Author Archives: Roger Moore

At a key moment in the volcanic-theme-park-erupts thriller “Skyfire,” a young woman and her lover leave behind the Chinese SUV full of scientists and the park owner’s wife to see about the young woman’s grandfather just down the road. Exploding … Continue reading →

Breeding and bloodlines are sources of whimsy and trauma in “Rams,” a winning dramedy set in Australian sheep country. Sam Neill and Michael Caton play loners — feuding brothers Colin and Les — stuck on adjacent ranches, never speaking, bitter … Continue reading →

Soap operatic and silly, patriarchal and patriarchy-bashing, the Indonesian dramedy “100% Halal” plays like a commentary on living a rigidly “Islamic Law” life in 2021. Jastis Arimba begins by sending up traditional marriage and ends with an overwrought confession of … Continue reading →

You’ve been hearing about it for decades, the amateur musicians’ version of various sports “fantasy camps,” but for rock and roll fans. Pay $5000 (at first, now $5499, plus extras), jam and learn from your aged classic rock or metal … Continue reading →

That 2018 Taiwanese film about a cursed hanging rope has a sequel, “The Rope Curse 2,” and a whole lot more plot and ritual, and many many more characters, although a couple are holdovers from the original. Do you need … Continue reading →

Many movies, animated and otherwise, have been made about the events that inspired Alaska’s famed Iditarod sled dog race. Disney’s “Togo” is far and away the most factual of all the many movies about the 1925 Nome epidemic and “The … Continue reading →

Adding “Alaska” to most any screenplay brings with it the promise of quirky. The place and the people may be ruggedly rural, with more than a few “sourdoughs” believing themselves self-reliant — especially the state’s infamous remote cabin loners. A … Continue reading →

A French family tries to get back to Paris during the US Civil War, a long trek Western, in other words. End of Jan. release from Samuel Goldwyn.

Boy, did we need this one. “Herself” is an uplifting real world drama in classic weeper/wish-fulfillment fantasy clothes, a story of pluck and heart, violence and sadness. And if you ever needed a good cry… The latest film from the … Continue reading →

The sorts of screen comedies that “travel” well — that play well pretty much anywhere — are slapstick and slap-happy, quick with a gag and quick witted. The Spanish farces of Pedro Almodovar are hilarious around the world, for instance. … Continue reading →