Roger Ebert Reviews

Decades before his name became instantly associated with macabre wonder, Guillermo del Toro conjured up accomplished special effects makeup for Mexican productions. Now, with an esteemed body of work as a director, it’s still the tangible handcraft that distinguishes his monstrous brainchildren from those conceived solely as digital confections.  Del Toro‘s creatures exist as entities […]

Michael Thompson served the longest prison sentence for a non-violent offender in Michigan’s history. In 1996, Thompson was busted for a marijuana drug deal that the police used as an excuse to search his house for firearms. They found one gun that was never used nor spoken about during the deal. At the time of

The most wonderful time of the year demands the most wonderful holiday movies. In our home, seasonal viewings of “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Shop Around the Corner” and that tearjerking “Andy Griffith Show” episode with mean Ben Weaver, help to make the season bright. Basic cable has given “A Christmas Story,” “Elf” and “National Lampoon’s

The Civil Rights movement is an era of history accustomed to filmic representation. The 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery is one of the most commonly noted moments in the movement, and the majority of the mileage of that march took place in Lowndes County, Alabama. Geeta Gandbhir (“I Am Evidence“) and Sam Pollard’s (“MLK/FBI“)

The phrase “Never Forget” has long been associated with the Holocaust. It’s a pushback against the type of willed, collective amnesia that allows not just the perpetrators of atrocities but their descendants to go through life unburdened by guilt for war crimes and the privileges accrued as a result of their commission. The documentary “Tantura” shows how selectively

For a country that dubs itself “the land of the free,” America has succeeded for centuries in erasing the histories of its disfranchised citizens from the history books. Transgender identity never entered my own awareness until trans activist Jazz Jennings and her family began sharing their story on the excellent TLC program, “I Am Jazz.”

Two white photographers/abolitionists arrange Peter’s posture as he sits in a chair. They ask him to turn his scourged back toward the lens, to move his face to the side. The lens pushes in on him, and a totem for the ravages of virulent racism engraved across his body comes into view. Peter asks, “Why

In a culture—both film-going and in general—that increasingly rejects intellectualism, there’s something refreshing about a movie where a key plot point revolves around a character’s ability to accurately appraise a piece of ancient Greek sculpture. “A Wounded Fawn” is a film that celebrates art and art history, one that reaches back across the millennia for

“Squid Game” Emmy winner Lee Jung-jae stars and directs this week’s explosive blockbuster “Hunt,” a film about double and triple crosses in a spy game between North and South Korea in the 1980s. About halfway through Lee’s film, I realized I had completely lost the thread of who was a good guy and who was