Monthly Archives: August 2025

Classic Film Review: Seminal Cinema — The Exquisite “Ju Dou” (1990) is Restored

Posted on August 31, 2025 by Roger Moore

The “Fifth Generation” of alumni of China’s Beijing Film Academy first made their marks at home and abroad with two ’80s films — Chen Kaige’s “Yellow Earth”(1984) and Zhang Yimou’s “Red Sorghum” (1988). The color in their titles was a … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Britain’s Best Join or are Pursued by “The Thursday Murder’s Club”

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Roger Moore

It’s not the silliest idea ever, taking “The Only Murders in the Building” and making the building Downton Abbey. “The Thursday Murders Club” is a lighthearted bit of senior sleuthing that takes a prime cut of Britain’s best and most … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Junkie’s Daughters Conspire about “What We Hide”

Posted on August 27, 2025 by Roger Moore

“What We Hide” is an engaging but unsurprising melodrama about a broken family and one teen daughter’s desperate, extralegal efforts to salvage what’s left. Their addict mother has died. And rather than “let them separate us,” teen Spider (Mckenna Grace) … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: No Sleep for the “Restless,” but What About Revenge?

Posted on August 26, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Restless” is a spare, reasonably taut thriller of the “Neighbor from Hell” subgenre, the sort of movie most any member of Western or Eastern Civilization can relate to. Writer-director Jed Hart serves up a little suspense and a few surprises … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Hitchcock winds the “Ticking Clock” — “Sabotage”(1936)

Posted on August 26, 2025 by Roger Moore

Alfred Hitchcock polished his anecdote about how to become “The Master of Suspense” over the decades, refining his definition of “the ticking clock” thriller to the “bomb under the table” analogy he related for a TV interview very late in … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “The Last Ronin” wanders Futuristic Russia looking for Bullets

Posted on August 25, 2025 by Roger Moore

“The Last Ronin” is a derivative, dull and exeptionally slow martial arts variation of the Hero Wanders the Wasteland quest that we’ve seen in scores of martial arts sagas, Westerns and sci-fi over the centuries. A man of violence meets … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Turkish ex-con is an “Abandoned Man” until his Niece Comes Along

Posted on August 25, 2025 by Roger Moore

An embittered ex-convict finds new purpose in his life when he’s forced to care for his adoring and adorable pre-school niece in “Abandoned Man.” This Around the World with Netflix melodrama is an Istanbul tale that never quite rises to … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Saget’s Farewell, “Daniel’s Gotta Die”

Posted on August 24, 2025 by Roger Moore

Bob Saget’s last movie was mercifully slow making its way to its widest possible audience. The beloved “Full House” dad and adorably potty-mouthed stand-up comic died in 2022, in Orlando. As bad luck would further have it, his last movie … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review: Not just a band, but Prophets Warning of a Grim, Dumb American Future — “Devo”

Posted on August 23, 2025 by Roger Moore

Some kids dug the beat and found it “easy to dance to….” just so long as you knew The Robot. The cool kids loved the performance art kitsch of it all, groups of five dressing up in yellow ponchos or … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Post WWI Germans learn there’s no recreating “Eden”

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Roger Moore

The setting is forbidding, the political parable heavy-handed and human nature “inevitable” in “Eden,” Ron Howard’s dip into real history for a sociology lesson that can apply to today. It’s an all-star rendering of a true story of Germans who … Continue reading →

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