Category Archives: International

Top 10 of 2005 and 2006

August 24, 2015 flawintheiris

In a couple weeks this blog will be five years old. Accordingly, through the coming fortnight I'm gonna be taking a few looks back. As I've done before, I've stumbled upon some material from the vaults: My list of the best movies of 2005 and 2006, a list I put together for my four year movie broadcast…Read More

The Man From UNCLE review — 1960s Stylegasm

August 13, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Guy Ritchie, Written by Ritchie and Lionel Wigram, from a story by Ritchie, Wigram, Jeff Kleeman, and David C. Wilson. Based on the 1960s TV series created by Sam Rolfe In the lowest-common denominator landscape of the summer blockbuster season, with every feature pre-masticated and audience-tested for the broadest possible appeal, it's easy…Read More

What We Did On Our Holiday review — Going where the sun shines brightly

July 23, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin A friend of mine told me she'd seen this on a flight in Southeast Asia a few months ago, so we're getting this British picture in Canada pretty late. I'm actually pleasantly surprised we're getting to see it in cinemas at all. It could have something to…Read More

In Cinemas: July 12, 2015 — Minions, The Salt of the Earth, The Gallows, Self/Less, Max

July 9, 2015 flawintheiris

Just as the Madagascar franchise had some success with its Penguins spin-off, so does Despicable Me try a similar thing, recognizing that Gru isn't necessarily what the kiddies love, it's those little mewling, gibberish-spouting, hapless Hostess Twinkie-lookin' little dudes who do all his bidding. They're known as Minions. The other night on The Daily Show…Read More

Reviews: Assassin, Copenhagen, Night Train To Lisbon, Son Of A Gun, and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her

July 9, 2015 flawintheiris

And now for some recent releases on VOD, iTunes, Netflix, Blu-Ray and the like. Assassin A London hitman named Jamie (Danny Dyer) works for a pair of shady gangster brothers (Martin and Gary Kemp, Spandau Ballet founders who were terrific as another pair of gangster brothers years back in The Krays). On his off hours…Read More

Clouds of Sils Maria review — A strange and beautiful journey in the Alps

June 17, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Oliver Assayas | 124 min | The Criterion Channel Remember the gifted storytellers in the wordy, if somewhat static, My Dinner With Andre? Or story-within-story pictures like The French Lieutenant's Woman or Vanya on 42nd Street, where the overlay of a fiction in the central narrative both enlivens and informs what's going on? If you do,…Read More

Mad Max: Fury Road review — A masterpiece in speed and metal

May 14, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by George Miller, Written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nick Lathouris | Netflix Badass. As the end credits rolled, that's the word that kept bouncing around my rattling and enervated cranium. Mad Max: Fury Road is totally badass. When was the last time I was totally floored like this? The last time I saw…Read More

Far From The Madding Crowd (2015) review — A handsome period romance

May 13, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, David Nicholls adapting the Thomas Hardy novel | Disney+ I miss Merchant Ivory. There, I've said it. During the heyday of the filmmaking team of Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, they created a brand of literary adaptations that ignited a genre of corset dramas, many of which were…Read More

Ex Machina review — Stylish, essential science fiction

May 6, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Alex Garland Talented coder Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), working for global search engine Blue Book, wins a company lottery to join the CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), at his mountain retreat for a week. The house is beautiful, a glass and concrete hideout—actually located in Norway. Caleb is automatically issued a passcard by…Read More

Reviews: The Homesman, Men Women & Children, Song One, Gemma Bovery, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Black Sea

May 4, 2015 flawintheiris

A few thoughts on movies now available on VOD, DVD and Blu-Ray The Homesman A powerfully sui generis western, the kind of a story that steps over so many of the generic Hollywood screenwriting conventions you'll never see where it's going. Director and star Tommy Lee Jones adapts a Glendon Swarthout novel about a woman…Read More