Roger Ebert Reviews

I never know what to say when people tell me that they think the visual effects in an old movie are “dated.” I guess I could go with the most obvious reply, but I don’t, because it’s beside the point: “Everything looks out-of-date if you wait long enough.” (Marvel movies from the aughts are already looking a bit old-fashioned,

In the final episode of season one of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) stared straight into the camera, forehead straining and eyes shining with tears. In the wake of her son Lucerys’ (Elliot Grihault) death, wrath was in her eyes, and fans were left on a cliffhanger that promised spectacle,

Plenty of comedies start off how Onyx Collective’s “Queenie” begins: a woman, supine in her gynecologist’s office, exposed, getting unexpected news. But “Queenie,” based on the book of the same name and created and executive produced by the author Candice Carty-Williams, is not your typical series. In fact, our titular heroine (a superb Dionne Brown)

When “Banel & Adama” premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival in 2023, French-Senegalese writer/director Ramata-Toulaye Sy was in rare company. Her film was the only debut feature among a competition featuring venerated filmmakers like Wes Anderson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Todd Haynes, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders, etc. And apart from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s incredible

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” hits theaters this weekend, giving fans one more installment in the ongoing adventures of wisecracking Miami detectives Marcus and Mike. Like a lot of franchises, these movies increasingly peddle nostalgia, playing on audiences’ fond memories of the previous chapters. But at a certain point, you have to marvel that there’s

With time and hindsight, the “Potter” franchise has taken on something of a complicated legacy (especially for the series’ sizable sect of LGBTQ+) fans, thanks to the continually transphobic comments made by author J.K. Rowling. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” was a smash hit in 2004 when the earth moved with each new

A decade ago, memoirist, novelist, teacher, curator, and filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis thought her feature film “Naked Acts” had found its final resting place at the Black Film Center & Archive at Indiana University, where she had deposited the film’s 16mm elements and ephemera, figuring it would live on solely as an artifact to be

I’m not coming out and accusing the writers of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” of using A.I., a touchy subject in Hollywood these days. But if a computer had written this blockbuster sequel, it wouldn’t turn out much different.  Serving as a more direct sequel to 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life” than people might expect, “Ride

It was a celebration that, in some sense, had been sixty years in the making. It was also necessary. It’s been a rough year for festivals: the Berlinale witnessed deep political divides around its response to Gaza, Toronto International Film Festival is still reeling from losing Bell (its biggest sponsor), the entire programming team for