Category Archives: Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news

Movie Review: “The Sheep Detectives” hunt for Suspects when their Shepherd is Offed

Posted on May 8, 2026 by Roger Moore

I can’t say much for the plot of “The Sheep Detecives,” a children’s murder mystery about talking, crime-solving sheep from those sheep-and-murder mad Brits. The “murder mystery” isn’t particularly mysterious and its solution leaves a lot to be desired. And … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? The “Son-in-Law” — His Corrupt Rise and Fall

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Roger Moore

Movies like “Son-in-Law” force the viewer to ponder the difference between “confused” and “confusing” narratives. Critics use “confusing” when we’re willing to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt about tangled and unconventional plotting. “Confused” puts the blame squarely … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Period Piece as Dated as its Period — “The Choral”

Posted on May 4, 2026 by Roger Moore

The writing and directing duo who brought “The Madness of King George (The Madness of George III),” “The History Boys” and “The Lady in the Van” first to the London stage, and then to the screen skip the whole West … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Stand-up Comic’s last “line” of defense — “Is This Thing On?”

Posted on May 4, 2026 by Roger Moore

The trailers to “Is This Thing On?” had me hyped to catch it during its awards season run. Will Arnett, one of the funniest actors to hold a SAG card, playing a midlife crisis character who copes by trying his … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Romantic Melodrama in a Minor Key — “Two Pianos”

Posted on May 3, 2026 by Roger Moore

The great ones make it look effortless, with their mere presence in a role affirming the story’s unimpeachable reality. Charlotte Rampling started her career in the ’60s, came into her own in the ’70s (“Farewell, My Lovely”) and by the … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Make “Animal Farm” Great Again?

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Roger Moore

George Orwell’s parable of totalitarianism earns a Trump era updating in a new animated “Animal Farm,” this one backed by Angel Studios and not the CIA. Actor turned “Venom” sequel director and the one-and-only “Gollum” in J.R.R. Tolkienland Andy Serkis … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? June Squibb is “Eleanor the Great”

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Roger Moore

Timing, especially in comedy, is everything. But Sony Pictures Classics had no way of knowing that its Oscar-campaigned Jewish Holocaust dramedy “Eleanor the Great” would come out in the middle of worldwide outrage at an ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Deported” should have been Stopped at the Border

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Roger Moore

There’s something almost criminal about Amazon acquiring the 2020 immigration “comedy” “Deported,” and passing it off as a “new” “2026” release on their streaming service. There hasn’t been a good time to unleash a raunchy, tone deaf and whitewashed farce … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Tipsy Italians talk a lad into “The Last One for the Road”

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Roger Moore

“The Last One for the Road” is a seemingly aimless drunken drive through northern Italy, a picaresque misadventure in a minor key about a Neopolitan kid, fresh out of college, being taught “the meaning of life.” Francesco Sossai’s curious gambole … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Coogan and Bird Charm their Way through a Class on Fascism — “The Penguin Lessons”

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Roger Moore

No English speaking actor in film is better at making caddish and insufferably self-absorbed charming than Steve Coogan. That proves to be a saving grace of “The Penguin Lessons,” a sweet saunter through a true story of a rescued bird … Continue reading →

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