Tag Archives: movies

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

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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BOX OFFICE: “Venom” loses HALF of its fangs, “Here” is barely There, “Absolution” can’t pay for its sins

A steep drop-off for the final film of Tom Hardy’s “Venom” trilogy was always in order. These movies have sucked, and by the second weekend, the supply of filmgoers who might go plunges and “repeat business,” even for comic book … Continue reading

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Movie Review: A “Gump” sized Gimmick in Search of a Movie — “Here”

“Here” is such an empty cinematic experience that it summons up everything you ever hated about a Robert Zemeckis movie and the Zemeckis “style.” An Oscar winner with enduring classics scattered across his resume — “Cast Away,” “Back to the … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Liam in Winter — “Absolution”

Any grace notes 70something Liam Neeson brings to his aging and about to become infirm man of action in “Absolution” are pretty much overwhelmed by cliches, loose ends and overreaches in a sloppily pieced-together screenplay. Character motivation and the hasty … Continue reading

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Movie Review: More Teased than Terrified by What’s Behind that “Cellar Door”

“Cellar Door” is an attempt at the thriller-as-parable, a suspenseful story about a troubled couple tested by temptation and the ugly “answers” they might find by peeking behind that which they’ve been warned to never open, the cellar door of … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Martial artist attacks like a “Bangkok Dog”

There’s a charismatic theatricality to the way stuntman, actor and martial artist D.Y. Sao lands a blow and makes sure to give us his best Bruce Lee Face as he does. That skill, and his fists and feet of fury … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Ralph Fiennes tries to Herd Back-Stabbing Archbishops through a Papal “Conclave”

A pope dies and over 100 of his archbishops gather to politic, poor-mouth, backbite and backstab their way towards electing another in “Conclave,” a deliciously dark, well-acted and beautifully-filmed inside-Vatican-intrigues thriller. Director Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Actress fights cancer, heartbreak and career setbacks, including “Your Monster”

What manner of miscalculated meshuggagh mashup is this? “Your Monster” is a “personal demons” rom-com take on “Beauty and the Beast,” one with the beast willing to offer to “eat” the creep who jilted fair Laura when she was diagnosed … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Little Boys on the Run “Beyond the Wasteland” of Macedonia

The child of about nine lives with his father in the forest, hidden from “the evil outside” world, off-the-grid, with hints that there might be no grid left. They hunt and forage, set traps and makeshift alarms and hole-up in … Continue reading

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Classic Film Review: Boris and Bela in Old Edinburgh — “The Body Snatcher” (1945)

Censored and edited to death and long thought “lost” in its original form, “The Body Snatcher” is a 1945 horror tale that retains its ability to chill you to the bone. Produced by horror impressario Val Lewton (“Cat People”), directed … Continue reading

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