forward to her role as Marie Curie in Radioactive,…Read More

Harrison Ford forgets where he made K:19 The Widowmaker

February 27, 2020 flawintheiris

It was almost 20 years ago, so I guess I can cut the guy some slack. And Nova Scotia is almost as far away from Los Angeles as Newfoundland. https://youtu.be/XNN1Hbg9oNU?t=1016Read More

Remembering Rutger Hauer

July 24, 2019 flawintheiris

Just hearing this afternoon about the death of the renowned Dutch actor at age 75. This is sad news for fans of genre film, and has already prompted many on social media to recall what is probably his most resonant on-screen moment at the conclusion of Blade Runner, where his character, the rogue replicant Roy…Read More

10 Great Jack Nicholson roles

April 23, 2019 flawintheiris

The King of Hollywood. That's what the papers call him. His 82nd birthday yesterday prompted this recollection and celebration of the New Jersey-born actor's stellar career. Though living in semi-retirement since How Do You Know in 2010, his rep as a 12-time Oscar nominee and three-time winner still stands. I've been a fan of his…Read More

10 Pieces of Music Inseparable From a Movie

March 4, 2019 flawintheiris

This post is borne out of a conversation that came up between friends some time ago, about the how some pre-existing songs have been used so successfully in film to make them forever joined with said film in my mind and heart. In some cases it's because the picture introduced me to the song, or…Read More

10 Great Richard E. Grant roles

February 20, 2019 flawintheiris

The undisputed media star of this year's Academy Awards season—coming to a conclusion with the ceremony on Sunday, February 24—is the Swaziland-born veteran actor Richard E. Grant. Those of us deeply embedded in the cult of his first feature film, Withnail and I, are especially enjoying the various articles about Grant's enthusiasm, and his deft social…Read More

10 Great Tom Hardy roles

October 26, 2018 flawintheiris

I was listening to a podcast recently looking back at Christopher Nolan's Inception, and the hosts mused about Tom Hardy, what an impact his presence had on the film, and whether this was his breakout role in Hollywood. There's no doubt that even in an ensemble as well-assembled as this, his presence shone. One of the…Read More

The Essential Winona Ryder

September 4, 2016 flawintheiris

If the summer of 2016 was good for anything, it was the arrival of Stranger Things on Netflix. The drama channelled the best of early-'80s pop culture and storytelling tropes—borrowing liberally from John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, and Stephen King—with an extra dollop of 21st Century creepiness (see Under The Skin), all delivered in a fresh…Read More