Category Archives: Series Reviews

Prey review — A unique twist on a legacy franchise

August 6, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg | Story by Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison | 99 min | ▲▲▲▲△| Crave The first things that needs talking about with this film is the question of representation. We're in an age where authenticity is everything, and that means the white settler majority ceding space in the arts community to voices…Read More

Predator series review

August 5, 2022 flawintheiris

As a science-fiction series birthed out of slam-bang, macho Hollywood of the 1980s, this one falls behind The Terminator and Alien by some distance. Maybe that's because those pictures have at least two stone cold classics each, while this one, despite a number of attempts to capture the magic of the first, still rides on…Read More

Thor: Love and Thunder review — A few good laughs, but otherwise uninspired

July 8, 2022 flawintheiris

Written by Taika Waititi | Written by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson | 119 min | ▲▲△△△ I wonder if anyone would've predicted back in 2011 that Thor would be the first hero to reach four movies by 2022 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his name in the title. I'm sure even fewer would…Read More

Lightyear review — Brand extension falls with style

June 22, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Angus MacLane | Written by MacLane, Jason Headley and Matthew Aldrich | 101 min | ▲▲▲△△ You may have heard about the confusing original marketing of this film: Is this the Buzz Lightyear that was also the toy (voiced by Tim Allen) in Pixar's first feature, 1995's Toy Story, and the three sequels…Read More

Morbius review — Predictably batty, but not the worst

June 13, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Daniel Espinosa | Written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless | 104 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Amazon Prime It still surprises me this movie exists. Due to the weird rules dictating Marvel Comics character licensing, Sony has the rights to a host of villains from the pantheon of Spider-Man comics around which they've…Read More

Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins review — Toy time manages some fun

May 26, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Robert Schwentke | Written by Evan Spiliotopoulos, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse | 121 min | ▲▲▲△△| Netflix This blockbuster floundered last year at the pandemic box office but is now available on demand, which is where I caught up with it. Here's where I have to own a small weak spot for…Read More

Downton Abbey: A New Era review — Tied in a bow for fans of the show

May 22, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Simon Curtis | Written by Julian Fellowes | 125 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Crave Another visit to the late 1920s estate of the aristocratic Crawley family— made so popular in six seasons on ITV and PBS, and more recently rerun on Netflix — seemed unlikely. I know the first feature from 2019, Downton…Read More

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review — A big old four-colour mess

May 6, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Sam Raimi | Written by Michael Waldron | 126 min | ▲▲△△△ It's time to recognize that there's something off in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since the unparalleled double-whammy of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the features from the House of Ideas have been at best uneven, at worst terrible. Black Widow…Read More

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore review — The Cursed Franchise

April 25, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by David Yates | Written by JK Rowling and Steve Kloves | 142 min | ▲▲△△△ | Crave OK, so maybe calling these movies "cursed" is an over-dramatization — but let me make my case: This is a Harry Potter-related franchise where they'd secured a wildly talented star as its bad guy — Colin…Read More

Scream series 1-4 review

January 17, 2022 flawintheiris

I saw the original Scream when it first showed in cinemas 25 years ago and I thought it was... fine. At the time I recognized what master horrormeister Wes Craven and his collaborators were doing — a clever and ironic take on all the horror tropes and cliches Craven indulged in and exploited in earlier films…Read More