Tag Archives: writing

Movie Review: Summer of ’81, “Casey Makes a Mixtape”

Posted on October 5, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Casey Makes a Mixtape” is a wan indie coming-of-age dramedy in which nobody comes of age, nothing dramatic or comedic happens. It’s a sort of little film festival movie that couldn’t, a period piece that was never fated to pick … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review: A Son Hunts for the WWII Pilot Father he Barely Knew beyond “The Green Box: At the Heart of War”

Posted on September 22, 2025 by Roger Moore

As World War II fades into history and the numbers of those who lived through it and can bear witness about it decline by the hour, the lessons of that era seem doomed to be forgotten. Generations have grown up … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Mixed Martial Artist with an “Affinity” for Fighting, but not Screenwriting

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Roger Moore

Marko Zaror makes a statement on his martial arts skills — as a fighter and fight director — in “Affinity,” a B-picture that drifts into C-movie territory every time the fighting stops. A towering brawler who figured prominently in the … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review — “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink”

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Roger Moore

The thing that instantly dates Rick Goldsmith’s documentary “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” about the Internet, hedge-fund and tycoon-driven death of American newspapers, is the gasping attempt to find something optimistic in the death of the country’s … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Groundhog Day” goes Gallic, “Palm Springs” swings Moroccan — “An Endless Wedding”

Posted on August 17, 2025 by Roger Moore

The French take on “Palm Springs” is something of a departure from the Hulu original film starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Miliotti and J.K. Simmons. Director and co-writer Patrick Cassir’s “An Endless Marriage” is just as funny, but more brisk and … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Lost in Dementia and Memory Care, seeking that “Familiar Touch”

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Familiar Touch” is a simple, documdrama-real film of frank honesty and sensitivity about dementia and adjusting to life in Memory Care. If you’re fortunate enough to not know that label, describing the wing or floor of any nursing home or … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review: “Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation,” a Writer, a Book, a Legend and a Legacy

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Roger Moore

Natalie Merchant, the singer and songwriter of “Hey Jack Kerouac” among other hits, thinks that one reads and is swept up by his novel “On the Road” when young because “You’re kid of wired for it in adolescence.” The actor, … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Burt, Booty, Brigands and Brigantines — “The Crimson Pirate” (1952)

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Roger Moore

“The Crimson Pirate?” Yarrrrr, there’s a pirate picture with teeth! Gore Verbinski borrowed from a parade of pirate movies when he concocted Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” franhcise, none more than this jaunty romp from 1952. Warner Bros. gave star … Continue reading →

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Documentary Review: “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley”

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Roger Moore

Filmed appreciations of potentially great artists who “die young and leave a beautiful corpse” are many. If these post mortems have a common thread, it’s the difficulty in separating the myth from the musician, painter, actor or writer. And the … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Anna May Wong is the “Lady from Chungking” (1942)

Posted on July 23, 2025 by Roger Moore

Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star, was already famous — a Hollywood mainstay since the silent film era who first appeared on screen at 14 back in 1919 — when World War II broke out. With the … Continue reading →

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