Search the IR archives
IR Film Review: THE 355 [Universal]
The texture of a female led action film should not be considered an unbalanced affair and "The 355" proves that. From the first time this journalist heard a couple years ago around Cannes that Jessica Chastain was trying to bring kick ass women from all over the globe for a spy thriller, it was an instant sell.
IR Film Review: THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH [A24/Apple TV+]
The essence of Shakespeare reflects in seeing an essence of truth beneath the structure but also finding something in brevity. With "The Tragedy Of Macbeth", the players are fantastic, the production stylized but the approach is finite simply because of its essence.
IR Film Review: THE MATRIX - RESURRECTIONS [Warner Bros]
The trigger point of "The Matrix" has always been what is reality and what are we? There was also a dexterity of approach that mirrored both with an intensity and with a coldness. There are some ideas in "The Matrix: Resurrections" that are quite undeniable but it doesn'‘t push it to the nth degree.
IR Film Review: NIGHTMARE ALLEY [Searchlight]
Guillermo De Toro has always worked in the macabre but normally always works within the context of folklore. With "Nightmare Alley", his context is a little different. Granted this is a remake in most ways of the Tyrone Powers film from the 40s but it does take on some resonance today. It is more a character piece on the corruption of power from a perspective that is both Darwinian but also Machiavellian in way.
IR Film Review: MOTHER/ANDROID [Hulu]
The aspect of survival in a crushing world where hope takes on an idea of simply existing can be a bleak place. "Mother/Android" (which is not the most compelling title but also the film is difficult to compartmentalize) is a family drama film but taken from a science fiction context.
IR Film Review: HOUSE OF GUCCI [MGM]
"House Of Gucci" feels like a TV movie made with big name stars. If Scott was to do excess, the game could have been stepped up. Every actor in a way seems to be making a different movie but with each having moments of brilliance but never quite taking on that essence.
IR Film Review: RESIDENT EVIL - WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY [Screen Gems]
This entry "Welcome To Raccoon City" reintroduces characters we do know in a different way more in tune with the haunted house motif before later bringing in recognizable elements of the original franchise. The movie is a different beast but still regaled at times by bad characterization.
IR Film Review: GHOSTBUSTERS - AFTERLIFE [Sony]
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is an admirable try and actually throws certain degrees of texture to the wind while others are closely followed. The movie pays homage and explains the aspect of how the myth of the Ghostbusters in the 80s was built up and why it waned. However then some of the characters take severe perspectives of truth.
IR Film Review: TICK TICK BOOM [Netflix]
Here Jonathan Larson gets the biopic treatment in a specific way in that Lin Manuel Miranda directs his story and semi adaption of the play "Tic Tic Boom" in an interesting meld of vignettes that sometimes hit hard but are, at the same times, jarring. What is utterly apparent is the magnificent and transformative performance of Andrew Garfield as Larson.