Category Archives: Historical Drama

New on Canadian Netflix: April 2017

April 24, 2017 flawintheiris

Here's a cross-section of a number of mildly-to- solidly recommended films recently made available on Canadian Netflix. (You can click on the movie titles to read my original reviews where I've written them in the past.) For me, Netflix is a go-to usually to watch films I’ve already seen or to give the odd TV…Read More

The Lost City of Z review—A traditional adventure yarn

April 22, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by James Gray | Written by Gray adapting the book by David Grann | 141 min | Amazon Prime A solemn, serious historical drama based on the true story of Percy Fawcett, a British soldier and explorer who in the early years of the 20th Century travelled into the Amazonian jungle on more than…Read More

Their Finest review — Keep Calm and Make Movies

April 20, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Lone Scherfig | Written by Gaby Chiappe based on the novel by Lissa Evans | 117 min It's the Blitz in London: Mrs Cole (Gemma Arterton) is a Welsh lady married to an unemployed painter (Jack Huston). She lands a job working for a film company, alongside curmudgeonly screenwriter Mr Buckley (Sam Claflin)—hired…Read More

The Zookeeper’s Wife review — A well-meaning but fundamentally flawed Holocaust drama

March 30, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Niki Caro | Written by Angela Workman adapting the book by Diane Ackerman | 124 min The true story of Antonina and Jan Żabiński, a Polish couple who ran the Warsaw Zoo during World War II. When the Nazis marched into Poland the soldiers ransacked the zoo, exporting some of the animals to…Read More

A United Kingdom review — The leads are winning, though the film’s conventional

March 13, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Amma Asante | Written by Guy Hibbert, from a book by Susan Williams | 111 min | On Demand A post-war historical drama about how Bechuanaland, the British protectorate, shrugged off the colonial oppression of the Empire and eventually become the Republic of Botswana. If that sounds a bit dry, don't worry—at its heart…Read More

New on Canadian Netflix: February 2017

February 20, 2017 flawintheiris

In an effort to keep you, good reader, up to date with films now available on platforms aside from the big screen, I had a look at the past few weeks of new releases on Canadian Netflix and I’ve got a few films for you to consider. (You can click on the movie titles to…Read More

Jackie review — A psychological portrait of power denuded

February 2, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Pablo Larrain | Written by Noah Oppenheim | 100 min | Crave Plus In 2016 we saw two other terrific films from this Chilean director, The Club and Neruda. This one is the third keeping the streak of quality alive, arriving here in Halifax a little late with a very much-deserved Academy Award nomination…Read More

Gold review — Fool on a hill

January 26, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed of Stephen Gaghan | Written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman | 121 min | Amazon Prime After last week's The Founder, and a long, dubious cinematic tradition of rags-to-riches tales where a fast-talking white dude exploits people and gets massively rich (before, sometimes, falling back in the gutter) you might wonder why we…Read More

The Founder review — How burgers built America

January 19, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by John Lee Hancock | Written by Robert Siegel | 115 min Movies about people achieving the American Dream are as old as Hollywood itself. Here's a fresh one telling another rags-to-riches tale. You probably know the name Ray Kroc as the guy from McDonald's restaurants. The Founder tells Kroc's whole story, and also the story…Read More

20th Century Women review — California, I’m coming home

January 18, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Mike Mills | 119 min Remember when I assembled that list of the Top 10 films of 2016, with my concern that I might have to addend it once I'd caught up with some of the latecomer releases? That's exactly what's happened with 20th Century Women, which would've easily been in the…Read More