Author Archives: Roger Moore

Sony didn’t preview “The Emoji Movie” for critics. They knew it was crap, though how they failed to figure that out from the first, stupid, cynical pitch is a mystery. I saw it at its first showing in Winter Park, … Continue reading →

Almost a millennium has passed since Medieval manuscripts codified a “lusty wench,” and Aubrey Plaza has become that archetype personified. Sleepy-eyed, foul-mouthed and carnality incarnate, whatever TV (“Legion,” “Parks & Rec”) has found for her to do, the movies (“Mike & … Continue reading →

  An animation braintrust put in the overtime, brainstorming brilliant bon mots, thinking outside the box and in dreaming up visuals to illustrate The Secret World of Cell Phones for “The Emoji Movie.” Nah, not really. They just took “Wreck-It … Continue reading →

Fresh insights are rare and dramatic moments rarer in Barbet Schroeder’s meditation on Germans forgiving themselves for the Holocaust, “Amnesia.” It’s an apologia with any hint of edge rubbed off, a soft and squishy drama that has so little to … Continue reading →

Is there a point to “Liza, Liza, Skies are Grey,” a coming-of-age tale that trots out every 1960s trope and cliche and treats each as if it’s a new discovery? The picture takes its title from a song Al Jolson … Continue reading →

d Hardcore fans might glean insights into the psyche of England’s iconic-ironic post-punk poet-singer fashion-political statement Morrissey from “England is Mine,” Mark Gill’s unauthorized bio-pic about Steven Patrick Morrissey’s formative years. The film has the glum, mopey vibe of depression … Continue reading →

With its adoring close-ups, lingering shots in the bath, repeated stripping and endless designer costume changes, “Atomic Blonde” plays like a vanity project for its producer-star, willowy model turned Oscar-winner Charlize Theron. There is no cell phone application for generating … Continue reading →

Yes, when his entry in the Big Book is written on college athlete turned Yale School of Drama character actor Raymond J. Barry, we’ll hear about “Training Day” — the movie and the TV series. There’ll be mention of “The … Continue reading →

It took seven weeks to do it, but “Wonder Woman,” holding onto more audience and more screens for a longer period of time, finally passed “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” to become the biggest hit of the summer cinema season. … Continue reading →

There are basically two types of “ex-con” pictures. You have the ex-con who wants to go straight, but “the life” pulls the convict back into old alliances, old habits and murderous practices (“Straight Time”). Or we’re shown a released-inmate dive … Continue reading →