Monthly Archives: November 2015

A 52%+ fall-off on its second weekend isn’t enough to keep “Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” from winning another weekend at the box office. It should manage upper $40s, when the weekend is tallied, about $70 since Wed., when the … Continue reading →

Viewers in the indie film loop will recognize “The Wannabe,” actor-turned-director Nick Sandow’s new mob drama, as telling the same story as the dizzier, sexier “Rob the Mob.” Both are based on the life of Tommy Uva, a delusional young … Continue reading →

At the very beginning of my professional reviewing career, I joked that Sly Stallone needed to finish up this “Rocky” series now — before “Rocky IV” became “Rocky Needs an I.V.” And damned if that wasn’t prophetic. It’s amazing how … Continue reading →

A father’s encouragement to his late-blooming son lies at the heart of Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur.” “You’re me, and more,” Daddy dinosaur (the voice of Jeffrey Wright) tells his chicken-livered offspring, Arlo (Raymond Ochoa). Arlo, we know, will have to … Continue reading →

Dry as a martini and as perfectly composed as a Christmas card, “Carol” is is the gay “Far From Heaven,” if that’s not redundant, another tale of “forbidden love” amid the polished Packards and crisp fashion lines of the 1950s. … Continue reading →

“You know this story,” the sidekick soon-to-be-known as Igor narrates. Lightning, corpses, “a mad genius.” But what if you didn’t? You know, “know the story”? “Victor Frankenstein” is a madcap mashup of three stories — at least as they’re traditionally … Continue reading →

“Brooklyn” is a sentimental Irish immigrant melodrama that’s in many ways every bit as generic as its title. A young Irish woman “with nothing FOR me” over there, comes over here. There’s a weepy mum and sister in Ireland, a … Continue reading →

You won’t find The Barkley’s Marathons listed online in any of those Outside/Outside Times magazine compilations of the “world’s toughest ultramarathons.” It isn’t held in the Moroccan desert, above the Arctic Circle or in Death Valley. There’s no “Canyon to … Continue reading →

Director Amy Berg managed to land all the “big gets” she needed for her documentary, “Janis: Little Girl Blue.” She got interviews with Kris Kristofferson, and the surviving bandmates from Janis Joplin’s three-band career. There are surviving boyfriends, including “Country” … Continue reading →

I told you it sucked. Word of mouth may be working against, the lingering bad taste of “Mockingjay Part 1” may have filmgoers leery. And then there’s the matter of the audience aging and perhaps maturing out of the YA … Continue reading →