Monthly Archives: April 2016

The Brazilian soccer star Pele’ is, by consensus, the greatest to ever play the sport he dubbed “the beautiful game.” Charismatic, playful, a guy whose joy on the pitch is obvious even in archival footage of his glory days, he … Continue reading →

Pretty good parody, plainly they “get” the movies. Thus, does “Saturday Night Live” get the “God’s Not Dead” guys right where it hurts. In the mockery bone.

Seriously flummoxed by the laudatory reviews for the overloaded, stagey/preachy most-laughs-miss “message” comedy “Barbershop: The Next Cut.” It’s an almost two hour sermon, with characters marching onto center stage, doing their “bit,” then sauntering off. Badly directed, Common can’t play … Continue reading →

I love Richard Linklater’s movies. He and I are contemporaries, both Southerners and film buffs, so I’m pretty much his target audience. He should have won the best director Oscar for “Boyhood.” But his new film, “Everybody Wants Some!!,” while … Continue reading →

Look at that face. Kind of Toby Jones meets Aldo Ray on Cellblock 9, right? That’s character actor Neville Archambault. And if I tell you he plays the pervert/lead in a movie about a creep who installs hidden cameras all … Continue reading →

Jake Gyllenhaal makes some interesting movie choices, doesn’t he? You don’t see him in ensemble pictures (“Everest”) often. He leans towards the idiocentric and the Jake-centric. He’ll occasionally pair up with another “name” for a “Prisoners” or “Southpaw.” But lately, … Continue reading →

“Criminal” is a Kevin Costner vehicle. But he can wait. Let’s say a little prayer of thanks for Ryan Reynolds first. It’s a sci-fi spy thriller that has the CIA (Gary Oldman, Alice Eve) order a scientist dabbling in memory … Continue reading →

The cast is too dolled-up and the titular “Barbershop” has become a shiny, unisex salon. So “scruffy” and “scrappy” no longer applies to Ice Cube’s comic franchise. But “Barbershop: The Next Cut” still has that patchwork, under-scripted feel, lurching from … Continue reading →

“Spunky” never dies. It just hides its liver spots, dons spinster glasses and never lets the strain that maintaining “perky”past retirement age show. Sally Field brings a bubbly, misdirected vitality to “Hello, My Name is Doris,” a cute better-late-than-never romance … Continue reading →

It’s derivative, it’s dark, it’s jokey and bloody. And it’s an August comic book movie release. So, “Guardians of the Galaxy” or…something less? Will Smith is the biggest name in it, re-teamed with Margot Robbie, it turns out. Jared Leto … Continue reading →