Author Archives: Roger Moore

The dying “Divergent” franchise, a cut-and-paste knock-off of “Hunger Games,” “The Giver,” and every other Young Adults save us from Dytopia book-movie, took in enough Friday to suggest it’ll manage a $30 million weekend. Despite the worst reviews of the … Continue reading →

One joke comedies rarely work, even when the one joke is “sex with a gymnast.” And even when that one joke, a pommel horse punchline long before “Seinfeld” rendered it the object of every man’s fantasy, is delivered by that … Continue reading →

Morgan Freeman and a lot of folks most of us won’t recognize star in this digitally-augmented remake of “A tale of the Christ,” “Ben-Hur.” Insane that Hollywood would remake it, but with CGI being what it is, you don’t have … Continue reading →

OK, it looks like “X-Men” for toddlers. But…Tim Burton! TIM BURTON! A couple of eye-popping bits to feast on, for sure.

“The Brothers Grimsby” is 83 minutes of excruciating, nauseating, boundary-pushing “comedy” that never for a second feels like it’s anything but visual evidence of the end of Sacha Baron Cohen’s comic leading-man career. And in a lame buddy picture, to … Continue reading →

It now being an established fact that these “Divergent” movies are a terrible, hackwork embarrassment to science fiction, YA films and action cinema in general, the time has come to fret over their real impact. Have they broken Shailene Woodley? … Continue reading →

A movie must stand on it own legs. If it must be explained by its filmmakers or propped up by our vivid, fill-in-the-missing-parts memories of a book, play or previous film it is based on, then somebody has fallen down … Continue reading →

As faith-based films go, “Miracles from Heaven” is a bit of a soft-sell. Faith is present and the faithful are tested — by bad fortune, by the medical establishment, by their fellow churchgoers. But when good things happen to a … Continue reading →

“Take Me to the River” is a quietly disturbing slice of Southern Gothic that isn’t Southern at all. It’s a Nebraska-California culture clash/sexual abuse story confined and contained in a single family, on a family farm over a reunion/birthday celebration … Continue reading →

The rise and fall of cyclist Lance Armstrong earns a brisk and surprisingly nuanced treatment from director Stephen Frears in “The Program.” The veteran Frears, of “The Queen”, “The Grifters,” “High Fidelity” and “Philomena,” finds the good and bad in … Continue reading →