Author Archives: Roger Moore

One doesn’t get a sense that enough was spent on hiring a tasty mob-connected villain for this Feb. 23 release. But the setting and the set-up have time-proven potential. The tone of “The Bad Shepherd” seems just right. Money’s power … Continue reading →

There are a lot of reasons seasoned critics and cinephiles still hold onto the 1970s as Hollywood’s true “Golden Age.” They’re the touchstone decade built on a string of benchmark classics which we rightly measure all the films that followed … Continue reading →

“Popular Theory” is a limp effort to reclaim the comic possibilities of “child genius” from TV (“Young Sheldon”) that makes one wish they’d just left this genre to the boob tube. It’s about a high school upperclasswoman who is all … Continue reading →

Sequel to a viral “Winnie’s in the public domain, let’s do a horror riff on it” straight-to-video production. No word on the release date for this bloody-minded bear yet.

The late historian David McCullough told me something once in an interview that I’ve applied to most every historical drama I’ve reviewed ever since. “The people living through” historical events, McCullough noted, “don’t know how any of this will turn … Continue reading →

The fights are furious enough, but the script for the Vietnamese martial arts thriller “The Foggy Mountain” (Dinh Mu Suong) is as weary a collection of cliches, trite tropes and recycled Eastern “wisdom” as one could imagine. And having seen … Continue reading →

Rudy Pankow has the title role in this oil patch comedy, which also stars Bruce Dern. Looks good, and that combo has comic promise. Love that THC. March 8.

One reason that funny filmmakers obsesses about “pacing” is their knowledge that, slow-burn comedies aside, speed overcomes many a sin when it comes to generating laughs. You never go far wrong, comically, when everything in your play/movie/sitcom happens at a … Continue reading →

Laugh-out loud moments pepper the fight scenes and random child-mishandling moments of “Bogeyman,” an Egyptian action farce that serves as a star vehicle for veteran character actor Amir Karara. Bearded, burly and in on the joke, Karara (of “Mousa”) is … Continue reading →

Dirk Bogarde makes a devilishly vile, eyebrow-arching villain in “Cast a Dark Shadow,” a tasty tale in that most British of genres, the murder mystery. Not that there’s much “mystery” to who our murderer is. But as dastardly as Mr. … Continue reading →