Roger Ebert

It’s OK For Movies to Just End
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At the end of "The Beekeeper," an amazing thing happens: they fade to black and roll the credits. I saw the film earlier this year (it's on home video now and worth $5) and was slightly flummoxed. Written and directed by David...
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The Overlook Film Festival Highlights, Part 2: The Hands of Orlac, Kill Your Lover, Dead Mail, Red Rooms
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“The Hands of Orlac,” a twisty and lurid 1924 Austrian psychodrama, was the last movie I saw in New Orleans at the Overlook Film Festival. The four day-long festival’s revival of the century-old silent movie, about a celebrated pianist who...
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Why Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Remains Unforgettable
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Despite its gently bummed-out vibe, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is a sneakily powerful film. It’s so affecting, in fact, that I get a little sad just thinking about the story and characters. Even though I saw "Eternal Sunshine"...
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A New Skin: Losing Control of Your Body in the 2020s
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If the 2020s were going to be any film subgenre, they would be body horror. It’s a genre preoccupied with testing the limits, pleasures, and possibilities of the flesh. It also has a streak of fear under the radical physical...
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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
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Just when you think they’ve run out of real-life World War II stories to turn into blockbuster movies than some documents get declassified, inspiring or at least suggesting new sagas of heroism. This new movie about a small mission of...
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Ebertfest 2024 Announces Full Lineup, With Guests Including Eric Roberts, Mariel Hemingway, Larry Karaszewski, and More
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This week marks the 25th anniversary of Ebertfest, Roger Ebert's film festival hosted every year at the Virginia Theatre in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. From April 17th to April 20th, this year's fest spans thirteen features both old and new, one panel,...
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How Do You Live: On the Power of Edson Oda’s Nine Days
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How will you respond if you are evaluated for another life after your death? “Nine Days” is a little but poignant fantasy drama film which throws that thought-provoking question and some other interesting ones involved with life and humanity. When...
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Under the Bridge
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Murder mysteries usually present the offense at their center as a puzzle to be solved. There’s a reason the genre and its true crime sisters are often called “whodunits.” And that approach can work, building intricate illusions that are deeply...
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Eleanor Coppola Was the Guardian Angel of Apocalypse Now
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When Eleanor Coppola died Friday at the age of 87, it was inevitable that most obituaries would lead with the fact that she had been the wife of Francis Ford Coppola, one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the last...
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The Overlook Film Festival 2024 Highlights, Part 1: Fasterpiece Theater, Exhuma, All You Need is Death, Me
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The Overlook Film Festival is thankfully not a market festival. Only one of this year’s screenings was a world premiere: “Abigail,” which played on the closing night of the four-day festival, and will soon be released globally by Universal Pictures....
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