Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Classic Film Review: Hitchcock’s first take on the dainty and deadly “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934)

Posted on November 25, 2024 by Roger Moore

The earliest signs that the filmmaker would one day to be branded as “The Master of Suspense” in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent classic “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog.” But it took the advent of sound, and several … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Denzel’s sons open up August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson”

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Roger Moore

Denzel Washington furthers his efforts to keep his promise to “do right by” the late, playwright August Wilson by producing another film of one of Wilson’s plays, this one he assigned to his sons, actor John David Washington to star … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: Ving Rhames is the trainer who can teach aspiring boxer Luiii the “Uppercut”

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Roger Moore

Jordan E. Cooper and Joanna Cassidy are also in the cast of this “Girlfight/Million Dollar Baby” drama. But who exactly is this Luiii? The first person I can find on the interwebs with that one word name is a singer … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? French Biker (OK, Scooter) Gang Goes for the Gold…and diamonds — “GTMax”

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Roger Moore

“GTMax” is a French thriller about armed robberies pulled off with the aid of souped-up scooters. No, not Vespas. But modified small-wheel street commuters turned into “battle tanks.” So the promise of the premise is the sight of superscooters and … Continue reading →

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“Carmina Burana” as a Ballet, because critics can’t live on Cinema Alone

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

Just caught an extraordinary performance of the epic Carl Orff cantata, music often repurposed in film scores, danced by the Carolina Ballet with grand accompaniment by the huge North Carolina Master Chorale, an eight piece ensemble and a flawless tech … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: “My Dead Friend Zoe” is among the vets in group therapy with Morgan Freeman

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

Natalie Morales has the title role, with Sonequa Martin-Green as the former comrade-in-arms who sees dead people. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris bring the gravitas. A “cute” combat trauma tale? Feb 28, we find out if that works.

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Movie Review: Kirkland Fan and would-be filmmaker makes the trek to “Sallywood”

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Roger Moore

A film buff meets his Hollywood idol and wins his dream job working for her in “Sallywood,” a lighthearted indie lampoon of show business, showbiz “types” and the indignities of “I used to be famous.” Sally Kirkland got her start … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Spartacus” III, “Gladiator II”

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Roger Moore

Epic-scale filmmaker Ridley Scott turns 87 on November 30. It’s safe to assume that, like Clint Eastwood, Scorsese, Almodovar or Bigelow, any film he makes could be his last. But Scott’s still carrying on as if he has no laurels … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Wicked” girlfriend, you’ve put on an awful lot of weight

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Wicked” moves from the Broadway stage to the cinema, an epic that transitions from “musical” to “intellectual property” in a bloated, lumbering, gear-grinding crash. Whatever Disney or most any other producing studio might have done to this beloved prequel to … Continue reading →

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Movie Preview: To be Young and Distractingly hot on the Sunny Coast of Italy in the summer — “Partenope”

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Roger Moore

She is a siren, literal or figurative. And the men? They must swoon, because nature or the supernatural has ordained it so. Celeste Dalla Porta has the title role. Gary Oldman’s the geezer who has to pretend he’s not interested … Continue reading →

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