Monthly Archives: December 2016

When you title your horror movie “Abattoir” you’re building in certain…expectations. Lots of blood, for starters. And while there’s plenty of it in this adaptation of a comic book, there isn’t exactly a slaughterhouse full of it. Director Darren Lynn … Continue reading →

His chewy supporting role as a has-been fight trainer in “Bleed for This” had us hoping that we’d seen the last of Aaron Eckhart slumming in horror’s “Poverty Row” productions. But no. “I Frankenstein” was but one paycheck picture. “Incarnate” … Continue reading →

The late mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith has long been a Hollywood favorite. Her novels became such cinema classics as “Strangers on a Train,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (and French film “Purple Noon”), “The Two Faces of January” and “Carol.” She … Continue reading →

There’s probably not a whole lot the car crowd will learn from a documentary about the history and allure of the VW Beetle. But there are fresh facts and dollops of charm in Damon Ristou’s “The Bug: Life and Times … Continue reading →

Disney’s “Moana” only has Disney’s “Frozen” for ready comparison, as far as holiday animated blockbusters go, and it’s besting that Pixar-busting smash by 22% thus far in its run, according to Deadline.com.  The Polynesian “Moana” is over $122 million after … Continue reading →

The Critics Choice Awards may not count for a lot in and of themselves. But the nation’s movie critics do a fair job of dilineating the Oscar field, a month before Oscar nominations come out. So here they are. I … Continue reading →

Perhaps we — ok I — have been too hasty to write off 2016 at the movies. Sure, the dead stretches have been corpse-strewn, but a year that started with “Deadpool” can’t be a total write-off, can it? The exceptional … Continue reading →

“Lion” is a survival epic, a poor child’s odyssey through the impersonal poverty and perils of modern India. But thanks to the miracle of modern technology and the magic of movie memory, it’s the feel-good movie of the holidays. It’s … Continue reading →