Roger Ebert

ChiFilm Fest’s 60th Anniversary Cinema Soirée
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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...
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The Acolyte Sends Star Wars Into a Galaxy Far, Far In the Past
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Like the Jedi and the Sith, the "Star Wars" universe of late has felt like a dueling dyad of creative directions for the franchise—each battling for supremacy on the now-fertile ground of Disney+. Some entries, like "Ahsoka" and the later seasons...
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Short Films in Focus: The Year of Staring at Noses
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This should be obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: Go watch the movie first. Scroll down, watch it, then scroll back up and read the review and Q&A. Part of the joy of doing this piece every month is the...
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Animation Is Slow Motion: Pablo Berger on Robot Dreams
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For years, live-action was director Pablo Berger's playground, but he always had that animation dog inside him. His Oscar-nominated animated feature "Robot Dreams" let him release his bark. Full of charm, soul, and warmth, "Robot Dreams" is a cinematic triumph...
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The Unloved, Part 126: Zardoz
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On the 7th of June, I'll be 35 years old. If we're being very optimistic, this isn't exactly the start of middle age, but I don't know what else to call it. I've been paying attention to the news and the...
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The Dead Don’t Hurt
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One of my great great great grandfathers fought for the Union and survived the Battle of Antietam. After his infantry unit was wiped out, he survived by crawling under a heap of corpses and staying there for two days. As...
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Cannes 2024: Ghost Trail, Block Pass
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Opening this year’s section is Jonathan Millet’s “Ghost Trail,” in which a Syrian war refugee (Adam Bessa) hunts his former torturer through France while struggling to heal from the scars, both literal and figurative, that his quarry left him with. ...
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At the Movies, It’s Hard Out There for a Hit Man
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Early on in the new Richard Linklater comedy “Hit Man,” the film’s main character, a nice-guy teacher named Gary (Glen Powell), informs the audience of a truth they may not want to hear: Hit men aren’t real. “It’s a total...
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Far, Far Away: How to Get People Going to Movies Again
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What's broken in moviegoing? And how can it be fixed? Why do I ask?  Surprise: It's not because of the box office performance of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Tale" and "The Garfield Movie" over the 2024 Memorial Day weekend.  Sure, it was the worst such...
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Young Woman and the Sea
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Daisy Ridley battles jellyfish and the patriarchy with equal pluck and aplomb in “Young Woman and the Sea.”   Ridley stars in this compelling biographical drama as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Ederle accomplished this...
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