Author Archives: Roger Moore

“Forever” is a Swedish coming-of-age-in-soccer drama that breaks just enough of the conventions of the genre to feel new and novel. There is a third act “Big Game,” but is takes a back seat to the human drama playing out … Continue reading →

Before you write a script or even a plot, you have a “conceit,” and before you can make your movie, you have a “pitch.” And it’d better be a killer. That’s all “It’s a Wonderful Knife” is — a conceit … Continue reading →

There’s a corner of America that likes its murder mysteries convoluted and its detectives gathering all the suspects in a drawing room to go through them, one by one, in unmasking “The Real Killer.” But they probably wouldn’t appreciate the … Continue reading →

Eli Roth’s back to take more perverse pleasure in pain — his movies’ “victims,” and that of viewers laughing at the gore but grimacing at the cruelty — with a holiday treat titled “Thanksgiving.” At least with “Thanksgiving,” a splatter … Continue reading →

The world of “The Hunger Games” comes rushing back to you — well, sauntering back to you — not that long into “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” It’s been eight years since the “original trilogy” wrapped … Continue reading →

Orlandoans– some of us anyway — avoid “The Parks” for their traffic, the crowds, the long trips from parking deck to “park,” the prices and, as a local DJ’s hit single described, “God—-d Tourists.” But it’s rainy and gloomy. There’s … Continue reading →

Yes, this coming Turkey Day we’ll have a spree killing to be thankful for, one that stars Patrick Dempsey. “Thanksgiving” is next week, literally and cinematically. And that’s the trailer I’ve included below. “Hunger Games?” This prequel is starting in … Continue reading →

Our first glimpse of the “Maestro” almost takes one’s breath away. It’s an older Leonard Bernstein — tanned, weathered, familiar mop of unkempt white hair, omnipresent cigarette smoldering within reach, playing a somewhat atonal modern piece at the piano, his … Continue reading →

I’ve had a soft spot for Mexican cinema star, director and producer Eugenio Derbez ever since his North American breakthrough, playing a “Dad” out of his depth with a tiny kid in “Intructions Not Included.” His Hollywood-produced projects have been … Continue reading →

In his prime, the 1940s to the 1960s, Kirk Douglas only made a couple of films that would have tipped his fans that he was born Issur Herschelevitch Danielovitch, and that among the things his name-change brushed over was his … Continue reading →