Author Archives: Roger Moore

Literary devices and constructions don’t always translate easily to the screen. And the current screenwriter obsession with making many a script play out in “chapters,” denoted in pointlessly distracting onscreen graphics, is one of the clunkiest. Even when you’re adapting … Continue reading →

“This Sporting Life” sets up as a formulaic hardscrabble “rise and fall of a sports hero” drama, the tale of a miner who gets his first taste of success and the “good life” of the English upper classes via stardom … Continue reading →

At this point in Dreamworks’ “Trolls” enterprise, the adult thing to say is “Just give the kids what they want.” “Trolls Band Together” has a few chuckles, an inane plot and an NSYNC reunion to top off another sing-along-with-the-living-toys comedy … Continue reading →

When it’s good, “Journey to Bethlehem,” the latest faith-based film to take a shot at The Nativity Story, is playful and fun with actors who figure their characters are a bit campy, and vamp accordingly. It’s a musical with plenty … Continue reading →

So this is Netflix’s much ballyhoo’d David Fincher thriller, a film reuniting the acclaimed director with the screenwriter who wrote his breakout film, “Se7en?” It’s a hitman tale, beginning with a stalk and a job that finally happens and goes … Continue reading →

The great Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba takes an unusual route to investigating, remembering and immortalizing a Brazilian “samba jaza” and boss nova pianist in “They Shot the Piano Player.” He turned his search for answers about the talent, life and … Continue reading →

“Resident Evil: Death Island” continues the migration of this long-running video-game adaptation/series to the CGI universe. It’s a continuation of the storyline of the bio-weapon zombie series “Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness,” and judging from the clips of that 2020-2021 CGI … Continue reading →

“Poor Things” is a deliriously deranged comedy about one woman’s journey from suicidal despair to liberation, thanks to her discovery of the orgasmic pleasures of “furious jumping,” aka “sexual intercourse” done right. Yorgos Lanthimos, the most successful and mainstream avante … Continue reading →

Director Alexander Payne and star Paul Giamatti go “home” for the holidays with the warm, acerbic but sentimental “The Holdovers,” a picture that hits a lot of the same notes of their greatest collaboration, “Sideways.” It’s a sweet but slight … Continue reading →

“Forever Young” is yet another “speculative fiction” tale that takes senior citizens for a dainty dip in the Fountain of Youth. It’s a somber, downbeat drama in which the familiar themes about how old age is “earned” and how some … Continue reading →