Category Archives: Comedy

Fackham Hall review — Downton schmountain!

January 8, 2026 flawintheiris

Directed by Jim O'Hanlon | Written by Steve Dawson, Andrew Dawson, Tim Inman, Jimmy Carr and Patrick Carr | 97 min | ▲▲▲ | on VOD 1931, and the most lavish manor house in all of Shropceistershire is Fackham Hall (say it fast), belonging to a family of obscenely wealth aristocrats, the Davenports — the…Read More

Summer and Fall 2025 Season at Carbon Arc Cinema

December 25, 2025 flawintheiris

What a year it's been at Carbon Arc Cinema. This independent, Halifax art house, bringing to the big screen the best in international, independent, Canadian, and documentary film, has seen a huge increase in the number of people through its doors since 2024. That's largely due to the hard work of staffers Kenny Lewis and…Read More

Ella McCay review — A must see for James L. Brooks fans, and isn’t that everyone?

December 23, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by James L. Brooks | 115 min | ▲▲▲1/2 So, for those who don't know, James L. Brooks is a Hollywood legend. He's worked in TV and film going back to the mid-1960s, and directed Oscar-winning fare like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good As It Gets, while executive producing The…Read More

Cloud, My Fathers’ Daughter, Magic Farm, Vulcanizadora reviews

December 18, 2025 flawintheiris

Here are a few art house films that came out in 2025, some of which are now available to rent and stream. Cloud original title Kuraudo ▲▲▲ (VOD, Criterion Channel) Kiyoshi Kurosawa's feature feels like two separate movies. The first part is a slowburn drama about a electronic reseller, a man who purchases products on…Read More

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review — That’s our wiggly wiggly

December 12, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Rian Johnson | 144 min | ▲▲▲▲1/2 | On Netflix An earlier capsule version of this review appeared during the coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. When I first saw Wake Up Dead Man at TIFF what struck me about the third mystery featuring Benoit Blanc (a brilliant, magnetic,…Read More

The Baltimorons review — Unlikely seasonal romance and dentistry

December 3, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Jay Duplass | Written by Duplass and Michael Strassner | 101min | ▲▲ | On VOD The American independent cinematic cottage industry of the Duplass Brothers has largely missed me. I've seen both of them, Jay and Mark, in on-screen roles, mostly in association with the late, great Lynn Shelton, but don't know…Read More

Bugonia review — The weirdness that won’t be denied

November 1, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos | Written by Will Tracy, adapting the screenplay by Jang Joon-hwan's Save The Green Planet | ▲▲▲1/2 Emma Stone is Michelle Fuller, a CEO of a big pharma company that's a major employer in a depressed suburban zone that could be anywhere in the United States. She's an ambitious and fierce…Read More

Good Fortune review — Keanu’s terrific in Aziz Ansari’s social issue comedy

October 20, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Aziz Ansari | 97 min | ▲▲1/2 There's a genuine novelty of a full-on comedy opening in cinemas in 2025, which is kind of a shame. There are so few of these. It's also kind of a treat that Good Fortune's fantasy scenario feels like it might be a delightful successor…Read More

Roofman review — Channing Tatum’s gentleman thief is a charmer

October 12, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Derek Cianfrance | Written by Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn | 126 min | ▲▲▲▲ Right off the bat, what makes Roofman so terrific is it's another tale about America today — even as it's set a few years in the past, there's something undeniably current about this story, which is based in fact.…Read More

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale review — A fond farewell

September 28, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Simon Curtis | Written by Julian Fellowes | 123 min | ▲▲▲ | Amazon Prime Just when you might have thought Downton Abbey departed the cinematic stage, it's back for one last hurrah. This is after the better-than-it-needed to be Downton Abbey: A New Era and the just OK Downton Abbey, the first two…Read More