Tag Archives: Jeremy Renner

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review — That’s our wiggly wiggly

December 12, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Rian Johnson | 144 min | ▲▲▲▲1/2 | On Netflix An earlier capsule version of this review appeared during the coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. When I first saw Wake Up Dead Man at TIFF what struck me about the third mystery featuring Benoit Blanc (a brilliant, magnetic,… Read More

The Bourne Legacy (2012) review — Action franchise’s clever extension

August 5, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Tony Gilroy | Written by Tony and Dan Gilroy, from a story by Tony, inspired by the Robert Ludlum novels | 135 min | Amazon Prime and Netflix | Originally reviewed August 15, 2012 A tough act this one is following. The first three Bourne movies are that rare popular franchise without a… Read More

Reviews From The Vault Vol. 9 — Thrillers

September 4, 2019 flawintheiris

From 2005 to 2009 I was a programmer on CKDU 88.1 FM in Halifax, every Sunday morning hosting The Love & Hate Movie Show. I talked about what I was seeing and revisited some of my favourite films of old, pretty much what I do now here on FITI. I still have a lot of… Read More

Wind River review — Powerful, if somewhat problematic thriller

August 27, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Taylor Sheridan | 107 min Sheridan has elevated his career from jobbing Hollywood actor to A-list auteur with Wind River. This is his first film as writer-director, and while it's not quite to the standard of his last two screenplays directed by others—Sicario and Hell Or High Water—it's a dark and compelling… Read More

Arrival review — Idea-based, moving science fiction

November 11, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Denis Villeneuve | Written by Eric Heisserer from Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang | 116 min | on Netflix We meet Louise (Amy Adams at maximum luminosity) in a melancholy prologue that feels like it's out of a dream. Villeneuve, like his fellow Quebecker-in-Hollywood, Jean-Marc Vallée, has a knack for perfectly… 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

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation review — Spy thriller franchise hits a high point

July 31, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, from a story by McQuarrie and Drew Pearce, based on the TV series created by Bruce Gellar | Prime Video We get 19 years, and the fifth entry is the best so far? How is that even possible?!! But it is. I give it a slight edge over the… Read More

Mission: Impossible series review

July 28, 2015 flawintheiris

My mother loved the 1960s TV series, created by Bruce Gellar. I remember that much about it, and that it starred, at one time or another, Leonard Nimoy, Sam Elliot, Greg Morris, Barbara Bain and Martin Landau—who I knew better as a kid from Space: 1999—and Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, the guy calling the… Read More

Avengers: Age of Ultron review — The biggest, but not necessarily the best

May 1, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Joss Whedon, from the Marvel Comic created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby After 10 movies set in this particular Marvel Cinematic Universe, we know these costumed folks now. They're fun to spend time with, what with the jokes and fighting and punching. But the filmmakers also have the added pressure of… Read More

American Hustle review

December 22, 2013 flawintheiris

Directed by David O. Russell, written by Russell and Eric Singer Russell likes to tell his stories on an edge. That's what I like about him and his movies. It feels like his tales could fly apart at any minute, become total, unwatchable messes, but he always manages to keep it together just this side… Read More