Author Archives: Roger Moore

There’s a reason one hears little about the screen comedy of Germany, and it becomes obvious in the last two hours and forty minutes of “Toni Erdmann,” Germany’s contender for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards. … Continue reading →

A sheep dog abandons the family business — protecting the flocks of his Tibetan village — to seek fame and power chords in the Big City in “Rock Dog,” a Chinese cartoon based on a Chinese comic book. How do … Continue reading →

“Culture clash” is an over-familiar trope of the movies, having fun with the differences between peoples. Culture connection is a rarer bird, showing how the timeless dramas and comedies of literature speak universal truths. “The Salesman,” Iran’s Best Foreign Language … Continue reading →

The warning is a just a joke between brothers. But since the “brothers”  aren’t actually siblings, it’s loaded with racial bite and edge. “Don’t GO to a white girl’s parents’ house!” Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is successful NYC photographer, and Rod … Continue reading →

I think of American auteur Terrence Malick as Lucy, holding that football in front of Charlie Brown (us). Over and over again. Since the onanistic and over-rated “Tree of Life,” I’ve given up on him. Even “Thin Red Line,” which … Continue reading →

The working title of “Punching Henry” was “Still Punching the Clown.” Because we’ve been down this bemused, bittersweet road with Henry Phillips before. “Punching the Clown” (2010) was a semi-autobiographical riff on stand-up comedy’s “singer, songwriter, troubadour extraordinaire” Henry Phillips, … Continue reading →

“The LEGO Batman Movie” and “Fifty Shades Darker” continue their late winter box office dominance, scooping up all the business that “The Great Wall,” “A Cure for Wellness” and “Fist Fight” were supposed to collect. “LEGO” adds another $33 million, … Continue reading →

They’ve never let James Bond age. Not really. Batman gets replaced almost constantly. Spider-Man? Don’t get me started. But there is but one Wolverine — Hugh Jackman  — and kudos to Fox and Marvel for letting the best of the X-Men make … Continue reading →

For “The Red Turtle,” Dutch animator Michael Dudok de Wit conjured up a romantic fantasy about a cast-away who angrily bludgeons and kills a red sea turtle, only to fall in love with the redheaded woman who pops out of … Continue reading →

“Fist Fight” offers us Charlie Day in a leading role in all his screeching glory. And who the hell wants to see that? Or hear it? It’s “Bad Teacher” meets “Three O’Clock High,” an “edgy” comedy about an anarchically dysfunctional … Continue reading →