Roger Ebert

"The Promised Land" is about ten movies in one. It's a history lesson with a central figure driven by an impossible quest. There are bands of outlaws, sadistic aristocrats, and downtrodden peasants. There's a little romance, a lot of torture,...

One of the biggest problems of the “my TV show is really just a long movie” era of television is that it has created a common problem wherein a script’s worth of plotting is stretched out to the length of...

John Sayles’ films are indicated by the quality of his listening. His scripts are dialogue-dense and populated by people of character and intelligence, representing every social strata, every race, every creed. He puts them in conversation with one another, and...

With awards being given at the Golden Globes this past Sunday, and at the Palm Springs International Film Festival ("PSIFF") and Variety’s 10 Directors To Watch, just days before, the awards season is officially open! Voting for Oscar nominations kicked off yesterday,...

Previous seasons of “True Detective” have played with supernatural elements, a flirtation with the idea that there is evil in the world that defies mortal categorization, but none have leaned into an atmosphere of nearly biblical dread like the excellent 6-episode...

The 2004 teen comedy “Mean Girls,” written by Tina Fey and based on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes, has become a millennial cult classic in the twenty years since its release. Although part of the key demographic...

“Lift” is as generic and forgettable as its title, the kind of glossy, empty action picture that Netflix just keeps pumping out, whether we need it or not. It’s not as aggressively glib as “Red Notice,” for example, but rather...

Emma (Kaley Cuoco) lives a double life. She has a loving husband, Dave (David Oyelowo), and two beautiful children, but she also moonlights as a secret assassin. Her frequent “business trips” lead to emotional and physical distance from her family,...

"Here beyond men’s judgements all covenants were brittle."—Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian The word "settle," typically a cozy verb, should probably be retired, at least when it comes to "settling" land. "Settling" is hostile. "Settling" is murderous. Words matter. Language can clarify, but...

A few names stand out during the opening credits for “Destroy All Neighbors,” a neurotic horror-comedy about annoying neighbors and a self-described “serial manslaughterer.” There’s Rich Zim, who animated the trippy opening credits sequence, which sends viewers barreling down a...