May 13, 2025 3:00 pm

Roger Ebert Reviews

Taking Venice

In 1964, Robert Rauschenberg won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, an international exhibition of contemporary work. The documentary “Taking Venice” is about the behind-the-scenes maneuvers that resulted in Rauschenberg taking the prize. Director Amei Wallach, an art critic and specialist in fine arts documentaries (she also did “Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here” and “Louise

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The Big Cigar

It’s an odd sensation to balance a series that at once works but doesn’t wholly meet your expectations. In the moment, as you’re clearly enjoying yourself, you can’t help but feel a nagging, pestering pull for more. Jim Hecht’s Apple TV+ miniseries “The Big Cigar,” based on Joshuah Bearman’s same-titled book, concerns Huey P. Newton’s

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The Blue Angels

“The Blue Angels,” a nonfiction film about the Navy’s flight demonstration team, was made for IMAX, in two senses of the phrase.  First, technically: according to Cineworld’s website, “‘The Blue Angels’ was shot with Sony’s Venice 2 IMAX-certified digital cameras and features IMAX exclusive Expanded Aspect Ratio (EAR) throughout.”  Second: it’s mainly, perhaps almost exclusively, a spectacle, and as much

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You Can’t Run Forever

J.K. Simmons knows how to do sociopath. There’s something so fascinating about a performer like Simmons who can pivot from a guy who looks like your average suburban neighbor to a total lunatic with a perfectly timed malevolent smile. He’s having a blast in most of “You Can’t Run Forever,” and the fact that it

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In Our Day

The films of the prolific South Korean writer-director Hong Sang Soo are for the most part set in the contemporary world, but they rarely depict the bustle of our times. His characters interact in settings that are quiet, sometimes practically deserted. When a character ventures out into a location of potential action and disorder—in this

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Babes

The foundation of most comedy is the gulf between our belief that we can control our bodies, words, and relationships and the reality that, most of the time, they’re uncontrollable messes. “Babes” explores that gulf with exuberant joy, endearingly vulnerable characters, and performances filled with heart and charisma. Also with every possible bodily function and

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Back to Black

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s “Back to Black” invokes a single question, one fans of Amy Winehouse are sure to recognize: What kind of f*ckery is this? The Camden-bred superstar, played by Marisa Abela, was famously “just one of the girls.” Down to earth, charming, witty, and, when she opened her mouth, a dazzling performer with an

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