Author Archives: Roger Moore

Unknown's avatar

About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine

Classic Film Review: Frankenheimer and Peck learn what Johnny Cash meant when he sang “I Walk the Line” (1970)

The last time I interviewed screen legend Gregory Peck, I had the temerity to ask if there were any “regrets” among his 58 on screen credits. He didn’t hesitate. “McKenna’s Gold,” he said. Something about the unpleasant ensemble experience, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Frankenheimer and Peck learn what Johnny Cash meant when he sang “I Walk the Line” (1970)

Netflixable? Will this union be saved, or savaged by “The Marriage App?”

“The Marriage App” is an Argentine rom-com — in Spanish with subtitles, or dubbed into English — about the Great Mystery of Marriage, or as the writer Tom Robbins once put it, “how to make love stay.” Rocio Blanco’s script … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Netflixable? Will this union be saved, or savaged by “The Marriage App?”

Movie Review: A Neapolitan Thespian in Winter — “King of Laughter”

“The King of Laughter,” director and co-writer Mario Martone’s screen biography of the comic actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta, finishes with a flourish. Late in life, the famed parodist, played by Toni Servillo, is in court, defending himself against charges … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Review: A Neapolitan Thespian in Winter — “King of Laughter”

Movie Review: “Pistolera” shoots nothing but blanks

Critics use the phrase “instantly awful” to describe bad movies entirely too often and far too cavalierly. For that, please accept my heartfelt mea culpa. We should all reserve “instantly awful” for C-movie garbage like “Pistolera,” an underworld vengeance thriller … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Review: “Pistolera” shoots nothing but blanks

Movie Review: Del Toro puts pathos and politics into his “Pinocchio”

Guillermo del Toro is not here to protect your tiny tykes from the grim realities of the big bad world. Like Walt Disney before him, he acknowledges the dangers and tragedies of life, and that life itself is fleeting. Wars … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Review: Del Toro puts pathos and politics into his “Pinocchio”

Movie Review: Disney revives a franchise via animation — “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again”

The animation’s slightly better than TV’s current state of the art, but the screenplay is strictly “Scooby-doo” for Disney’s latest former 20th Century Fox franchise revival, “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again.” I guess with the Disney+ “Diary of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Review: Disney revives a franchise via animation — “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again”

Movie preview: Christian Bale visits Edgar Allan Poe at West Point — “The Pale Blue Eye”

The inventor of the detective story has already been featured in a film about his West Point career this year. But this Scott Cooper adaptation of a modern novel about bloody goings on at the U.S. Military Academy in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie preview: Christian Bale visits Edgar Allan Poe at West Point — “The Pale Blue Eye”

Movie Review: Chile’s Oscar hopes are pinned on an abuse survivor named “Blanquita”

Father Manuel is used to the lashing out, the blind, disruptive rages that can turn into riots at the shelter he runs. These are damaged kids, and often he’s “the only one in this world who gives a damn about” … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Review: Chile’s Oscar hopes are pinned on an abuse survivor named “Blanquita”

Netflixable? Rich folks get bowled over by a “Christmas Full of Grace”

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Netflix offering some wacky riff on the holidays from Brazil. This year, it’s semi-amusing rom-com built around the comedienne/influencer Gkay, aka Gessica Kayane. In “Christmas Full of Grace,” the bubbly, curvaceous Kayane plays an unfiltered, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Netflixable? Rich folks get bowled over by a “Christmas Full of Grace”

Movie Review: “Women Talking” and debating what to do about Men and their “War on Women”

“Women Talking” is a parable about feminine power. Framed as a heated debate in search of a resolution of what women can do about men and their age-old “war on women,” controlling, abusing and silencing them, Sarah Polley’s film is … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Comments Off on Movie Review: “Women Talking” and debating what to do about Men and their “War on Women”