Author Archives: Roger Moore

One thing you could never accuse Michael Winterbottom of is sentimentalism. The British director of “Welcome to Sarejevo,” “24 Hour Party People,” “A Mighty Heart,” and those hilarious “The Trip” movies with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon specializes in dramas … Continue reading →

Clint Bentley’s debut feature film is an elegiac tribute to the lonely, dangerous and tenuous life of a jockey. Filmed in “magic hour” glow, with almost every scene a beautifully backlit postcard, “Jockey” makes a fine star vehicle for one … Continue reading →

Justice in a controlling, secretive, theocratic oligarchy can be a slippery thing, and is every bit as fraught as one fears in “Photocopier,” a tightrope-walking thriller from Indonesia. It’s a film that gives an almost nodding assent to the Muslim … Continue reading →

When it comes to breakout feature films, heart, spirit and novelty, aka “freshness” trumps almost everything else. Show us a world that most of us have had no entre to, populate it with colorful characters and try to err on … Continue reading →

 Nobody sets out to make cinematic pablum as bland as “The Royal Treatment.” Then again, as there are entire TV channels devoted to edge-free “meet a prince” female wish-fulfillment fare, maybe they do. Apparently, Netflix is getting into that … Continue reading →

So what does the sanctuary-set thriller “Confession” have that makes it stand out other movies with the same setting and similar “Father, I have sinned” messaging? Aside from being the longest 80 minutes of your January, 2022 movie-watching month? Stephen … Continue reading →

In the ’70s, city kids across America got the jump on the rest of us by falling into “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and discovering Meat Loaf ahead of the curve. On the screen, Marvin Lee Aday lights up that … Continue reading →

Anyone who grew up during the first Cold War remembers “Duck and Cover” drills, the “Domino Theory,” the proven-accurate warnings of communist enslavement and the Red Baiting by a political party that would later come to embrace minoritarian rule and … Continue reading →

It happens so fast, so abruptly, that we’re almost as rattled and surprised as the character it happens to. Officer Mike Tan’s department-issued pistol goes off as he draws it out of its holster. He wasn’t pointing it, wasn’t in … Continue reading →

A dramatic romance with twists, the picture has the A24 seal of approval. This Feb. 11 release gives us an Apple option for our Valentine’s Day viewing. Looks complicated.