Monthly Archives: November 2024

Movie Review: Spain’s Oscar hopes ride on “Saturn Return (Segundo Premio)” a bio pic of the indie band Los Planetas

Posted on November 30, 2024 by Roger Moore

You don’t have to know the history and love the music of Spanish indie rock icons Los Planetas (“The Planets”) to connect with the new bio-pic about these ’90s fixtures of Spanish “alternative rock.” But it helps. “Saturn Return” is … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Obsessed with hunting “sexual predators” — But who are the “Filthy Animals” here?

Posted on November 30, 2024 by Roger Moore

A favorite obsession of the wingnut right gets its own dark comedy about “punishing” predators, and makes us wonder what sort of person carries around such an obsession. Two “outlaws/predators” set out to hunt accused “predators” on Christmas Eve. Raymond … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Carney, Tomlin, Killings and a Missing Cat — “The Late Show” (1977)

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Roger Moore

The golden age of film noir — cynical, sinister and shadowy thrillers about crime and the unchanging nature of human criminality — was the 1940s and ’50s, when black and white cinema still ruled. The genre never really went away, … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: An Old West Sheriff sees Dead People — “Ghosts of Red Ridge”

Posted on November 28, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Ghosts of Red Ridge” is a low-budget Western that tries to be a ghost story. It’s not anything to write home about in either genre. There’s some nice lived-in detail in the locations, the dusty, dirty costumes and almost-colorful characters. … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Before they were Fab, The Beatles needed to meet “Midas Man”

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Roger Moore

This Brian Epstein bio pic stars Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Emily Watson, Eddie Marsan, Eddie Izzard and…Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan. The director did that misguided Eddie Izzard transgender “Doctor Jekyll” of last summer (in the US, 2023 in the UK). “Midas … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Santa’s helpers take it off — “The Merry Gentlemen”

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Roger Moore

Netflix’s conquest of “The Hallmark Holiday Movie” as a genre continues with “The Merry Gentlemen,” a snowy tale of Santa season stripping to save the family bar. These movies follow a fairly strict formula, and this one — scripted by … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Rhys Ifans lures Phoebe Dynevor into the family biz — spying — “Inheritance”

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Roger Moore

For anybody who’d been wondering what director Neil Burger (“The Illusionist,” “The Upside,” The Marsh King’s Daughter”) has coming up next (Jan. 24), here it is. “Inheritance” is a thriller about an aimless, grieving alcoholic daughter who’s just lost her … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Whigham and Coon, a Hitman and his “Victim,” may never get to “Lake George”

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Roger Moore

An ex-con is arm-twisted into solving “a little problem that needs to go away” — a mobster’s ex-girlfriend — in “Lake George,” a dark, dry and funny “hit-man” thriller where the “hit-man” keeps insisting “I don’t do that kind of … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Finnish Metalheads aim for more face-melting on a “Heavier Trip”

Posted on November 26, 2024 by Roger Moore

Well, Hell. Now I’ve got to go back and catch “Heavy Trip,” the Finnish metal band comedy from 2018, the movie that inspired “Heavier Trip.” “Heavy Trip” is on Tubi. Do your homework before catching the sequel in cinemas! It’s … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Looking for Lean Laughs from “Blithe Spirit” (1945)

Posted on November 26, 2024 by Roger Moore

The shifting sands of editor-turned-director David Lean‘s career took him through early adaptations of Noël Coward scripts, included some definitive adaptations of Charles Dickens and eventually settled on the sweeping epics which is he best known for today — “Bridge … Continue reading →

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