Category Archives: Crime

Murder On The Orient Express (2017) review — One-track movie-going

November 13, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Kenneth Branagh | Written by Michael Green, from the novel by Agatha Christie | 114 min The Agatha Christie adaptation I grew up with was Death On The Nile. For some reason I'd seen that film three or four times as a kid, and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is forever embodied in my heart…Read More

Suburbicon review — Domestic noir clashes with earnest elements

November 2, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by George Clooney | Written by Joel & Ethan Coen and Clooney & Grant Heslov | 104 min The prospect of directing a Coen Brothers script that's been sitting in the drawer for awhile must've been just too tempting for Clooney. I get that. I also get the tastiness of this material on the…Read More

The Snowman review — A watchable disaster

October 24, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Thomas Alfredson | Written by Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini, and Søren Sveistrup, based on a novel by Jo Nesbø | 119 min Are windows between bedrooms a thing in Norway? How about play rooms on commuter trains? And powerful industrialists who have subordinates find them sex slaves and present them in the back…Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 5: Lucky, Small Town Crime, and God’s Own Country

September 19, 2017 flawintheiris

Lucky The death of Harry Dean Stanton barely 72 hours ago made Monday afternoon's screening of his final starring role that much more poignant, and even more so because the film is an old man's rumination on life and his own mortality. It reminded me a little of Paterson, without the poetry or twin iconography,…Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 3: The Square, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Sweet Virginia

September 17, 2017 flawintheiris

I tend to be impressed by film doing a single thing well and managing to do that one good thing through its running time. Ruben Östlund's Palme d'or-winning The Square manages to be good at doing many things simultaneously, to the point where it's hard to collect all those things in your head at once. I…Read More

#AIFF2017 Preview + CTV + The Coast!

September 14, 2017 flawintheiris

September is here, and so is the AFF, or FIN, or AIFF. Whatever you call it, the local film festival is a bonanza for the Haligonian film lover, a chance to see local, Canadian, and international features and shorts, many of which won't ever find their way to a big screen near you. Last weekend…Read More

Logan Lucky review — Chill heist comedy from Oceans 11 filmmaker

August 28, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Written by Rebecca Blunt | 118 min | Crave Plus Steven Soderbergh has always been half in love with the form of film, the craft of it, and half in love with genres. In that he shares these preoccupations with the Coen Brothers—with the parallels between their styles maybe most…Read More

Wind River review — Powerful, if somewhat problematic thriller

August 27, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Taylor Sheridan | 107 min Sheridan has elevated his career from jobbing Hollywood actor to A-list auteur with Wind River. This is his first film as writer-director, and while it's not quite to the standard of his last two screenplays directed by others—Sicario and Hell Or High Water—it's a dark and compelling…Read More

New episode of LENS ME YOUR EARS is up!

July 5, 2017 flawintheiris

In recognition of yesterday's celebration of independence by our friends to the south, a new episode of my film podcast (co-hosted by Stephen Cooke), Lens Me Your Ears, is now available. It's #036, entitled "Make America Great," and you can find it on iTunes and on Stitcher. There's no need to worry, this podcast is…Read More

Paris Can Wait review — A day (or two) in Provence

June 10, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Eleanor Coppola | 92 min | On Demand The name you might recognize: Coppola is the wife of Francis Ford and mother to Sofia and Roman, aunt to Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzmann. Her cinematic experience is mostly related to her work on Hearts of Darkness, the documentary about the making…Read More