Tag Archives: Reviews

Movie Review: A Ghost Story that Maybe Gives too much away with its title — “The Ruse”

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Roger Moore

You’ve got a plot that was clever enough to land veteran character actress Veronica Cartwright (“Sideways,” “Alien,” “The Birds”). Shooting and editing your film, you can’t wait to get to the third act where you can “explain” its cleverness to … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: History, Classism, War Crimes, Australian Character and a Director’s Intent Collide in “Breaker Morant” (1980)

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Roger Moore

Australian cinema hadn’t made much of a mark internationally before The Australian New Wave hit in the mid ’70s through the very early ’80s. In a flash, Australian history, culture, character and mores were broadcast to the big wide world … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? German soldier loses her son in “Exterritorial” territory — the U.S. Embassy

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Roger Moore

Welcome to the golden age of America as Outlaw State, as depicted in international action cinema. “Exterritorial” has Americans as treasonous allies, corrupt drug smugglers and heartless bureaucrats — kidnapping children and Belarussian refugees, selling “intel” to common enemies and … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Juggling career, offspring and Elderly Parents demands “Relative Control”

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Roger Moore

Teri Polo of the “Meet the Parents” franchise takes on a far more realistic parental management situation in “Relative Control,” a light dramedy about all the juggling that goes on when one’s parents, love life, career and adult but adrift … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review: “Tom Dustin: Portrait of a Comedian” pre-rehab

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Roger Moore

So a 50ish alcoholic manic depressive comic moves to Key West to run a comedy club. Sounds like a movie, right? Well, it did to Joe List. And as he’s one of the hot comics of his generation, he got … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Gay Fantasia about Honest Abe’s Same Sex Romance — “Lavender Men”

Posted on April 24, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Lavender Men” is an ambitious but meandering and indulgent indie film failure. It’s not the subject matter that does it in, as it’s another film (“Lover of Men”) and play (“Oh, Mary!”) that dives into the notion that Abraham Lincoln … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Dutch cops try to free “iHostage” from an Apple Store

Posted on April 19, 2025 by Roger Moore

At some point in the police procedural “iHostage” the viewer is obliged to fight off the urge to look up the Dutch translation for “Yeah, and?” Let me save you the trouble. It’s “Ja, en?” The film is a solid, … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? “Frozen Hot Boys” ice-sculpt their way to glory

Posted on April 14, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Frozen Hot Boys” is a Thai “Cool Runnings,” a cringy goof of a fish-out-of-water comedy about tropical trouble-makers who make a name for themselves in competitive ice and snow sculpting. Natapohn Tameeruks is Miss Chom, a bored vocational wood-carving teacher … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Pascal, Reaser, Sewell and Goggins as Hollywood “types” face their future and their humanity when they meet “The Uninvited”

Posted on April 5, 2025 by Roger Moore

Some indie films confound the viewer with a “What did these actors see in THIS?” connundrum. But not “The Uninvited.” What looks like another onanistic Hollywood-skewers-Hollywood dramedy set in a tony Hollywood Hills party is actually a priorities-questioning, expectations-upending and … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Dark Period in Korean History Remembered — “Harbin”

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Harbin” is a stately, somewhat tense Korean period piece bathed in the gloom that hangs over many an espionage thriller. Director and co-writer Woo Min-ho already has conventional thrillers (“The Drug King”), period piece thrillers (“The Man Standing Next”) and … Continue reading →

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