Roger Ebert Reviews

The Chicago International Film Festival—the longest running competitive film fest in North America, mind you—just announced its full line-up for this year’s 58th edition. The opening night selection is Steve James‘ “A Compassionate Spy,” and the closing film will be Noah Baumbach‘s dark comedy “White Noise.” A long list of exciting titles will play in between during the […]

Hulu pretends to add more to the algorithm-friendly mania of TV reboots (from “Fuller House” to “Quantum Leap” to “Beavis & Butthead”) with “Reboot,” a witty meta series from Steven Levitan (the co-creator of “Modern Family”). In its best moments, this fast-paced circus of hilarious one-liners and dysfunctional creative relationships depicts the formation of its own family,

Explorations of identity, celebrity, and our own oral histories often make compelling cinema. At this year’s festival three films tackled these themes within three very different genres. In documentarian Alice Diop’s first fiction film “Saint Omer,” a novelist attending the trial of a woman accused of infanticide meditates on the ways their shared immigrant story

How do we grieve people we never really knew? How do we get closure when the only thing that changed was the mortal status of someone who ruined our lives? It’s been a theme of all forms of drama for generations, and Rodrigo Garcia’s “Raymond & Ray” just doesn’t do anything memorable enough to stand

We are pleased to offer an excerpt from the September 2022 edition of the online magazine Bright Wall/Dark Room. Their theme this month is “Time Travel,” and in addition to the excerpted essay below by Lindsey Romain on “Donnie Darko,” the new issue also features essays on “La Jetee,” Richard Linklater’s “The Before Trilogy,” “Blade Runner,” “Grease,” “Irma Vep,” “The Velvet Underground,” “Shirkers,” “Christine,” and more.  You

Two of the finest films receiving their U.S. release this year each provide riveting showcases for Essie Davis, the brilliant Australian actress who earned international raves for her star turn in Jennifer Kent’s 2014 modern horror classic, “The Babadook.” Davis delivers another Oscar-worthy performance in Gaysorn Thavat’s sublime directorial debut, “The Justice of Bunny King”—which

“Meet Cute,” or “Live. Date. Repeat.” as I’m calling it informally, wastes a good time machine. With the bright flash of a blue light from a tanning bed, made by New York City nail salon owner June (Deborah S. Craig), one can be transported back in time for 24 hours. There’s so much that can be

Thanks to friends and colleagues and supporters of FACETS and the movies, the 2022 Screen Gems Benefit honoring me next Wednesday, September 28th, at the Arts Club of Chicago is now sold out!  We are so appreciative. And I want you to know that you can still donate to FACETS, Chicago’s historic film screening cinematheque and educational non-profit started by the

After watching the series premiere of “The Book of Boba Fett,” my son asked me why every “Star Wars” show was set in the desert. I didn’t have a good answer for him. Of course, “The Mandalorian” sometimes went to less sandy climes, but it’s indicative of how much the Lucasfilm/Disney+ shows have looked relatively

There’s no shortage of filmmakers who have cut their teeth on music videos before pursuing feature-length films—Michael Bay, Spike Jonze, Hype Williams, David Fincher, and Autumn de Wilde to name just a few. This year’s Toronto International Film Festival hosted a conversation with a budding music video director looking to make that jump into features. Taylor Swift is