Author Archives: Roger Moore

“Downeast” is an indie thriller so simple as to be elemental. It’s about a small town under the thumb of a local gangster, a crime long-ago covered-up and heroin headed for Boston’s rough and ever-so-Italian “North End.” The setting, the … Continue reading →

A24 picked this up, it played at Cannes, and looks wonderful — an expansion of Kilmer’s recent breezy autobiography.

“Secret Magic Control Agency” is an animated comedy that works up its own “wizarding world” for a fanciful spin on alternate lives for fairytale siblings Hansel and Gretel. The animation is polished 3D/CG, with tactile, pliable plastic-looking humans and dogs, … Continue reading →

An old woman is tormented to death and her tormenters are lured into dialing her up in her grave as punishment in “The Call,” a thriller so derivative it gives “derivative” a bad name. It’s another “face your personal nightmares” … Continue reading →

You don’t have to be into the art rock/glam rock/proto-punk synth pop pranksters Sparks to get a kick out of “The Sparks Brothers,” the definitive documentary history that fanboy Edgar Wright created in their honor. The director of “Shaun of … Continue reading →

A trailer plus “explainer” bits. “Origin story” explained by Gemma Arterton, Ralph Fiennes, etc. Because you know, it’s been years since we’ve seen one of these. Djimon and Colin and the rest are finally in theaters Dec. 22.

Here’s one of the side benefits of spending a lifetime in journalism — learning to listen, paying attention to not just what people you’re interviewing say, but how they express it. And if you don’t stop at merely taking notes, … Continue reading →

July 16, prepare to be amazed. Chatty trees?

“Meander” is a tense torture porn parable about a tormented soul further tormented and tortured when she’s kidnapped and held hostage in the most elaborate hamster-maze ever conceived. If you let yourself get caught up in the logistics of how … Continue reading →

“Twee” is a seriously small target to aim for in a romantic comedy, a real “go twee or go home” gamble. And when you swing and miss? Ouchie. “Love Type D” is an ever-so-slight, daft but deflatingly-so Britcom that never … Continue reading →