Tag Archives: Ben Mendelsohn

Cyrano review — Peter Dinklage and the tunes make this musical sing

March 1, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Joe Wright | Written by Erica Schmidt, based on the play by Edmond Rostand | 123 min | ▲▲▲▲△ My first introduction to Cyrano de Bergerac was in English by Steve Martin in the delightful Roxanne, and then in French just a few years later by Gérard Depardieu. Based on a play, it's… Read More

Now On Canadian Netflix: January 2020

January 18, 2020 flawintheiris

The Two Popes On the face of it, this strikes me as strange material for Fernando Meirelles to approach. The Brazilian filmmaker responsible for City Of God and The Constant Gardener is a visionary of colour and kinetics, of movement. Why would he choose to tell the story of two senior citizens having a conversation, his… Read More

Captain Marvel review — Not an interstellar debut, but entertaining

March 8, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck | Written by Bowden, Fleck, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Nicole Perlman, and Meg LeFauve | 124 min | Disney + Well, it certainly took them long enough. I'm talking about a Marvel Studios superhero movie with a female lead. It should've been Black Widow, way back in the MCU second… Read More

Robin Hood (2018) review — Turgid actioner departs from myth for lame superheroics

November 26, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Otto Bathurst | Written by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly | 116 min One of the reasons myths and folk tales are so popularly adapted—along with the ease with marketing a recognizable, yet public domain brand—is their elasticity. You can update it, change it, as much as you like, so long as… Read More

Ready Player One review — Greatest Hits of the ’80s

March 29, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Steven Spielberg | Written by Ernest Cline and Zak Penn, based on Cline's novel | 140 min I never finished the book and thought the trailers looked awful. That poster with the guy and the super-long-leg was terrible. Ready Player One arrives with not a lot of good buzz and, accordingly, no one… Read More

Darkest Hour review — Sterling, if unnecessary, historical drama

December 29, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Joe Wright | Written by Anthony McCarten | 125 min It isn't the fault of the filmmakers that Darkest Hour is the third feature film to show up in cinemas this year—following Their Finest and the titanic Dunkirk—inspired by the same historical material, the rocky period in May 1940 when Britain was staring down the… Read More

I Am Heath Ledger review — Touching memorial to late actor

May 4, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Adrian Buitenhuis and Derik Murray |Written by Hart Snider | 90 min Heath Ledger was one of those Hollywood stars who seemed preordained, effortlessly talented and charismatic. This doc, narrated by the late actor's friends and family, and, to a degree Ledger himself via home footage and interviews, makes that presumption explicit. He… Read More

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story review — A mixed bag, but the high points are stratospheric

January 2, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Gareth Edwards | Written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy | 133 min As this review is arriving late—for reasons—I'm giving myself the license to be a little spoilery. I figure the hardcore fans will have seen the film already, likely more than once, and to those who have yet to take it… Read More

Reviews: Mississippi Grind, Heist, Kilo Two Bravo

December 7, 2015 flawintheiris

Recent releases available on VOD and Blu-Ray that didn't screen in Halifax cinemas. Mississippi Grind Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck | 108 min | ▲▲▲△△ Ben Mendelsohn is Gerry, a scruffy, hard-up gambler in Iowa who "owes money to everyone." On one of his losing streaks he connects with Curtis (Ryan Reynolds),… Read More

Reviews: Coherence, Duke Of Burgundy, Kill The Messenger, Slow West, Z For Zachariah

October 11, 2015 flawintheiris

Recent releases available on DVD and VOD that didn't screen in local cinemas: Coherence Directed by James Ward Byrkit | Written by Byrkit and Alex Manugian | 89 min Eight dissatisfied urbanites gather for a party on a night when a comet burns through the sky. All their mobile phones go dead, and then the… Read More