Author Archives: Roger Moore

“Wolf of Wall Street” opened strong on Wednesday, and is neck and neck with the almost-as-long “The Hobbit” sequel for the big prize on this year’s contested holiday box office race. “Smaug” appears to have collected a couple of hundred … Continue reading →

The oft-told Japanese tale of the “47 Ronin,” disgraced samurai who regained their honor by avenging their dead master and sacrificing themselves in the process earns an ignominious Keanu Reeves reconfiguring this holiday season. An endless recession, a tsunami and … Continue reading →

“Grudge Match” is a sort of “Punchy Old Men”, a slow-footed high-concept comedy that pairs up the screen’s greatest pugilists, circa 1981, for a few slaps and a few laughs. DeNiro and Stallone square off as aged boxers brought back … Continue reading →

A grim chapter in Navy SEALs history earns a heroic, no-punches-pulled accounting in “Lone Survivor,” an above average action outing for Mark Wahlberg & Co.Based on the true story of the ill-fated SEAL Team 10 and a mission that went … Continue reading →

“August: Osage County” travels from the stage to the screen with much of its theatricality intact. Too much. For all the scenic prairie panoramas and lived-in look of the big, rural Oklahoma house that is the setting, it still feels … Continue reading →

Leonardo DiCaprio’s most charismatic performance ever anchors Martin Scorsese’s robust and raunchy lowlifes-of-high-finance comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street.” This is their greatest teaming, a veritable “Citizen Kane” of the post “Greed is good” era — three hours of cocaine … Continue reading →

James Thurber‘s whimsical short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was about a bored, unassuming married man who escapes his humdrum life through wildly adventurous fantasies in which he becomes a war hero, a test pilot and the like. … Continue reading →

Unlucky 2013? Some weekends, it seemed that way at the movies.Big bad movies, cheap bad movies, ill-advisedly awful and ignominious efforts.Johnny Depp outstayed his welcome, Adam Sandler sucker punched his enabling fans one last time, Will Smith made a movie … Continue reading →

It’s a pretty close race for this weekend’s box office title, closer than one might have expected. But then, “The Hobbit” is a bit of an underperformer. And heaven knows, Will Ferrell & Co. have been selling the heck out … Continue reading →

Actors, as a rule, like to say that they “never judge” a character they’re playing, no matter how loathsome. Even villains, the logic goes, don’t look in the bathroom mirror in the morning, waxing the moustache they’re about to twirl … Continue reading →