Tag Archives: Toby Jones

The Instigators review — Boston buds have a pretty good time

August 12, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Doug Liman | Written by Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck | 101 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Apple TV + There's a simple pleasure in a genre picture put together by people with such professionalism in the making that even a certain, say, predictability in the beats or routine in its structure doesn't detract… Read More

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny review — One more crusade

July 1, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by James Mangold | Written by Mangold, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp | 154 min | ▲▲▲△△ It's a little hard to believe this movie exists, isn't it? This comes 15 years after the last one, the much-derided Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull and 34 years since the end of the original trilogy,… Read More

Tetris review — The fun’s in the game play

April 10, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Jon S Baird | Written by Noah Pink | 118 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Apple TV+ With his collaborators, Haligonian screenwriter and filmmaker Noah Pink has delivered a surprisingly entertaining tale of the backstory of Tetris, the Russian-designed video game that's spent more than 30 years consuming the work and extracurricular time of… Read More

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

Empire of Light review — A flawed but gorgeous film

December 28, 2022 flawintheiris

Empire Of Light | Written and Directed by Sam Mendes | 119 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Crave A version of this review appeared on FITI in September from the Toronto International Film Festival Here's another semi-autobiographical drama from a garlanded filmmaker, following Belfast and The Fabelmans, both of which were lovely and intimate, if not… Read More

The Wonder review — See it for Flo

November 19, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Sebastián Lelio | Written by Lelio and Alice Birch, based on a novel by Emma Donoghue | 103 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Netflix A version of this review was posted on FITI during the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Just as Florence Pugh's Don't Worry Darling scene partner Harry Styles has a less… Read More

The Banshees of Inisherin, The Wonder reviews, #TIFF22

September 15, 2022 flawintheiris

A couple of Ireland-shot period movies today, both of which feature old houses burning down. Otherwise, they're quite different. The Banshees of Inisherin | Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh | 109 min I learned today that Inisherin, the island where this yarn is set, is fictional. It was shot in Inishmore, the largest of… Read More

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Empire Of Light reviews #TIFF22

September 14, 2022 flawintheiris

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery | Written and Directed by Rian Johnson | 139 min One of 2019's unalloyed treasures, Knives Out brought ensemble mysteries in an Agatha Christie vein very much back into the mainstream, with a delightful dollop of eating the rich. No shade on Kenneth Branagh's efforts to do the same… Read More

#FIN2021 Reviews — The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Mothering Sunday

September 24, 2021 flawintheiris

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Directed by Will Sharpe | Written by Sharpe and Simon Stephenson | 111 min | Amazon Prime Not that we needed any further confirmation, but Benedict Cumberbatch is really good at portraying eccentric real-life period Brits, from Alan Turing to Thomas Edison to Greville Wynne. It's certainly not… Read More

First Cow review — Meditative western explores male friendship

July 21, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Kelly Reichardt | Written by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond, from Raymond's novel | 122 min | Crave Plus Reichardt makes lyrical, gentle films about human connection, like a cinematic equivalent to folk music, which when her films are period-set, might be described as Americana. I've conjured that comparison while, admittedly, having only seen… Read More