Author Archives: Roger Moore

“Fingernails” is a romantic curiosity with a touch of sci-fi, a film that puts The Observer Effect in a human relationships context. That’s the physics phenomenon/theory that you change something merely by the act of studying or “observing” it. This … Continue reading →

That critic’s rule that you’ve got to meet every film on something resembling its own terms in order to give it a fair shot gets a severe test with “Love Virtually,” an indie action rom/com that’s part live-action, part CGI … Continue reading →

There’s something disturbing about the way Eisenberg bulks up and does a whole testonery turn — like his alter ego Mark Zuckerberg — in this part. Zuck, the “Social Network” inventor, went through that and took walking potatocake Elon Musk’s … Continue reading →

As it closes in on 100 years since the Spanish Civil War, Spanish cinema is still debating the conflict, its lasting scars and the Catholic Church’s role in it — as victim of “leftist” reprisals, or as an authoritarian religion … Continue reading →

The easiest “tell” when you’re trying to figure out if what you’re watching is a B-movie or something further down the action budget alphabet is in the effects. How do the gunshots look and sound? How realistic is the bloody … Continue reading →

I think it’s safe to lay credit…or blame for this kid-friendly comedy at the feet of Keke Palmer. She hosted “SNL” and if memory serves, she not only inspired the sketch below, she’s the one who pushed for a little … Continue reading →

You have never seen Sandra Oh like this. The “Sideways/Killing Eve/The Same Storm” dramatic star has given us a dose of deadpan, here and there. But in “Quiz Lady,” she vamps through a ditzy, unfiltered and comically mercurial turn as … Continue reading →

What a shock to the British system the satire “The Admirable Crichton” must have been when it premiered on stage in 1902. Written by J.M. Barrie, the Scottish novelist and playwright who had himself quite a year in 1902 — … Continue reading →

The Spanish thriller “Viejos,” aka “The Elderly,” is a creepy, doom-laden sci-fi parable that doesn’t quite close the deal, a film of slow-building suspense whose climax lacks the clarity of intent and the level of terror in the performances to … Continue reading →

Foul-mouthed Olivia and fouler-mouthed Jessie. A period piece about profane postal espistles that piss off…scandalize a quaint corner of Britannia. Looks nasty, and funny.