Tag Archives: Robert Downey Jr

From The Vault: Restoration (1995) review

November 16, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Hoffman | Written by Rupert Walters, based on a novel by Rose Tremain | 117 min | ▲1/2 | DVD, on VOD in the United States Sheer, hardheaded curiosity forced me to track down this feature — a lost Miramax picture from the mid-'90s, star-studded and Academy-awarded (for Art Direction and Costume… Read More

Oppenheimer review — Haunting atomic drama echoes through time

July 22, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Christopher Nolan | Written by Nolan, based on the book American Prometheus by Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird | 180 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Netflix The return of Nolan to serious, biographical work about men and war — following his spectacular Dunkirk — shows his ambition hasn't diminished one whit. This is a story… Read More

Spider-Man: Far From Home review — Playfully entertaining teen superheroing, if a little long

July 3, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon Watts | Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers | 129 min | Netflix ...or Peter Parker's European Vacation. And who could blame the guy (winningly played by Tom Holland again) for wanting some downtime? For a 16-year-old, he's had more than his fair share of grief—with the passing of a father… Read More

Avengers: Endgame review — Imperfect endings, but still epic

April 27, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo | Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely based on comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Jim Starlin | 181 min | Disney + If you haven't seen Avengers: Endgame yet, don't worry, I won't spoil it for you in the main body of this review. I've… Read More

Avengers: Infinity War review — Massive scale and massive stakes

April 27, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo | Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely | 149 min Since the mid-'80s, Marvel Comics have been finding their sales figures spiking with summer crossover series — pitting their popular heroes against each other and/or a terrible, frequently cosmic, threat—with titles like Secret Wars, Civil War, Secret… Read More

Spider-Man: Homecoming review — Fresh focus on teen superheroing

July 8, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon Watts | Written by Watts, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers | 133 min Yes, another reboot of the Spider-Man franchise—Andrew Garfield, we barely knew ye—this time with six writers, not including the original comic creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. None of that bodes well.… Read More

Captain America: Civil War review — More superheroes than you can shake a webhead at

May 6, 2016 flawintheiris

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo | Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely | 146 min | ▲▲▲▲△ It's hard to believe, but since Iron Man in 2008, we've had a dozen Marvel movies. Captain America: Civil War is the lucky 13th. It's not my favourite of the bunch, but it ranks high for a… Read More

Mr Holmes review — Character drama tops elementary detective story

August 4, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Bill Condon, Written by Jeffrey Hatcher from a novel by Mitch Cullin. Based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's pretty amazing the lasting power of Sherlock Holmes in the culture, isn' t it? Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are carrying the torch on the BBC with the modern update, Sherlock, for 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

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One review

March 31, 2015 flawintheiris

This summer Phase Two of Marvel's cinematic universe will conclude with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Antman. It's the second part of an increasingly sprawling series of connected films. The first began back in May 2008 with Iron Man, bringing to the world a host of Marvel superheroes as a kid I never would have dreamed I'd get to… Read More