Author Archives: Roger Moore

A Great American Play becomes a Great American Film with “Fences,” Denzel Washington’s letter-faithful adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece. Set in Wilson’s beloved Pittsburgh in the late 1950s, it’s about the African American diaspora, sons and daughters of … Continue reading →

If you didn’t love “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” as much as any eight year old, you plainly have lost the inner child Wes Anderson has made his living off of his entire career. So it’s great news that Anderson is … Continue reading →

Video game movie adaptations aren’t really my thing, and for decades, they haven’t proven to be Hollywood’s thing either. But throwing a couple of Oscar winners, along with Michael Fassbender and $130 million at “Assassin’s Creed” could have changed that. … Continue reading →

“Passengers” offers up such a spotless, pristine vision of our space traveling future that you might be tempted to book a flight. A gigantic, roomy and shiny space liner takes a crew of 250 or so and 5,000 paying clients … Continue reading →

There’s no way Harrison Ford could have guessed that any of the roles he took on in the late ’70s on into the ’80s would turn out to be iconic in their genres. Yeah, Indiana Jones had to feel like … Continue reading →

I’m such a huge fan of both of the McDonagh boys — playwright turned writer-director Martin (“In Bruges”, “Seven Psychopaths”) and his brother John Michael (“Calvary,” “The Guard”) that I’m willing to write-off “War on Everyone” as a pastiche that … Continue reading →

Yeah, everybody figured “Office Christmas Party” was the movie to be this weekend, right? Blockbuster in the offing. Nah. Will Smith’s latest Shamesless Grab for an Oscar? “Collateral Beauty” is the worst Will Smith opening is the worst Will Smith … Continue reading →

Another holiday weekend, another failed holiday feel-good pic. It’s “Collateral Beauty” this weekend, another craven Oscar craving crash-and-burn starring Will Smith. At the screening I attended, there were studio representatives reminding people that they’d need tissues. But there were no … Continue reading →

Movies, even fairy tale adaptations, have taken to coddling kids — fretting more about offending than worrying if they’re challenging. “A Monster Calls” upends some of that conventional focus-group wisdom. Here’s a child’s fantasy that is as amusing as it … Continue reading →

As “Miss Sloane,” Jessica Chastain wears blood-red lipstick over the palest of masks of makeup. Stiletto heels have never seem more aptly-named. Her dresses and stockings are in commanding shades of black. She rattles off long, discursive riffs about  her … Continue reading →