Tag Archives: movie-review

Classic Film Review: Hitchcock becomes “Hitch” — “The 39 Steps” (1935)

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Roger Moore

While he was alive, critics had little trouble finding ways to discount Alfred Hitchcock’s genius and underrate his later decades of entertaining, bubbly and even chilling thrillers. Because that generation of reviewers remembered “The 39 Steps.” This 1935 romp of … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Troubled Couple’s Children have “Vanished into the Night”

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Roger Moore

The stakes could not be higher in the thriller “Vanished into the Night.” A father, in debt and going through a divorce, loses his children to kidnappers and must reconnect with a hoodlum from his wayward youth to raise the … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Argentine half-siblings are “(Un) Lucky Sisters”

Posted on November 11, 2024 by Roger Moore

They blow the “meet cute” in the Argentine action comedy “(Un) Lucky Sisters,” and its pretty much all downhill from there in this short but not remotely brisk tale of two disconnected half-sisters who stumble into their late father’s secret … 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: “Let’s Start a Cult”

Posted on November 7, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Let’s Start a Cult” is a rude and raunchy farce that’s amusingly in step with our times even as it strains for laughs in all the most vulgar places. It’s a star vehicle for co-writer and walking, eating, sweating and … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Movie Review: Martial Arts Magic, Mystery and Mayhem delivered by “The Tai Chi Master”

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Roger Moore

I’m not a big fan of fantasy action films, but I make an inception when the phrase “martial arts” is tossed in. One can never have too much flying wirework, too many mystical punches that could flatten mountains or heroes … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Liev Schreiber broods beautifully in Hemingway’s “Across the River and Into the Trees”

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Across the River and Into the Trees” presents Liev Schreiber as the latest Ernest Hemingway literary alter ego to make it to the screen, and perhaps the best ever at capturing the world weariness of the late life, post-World War … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Church and Politics mix and mingle among the “Godless”

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Roger Moore

“Godless” is a self-serious drama about the collision of politics and faith with a couple of decent moments and solid lead performances by Ana Ortiz and Harry Lennix going for it. Working against it are a static staginess in the … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Lad is Tested, “Lost on a Mountain in Maine”

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Roger Moore

A piece of Maine woodlands lore comes to the screen in “Lost on a Mountain in Maine,” a sturdy indie retelling of the story of a boy battling long odds against his survival in the dense woods and ever-changing weather … Continue reading →

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