Roger Ebert

War Was Not Over at the 2024 Oscars
||
Clad in gowns and tuxes on the morning of Oscar Sunday, journalists from around the world board shuttles that transport them from the Cinerama Dome to a point near the complex that houses the Dolby Theatre—where the big event takes...
continue reading
Arcadian
||
For a few minutes, “Arcadian” basically becomes “Aliens” on an Irish farm with Nicolas Cage in the Ripley role. That might be the best elevator pitch I've ever heard. You know if you want to sign up for that or...
continue reading
Oscars 2024: The View from the Room
||
It was finally time. The 96th Academy Awards ceremony was ready for its big moment: Best Picture. But when presenter Al Pacino appeared on the stage with the envelope, somehow skipped over reading the names of the 10 Best Picture...
continue reading
SXSW 2024: Roleplay, Gasoline Rainbow, Grand Theft Hamlet
||
Documentaries have always held a prominent position at the SXSW Film Festival, and the best of the non-fiction form here in Austin feel like they encourage personal expression. It’s a festival (and a city really) that’s built around artists and...
continue reading
A Great Movie Year Deserved a Better Oscars
||
When judging whether a particular year’s Oscars are “good” or “bad,” you should break down your response into separate criteria. Were you happy with what won? Did you like the speeches? Were there memorable unscripted moments? How was the host?...
continue reading
SXSW Film Festival 2024: Babes, My Dead Friend Zoe, Y2K
||
The first full day of features at the Paramount (after Opening night premieres of “Road House” and Netflix’s “3 Body Problem—and an AM preview of new episodes of “Hacks”) felt like a purposeful attempt by the programmers to offer escape....
continue reading
True/False 2024: Coming Home Again
||
True/False is a rare gem. As a critic based in Chicago—whether it’s Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Sundance, SXSW, NYFF, or TIFF—I’m always venturing out of the Midwest to a festival in another region or another country. But no matter who I’ve...
continue reading
True/False 2024: Ibelin, Alien Island, Yintah
||
Usually, I make it a rule to not rewatch films at festivals; When my time on the ground is so limited, I would rather discover a new title rather than re-explore (in fact, the only time I’ve ever rewatched any...
continue reading
True/False 2024: A Photographic Memory, There Was There Was Not, Three Promises
||
Like many festivals and observers, True/False, the preeminent nonfiction film festival in Columbia, Missouri, has had displacement on its mind while considering a central question: How do we hold onto what once was? For many filmmakers, the preservation of memories,...
continue reading
Road House
||
“Road House” likes to explicitly reference that it thinks it’s a Western. It’s more like a cartoon. While that may sound harsh, some of the Looney Tunes-esque qualities of this reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic work in its...
continue reading