Author Archives: Roger Moore

After a decade when the only person to take her seriously was Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson seems to have found her groove of late, with the new actioner “Lucy” as further confirmation of her niche. She’s been a poker-faced Russian … Continue reading →

You can sense a John le Carre spy novel adaptation, often before his name turns up in the credits. The hero’s cynicism at war with his skepticism, the professionalism at war with personal demons — in the spy master’s gloomy, … Continue reading →

Director Mike Cahill has spent a lot of time, the past couple of years, thinking about coincidences, “big ideas” and the human eye. “There’s magic in real life,” the director of “Another Earth” says. “I’ve had more coincidences than any … Continue reading →

Here’s the shot — one of several — that director, franchise-reviver J.J. Abrams posted from the new “Star Wars” film set. OK, it’s full sized, it looks pretty much exactly like the ones Lucas & Co. introduced. Been the “Star … Continue reading →

There’s something about a good spy novel that says “fall,” and the best films in that genre reflect this. The skies are overcast, a sort of pale gun-metal grey. Everything is rain and shadows, all the better for skulking about … Continue reading →

  The Alamo Drafthouse down Austin way has long had a way with PSAs asking patrons to STFU or face the consequences. Here’s Richard Linklater, the Godfather of Austin’s slackers and indie film scene, giving advice on how to deal … Continue reading →

  Rare is the weekend when every single new movie opening carries no bragging rights or “fresh” ratings on Rottentomatoes or passing grades on Metacritic. I liked “Wish I Was Here” more than most. Here’s a movie being criticized for … Continue reading →

The clever conceit behind James DeMonaco’s 2013 sleeper hit “The Purge” was not that American society had resolved its crime/inequality/population problems with an annual free-pass-for-murder “purge.” It was that this hell night came home to roost on isolated, gated suburbanites, … Continue reading →

The unholy bond between religion and politics is the background for “Persecuted,” a confused and confusing thriller about a TV preacher ruined by a sinister government plot.Written and directed by Daniel Lusko, who has Christian documentaries among his credits, and … Continue reading →

　 “Sex Tape” is not quite the train wreck its TV ads make it out to be. Which turns out to be the good news as far as this last and least of the big R-rated comedies of summer goes. … Continue reading →