Tag Archives: Joaquin Phoenix

You Were Never Really Here review — Brilliant and brutal

April 19, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Lynne Ramsay | Written by Ramsay, adapting a book by Jonathan Ames | 89 mins At Cannes last year the jury gave this film's lead, Joaquin Phoenix, the Best Actor award, and filmmaker Ramsay the Best Screenplay. The film also received a seven-minute standing ovation at its Cannes screening. All three recognitions were… Read More

Inherent Vice review — Messily brilliant or simply a mess?

January 10, 2015 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, from the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice is the kind of movie you walk into and it envelops you. You're visiting a world while you're in the cinema. It may not be one you understand. The denizens may speak strange languages and enact peculiar rituals. The universal narrative… Read More

Her movie review

January 2, 2014 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Spike JonzeSpike Jonze's astonishing Her does three things exceptionally well. 1) It's a smart science fiction film, providing a credible look at a near future where computers go beyond where they are now—our close and constant companions—to something else, something new. 2) Through an intimate look at two leading characters, it's no… Read More

2013 Academy Award Nominations: Random Questions and Observations

January 12, 2013 flawintheiris

They came out yesterday morning, a Thursday (weirdly), and this is the first chance I've had to get my thoughts down on the nominees.This year there are few outright appalling choices, but also few that made me cheer.BEST PICTUREAmour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings… Read More

Reviewers’ Remorse and Assembling the End-Of-Year-List

December 16, 2012 flawintheiris

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, a late season arrival in cinemasThis isn't something you hear much about from people who write about the movies: reconsideration. Part and parcel of critical witness is a kind of terminal certainty: This is my damn opinion and I'll defend it until Satan gouges out my eyeballs with his… Read More

The Master review

October 4, 2012 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Paul Thomas AndersonThe release of a PT Anderson movie is an event, every single time. Every one since his first, Hard Eight; Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood. With this collection, Anderson can stake a claim as the finest American filmmaker working today.So, what to make of his… Read More