Tag Archives: Christian Bale

The Pale Blue Eye review — Heart of gothic procedural tells a tale

January 5, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Scott Cooper | Written by Cooper, based on the novel by Louis Bayard | 128 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Netflix Scott Cooper is a director of gritty genre pictures. Some, like the western, Hostiles, deliver a potent brew of desperate characters in an unforgiving setting, while others, like the gangster drama Black Mass,… Read More

Amsterdam review — An interesting mess, but a mess nonetheless

October 17, 2022 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by David O Russell | 134 min | ▲▲▲△△ This is the return of the deeply problematic, reportedly toxic filmmaker David O Russell to the Prestige Alley — that time between October and the end of the year when most of Hollywood's Oscar-bait features arrive in cinemas and jostle for garlands and… Read More

Thor: Love and Thunder review — A few good laughs, but otherwise uninspired

July 8, 2022 flawintheiris

Written by Taika Waititi | Written by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson | 119 min | ▲▲△△△ I wonder if anyone would've predicted back in 2011 that Thor would be the first hero to reach four movies by 2022 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his name in the title. I'm sure even fewer would… Read More

Public Enemies (2009) review — Michael Mann’s thriller rewards second ride

June 26, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Mann | Screenplay by Mann, Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman, based on the book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, by Bryan Burrough | 140 min | Amazon Prime Michael Mann is known for his intense dramas, suspense thrillers and shooting with the most high… Read More

Little Women (1933, 1949, 1994, and 2018) reviews — The films before Greta Gerwig

December 27, 2019 flawintheiris

I haven't read Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical book, though I know a fair amount about the story: a tale of the four teenage March sisters in Massachusetts during the American Civil War, growing up and missing their father who's off fighting—the mature eldest, Meg, the tomboyish writer, Jo, the shy pianist, Beth, and the prim… Read More

Ford v Ferrari review — Car racing picture tight in the turns

November 22, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by James Mangold | Written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller | 152 min | Crave Plus This movie is called Le Mans 66 in the UK, which has something to do with copyright and something to do with the Brits familiarity with the history of motor racing. I gotta be honest,… Read More

Terminator series review — The first two are essential, but the others…

October 28, 2019 flawintheiris

...are a mixed bag. Here's a look back at the five Terminator movies before T6, or Terminator: Dark Fate, expected in the coming week. The Terminator (1984) There's something wonderfully '80s about The Terminator (directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd), a peculiar alloy of films from earlier times updated for the… Read More

Shaft (2019), Shaft (2000), and Shaft (1971) reviews — Stick to the earlier two

June 13, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Tim Story | Written by Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow based on the novel by Ernest Tidyman | 111 min | Crave Plus Nineteen years ago, Samuel L. Jackson starred in a reboot/sequel of the original Gordon Parks blaxploitation classic, Shaft. Now we've got one more, also called Shaft. This resistance to renaming, or… Read More

Vice review — Political satire leaves bitter aftertaste

January 3, 2019 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Adam McKay | 132 min Vice is being compared to the Adam McKay's The Big Short, the film that proved the longtime comedy writer, director, and producer, could deliver a political dramedy that illustrated, with a lot of wit, some fairly complex ideas around finance and systemic corruption. McKay shoots for… Read More

Now on Canadian Netflix: December 2018

December 19, 2018 flawintheiris

Roma One could make an argument last year's Mudbound was the feature that signalled Netlfix's prestige drama interest, readying their horses for the annual Oscar race. Roma is really the tipping point, a film with the critical momentum to suggest it could actually take the Best Picture statuette. I'd be surprised, simply because it's much… Read More