Monthly Archives: November 2024

“Carmina Burana” as a Ballet, because critics can’t live on Cinema Alone

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

Just caught an extraordinary performance of the epic Carl Orff cantata, music often repurposed in film scores, danced by the Carolina Ballet with grand accompaniment by the huge North Carolina Master Chorale, an eight piece ensemble and a flawless tech … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: “My Dead Friend Zoe” is among the vets in group therapy with Morgan Freeman

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

Natalie Morales has the title role, with Sonequa Martin-Green as the former comrade-in-arms who sees dead people. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris bring the gravitas. A “cute” combat trauma tale? Feb 28, we find out if that works.

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Movie Review: Kirkland Fan and would-be filmmaker makes the trek to “Sallywood”

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

A film buff meets his Hollywood idol and wins his dream job working for her in “Sallywood,” a lighthearted indie lampoon of show business, showbiz “types” and the indignities of “I used to be famous.” Sally Kirkland got her start … Continue reading →

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BOX OFFICE: “Wicked” opens wicked fierce, “Gladiator II” clears $55

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

I joked on social media that I was catching a Thursday preview of “Wicked” with a cinema full of “high school theater kids.” There were certainly a lot more of them — chatting, endorsing the Arianda Grande ole’ time — … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Spartacus” III, “Gladiator II”

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Roger Moore

Epic-scale filmmaker Ridley Scott turns 87 on November 30. It’s safe to assume that, like Clint Eastwood, Scorsese, Almodovar or Bigelow, any film he makes could be his last. But Scott’s still carrying on as if he has no laurels … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Wicked” girlfriend, you’ve put on an awful lot of weight

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Wicked” moves from the Broadway stage to the cinema, an epic that transitions from “musical” to “intellectual property” in a bloated, lumbering, gear-grinding crash. Whatever Disney or most any other producing studio might have done to this beloved prequel to … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: To be Young and Distractingly hot on the Sunny Coast of Italy in the summer — “Partenope”

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Roger Moore

She is a siren, literal or figurative. And the men? They must swoon, because nature or the supernatural has ordained it so. Celeste Dalla Porta has the title role. Gary Oldman’s the geezer who has to pretend he’s not interested … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Black Boy’s Odyssey through the London “Blitz”

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Roger Moore

A single photo in Britain’s Imperial War Museum — a mixed-race child snapped as he joined the sea of children being evacuated from a British city early in World War II — inspired the brilliant writer-director Steve McQueen’s “Blitz,” a … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? A Transgender Telenovela with Tunes — “Emilia Pérez”

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Emilia Pérez” is bold and daring musical treatment of subjects most often covered in telenovelas — Mexican soap operas — and in crime series such as “Queen of the South.” It’s about a Mexican cartel boss who decides to change … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Another live action remake nobody asked for…save for the accountants — “How to Train your Dragon”

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Roger Moore

And you thought “Red One” was ill advised.

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