Author Archives: Roger Moore

“Fame” doesn’t mean what it used to. And that’s just hard for a “talented, really pretty” small-town girl named Katelyn (Meredith Hagner) to accept. I mean, she’s already got her conversation with “Ellen” worked out, the “recording” she has set … Continue reading →

Two Indian-American filmmakers peel back the horrors of “arranged marriage” in their native culture in their incendiary new documentary, “A Suitable Girl.” Not really. Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra probably glanced over their shoulders back at the divorce-happy USA, which they … Continue reading →

Mila Kunis is the half of that Mila/Ashton couple that still has a big screen career. Kate McKinnon? She’s the star, the glue who holds “Saturday Night Live” together.” Lots of shots at movies, this one is the first that … Continue reading →

As I said in my review of Universal’s “150 million worth of stupid,” it’s not really for the North American market. Like Universal’s “Great Wall,” there’s a shift in the cultural locus of both “Pacific Rim” movies. Whoever the “name” … Continue reading →

A Westernized Amsterdam teen struggles with her Muslim identity in “Layla M.,” the Dutch submission for Oscar contention in 2016. It’s a movie that squares off the pressure to assimilate with the teenage need to rebel as Layla, vividly portrayed … Continue reading →

“Flock of Four” is a clumsily-titled but warm and likable amble through the 1950s LA jazz scene. Co-writer director Gregory Caruso conjures up a lightly amusing quest comedy that finds its edge in the subject of race, its warmth in … Continue reading →

A conventional coming-of-age-while-poor narrative serves up plenty of unconventional twists in “Lean on Pete,” a dusty, downbeat tale set on the margins of horse racing. That’s a world 15 year-old Charley (Charlie Plummer) discovers one summer day while strolling past … Continue reading →

A “Jackass” take on the sort of old school Southern amusement park (not, um, OSHA compliant) with Johnny Knoxville in grandfatherly make up — at least for part of it. No, it’s not “Bad Grandpa,” but it is slapstick of … Continue reading →

Yes, there’s another “Black Panther” box office record, the one for highest domestic gross ever for a Marvel movie. It will have earned over $630 million by the time the totals are tallied Sunday night. But “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” even … Continue reading →

Apparently, in the future, getting your hands on good hot sauce is like having cigarettes in prison. The currency of the day. Even in Chinese future “Pacific Rim” films imagine and embrace. Would never have recognized the stuff, as I … Continue reading →