Author Archives: Roger Moore

Every few years, Disney likes to remind a new generation of fans that this global entertainment colossus was “all started by a mouse,” as founder Walt Disney used to say. “Mickey: The Story of a Mouse” is such a reminder, … Continue reading →

We love Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer. We all do, and I know I’m not speaking out of turn when I say “we” here. And that’s a big help when diving into the musical “Spirited,” a musical “Christmas … Continue reading →

The opening scene of “Wild is the Wind” is a routine traffic stop that is anything but routine. A sketchy-looking speeder has been pulled overon a lonely road somewhere on the Veldt. Two South African cops — one white, one … Continue reading →

“Byzantine” is the word we use to describe insanely-complicated and sometimes murderously murky political situations. But the literal back-stabbers of the Eastern Roman Empire had nothing on the mess that was Korean politics during South Korea’s dictatorships, coups and assassinations … Continue reading →

Back in the ’80s, I was helping my “sourdough” housemates set up for a poker game in a place I rented up Kodiak, Alaska way. And then “Breaking Away” came on the satellite dish TV. As I settled in to … Continue reading →

One takes on mind-reading duties when confronted by a moody but confused and generally chills-and-thrills-free horror film like “The Friendship Game.” However it came out, it’s often helpful to consider what they had in mind and what the filmmakers were … Continue reading →

Re-edited for a “director’s cut” or not, 1997’s “Going all the Way” is best appreciated as an all-star-from-before-they-were-big-stars artifact of ’90s cinema. It’s a post-Korean War period piece with a couple of future Oscar winners — Ben Affleck and Rachel … Continue reading →

Long before there was “mumblecore,” the sudden discovery that movies could be about conversation and almost nothing else, there was the theatrical “two hander.” Plays like “Night, Mother” and “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” and “True West” … Continue reading →

Perhaps I was too hasty to write off Renaults. Mais oui? It’s also pretty obvious France has found its answer to Jason Statham. His name’s Alban Lenoir. Did you see “Lost Bullet?” Yeah. That putain de mère, right there. I … Continue reading →

Life in the city wasn’t working for them, so the Hayes family pulled up stakes and moved to “the mountain.” Here, there’s no “job” for mom or dad, no bus ride to school for their two daughters. “We make the … Continue reading →