Category Archives: Spies

From The Vault: The Whistle Blower (1986) review

June 29, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Simon Langton | Written by Julian Bond, from the novel by John Hale | 100 min | ▲▲1/2 | on Amazon Prime I was a bit disappointed by The Holcroft Covenant, which I watched a few weeks back, but it reminded me Michael Caine enjoys espionage thrillers, as do I. Maybe the best…Read More

The Phoenician Scheme review — Fresh artifice from Wes Anderson

June 16, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Wes Anderson | Written by Anderson and Roman Coppola | 101 min | ▲▲ By my count this is the third of Wes Anderson's current chapter, this particular stage in his hyper-formal, hyper-art designed films eschewing locations outside a studio. It started with The French Dispatch. I felt alienated by that film, but…Read More

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning review — FTW, eventually

May 24, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie | Written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen | 170 min | ▲▲▲ This is a movie that still satisfies as a good Mission: Impossible thriller while desperately weighed down by the legacy of 30 years of a franchise in ways it didn't need to be. A few storytelling decisions threaten to…Read More

From The Vault: The Holcroft Covenant (1985) review

April 21, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by John Frankenheimer | Written by George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt, and John Hopkins, based on the Robert Ludlum novel | 112 min | ▲▲ | Prime I've seen a lot of the movies Michael Caine made in the 1980s where, famously, he said yes to everything. Jaws 4: The Revenge, for example, in 1987.…Read More

The Amateur (2025) review — Silly but satisfying spy thriller

April 14, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by James Hawes | Written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, based on the novel by Robert Littell | 123 min | ▲▲▲ You could go looking for the first movie adaptation of the Robert Littell novel, but it's tough to find — a Canadian thriller produced by Garth Drabinksy starring John Savage, Christopher…Read More

Black Bag review — Sexy spymasters play their games

March 16, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Written by David Koepp | 93 min | ▲▲▲▲ Full marks to Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp, who in this third month of 2025 have had two feature films in cinemas since the new year. The first, a haunted house movie called Presence, felt like more of a formal exercise…Read More

Heart of Stone review — Mission: Impassive

August 16, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Tom Harper | Written by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder | 122 min | ▲▲△△△ | On Netflix We've been hearing lately about these big-budget action movies showing up on streaming services, pictures so dumbed-down audiences could still spend most of the movie looking at their phones and not miss much. They're called…Read More

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One review — Cruise in control, for the most part

July 13, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie | Written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen, adapted from the TV series by Bruce Gellar | 163 min | ▲▲▲▲△ There's a reason the Mission: Impossible franchise is considered the peak of Hollywood's action mountain, a status it's held for more than 25 years. The first four movies were each stylistically…Read More

Operation Mincemeat review — A thrilling piece of wartime history

July 12, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by John Madden | Written by Michelle Ashford, based on a book by Ben Macintyre | 128 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Netflix Sometimes a genre picture, otherwise conventional in many ways, can excel just via its commitment to the material, stylish choices in the direction, and a collection of unimpeachable performances. That's what's happened…Read More

All The Old Knives review — Romantic spy thriller goes to dark places

April 18, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Janus Metz | Written by Olen Steinhauer, based on his novel | 101 min | ▲▲▲△△| Crave Here's a thriller freighted with regret. Two former lovers, Henry (Chris Pine) and Celia (Thandiwe Newton), meet in Carmel, California, at a seaside resto. Eight years earlier, in 2012, they were part of a CIA unit…Read More