Category Archives: Thriller

#FIN2018 reviews — The Guilty, Bad Reputation

September 17, 2018 flawintheiris

That enormous wooshing sound you may have heard around 3:30 on Sunday afternoon was my exhalation of relief for having survived the Script Development Program Pitch Session. All my fellow workshop participants were terrific, and people say I did OK. It's all a bit of a blur right now. Then I went to see a…Read More

Sicario: Day Of The Soldado review — Cartel thriller doesn’t care about you, or anything else

July 3, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Stefano Solima | Written by Taylor Sheridan | 122 min | Netflix When I first got wind of a sequel to the Denis Villeneuve/Taylor Sheridan/Roger Deakins thriller Sicario, it seemed ill-advised. The original was so good, why try to recapture the magic? Especially with Villeneuve, Deakins, and the terrific Emily Blunt absent from the proceedings.…Read More

Ocean’s 8 review — A sharp, entertaining spin-off

June 8, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Gary Ross | Written by Ross and Olivia Milch | 110 min Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is Danny Ocean's little sister, and she's very much into thievery, the family business. We meet her as she's released from a stretch in prison, and the first thing she does is scam a department store for beauty…Read More

Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen reviews — Soderbergh’s heist trilogy shines like a diamond

June 7, 2018 flawintheiris

Ocean's Eleven (2001) Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Written by Ted Griffin, from the 1960 screenplay by George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell, Harry Brown, and Charles Lederer | 116 min | iTunes It seemed like a weird idea at the time: Let's take the not-so-great Rat Pack picture from the untrendy early '60s, and remake…Read More

Revenge review — Brutal, blood-soaked, and beyond

May 29, 2018 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Coralie Fargeat | 108 min | on iTunes This French-sploitation actioner is getting a lot of love from the critics, and I can see why: It's unusual and praise-worthy for a female filmmaker to take on this (unfortunately) predominantly masculine genre, the revenge picture, and give it a potent, stylish kick,…Read More

Now on Canadian Netflix: Spring 2018

May 10, 2018 flawintheiris

Mute (2018) A sci-fi thriller half a mess and half an interesting exercise in style. That it comes from Duncan Jones, the filmmaker responsible for Moon, Source Code, and, yes, Warcraft, hopes were high this would be a strong genre entry, but Mute never hits above its pulpy elements. We're in future Berlin, which looks…Read More

Carbon Arc Winter 2018 reviews

May 1, 2018 flawintheiris

Another season of international and documentary film at Carbon Arc Cinema has nearly concluded, three months of weekly films screening at the Museum of Natural History. The final event at Carbon Arc before it shuts down for the summer is AFX: The Animation Festival Of Halifax, taking place May 10 to 12. Click here for…Read More

You Were Never Really Here review — Brilliant and brutal

April 19, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Lynne Ramsay | Written by Ramsay, adapting a book by Jonathan Ames | 89 mins At Cannes last year the jury gave this film's lead, Joaquin Phoenix, the Best Actor award, and filmmaker Ramsay the Best Screenplay. The film also received a seven-minute standing ovation at its Cannes screening. All three recognitions were…Read More

Beirut review — Genre thrills and political cynicism

April 18, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Brad Anderson | Written by Tony Gilroy | 109 min Reportedly, the script for Beirut has been sitting in Gilroy's drawer for 25 years, which maybe explains its dusty politics or the fact it feels a little anachronistic—maybe something Michael Caine would've starred in during one of those periods in the 1980s when he…Read More

Unsane review — Psychological thriller turns a corner into horror

March 26, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer | 98 min | On Demand A genuine genre exercise from an Oscar-winning filmmaker who's never been afraid to tackle mystery and thriller variations, from The Underneath to The Limey to Contagion to Side Effects. He took a four year break from filmmaking—if…Read More