Author Archives: Roger Moore

“House of Deadly Secrets” gives the world, at long last, a haunted house movie for the HGTV Age — a house flipping that goes terribly, horrifically wrong. Maggie and Ava are mother and daughter who move into this lovely Arts … Continue reading →

Taron Egerton and Emma Roberts and Ansel Elgort are the stars, young “Greed is good” hustlers in the Go Go ’80s of LA. But it’s Spacey, bewigged and wicked, who got this one pulled from theatrical release and onto Amazon … Continue reading →

The image that stopped me in my tracks in this trailer wasn’t the alarming “possession” makeup — which is scary in its own right. It’s the presence of Michael Ironside. Horror filmmakers are very sentimental about hiring their idols, be … Continue reading →

    In “Death of a Nation,” Dinesh D’Souza laments the end of the “American Experiment,” brought low by racism, xenophobia, unlimited Koch Brothers money and gerrymandering, finally embracing its deplorable “Id” by putting a racist Russian puppet in the White House. … Continue reading →

Sometimes, you have to re-visit the Internet Movie Database just to be sure whether Uwe Boll has made good on his latest promise/threat to retire. Because disciples and acolytes of the Worst Director of Our Times (Sorry, Tommy Wiseau) are … Continue reading →

A solitary, bloodied old man, fleeing across the desert flats who suddenly stops, resigned to his fate. A rifle shot, punched through his right eye, finishes him off. “Happy Hunting” is a thriller built around such spare, fraught images, under-played … Continue reading →

Google Orlando’s Bloom’s name these past few years, and you’d get an eyeful of naked paddle boarding shots, notices of who he’s dating and a countdown clock for “how long it lasts.” Katy Perry, Kate Bosworth, Penelope Cruz, Selena Gomez (!?) … Continue reading →

There’s a lot to be said for a 78 minute romantic comedy. These things aren’t complicated, despite Hollywood’s poor batting average with the genre. Cute couple, cute banter, “how we met” bits, obstacles to their love parked at strategic points, … Continue reading →

It’s Sydney 1959 in this Bruce Beresford film of the Madeleine St. John novel, and the various “department store women” face differing futures, but futures constricted by the “No girl’a MOYN is goin’ t’UNIVERSITY” times, and Australia’s lingering provincial reputation … Continue reading →

  A troubled child finds her life’s purpose, if not necessarily solace, spending the summer on a relative’s farm in “The Swan,” a disquieting coming-of-age drama from Iceland. Icelandic filmmaker Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir uses images, melancholy reveries and the voice-over narration … Continue reading →