Tag Archives: movie-review

Classic Film Review: Reckless Pilot Peck makes a WWII Trek across “The Purple Plain” (1954)

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Roger Moore

By the time he made “The Purple Plain,” Gregory Peck had already made a film that touched on the fear and emotional toll of air combat in World War II — 1949’s “Twelve O’Clock High.” But the text of that … 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: Krap on a kracker? “Kraven the Hunter”

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets gym-jacked one more time, Russell Crowe auditions for a future Ernest Hemingway at his burliest bio-pic and Alessadro Nivolla trots out the silliest supervillain voice since John Malkovich in “Rounders” for “Kraven the Hunter,” a misguided mess … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? A TSA agent is blackmailed into letting somebody’s “Carry-On” slide by

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

The “talking villain” is played by Jason Bateman. So as you might guess, he damned near talks us all to death. The scenario is within the realm of possibilities, but juiced and dragged-out with so many eye-rolling “Hollywood” twists that … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Jolie as Callas, “Maria,” a Diva at Death’s Door

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Maria” is an operatic bio-pic in every sense of the word. In director Pablo Larraín’s vision of “La Callas,” the diva’s diva Maria Callas, there is tragedy off-stage but serenity in the spotlight, an artist wholly prepared and fully immersed … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Irish Hitman tries to retire in 1990s NYC — “The Mick and the Trick”

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Roger Moore

The accents are cartoonish, the performances broad, the situations silly and the blood and bullets are everywhere in “The Mick and the Trick,” a lunkheaded action comedy about a hitman’s “retirement plan.” Actor turned writer-director Tom DeNucci doesn’t shake his … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Murderous thieves hunt “pedos” — “Filthy Animals”

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Roger Moore

There may be a point to James T. North’s “Filthy Animals,” a tale of pedophile-hunting vigilantism and exploited employee revenge in the San Pedro, Lomita corner of Greater Los Angeles. If there is, North makes it ham-fistedly and in an … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Clumsy Whodunit within a Whodunit stuck in a “Glass Casa”

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Roger Moore

A killer “Glass House” location and pretty much nothing else recommend “Glass Casa.” It’s a comic thriller whose clumsy structure, limp performances and forgettable dialogue do nothing to separate it from the pack of similar movies that trap a bunch … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: John Ford takes the rep company, and no “stars,” to Monument Valley for “Wagon Master” (1950)

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Wagon Master” was perhaps the truest test of the concept of “star director” of John Ford’s career. The iconic Irishman who came to America and made Westerns was finishing up his “cavalry trilogy (“Fort Apache,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Doc Dad figures out that “Devils Stay” with Transplanted Organs

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Devils Stay” is an occasionally chilling genre thriller primarily of interest for depicting a Korean Catholic exorcism and its aftermath. A teen girl wrenched about violently, floating in the air as Latin rites and expulsion prayers are said over her, … Continue reading →

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