Category Archives: Crime

Mile End Kicks, Little Lorraine, and The Christophers reviews

April 15, 2026 flawintheiris

With the unusual coincidence that three festival features are arriving in cinemas on the same weekend, here are my (slightly or somewhat) updated AIFF and TIFF reviews. Mile End Kicks | Written and Directed by Chandler Levack | 112 min | ▲▲▲ Mile End Kicks is Toronto critic-turned-filmmaker Chandler Levack’s second feature, following the delightful…Read More

Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice review — Laughs found in time

April 2, 2026 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by BenDavid Grabinski | 107 min | ▲▲1/2 | Disney Plus Back in the late '90s one of the most popular movie genres week-in week-out was the post Pulp Fiction gangster comedy — usually punctuated with popular tunes, wordy thugs, pop culture references, and a non-linear storyline. This Winnipeg-shot picture feels like a…Read More

Islands review — Seductive, peculiar desert moods

March 22, 2026 flawintheiris

Directed by Jan-Ole Gerster | Written by Gerster, with Blaž Kutin and Lawrie Doran | ▲▲▲ | VOD Cinephiles will recognize where they are in the opening minute of Islands. This is a daytime noir consisting of deserts and water, both the stuff you drink and the stuff that fills swimming pools, swaddled in a…Read More

The Bride! review — An ode to disobedient geometry

March 7, 2026 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal | 126 min | ▲▲1/2 A raucous, semi-inspired reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the way Universal turned the myth into a franchise, not to be confused with this one from the 1980s. This is a deeply feminist vision, coming from actor-turned-filmmaker Gyllenhaal, whose solid first film, The Lost…Read More

In Cold Light review — Gritty Alberta thriller delivered by performances

February 28, 2026 flawintheiris

Directed by Maxime Giroux | Written by Patrick Whistler | 96 min | ▲▲1/2 I'm not the first to say it, but Maika Monroe should be a bigger star. She brings a rarely felt authenticity to every role she chooses, from The Guest and It Follows to Longlegs — that's certainly the case here where…Read More

Mercy (2026) review — A simply awful time at the movies

January 22, 2026 flawintheiris

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov | Written by Marco van Belle | ▲ It's not often a movie makes me angry. I love cinema, so even the worst, most poorly made piece of crap usually offers something for me to enjoy. Mercy, which wants to be a gritty, adrenalized crime thriller cum science fiction picture, offers…Read More

The Rip review — Damon and Affleck’s gritty cop thriller

January 21, 2026 flawintheiris

Directed by Joe Carnahan | Written by Carnahan and Michael McGrale | ▲▲▲1/2 | Netflix The serious draw here would be writer-director Carnahan — purveyor of the finest tough-guy crime thrillers like Copshop and Boss Level — if it wasn't for his producers and stars, the effortless A-List leading man power of Matt Damon and…Read More

Dead Man’s Wire review — Double-barrelled justice?

January 14, 2026 flawintheiris

Directed by Gus Van Sant | Written by Austin Kolodney, based on the 2018 documentary Dead Man’s Line | ▲▲▲1/2 We've got a brand new Gus Van Sant in theatres, which in itself is a reason to celebrate — the filmmaker who gave us Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Last Days…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