Roger Ebert Reviews

The NEXT category at Sundance is always the place to go if you want to see a big swing, and in this dispatch, there are three major ones. Two of the films take different routes to analyze men battling their anxiety about their impending fatherhood. One film is a modern adaptation of Dante’s Inferno. So, […]

No Sundance isn’t complete without a trip through the Midnight programming. And very few films playing at Sundance are as creative and, ahem, as lively, as Grace Glowicki’s exquisitely crafted Gothic comedy-horror “Dead Lover.” The writer/director’s second feature is a resourceful and theatrical take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  In fact, the film even begins with

There’s a certain prescience to this year’s documentary selections that feel serendipitous given the unique afflictions besetting the world. Political, ecological, and societal grief are all at the forefront of attendees’ minds in Park City as the threat of California wildfires and the installation of the new administration rage on. These three documentaries orbit these

My critical efforts to never judge a film before seeing it are most challenged by remakes of movies I adore. Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” is a wonderful comedy, and Hector Babenco’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was a powerful filmgoing experience for me as a young man. I once discussed why a film should

Sundance is a Film Festival with two capital Fs, but each year they also feature a handful of shows via their “episodic” category. The 2025 entries succeed when they take big artistic risks, while the timid approaches feel just that. It turns out having a cinematic approach to TV pays off. In the pilot showcase,

Sometimes at a festival, a movie will begin that’s so good that, by the time you get to its final act, you’re praying for it not to mess up. There haven’t been nearly as many movies during Sundance where I’ve felt that. One of them is here in this dispatch, along with a powerful documentary

The debate over how the Marvel Cinematic Universe depicts Peter Parker/Spider-Man has been interesting. After being introduced in “Captain America: Civil War” by Tony Stark, his subsequent appearances always made him feel like a Spider-Man seeking to impress his Iron Mentor. Even in his solo movies, many of Peter’s internal conflicts or notable villains’ motivations

There’s no program I love at Sundance more than NEXT. Not only does it treat us to new, exhilarating voices, we’re also often granted the most audacious filmmaking at the festival. In this dispatch are two films with a spunky spirit and proudly independent verve that compassionately look at fractured individuals working to rediscover their

Three documentaries premiering at the year’s film festival marry the personal with the political. Ryan White’s “Come See Me In The Good Light” follows spoken word performer and Colorado’s Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley during Gibson’s years-long fight against cancer. Elegance Bratton’s “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” looks at

Three films in the World Cinema Documentary Competition tell stories from countries in the midst of conflict. Mstyslav Chernov’s “2000 Meters From Andriivka” follows the Ukrainian counteroffensive as it seeks to liberate the titular village. In “Cutting Through Rocks,” co-directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni profile a politician fighting for progress within her patriarchal rural