Category Archives: War

Nuremberg review — Post-war potboiler goes off the boil

November 5, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by James Vanderbilt | Written by Vanderbilt, based on the book The Nazi And The Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai | ▲▲ Vanderbilt's name wasn't one I was immediately familiar with before this feature, but his credits as a producer or writer are diverse — David Fincher's Zodiac, a couple of the less memorable Spider-Man…Read More

A House of Dynamite review — Kathryn Bigelow’s terrifically tense nuclear thriller

October 14, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow | Written by Noah Oppenheim | 112 min | ▲▲▲1/2 | On Netflix It's been a long while since we've experienced a truly terrifying nuclear thriller. (Anyone remember the opening 10 minutes of Wargames?) Maybe because the threat of nuclear war feels weirdly abstract in the face of climate change, rising…Read More

From The Vault: Play Dirty (1969)

August 27, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by André De Toth | Written by De Toth, Melvyn Bragg, Lotte Colin, and George Marton | 118 min | ▲▲▲ | On DVD Before the Shane Black movie with the same title arrives on Prime, let me share a few words about a lost Michael Caine picture from the late 1960s. I've been…Read More

Warfare review — Bullets, blood, and dust

April 19, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland | 95 min | ▲▲ As I understand it, Ray Mendoza is an American veteran of the Iraq War. On Alex Garland's Civil War, Mendoza was a consultant for the militaristic action sequences. He shared with Garland the story of how in 2006 he and his…Read More

Gladiator II review — We are entertained, but this movie doesn’t echo in eternity

November 22, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Ridley Scott | Written by David Scarpa and Peter Craig | 148 min | ▲▲▲△△ I was never a part of Gladiator's rabid cult. I recognized it as an unexpectedly popular throwback entertainment, swords and sandals at a time when neither were cool, but to anoint it with five Oscars in 2000, including…Read More

Occupied City and Blitz reviews — Steve McQueen’s Second World War stories

November 12, 2024 flawintheiris

The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady review — More mud and blood in 17th Century France

November 9, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Martin Bourboulon | Written by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, based on the story by Alexandre Dumas | 115 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Crave Last year the first part of this French adaptation of the famed Dumas adventure story was engaging without being a whole lot of fun. Maybe I was…Read More

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare review — Let’s kill some Nazis

August 1, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Guy Ritchie | Written by Ritchie, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Arash Amel, based on the book by Damien Lewis | 120 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Amazon Prime Guy Ritchie grew up watching the same movies I did, which is why I have a soft spot for him. There's not a chance in…Read More

Civil War review — A chilling vision of a country in chaos

April 14, 2024 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Alex Garland | 109 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Amazon Prime Civil War, or Alex Garland Directorial Effort Number Four — following Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Men — is akin to its predecessors in that it deftly undermines both its marketing and its audience expectations, defying any easy categorization. Garland consistently puts…Read More

One Life review — An ordinary tale of good deeds done

March 16, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by James Hawes | Written by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, based on If It's Not Impossible…The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton | 110 min | ▲▲△△△ Younger readers might not remember the "Made-For-TV Movie," which in production circles also used to be called an MOW, or Movie-Of-The-Week. It was a…Read More