Monthly Archives: November 2024

Movie Review: Dumb action gets dumber, “Get Fast”

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Stupid is as stupid does,” and stupid’s entirely the point of “Get Fast,” a dumber-than-dumb action pic that sets out to prove how much movie you can make with pretty much no script at all. Catch-phrases and stock characters, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: Dumb action gets dumber, “Get Fast”

Netflixable? Elliot Page stars in a Transgender Homecoming — “Close to You”

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Roger Moore

The Canadian drama “Close to You” is a quiet, contemplative and yet deflatingly unsurprising homecoming story about an unhappy, maladjusted daughter who returns to his former home and former life after gender reassignment treatment. It stars the transgender actor Elliot … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Movie Preview: Aging and about to be unemployed, Pamela Anderson is “The Last Showgirl”

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Roger Moore

Gia Coppola directed, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista and Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis co-star. This “final performance” Vegas showgirl tale has vulnerability and a little cachet, with Anderson back from the dead and a decent supporting cast. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Preview: Aging and about to be unemployed, Pamela Anderson is “The Last Showgirl”

Movie Preview: Zambian family ponders life and death and old secrets — “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Roger Moore

Writer-director Rungano Nyoni took a top prize for this quirky drama that immerses us in a Zambian family, it’s secrets and suspicions and superstitions and funeral rituals. Mar. 7, from A24.

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Preview: Zambian family ponders life and death and old secrets — “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”

Movie Review: A French “Robin Hood” robber enjoys “Freedom,” between heists and prison time

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Roger Moore

The ambitiously titled “Freedom” is a heist picture that makes more promises than it keeps. The latest feature from actress turned director Mélanie Laurent (“Now You See Me,” “The Flood”) sets up as a French Robin Hood tale of an … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: A French “Robin Hood” robber enjoys “Freedom,” between heists and prison time

Movie Preview: Ben Stiller hits the upstaged-by-kids “Holiday Comedy” stage of his career —  “Nutcrackers”

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Roger Moore

Everything in this trailer moans “Tired” and “played.” Linda Cardinelli co stars in this “fostering little monsters” comedy. This looks like something our lad Ben might have been in 30 years ago. Nov. 29 on Hulu.

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Preview: Ben Stiller hits the upstaged-by-kids “Holiday Comedy” stage of his career —  “Nutcrackers”

Classic Film Review: Hitchcock becomes “Hitch” — “The 39 Steps” (1935)

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Roger Moore

While he was alive, critics had little trouble finding ways to discount Alfred Hitchcock’s genius and underrate his later decades of entertaining, bubbly and even chilling thrillers. Because that generation of reviewers remembered “The 39 Steps.” This 1935 romp of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Hitchcock becomes “Hitch” — “The 39 Steps” (1935)

Movie Preview: Steve Coogan learns from his tuxedo’d pal — “The Penguin Lessons”

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

A true story, an Englishman transplanted in clip crazed 1970s Argentina and a little Jonathan Pryce on the side? This played at the Toronto Film Fest this fall, and Lionsgate cannot wait to release it.

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Preview: Steve Coogan learns from his tuxedo’d pal — “The Penguin Lessons”

Movie Preview: Rami Malek is “The Amateur” Out to Kill His Wife’s Murderers

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

Laurence Fishburne, Julianne Nicholson, Rachel Brosnahan and Jon Bernthal are among the supporting players in this “cryptoanalyst turned assassin/agent” thriller. April 11.

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Preview: Rami Malek is “The Amateur” Out to Kill His Wife’s Murderers

Documentary Review: “Billy Preston — That’s the Way God Planned It”

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

Whenever Ringo Starr is asked about the pianist/organist, singer and “fifth Beatle” Billy Preston, “He never put his hands in the wrong place” is his highest compliment. One music producer who worked with the two-time Grammy winner marveled at Preston’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Documentary Review: “Billy Preston — That’s the Way God Planned It”