Category Archives: Science Fiction/Fantasy

Star Wars Episode VII, JJ Abrams and my host of complicated, mixed feelings on all of this

January 26, 2013 flawintheiris

If you're in the Nerderatti, you'll have heard the news: JJ Abrams has been hired by Disney to direct a Star Wars movie, the first of three new features to continue the space opera past Return of the Jedi. What to make of this? I've been letting it all seep in and need to write it…Read More

Cloud Atlas review

November 4, 2012 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, from the David Mitchell novel I should confess right off the top that I haven't read the book, so am coming to this film fairly blank slate. But I was impressed by the achievement here, which maybe I shouldn't be given the pedigree of…Read More

Blade Runner locations: My Los Angeles Visit

October 21, 2012 flawintheiris

2nd Street TunnelI'm back in Canada now, having spent four days in Los Angeles. I was just getting comfortable with driving those massive freeways before I had to go, managing the distances between destinations.As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the nights in LA. Something about the cosmopolitan nature of the city, the lights, the diversity…Read More

Looper review

September 24, 2012 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Rian JohnsonRemember the question that came up in Dead Zone? The one where Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) asks his doctor friend (Herbert Lom) if he had the power to go back in time and kill Adolf Hitler, would he? And his friend says yes, absolutely, or something to that effect. There's…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Love Is All You Need, Antiviral and Tuesday

September 18, 2012 flawintheiris

Love Is All You Need is exactly the kind of romantic comedy Hollywood has almost entirely forgotten how to make. It gave me a rush, for both it's delicate balance of realism and sentiment and from sheer recognition of a beloved genre that I've missed: oh, yeah, this is how it's done when it's done…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Holy Motors, Saturday night

September 15, 2012 flawintheiris

"Was so discombobulated after Holy Motors I couldn't continue on to Chained," tweeted one of my fellow audience members at the Oxford showing last night.I know how she felt.Holy Motors is the new film from French director Leos Carax, and its damn hard to summarize. We start with black and white vintage stock footage of…Read More

Alien and Prometheus: Observations, questions and (a few) answers

June 11, 2012 flawintheiris

In a recent issue of Empire Magazine, Simon Braund started like this in a piece about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: "It's easy to scoff at the weight of cultural significance so often foisted on sci-fi and horror films—chin-stroking cineastes, seemingly oblivious to the films' primary objective (i.e. to scare the pants off folk), teasing…Read More

Prometheus review

June 9, 2012 flawintheiris

Directed by Ridley ScottWritten by Jon Spaihts and Damon LindelofI didn't have much faith that this would work. Prequels long after the fact—and 33 years is pretty damn long—rarely do. Filmmakers change. The hunger that defined Scott's early work, tales of his perfectionism on set and the stylistic rigour so evident in his films, some…Read More

Dark Shadows review

May 10, 2012 flawintheiris

Directed by Tim BurtonWritten by Seth Grahame-Smith and John August fromthe TV series created by Dan CurtisI have lots of time for Tim Burton. The guy has sustained a career in Hollywood as its resident gothic surrealist. And we're talking some 25 years now, making the movies he wants to make—with the possible exception of…Read More

The Cabin in the Woods review

May 6, 2012 flawintheiris

Directed by Drew Goddard | Written by Goddard and Joss Whedon | 95 min | Amazon Prime and On Demand From the outset, The Cabin in the Woods hints that it is not a typical horror film. The opening scenes introduce two mid-level bureaucratic types (played fantastically by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) having a…Read More