Category Archives: Action

The Nice Guys review — Good Times with a Polyester Pair

May 19, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Shane Black | Written by Black and Anthony Bagarozzi | 116 min | ▲▲▲▲△ Shane Black is the master of buddy action comedy, having written Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, not to mention his superhero success Iron Man 3. The Nice Guys lands right in his sweet spot—boys unleash R-rated…Read More

The Jungle Book (2016) review — Spectacular, but neglects the bare (bear?) necessities

April 21, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon Favreau | Written by Justin Marks, adapting the Rudyard Kipling book | 105 min | ▲▲▲△△ Yes, this is a more direct adaptation of the beloved Kipling collection of stories than the Disney animated musical, famously the last one overseen by Walt himself. But let's be honest here: This Disney film also plays…Read More

Hardcore Henry review — First Person Pulverizing

April 13, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Ilya Naishuller | Written by Naishuller and Will Stewart | 96 min | ▲▲△△△ For years Hollywood's been adapting video games into movies and filmmakers like Michael Bay and Zack Snyder have been inspired by video game visuals in their filmmaking. It makes sense that someone would try to narrow that gap between media,…Read More

Indiana Jones series review

August 26, 2015 flawintheiris

Welcome to items from The Vault. Between 2005 and 2009 I was a programmer on CKDU 88.1 FM every Sunday morning with something called The Love & Hate Movie Show. I talked about what I was seeing and revisited some of my favourite films of old, pretty much what I do now here on FITI.…Read More

American Ultra review — A spy-action-stoner mash-up

August 22, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, written by Max Landis Sometimes when you bring together two disparate influences in an odd little brew you get something fresh. For the most part, that's what's happened here. It's clumsy in places, but it entertains as the world's first stoner comedy/action thriller. American Ultra is being marketed on its action comedy…Read More

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation review — Spy thriller franchise hits a high point

July 31, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, from a story by McQuarrie and Drew Pearce, based on the TV series created by Bruce Gellar | Prime Video We get 19 years, and the fifth entry is the best so far? How is that even possible?!! But it is. I give it a slight edge over the…Read More

Self/less review — Immortality for dummies

July 13, 2015 flawintheiris

Written by Tarsem Singh, Written by David Pastor and Alex Pastor In the midst of a summer crammed with fantasy franchises, sequels, and prequels, comes this oddity, a free-standing scifi thriller starring Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds, with a plot that channels elements of both John Frankenheimer's Seconds and an obscure Mick Jagger picture, Freejack. It's…Read More

Reviews: Assassin, Copenhagen, Night Train To Lisbon, Son Of A Gun, and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her

July 9, 2015 flawintheiris

And now for some recent releases on VOD, iTunes, Netflix, Blu-Ray and the like. Assassin A London hitman named Jamie (Danny Dyer) works for a pair of shady gangster brothers (Martin and Gary Kemp, Spandau Ballet founders who were terrific as another pair of gangster brothers years back in The Krays). On his off hours…Read More

Terminator Genisys review — Fan fiction goes back in time

July 4, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Alan Taylor, written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, with characters by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd I'm a fan of time travel pictures, post-apocalyptic visions, and stories of how our tech will destroy us, so James Cameron's The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day scratch multiple itches with me. Then things…Read More

Spy review — Solid spoofery of espionage entertainment

June 7, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Paul Feig As I mentioned on Friday, I haven't seen a lot of Melissa McCarthy's films since Bridesmaids, though that one, also with director Feig, was a lot of fun. This one is, too. It functions as a spoof of long-held spy movie tropes while being a genuinely fun action movie. Do…Read More