Monthly Archives: February 2018

Preview: “Skyscraper” doesn’t make the best use of Dwayne Johnson

At least, that’s what this trailer suggests. A Summer “Die Hard” knockoff. With kids. And a hero with an artificial leg.

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Movie Review: “Dear Dictator” may be the strangest comedy of Michael Caine’s long career

Major style points to the makers of “Dear Dictator” for finding, sixty-plus years and 150 or so credits into his career, something truly different for Sir Michael Caine to play. A Castro-like Caribbean communist dictator? No, he doesn’t do a … Continue reading

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Movie Preview: “Solo”

These back-engineered “Star Wars” movies seem to have more promise than whatever direction Disney is taking the main post-Skywalker storyline. To me, at least. Back engineering Harrison Ford? Trickier. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” has an interesting cast, familiar action … Continue reading

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Movie Preview — “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”

More dinosaurs, the hint of “science” creating a “new” species, even deadlier, more Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, more young folks in peril. And Toby Jones. But no…Jeff…Goldblum.  

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“Mission Impossible: Fallout” — the First Trailer

No, Tom Cruise is not getting “too old for this s—.” Alec Baldwin, Angela Bassett, Ving, Simon…yeah. Henry Cavill as a villain? I buy it.

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Netflixable? “From Hollywood to Rose”

When “Ishtar,” one of the most expensive comedies ever made and a flop, to boot, came out, Dustin Hoffman defended it by saying this. “A baby doesn’t know how rich his parents are!” How much a movie cost can hinder … Continue reading

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Uma Thurman unloads on Weinstein, Tarantino — in the New York Times.

Reporters tried to get Uma Thurman to talk about Harvey Weinstein and the whole Miramax Sexual Assaultworks last fall, when all this stuff came out. But no. Ms. Thurman would not bite. The seething “No comment” didn’t mean she wouldn’t … Continue reading

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Box Office: Bad Reviews beat down “Winchester,” might “Jumanji” win Super Bowl Weekend?

When I got my ticket for “Winchester” Thursday night at the Regal Winter Park Village 20, long established as Orlando’s finest movie complex, I was hardly an audience of one. The film’s first showing played to about a one third … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “The Female Brain”

If you want to get your romantic comedy in front of the camera, you need a hook, a conceit that will sell it. It takes an experienced filmmaker, and a brave one, to abandon a treasured conceit when it becomes … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Stuck in the deep blue sea in “The Chamber”

There are hard and fast rules to submarine thrillers. A gauge — any gauge — has to stick and somebody has to tap it to get it to work. Everybody thinks it, but SOMEbody’s got to actually say “I’m not … Continue reading

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