Tag Archives: The Coen Brothers

Reviews from the Vault Vol. 8 — Comedies

August 28, 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

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

Suburbicon review — Domestic noir clashes with earnest elements

November 2, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by George Clooney | Written by Joel & Ethan Coen and Clooney & Grant Heslov | 104 min The prospect of directing a Coen Brothers script that's been sitting in the drawer for awhile must've been just too tempting for Clooney. I get that. I also get the tastiness of this material on the… Read More

Southpaw review — Beaten down by banality, K.O.ed by cliche

July 27, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by Kurt Sutter A couple weeks ago, preparing for a forthcoming podcast on dark comedies, I rewatched the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink. New York playwright Barton Fink has been hired by a Hollywood studio circa the late 1930s to write a Wallace Beery wrestling picture. Blocked and looking for inspiration,… Read More

Top 10 Movies of 2013

January 3, 2014 flawintheiris

I measure the best movies of any year by a visceral reaction: When I walk out of the cinema (or away from my home screen, as the case may be) how much do I want to see it a second time, and how soon? Rewatchability is important. With that in mind, please find below a… Read More

Inside Llewyn Davis review

December 23, 2013 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Joel and Ethan CoenI love the Coens. They've carved out for themselves a wonderful, peculiar corner of Americana. No matter the subject, their films exhibit an intellectual, anarchic wit that's all their own. Only a handful of their peers, US filmmakers and writers—maybe Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Nicole Holofcener, Charlie… Read More

Top 10 Movies of 1987

August 26, 2013 flawintheiris

Three years ago this week I started this blog, and I'm still getting a lot of pleasure out of contributing to it. For me, the conversation after seeing a film, being part of a community of film enthusiasts, is as essential as taking in the movie itself. This space allows me to collect my thoughts… Read More

“Trailers from Hell” on Miller’s Crossing

September 19, 2012 flawintheiris

"...and I think Miller's Crossing is, hands down, their masterpiece."Yeah, me too. Read More

Top 20 Movies of 2000-2010

September 1, 2012 flawintheiris

This ends my trawl of the internets to find materials I wrote about movies before I started this blog two years ago, materials unseen by anyone but my friends. I hope it proves to be of some use to all y'all. The criteria for choosing the best films of a decade is different than… Read More

Top 10 Movies of 2007

August 29, 2012 flawintheiris

Yes, yes, I know. It is August 2012. But as I roll up to the second birthday of Flaw In The Iris at the end of this week, I'm looking back at film-related stuff I did in the days before the inception of this venue. I used to have an hour every week on CKDU… Read More