Tag Archives: comedy

BOX OFFICE: “Dog Man” fetches $36, “Companion” pays off, “Valiant One” barely registers

Posted on February 1, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Dog Man,” the new animated comedy from Dav Piley’s “Captain Underpants” kids’ novel universe, is proving to be a very good dog indeed, opening by selling some $13 million more worth of (higher priced tickets) than “Underpants” did eight years … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on BOX OFFICE: “Dog Man” fetches $36, “Companion” pays off, “Valiant One” barely registers

Movie Review: It’s a wedding, and Reese, Celia, Meredith, Geraldine and Will say “You’re Cordially Invited,” Y’all

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Commitment” is a cornerstone of the marriage contract. And it’s damned important in a romantic comedy about marriages as well. Say this for the cast of writer-director Nicholas Stoller’s “You’re Cordially Invited.” These kids — and Will Ferrell and Reese … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: It’s a wedding, and Reese, Celia, Meredith, Geraldine and Will say “You’re Cordially Invited,” Y’all

Classic Film Review: Cleese shows us Classic Comedy can be “Clockwise” (1986)

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Roger Moore

A person hellbent on maintaining his dignity in the face of everything thrown at him to deny it, and failing, is the essence of comedy. So it was with Keaton, and so it is with Cleese. Somebody said that once. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Cleese shows us Classic Comedy can be “Clockwise” (1986)

Classic Film Review: Cary Grant Saunters into the Sunset, in his boxers — “Walk Don’t Run” (1966)

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Roger Moore

There’s an inspired silliness to the Technicolor bon bon “Walk Don’t Run,” the final film in Cary Grant’s legendary Hollywood career. Surely a mere screenwriter — TV veteran (“Bewitched”) Sol Saks in this case — can’t have been the one … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Cary Grant Saunters into the Sunset, in his boxers — “Walk Don’t Run” (1966)

Classic Film Review: Chaplin’s ode to a Dying Corner of Comedy — “Limelight”

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Roger Moore

Memory is a merciful thing when it comes movies. We remember the grand moments in films, the signature bits, and much of what’s less moving, entertaining or important just drifts away. Charlie Chaplin had become Charles Chaplin long before “Limelight,” … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Chaplin’s ode to a Dying Corner of Comedy — “Limelight”

Movie Review: An Old West Sheriff sees Dead People — “Ghosts of Red Ridge”

Posted on November 28, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Ghosts of Red Ridge” is a low-budget Western that tries to be a ghost story. It’s not anything to write home about in either genre. There’s some nice lived-in detail in the locations, the dusty, dirty costumes and almost-colorful characters. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: An Old West Sheriff sees Dead People — “Ghosts of Red Ridge”

Classic Film Review: Looking for Lean Laughs from “Blithe Spirit” (1945)

Posted on November 26, 2024 by Roger Moore

The shifting sands of editor-turned-director David Lean‘s career took him through early adaptations of Noël Coward scripts, included some definitive adaptations of Charles Dickens and eventually settled on the sweeping epics which is he best known for today — “Bridge … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Looking for Lean Laughs from “Blithe Spirit” (1945)

Classic Film Review: Lemmon and Allyson remake “It Happened One Night” — as a musical — “You Can’t Run Away from It” (1956)

Posted on November 19, 2024 by Roger Moore

“You Can’t Run Away from It” is a comic curiosity from the early career of Jack Lemmon, a musical filmed when studios were scrambling to lure filmgoers away from TV and when musicals were so overexposed — “The King and … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Lemmon and Allyson remake “It Happened One Night” — as a musical — “You Can’t Run Away from It” (1956)

Classic Film Review: A Little Romance, a Touch of Class, and Class Warfare — “The Philadelphia Story” (1940)

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Roger Moore

It begins with a screwball tease — a couple, wordlessly breaking up, climaxing with the husband maniacally grabbing the wife by the forehead and shoving her back through the door and onto the floor. But even though the wife is … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: A Little Romance, a Touch of Class, and Class Warfare — “The Philadelphia Story” (1940)

Movie Review: Buster Keaton in a “Minions” comedy by Terry Gilliam? “Hundreds of Beavers”

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Roger Moore

We tend to think of slapstick comedy gag writing as a lost art. It didn’t die along with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, but its most acclaimed practioners these days are in animation, heirs to the Chuck Jones/Looney Tunes tradition. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Movie Review: Buster Keaton in a “Minions” comedy by Terry Gilliam? “Hundreds of Beavers”