Monthly Archives: March 2019

Movie Review: “Storm Boy” updates an Australian classic

A beloved Australian tale about a boy, his pelican and preserving and respecting nature earns a sympathetic new telling in “Storm Boy,” which could be called a remake, a reboot and a sequel all at once. Colin Thiele’s novel was … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Tim Burton’s “Dumbo” lacks the magic touch

Gloom and doom hang over Tim Burton’s live-action (ish) remake of “Dumbo,” a classic in the Disney cartoon canon. You knew from the source material and the trailers to this remake that he was going for a sweet, sentimental fable, … Continue reading →

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Preview: What have they DONE to “Dora the Explorer,” in “Dora and the Lost City of Gold?”

There’s almost certainly market research backing up Nickelodeon/Universal’s decision to put “Dora the Explorer” in high school, strip the “boots” off “Boots” — her digital monkey pal, and generally “Tomb Raider” the daylights out of this adorable pre-tween character, her … Continue reading →

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Next screening? Disney’s “Dumbo”

Yeah, looking forward to this one. Tim Burton’s hit or miss recent track record be darned.

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Movie Review: “Pet Graveyard” is a creepy kitty horror tale without Stephen King stigma

I say, not very sporting, wot wot? Calling your movie “Pet Graveyard” when it has nothing to do with pets, and barely visits the graveyard, or as the neighborhood kids misspelled it to Stephen King, “Sematary?” That’s not cricket. But … Continue reading →

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Preview: A dancer son seeks Dad’s belated approval in the Indian drama “His Father’s Voice”

This Indian melodrama and dance fantasia opens April 19. The trailer doesn’t give much away, save for the dance, the setting and the fact that “His Father’s Voice” is in English.  

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Movie Review: Bullied Italian makes us sympathize with the “Dogman”

They still eat spaghetti in Italia. And they still make Westerns, though not like in the old “spaghetti Western” days — not with horses, six guns and Sergio Leone theme songs. “Dogman” is a grim to the point of bleak … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Olivia Wilde shows her vengeful side as “A Vigilante”

She gets the life-threatening menace across, just with a glare. As the actress making this threat, in the guise of abused-woman turned avenger, is that skinny slip of a thing Olivia Wilde, that glare had better be lethal. And in … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: McGovern is still in “Downton” wear, if not “Downton” role as “The Chaperone” to Flapper Haley Lu

The pitch has a hint of “madcap” about it. A teenage spitfire and future rebellious movie starlet goes to New York at 16, accompanied by an older and over-matched chaperone. But even though “The Chaperone” is coming to theaters, it’s … Continue reading →

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Next screening? Elizabeth McGovern, “The Chaperone,” tries to guard a young flapper’s virtue

PBS is putting this in theaters at the end of March. It looks very…PBS. “Downton Abbey Lite,” maybe?A quid pro quo to bring McGovern back for a last blast of the Abbey? It’s lovely that she’s found an era that … Continue reading →

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