Monthly Archives: September 2014

Those who made the new movie “The Good Lie,” screenwriter Margaret Nagle’s fictionalized account of what many Sudanese “Lost Boys” went through to get to America, figure there’s a timeliness to its history. It’s not just about 1980s East Africa … Continue reading →

Simon Bolivar had traits from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Napoleon, all in one titanic personality. Born to wealth, he came to champion equal rights for all South Americans. A military dilettante, he fought in over 100 … Continue reading →

It says something about us as a culture that the moment that provokes gasps of shock in “Men, Women & Children” comes when a media-paranoid mother deletes text messages from her teenage daughter’s phone. We’re shocked at this parental betrayal, … Continue reading →

Seeing this one in prep for an interview with the title character. I remember interviews with Michael Keaton in the ’90s as being singularly unpleasant. He made people cry. Not me, but other journalists. It was all because of where … Continue reading →

As I have said several places and at several times, Laika’s animated offerings are, to a one — hard sells. Let’s hope so, because the very fine “Boxtrolls” will need a healthy month long run to overcome a weak ($17.2 … Continue reading →

Reviews for “The Liberator,” or “Libertador,” the ambitious Latin American film that tries to tell the story of Simon Bolivar, the general and statesman often called the “George Washington of South America,” have been more respectful than enthusiastic. “The man … Continue reading →

The telling day for any kids’ cartoon is the Saturday take, opening weekend, at the box office. It’s a full day when parents take their kids to the movies, and estimates from outfits like Deadline.com are always low, coming in … Continue reading →

Somehow, the culture has twisted the hunt for happiness into a need to travel…the world. Maybe that’s just Hollywood shorthand, but every Walter Mitty seems to think that “the answer” lies in an effort to “Eat, Pray, Love” your way … Continue reading →

There’s something about stop motion 3D animation — the not-quite-real textures of skin and hair, the quite real cloth and metal, the subtle gloomy lighting effects — that says “spooky.” All the best animated films with a hint of Halloween … Continue reading →

“The Equalizer” serves up Denzel Washington at his coolest. Eyes weary with experience but still taking it all in, skull shaved to hide the advancing years, he still carries himself with that feline stride — the greatest, most masculine movie … Continue reading →