Author: Roger Moore
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‘Dumber, To’ sad and stale
Starring Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Kathleen Turner, Rachel Melvin, Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden; directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly; 110 minutes; PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, partial nudity, language and some drug references Twenty years after they permanently lowered the bar on broad and dumb character comedies, Lloyd and Harry are back, “Dumb…
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Disney has another animated winner with ‘Big Hero 6’
Starring the voices of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Maya Rudolph, Genesis Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., T.J. Miller, Alan Tudyk and James Cromwell; directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams; 102 minutes; PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements “Big Hero 6” is Walt Disney Animation’s lovely and sometimes touching attempt to…
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Gyllenhaal’s “Nightcrawler” will give you the TV news creeps
A gaunt Jake Gyllenhaal rarely blinks in “Nightcrawler,” turning himself into a chilling human special effect. As a focused but directionless petty thief who discovers the rewards of recording and selling video to “if it bleeds, it leads” local TV news in Los Angeles, he not only acts like a reptile, he looks the part.…
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Kidman, Firth and Strong shine in ‘Before I Go to Sleep’
Starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong; directed by Rowan Joffe; 92 minutes; R for some brutal violence and language Three of the best actors in the business put on a master class in mystery thriller in “Before I Go to Sleep,” a lean, twisty-turning tale in the “Memento” style. Christine (Nicole Kidman) wakes up…
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‘Fury’ makes a fine B-movie vehicle for Wardaddy Brad Pitt
This bit of heroics isn’t “what I wanted to do,” Brad Pitt’s battle-scarred sergeant, and a hundred movie sergeants before him, growl. “But it’s what we’re doing.” “Fury” is the sort of World War II movie Hollywood used to churn out four or five times a year – a gritty, grunt’s eye-view of combat. The…
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‘Best of Me’ is the worst of Nicholas Sparks
Starring Michelle Monaghan, James Marsden, Gerald McRaney, Luke Bracey, Liana Liberato, Sean Bridgers; directed by Michael Hoffman; 113 minutes; PG-13 for sexuality, violence, some drug content and brief strong language For an hour or so, Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden gamely swim against the current, fighting the torpid tide of tripe that romance novelist Nicholas…
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‘Book of Life’ offers up a Mexican tale told in animated Mexican colors
Starring the voices of Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Diego Luna, Ron Perlman, Kate del Castillo, Ice Cube, Placido Domingo; directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez; 95 minutes; PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images “The Book of Life” is a Mexican-accented kids’ cartoon so colorful and unconventionally dazzling it almost…
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Kids and their parents will find laughs in Alexander’s ‘Very Bad Day’
Starring Ed Oxenbould, Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey, Bella Thorne; directed by Miguel Arteta; 81 minutes; PG for rude humor including some reckless behavior and language Whatever else children take from Judith Viorst’s delightful “Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day,” the sly subtext of the picture-heavy book is…
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‘Mormons’ documentary presents a diverse church, sugar-coated for your enjoyment
Starring Ken Niumatalolo, Col. Gail Halvorsen, Carolina Munoz Marin; directed by Blair Treu; 79 minutes; PG for some thematic elements “Meet the Mormons” is a slick, upbeat Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-backed documentary that aims to answer the image of the church and its members “shaped by the media and popular culture.” A…
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‘The Judge’ has too much disorder in the court
“The Judge” dawdles, lingers, takes sidebars and recesses – much like a celebrity trial in which TV cameras have been allowed into the courtroom. A bloated all-star melodrama with none of the lean, mean legalese of a John Grisham adaptation, it’s a showboat’s movie cast with a lot of actors each promised “a big, cool…