Monthly Archives: December 2014

Movie Review: “Big Eyes”

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Roger Moore

Casting Amy Adams to star in “Big Eyes” is one of the great no-brainers in Hollywood history. Yes, the movie’s about Margaret Keane, the secret painter behind those “big-eyed waif” paintings and posters that dominated pop art of the pre-Andy … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “American Sniper”

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Roger Moore

The acting drops away from Bradley Cooper’s performance as “deadliest American sniper” Chris Kyle. Cooper bulked up, kept a pinch between his lower lip and his lower jaw and became a man of few drawled words, the perfect Clint Eastwood … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “After the Fall”

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Roger Moore

Wes Bentley may be more than just another generic hunk, more than a “Hunger Games” and “Ghost Rider” alumnus, more than just the scientist with the “red shirt role” in “Interstellar.” Not that “After the Fall” does much for his … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “The Gambler”

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Roger Moore

Mark Wahlberg takes on his most ambitious acting job ever in “The Gambler,” a gritty remake of a 1974 film that starred James Caan. And the new gambler doesn’t embarrass himself. Playing a college professor addicted to losing, digging a … Continue reading →

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Movie Review : “Into the Woods”

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Roger Moore

“Into the Woods,” the Stephen Sondheim fairy-tale musical that sent up every contrivance and cliche that The Brothers Grimm could cook up, earns a lush, grand and star-studded production for the big screen. Disney brought out and bought the big … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Unbroken”

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Roger Moore

Whatever else Angelina Jolie has been doing in her busy personal, professional and activist life, we can be sure she wasn’t spending it watching World War II prisoner-of-war movies. “Unbroken,” her film of Laura “Seabiscuit” Hillenbrand’s book about ex-Olympian Louis … Continue reading →

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Mark Wahlberg on gambling, “The Gambler” and the pardon

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Roger Moore

Mark Wahlberg plays a college professor with a near-suicidal addiction to gambling in his new film, “The Gambler.” While he knew moviegoers would have little trouble buying into him as a guy with an obsession for blackjack, the “day job” … Continue reading →

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Movie Review, “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb”

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Roger Moore

There’s a mildly amusing Pompeii gag midway through “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.” It involves a scale model toy Roman soldier (Steve Coogan) and his Old West cowboy pal (Owen Wilson) and a monkey in need of … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Goodbye to All That”

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Roger Moore

Character actor Paul Schneider earns a great showcase for his quirky brand of befuddled reserve in “Goodbye to All That,” an offbeat romance about sudden divorce, hiding in the past and “getting back out there” in a dating scene twisted … Continue reading →

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Movie Review, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Roger Moore

Peter Jackson’s “Just Give the People What They Want,” aka “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” sends this not-really-a-trilogy off in style. That means stuffing in everything the fans want, or that Jackson thinks the fans want out … Continue reading →

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