Category Archives: Historical Drama

Napoleon review — It’s a long wait for Waterloo

November 26, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Ridley Scott | Written by David Scarpa | 158 min | ▲▲△△△ | In Cinemas Sir Ridley Scott, now in his 80s, continues to show he's one of Hollywood's great visual stylists. What he isn't is a writer, so while the director of Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, and Gladiator has made…Read More

Priscilla review — She is lonesome, tonight

November 6, 2023 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola, based on Elvis And Me by Priscilla Presley with Sandra Harmon | 113 min | ▲▲▲△△ It's telling that when I opened my phone after the screening of this film, a record company I subscribe to online sent me a link to purchase a brand new Elvis compilation on…Read More

Killers Of The Flower Moon review — Crime epic gazes into the abyss

October 22, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Martin Scorsese | Written by Scorcese and Eric Roth, based on a book by David Grann | 206 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | In Cinemas It's finally here, the much buzzed-about epic (in scope and length) crime drama/western from Martin Scorsese. The film based on the true story of the Osage, a Native American…Read More

The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan review — Pistols or blades at noon?

August 26, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Martin Bourboulon | Written by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, based on the story by Alexandre Dumas | 122 min | ▲▲▲△△ | For rent on VOD and Digital For French cinemas, this is a huge-budget adaptation of the beloved Dumas adventure story, and the first to be done in French…Read More

A Cult Of One: The Bounty (1984)

July 30, 2023 flawintheiris

This is a semi-regular segment on FITI that shines a light on a feature distinctly unloved, or underloved, and for one reason or another deserves reappraisal. Directed by Roger Donaldson | Written by Robert Bolt and Ian Mune, from the book Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian by Richard Hough | 132 min | ▲▲▲▲△ |…Read More

The Knox Office: Barbenheimer!

July 24, 2023 flawintheiris

On Thursday I spent five hours in the dark out at Bayers Lake... and on Friday morning I was on CBC Information Morning with my semi-regular movie review column, the Knox Office. This time I spoke with Preston Mulligan about the weekend's two big blockbusters — Barbie and Oppenheimer. To listen to the conversation, click…Read More

Oppenheimer review — Haunting atomic drama echoes through time

July 22, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Christopher Nolan | Written by Nolan, based on the book American Prometheus by Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird | 180 min | ▲▲▲▲△ The return of Nolan to serious, biographical work about men and war — following his spectacular Dunkirk — shows his ambition hasn't diminished one whit. This is a story swaddled in…Read More

Daliland review — Salvador Dali was never this conventional

June 9, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Mary Harron | Written by John Walsh | 97 min | ▲▲△△△ | VOD and Digital Platforms There's three things the director of I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho, and The Notorious Bettie Page knows about: 1) Weirdos, both the dangerous and harmless variety, 2) Biographical movies, and 3) Art. This should make…Read More

BlackBerry review — Glitchy software scuppers tech comedy

May 11, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Matt Johnson | Written by Johnson with Matthew Miller, from a book by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff | 119 min | ▲▲△△△ BlackBerry has the distinct disadvantage of being the third movie this season serving as a biography of a product. The first two were the entertaining 1980s international caper Tetris, about…Read More

Till review — Potent drama reminds audiences of prevalent racist systems

May 3, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Chinonye Chukwu | Written by Chukwu, Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp | 130 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Amazon Prime For those who don't know — and, if not, why? — Emmett Till was an African American teenager living in Chicago with his mother in 1955 when she sent him to visit his extended…Read More