Monthly Archives: August 2014

Movie Review: Too many laughs are lost in translation in “Cantinflas”

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Roger Moore

The iconic Mexican comic actor Cantinflas warrants a more amusing bio-pic than “Cantinflas” gives him. A historically interesting story is painted in broad, colorless strokes, alternating as it does between soap opera and slapstick. And the comic stuff, built both … Continue reading →

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Labor Day Box Office: “Guardians” by a mile, “As Above” cracks top five, “Let’s Be Cops” hits $60

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Roger Moore

The long Labor Day weekend may bring an inglorious end to a desultory summer at the box office. But “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which became the biggest grossing film of 2014 (passing “Captain America” sequel and “The Lego Movie”), has … Continue reading →

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Today’s screening: “Cantinflas”

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Roger Moore

Pantelion Films is the Spanish language arm of Lionsgate, best known for distributing “Casa de Mi Padre, Will Ferrell’s Mexican vamp. With “Cantinflas,” they’ve picked up a bio-pic of the Mexican Charlie Chaplin, the great comic of the 1940s-60s best … Continue reading →

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Box Office: “Guardians” wins final weekend, and the summer…the worst summer since ’97

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Roger Moore

Much has been made about “Guardians of the Galaxy” failing to reach $300 million at the US box office this summer. But that’s merely a consequence of marketing. If it had opened a week earlier, it might have hit $300 … Continue reading →

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Summer goes out with a whimper, a weekend full of newly-released dogs

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Roger Moore

“As Above, So Below” takes forever to go below. It takes even longer to attempt to be scary. A tale of catacombs and the creatures one might find down there, it’s mostly an “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” or … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “As Above, So Below” is a real shaky-camera headache

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Roger Moore

They’re going to have to start issuing licenses to all these filmmakers who insist on shooting their movies in the shaky-cam “found footage” format. Maybe have the “Blair Witch” guys and Oren “Paranormal” Pelli sign those licenses. Because something needs … Continue reading →

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Tonight’s screening: “As Above So Below”

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Roger Moore

Well, they’re showing it after print deadlines, after the last minute and in some sort of effort to control the buzz “As Above So Below” generates. Which generally means POS. The trailer is reasonably compelling — pretty young British “urban … Continue reading →

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Next Screening: ’50s-70s pop mirrored in the tale of “The Identical”

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Roger Moore

  Blake Rayne is the ’50s rocker followed into his Elvis-on-the-toilet dotage in this period piece about rock, then and now. Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta and Seth Green also show up. “The Identical” opens Sept. 5.

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Movie Review: Dakota Fanning, miscast again in “The Last of Robin Hood”

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Roger Moore

A Kevin Kline performance in a role he was born to play is pretty much wasted in “The Last of Robin Hood,” a tepidly sordid account of screen swashbuckler Errol Flynn’s last love affair with an underage girl, and his … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The “Real” Judy Greer speaks up in “I Don’t Know What You Know Me From”

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Roger Moore

Judy Greer was born Judith Therese Evans in Detroit in 1975, and is quick to point out how long the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) had her middle name incorrect in its extensive listing of her career and credits. And there … Continue reading →

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