Author Archives: Roger Moore

This one opens in Italy before it hits North America on Oct.1. Tim Blake Nelson in the title role? I’m there.

“HipBeat” opens with docudrama scenes of European protest and solemn voice-over narration. “No one is free if others are oppressed,” the aptly-named “Angy” (short for Angus) intones. We’re “being lied to…capitalism ruined democracy…These police, they’re only here to protect capitalism.” … Continue reading →

I’ve seen and reviewed a few Robinson Crusoes over the years. Aidan Quinn was in a good one, Pierce Brosnan did another. “The Wild Life” was a cartoon version that came out in 2016. Georges Melies made it one of … Continue reading →

“The Old Ways” is an intriguing Mexican twist on the exorcism thriller. It imagines a demonic possession diagnosed and treated in “the old ways” in a remote corner of the culture that’s more tribal than Spanish, more pagan than Catholic. … Continue reading →

Fun fact, “Vacation Friends” was set up as a comedy to star the then-married Anna Faris and Chris Pratt — back in 2014. Was that even its first incarnation? The point is, this pitch was funny enough to make the … Continue reading →

I got eight episodes into “Only Murders in the Building,” the comic mystery series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as aspiring “true crime” podcasters trying to solve a mysterious death in their New York apartment tower. That’s … Continue reading →

Shuya Chang stars in this violent, drugs-and-human-trafficking underworld thriller. It’s an Oct 29 release from Samuel Goldwyn and Roadside Attractions.

“Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt)” is so gossamer-light and cute that you don’t realize how good it is until it punches you, right in the heart. Monica Zanetti’s Aussie LGBTQ coming-of-age romance never lets us see her, or … Continue reading →

That’s some first-rate comedy casting right there. Throw in Justin Long, as the academic “nerd.” And because Justin Long and I guess his brother co-wrote and co-directed this. September 17, the catfight begins.

The triumph of Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” is the sense of occasion the director and her co-writer/producer Jordan Peele bring to this reboot. This is horror with grandeur, a movie that pays homage to history and feels so of-the-moment as to … Continue reading →