Monthly Archives: June 2025

Netflixable? Brazilians look for Grandma in Israel — “Cheers to Life” (“Vida a Vida”)

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Roger Moore

You can see, hear and feel the strain in the Brazilian comedy “Cheers to Life (Vida a Vida),” the great effort expended to achieve “cute.” It’s sweet enough, and sweetly sentimental. But for a “finding your (living) roots” story that … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: A Mother, Her Widow and Her Estranged Son Ghost Story — “Went Up the Hill”

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Roger Moore

Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery star in this New Zealand-set thriller, playing two mourning souls haunted by the ghost of his mother/her wife. It premiered last fall, and now it’s heading for release/streaming, etc. in the rest of the world, … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: One crawling conceptual joke — a “Spaceballs 2” sequel?

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Roger Moore

Uh, Mel Brooks — who turns 99 June 28th — announcing a new “Spaceballs” movie…in 2027? No sense waiting around, I guess. A script? A Rick Moranis appearance? Bill Pullman? (Yes and yes, apparently). Mel himself? (Of course). He’s also … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Oz-accented horror — “The Banished”

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Roger Moore

Meg Eloise-Clarke stars as a sister who figures out going camping in search of her (Cult joining/dead?) brother just isn’t a good idea in this one. Brainstorm landed this title, not seeing a release date as of the moment.

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Movie Review: Mating Rituals of “Materialists” leave Little Room for Romance

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Roger Moore

There’s a bracing cynicism to “Materialists,” the latest anti-rom-com from the writer-director of “Past Lives,” Celine Song. “Dating is a risk,” her heroine, the professional matchmaker Lucy declares. And marriage? “Marriage is a business deal. And it always has been.” … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A B-Western with a Couple of A-Listers, Brosnan and Jackson and “The Unholy Trinity”

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Roger Moore

Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson seem delighted at the prospect of filming a B-Western together in “The Unholy Trinity,” a mediocre genre piece with the occasional entertaining sequence or moment. Well, I’m pretty sure they share the frame together … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: To be Pretty, Young and Italian, Figuring It Out at “Diciannove”

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Roger Moore

Giovanni Tortorici’s “Diciannove” is a dreamy, drifting odyssey into a time in youth when one discovers the meaning of “the world’s your oyster.” It’s about a young Italian with choices at an age when you know it all and you … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review: A Young Woman “Prime Minister” steers New Zealand Through its Darkest Hours

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Roger Moore

There’s cold comfort for American and international audiences taking in “Prime Minister,” a new documentary about New Zealand’s first female prime minister, the woman who led the country through a horrific mass shooting hate crime, a volcanic erruption, COVID and … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Scientific Couple leaves “Our Times” (Nuestros Tiempos) for a More Diverse and Progressive Future

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Roger Moore

Time seems to stand still in the Mexican dramedy/romance “Our Times.” Lacking urgency and slow-footed in the extreme, its 90 minutes crawl by as it laboriously makes its points about the sweeping changes in relations between the sexes in culture … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Titus Welliver takes on Joe Hill’s “Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story”

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Roger Moore

Last Christmas’s “Nosferatu” remake was a Gothic Robert Eggers creep fest hit. So now there’s a mad dash to see who else can get THEIR version of a vampire tale in front of audiences, with Luc Besson’s “Dracula: A Love … Continue reading →

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