Category Archives: Links

Christopher Orr’s “The Force Awakens and a Critical Turnaround”

January 13, 2016 flawintheiris

This weekend the folks who pay attention to such things predict that Ride Along 2 will be the first film to unseat Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens from its position as box office champion since the JJ Abrams film arrived in cinemas on December 18. It's no big deal for Disney, whose gamble…Read More

The Guardian’s “The 75 Films We’re Most Excited About In 2016”

December 29, 2015 flawintheiris

I find these kinds of pieces give me the strength to live through a bitter cold winter. It's the prospect of quality cinema somewhere off in the future. There's no saying all these films will open in 2016, or that we'll even get a chance to see them in theatres here, but the very fact…Read More

Mad Max Fury Road: Black And Chrome

September 23, 2015 flawintheiris

Still jockeying for position on my list of the Best of 2015 is Mad Max: Fury Road, a movie that set my hair on fire each of the three times I've seen it. Here's an interesting experiment, inspired by something the director, George Miller, said: A black and white version with an isolated soundtrack. Iconic stuff,…Read More

The Dissolve’s look at Paranoid Thrillers and Science Fiction

April 25, 2015 flawintheiris

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know I have a tendency to retweet my film culture grazing, but I don't repost as much here. Generally that's because I want to provide added value on FITI—a few opinions or a little commentary, not just a doorway to someone else's stuff. But every once in awhile…Read More

Mad Max: Fury Road gets a trailer

July 27, 2014 flawintheiris

This weekend was the San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest event in geek culture. Typically, it's when Hollywood studios preview their upcoming slate of fantasy and genre pictures. I gather the panel for and clips from Avengers: Age of Ultron (coming in April 2015) were pretty impressive. But what I'm probably most excited about is the first Mad…Read More

Mad Max: Fury Road gets a release date, and other details

December 6, 2013 flawintheiris

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Mad Max: Fury Road shoot is wrapping up, and a release date of May 15, 2015, is slated for the film to finally be released. At that point, the picture will have been in production, in some stage, for almost 15 years. It's kind of amazing we're getting…Read More

Mark Palermo on film pacing

June 7, 2013 flawintheiris

Fast & Furious 6 wasn't quite fast enoughMy former film-reviewing colleague at The Coast, indie movie director and now a fully fledged Hollywood screenwriter, Mark Palermo lets it rip in this post on feature films that overstay their welcome.I am very much down with his thoughts on respecting the rhythm of a story and not extending just…Read More

AO Scott reviews Pain & Gain

April 26, 2013 flawintheiris

I love it when certain highbrow reviewers stoop to admit they like some well-made trash. This line made me genuinely laugh out loud:"The movie and, by implication, those of us watching it are no better than these guys. I found that unspeakably insulting and also impressive."Here's a link to the full review at the New…Read More

Alan Zweibel on Roger Ebert in the New Yorker

April 10, 2013 flawintheiris

I've once met an artist whose work I criticized, or at least damned with faint praise. I felt immediately awkward, but if he had read my review—which was years before the meeting—or even remembered, he politely didn't bring it up. And I've met him a number of times since, an he hasn't mentioned it. I…Read More

“Why Are Romantic Comedies So Bad” by The Atlantic’s Christopher Orr

March 15, 2013 flawintheiris

Katherine Heigl—who I, for the record, have never had a problem with, though I've not often loved her movies—and Gerard Butler—who I like to think of as Gerry—in The Ugly Truth Christopher Orr is one of my favourite voices in film criticism. It's rare that I disagree with one of his reviews, and if I…Read More