Tag Archives: books

Netflixable? A Disabled Child, a Mom Determined to Save Him — “Lucca’s World”

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Roger Moore

A guilt-ridden journalist tries everything, grasping at any “miracle treatments” straw, in an effort to save her disabled-at-birth son in “Lucca’s World,” an engrossing Around the World with Netflix weeper from Mexico. Based on the non-fiction book by Bárbara Anderson, … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A 1970 “radical” family working through their issues — “Three Birthdays”

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Radical” politics — sexual, racial and otherwise — Vietnam, the first Earth Day, the sexual revolution, “female solidarity” and Kent State are the backdrop of “Three Birthdays,” a downbeat family melodrama about the day “The Sixties Died.” Writer-director Jane Weinstock … Continue reading →

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Series Review: Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full” becomes an Oversexed Cracker Cartoon for Netflix

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Roger Moore

Tom Wolfe’s darkly comic 1998 novel “A Man in Full” comes to the screen, courtesy of another king of ’80s and ’90s entertainment, TV writer/producer David E. Kelley. The book, uneven but page-turning trash encompassing Wolfe’s favorite themes — class, … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? “Girl Haunts Boy,” a teen romance for tweens

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Roger Moore

Here’s an exceptionally mild-mannered Netflix teen romance built around a couple of cute young leads made “stars” by earlier Netflix outings. Peyton List (“Kobra Kai”) plays a flapper teen who swipes a magic ring and dies in 1928, only to … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Once more to Middle Earth, before “The Lord of the Rings,” “The War of the Rohirrim”

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” is a dull placeholder pic rolled out by Warner Animation to keep the company’s intellectual property rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth current in the public’s mind. Streaming series aside, … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” not the worst holiday movie ever

Posted on November 8, 2024 by Roger Moore

“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” the latest film of the based on the early ’70s Barbara Robinson novel, comes to the screen with all the charms and shortcomings of a thousand Little Theatre stage productions over the decades. Uplifting in … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Karen Gillan’s a lost soul ready to join the “Late Bloomers”

Posted on November 7, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Jumanji” and Marvel veteran Karen Gillan finally finds a star vehicle in sync with her brittle, awkwardly funny persona with “Late Bloomers,” a sentimental comedy about an aimless, guilt-stricken young woman who finally grows up when she takes on the … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Troubled Swedish Family has to “Let Go” to break-up

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Roger Moore

Swedish actress, screenwriter and director Josephine Bornebusch conjures up a downbeat star vehicle for herself with “Let Go,” about a dysfunctional family’s trip to support their sixteen year-old in a pole-dancing competition. Sweden, right? There’s a catatonic grandfather to visit, … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? A French “Jumanji” with time-travel and werewolves — “Family Pack”

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Family Pack” is a slick, silly, hot-mess of a fantasy comedy, a French “Jumanji” based on a French board game. A French family — including aged, forgetful Grandpa (the great Jean Reno) — tempts fate by playing an old, carved … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Child’s turn as Robinson Crusoe in “Kensuke’s Kingdom”

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Kensuke’s Kingdom” is a simply but attractively animated film based on a Michael Morpurgo novel. The novel, in turn, is based on the classic tale “Robinson Crusoe,” here modernized to place a shipwrecked boy and his dog in tropical paradise, … Continue reading →

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