Yearly Archives: 2013

Movie Review: Thompson and Hanks seem Oscar bound in the sublime “Saving Mr. Banks”

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Roger Moore

It’s a Hollywood legend that Walt Disney felt some sort of malevolent glee in killing Bambi’s mom, and what that animated death would do to the children who saw it. But that’s only a legend.P.L. Travers, the woman who wrote … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug”

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Roger Moore

Bilbo turns tougher and more cunning and “The Hobbit” turns altogether more entertaining in “The Desolation of Smaug,” Peter Jackson’s livelier, funnier and action-packed middle film in his trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s slight delight of a novel.It looks more … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: “Jupiter Ascending,” Wachowski’s “comeback?”

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Roger Moore

“The Matrix” siblings haven’t had an unqualified success in the years since — an embarrassing “Speed Racer” sell-out, and “Cloud Atlas” was an aesthetic and box office misfire. So they’ve hung their hopes on sci-fi resurrection on this story of … Continue reading →

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Today’s screenings, “Mandela” and “Desolation of Smaug”

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Roger Moore

It’s a Mandela and Middle Earth Monday. The Nelson Mandela bio-pic starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris opened in VERY limited release a week or two back. Blew up the box office in South Africa. Didn’t make much of a … Continue reading →

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Next Interview: Questions for Margo Martindale?

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Roger Moore

I first noticed her as the bartender/cynical mother confessor to Paul Newman in the comedy “Nobody’s Fool.” And Margo Martindale’s been making a big impression ever since. Like her fellow Actor’s Theatre of Louisville pal KAthy Bates, Martindale has found … Continue reading →

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Weekend Movies: Poor reviews for “Furnace,” great reviews for “Llewyn Davis”

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Roger Moore

It’s not cleaning up at the early awards presentations, so the acclaim for “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the Coen Brothers’ brooding, dark comedy set in the early 1960s folk music scene of Greenwich Village, hasn’t been rapturous or universal. But reviews … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Bettie Page Reveals All”

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Roger Moore

In posters, comic books and in “girlie magazines,” hers was a truly iconic image — jet black hair, bangs, and a beaming, accessible smile that said “girl next door” even if those nude or semi-nude poses screamed “BAD girl next … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Night Train to Lisbon”

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Roger Moore

An aged professor stops a young woman from leaping off a Swiss bridge. She disappears, leaving behind only her bright red coat and a moving, poetic, 40 year old book — in Portuguese. Thus begins “Night Train to Lisbon,” an … Continue reading →

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Next Screening: “Anchor Man 2”

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Roger Moore

That darned Will Ferrell is showing up EVERYwhere to promote this movie. A sign of desperation? Hype in Overdrive? So I think I’ll track down Steve Carrell for an interview instead. This, the second trailer to the X-mas release, has … Continue reading →

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Movie Nation: “Out of the Furnace”

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Roger Moore

Memories of “The Deer Hunter” creep in long before the deer hunt in “Out of the Furnace.” Co-writer/director Scott Cooper’s ambitious, impressionistic and confused ode to steel belt machismo, code, family and revenge. Cooper’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Crazy Heart” … Continue reading →

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