Tag Archives: Tom Hanks

The Phoenician Scheme review — Fresh artifice from Wes Anderson

June 16, 2025 flawintheiris

Directed by Wes Anderson | Written by Anderson and Roman Coppola | 101 min | ▲▲ By my count this is the third of Wes Anderson's current chapter, this particular stage in his hyper-formal, hyper-art designed films eschewing locations outside a studio. It started with The French Dispatch. I felt alienated by that film, but… Read More

Freaky Tales review — Wildly fun ’80s grindhouse tribute

April 9, 2025 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck | 106 min | ▲▲▲▲ Did you know there was a new Pedro Pascal movie in cinemas? Until a day or so ago, I didn't, and I do this semi-professionally. This picture is from a pair of veteran filmmakers who had a huge hit with their… Read More

Here (2024) review — Make America Fake Again

November 1, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Written by Zemeckis and Eric Roth, based on a graphic novel by Richard McGuire | 104 min | ▲△△△△ | Amazon Prime I guess I shouldn't be surprised Here is a powerfully retrograde, deeply hokey bit of entertainment — it was made by the director and screenwriter of Forrest Gump,… Read More

Asteroid City review — Wes Anderson’s boxes in boxes

June 24, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Wes Anderson | Written by Anderson and Roman Coppola | 105 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Netflix If you go back to my review of Anderson Feature #10, The French Dispatch, you'll see it left me a little confused. I appreciated its very Andersonian qualities — art directed within an inch of its life,… Read More

A Man Called Otto review — Grumpy Hanks picture charms despite itself

February 3, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Marc Forster | Written by David Magee, based on the book A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and the film A Man Called Ove written and directed by Hannes Holm | 126 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Crave The Swedish film from 2016, A Man Called Ove, was a bit of a surprise.… Read More

Elvis review — The King is dead. Avoid the Counterfeit King.

June 26, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Baz Luhrmann | Written by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner | 159 min | ▲△△△△ A musical biopic of Elvis Presley suggests the real promise of fleshing out what was a mythical American tragedy where a gifted and charismatic performer, despite all his success, never found lasting happiness. I was… Read More

Finch review — Tom Hanks as The Last Man on Earth

January 30, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Miguel Sapochnik | Written by Craig Luck and Ivor Powell | 115 min | Apple TV+ | ▲▲▲△△ Finch is a throwback to a sub-genre of post-apocalyptic movies that saw its zenith of popularity in the 1970s, pictures like The Omega Man, and A Boy And His Dog. They illustrate a Last Man on… Read More

News Of The World review — Hanks brings patented ease to western tale

January 28, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Paul Greengrass | Written by Greengrass and Luke Davies, based on the novel by Paulette Jiles | 118 min | Crave Plus Paul Greengrass is best known as the English director of docudramas and thrillers, like the Tom Hanks starrer, Captain Phillips. On News Of The World he once again pairs with Hanks, who's playing… Read More

Greyhound review — Wartime thriller delivers cracking suspense

July 13, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Aaron Schneider | Written by Tom Hanks, based on the novel, The Good Shepherd, by CS Forester | 91 mins | Apple TV Plus Lets talk about where we are with CGI in 2020 for a second. For your average fantasy blockbuster a good FX house can deliver enough support to make us… Read More

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood review — It’s a beautiful movie

November 24, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Marielle Heller | Written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster | 108 min | Netflix I often wonder when I see biopics, whether a documentary on the same subject wouldn't be more emotionally engaging. Occasionally you can make the direct comparison: I watched the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic, On The Basis Of Sex,… Read More