Monthly Archives: May 2016

New “Top Gear” becomes, uh, “Matt Gear”?

They didn’t change enough of the show’s format — which had sagged along with Jeremy Clarkson’s jowls and loose-fit jeans — to avoid direct comparison. Chris Evans, sort of the bastard Michael Caine glasses-wearing child of Roddy McDowell and Ron … Continue reading

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Box Office: “X-Men” cool off to $78, “Alice” dives

Call it word of mouth, call it blowback from the photos circulating on the web of Amber Heard’s black eye, allegedly at the hands of “Alice Through the Looking Glass” star Johnny Depp, but something happened between Thursday night and … Continue reading

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Box Office: “X-Men” x-out $82, “Alice” looking at $40

“X-Men: Apocalypse” is headed to a healthy Memorial Day opening weekend based on Thursday night/Friday numbers. It’ll have $68 million tallied by Sunday, $82 million by midnight Monday, per Deadline.com.  That’s in line with expectations. Word of mouth won’t cool it … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “The Phenom”

“The Phenom” is a sensitive, unconventional baseball tale rendered in the muted tones of dread, a young player’s fear of letting everyone down. It’s about a rookie pitcher (Johnny Simmons) trying and failing to cope with the pressures of a … Continue reading

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Weekend Movies: Will bad reviews beat down “X-Men”, “Alice”?

A sequel and a franchise finale opened late Thursday. But bad reviews greeted “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” And weak ones are waving in front of “X-Men: Apocalypse.” So will what looked like a blockbuster weekend, on paper, best a … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Me Before You”

With her Angry Birds eyebrows and toothpaste advert grin, Emilia Clarke can lay claim to the most animated face this side of Jim Carrey. And she animates it, boy does she work it, in the romantic tragi-comedy “Me Before You.” … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “The Man Who Knew Infinity”

“The Man Who Knew Infinity” is a standard-issue, overcoming-the-odds bio-pic. The hero must rise above poverty, a lack of education, racism and cultural guilt to reach the pinnacle in his field. The twist here is that this time, our hero … Continue reading

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“The Infiltrator” features Bryan Cranston and one other “Seinfeld” veteran

Can you find him? There’s Benjamin Bratt and Amy Ryan and Diane Krueger and John Leguizamo, co-starring with hot-property Bryan C., onetime dentist and Jewish convert Tim Whatley. On “Seinfeld.” “The Infiltrator” looks gritty and ’80s drug trade generic, save … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “My Father’s Vietnam”

Personal, first-person documentaries often walk a fine line between illuminating and indulgent. And Vietnam War films, especially documentaries, were a played-out genre twenty years ago. But Soren Sorensen’s “My Father’s Vietnam” manages to be both personal and informative, a memoir … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Alice Through the Looking Glass”

Oh, Alice, we’re not in Wonderland anymore. Not so much, anyway. That cheeky screenwriter Linda Woolverton (“Maleficent,” “The Lion King”) has stripped all the wonder out of it. And “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” which has precious little to do … Continue reading

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