Roger Ebert

Not Not Jazz
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There's a scene in "Not Not Jazz," a film about the fusion jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood, where the camera prowls slowly around bassist Chris Wood as he slowly saws his upright bass on an upstate New York tennis court...
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Duchess
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In the wake of Quentin Tarantino’s ascendance to his pop culture throne in the ‘90s, dozens of imitators tried to mimic his approach to filmmaking, only to fall flat on their faces. It turns out that what he does is much...
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Dance First
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The final words of his 1953 novel “The Unnamable” — “I can’t go on. I’ll go on.” — are among the most famous written by Irish poet, playwright, essayist, and novelist Samuel Beckett. They epitomize both the hopelessness and the senseless...
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Running on Empty
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Would you like to know the day you will die? It’s a tricky thought exercise. What if you find out you’ll die at a ripe old age? That sure would make retirement investing and travel plans easier. But what if...
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Borderlands
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I have spent hundreds of hours in the worlds of Gearbox Software and 2K Games’ “Borderlands,” enraptured by its addictive structure, one that encourages exploration, teamwork, and a constant pursuit of new weapons to unleash on waves of enemies (I've...
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Good One
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The most important things in life happen between the words. Subterranean noise is often louder than dialogue. This is a truth we all experience, but it is challenging to pull off in film, particularly if the subterranean moments are small...
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On the Trail: India Donaldson on Good One
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In India Donaldson’s riveting “Good One,” a father-daughter hiking trip takes an uncomfortable turn after the shifting power dynamics of their relationship are gradually brought to the fore, first testing their bond then exposing its limits.   For 17-year-old Sam (Lily...
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The Texture of Night: How Collateral Revolutionized Movies
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I still remember the shock of seeing the first trailer for Michael Mann's 2004 movie "Collateral," starring Tom Cruise as a hitman named Vincent on assignment in Los Angeles, and Jamie Foxx as Max, the cabdriver that Vincent holds hostage and turns...
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It Ends with Us
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"What would you say if your daughter told you her boyfriend pushed her down the stairs but it's okay because really it was just an accident?" Questions like this are at the heart of "It Ends with Us,” based on...
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SDCC 2024: Activations, Apes and Other Animals
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San Diego Comic-Con is known for its activations, and the best of 2024 were, by far, presentations by Paramount+ and 20th Century Fox. Outside the San Diego Convention Center, for the second year in a row, Paramount+ used Happy Does...
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