Roger Ebert Reviews

Restorations are a notable portion of the Fantastic Fest program, giving movie lovers a chance to see a handful of films on the big screen for the first time in years, or ever. This year’s restoration titles were a remarkable bunch of flicks that really speak to the array of offerings at this event. It’s […]

In 1987’s “Fatal Attraction,” Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest, just awakened from what must have been a deep sleep, the kind that comes after intense psychic upheaval, doesn’t look into Michael Douglas’ Dan Gallagher’s eyes when she asks him if he will call her sometime. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she says,

Welcome to Oscar season! Well, more like the preseason. And just like in sports, when offseason player movement starts to congeal into an actual roster at training camp, so too did the major fall festivals (Venice, Telluride, and Toronto) reveal an initial roster of who the big Oscar contenders and hopefuls might be. And as

Simultaneously showing how death alienates us from ourselves and brings us closer to community, Azazel Jacobs’ tender and trenchant “His Three Daughters” explores the limits of what we can control while grieving. It’s a testament to the imperfect, rating, yet healing power of family amid tragedy.  The film wastes no time throwing viewers into the

At my first Fantastic Fest, I’ve been struck by the quality of the programming. Where else can you see the Palme d’Or winner (“Anora,” which I finally caught up with and think might be the best film of the year), a future animated hit like “The Wild Robot,” and dozens of indie genre flicks from

If Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were the two stars of “Siskel & Ebert at the Movies,” the intimate movie theater set on which they shared their takes on film releases new and old was the third. You can thank set designer Mickey Loewenstein for that, a legendary scenic designer at Chicago’s WTTW-Channel 11 for

For movies and TV shows set in our modern era, who are the best (or should I say worst?) real-life villains? The ones everyone agrees are terrible and can easily root against? From where I’m watching, the Sackler family, their enablers, and their competitors are making a run for it. The profiteers of the opioid