An overview of twelve films in the 2019 Venice Film Festival that get my thumbs-up vote.
A report from Berlin on three new films from international auteurs.
The best of the 2016-17 TV season in Emmy ballot form.
Meredith Brody recaps the films she saw, of past and present, at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival.
A bunch of 2016 Oscar nominees and must-own Criterion releases just hit Blu-ray. Pick your favorite!
Highlights of our 2015 interviews, including Brie Larson, Bryan Cranston, Jason Segel, Lexi Alexander, Sarah Silverman, Spike Lee, Tom McCarthy, Ramin Bahrani, Paul Feig, Charlie Kaufman and much more.
The writers of RogerEbert.com on some of our favorite performances of 2015.
"Vertigo" is an obvious inspiration for "Phoenix," but there are other films and books that the film brings to mind.
Sheila writes: Filmmaker (and Ebertfest favorite) Ramin Bahrani has directed a new documentary short called "Lift You Up," profiling a man named Glyn Stewart. Bahrani met Stewart in a food bank while filming a commercial in North Carolina, and knew he wanted to make a film about him. In an interview on Rogerebert.com, Bahrani says, "I liked him immediately. He had an electric personality. He was so intent on laughing and hugging everyone, that I assumed he must be harboring a profound sadness. I wanted to know why." You can read the full interview with Bahrani, as well as view "Lift You Up" over on Rogerebert.com.
A review of "Phoenix," one of the best films of TIFF 2014.
Sheila writes: In lieu of the recent release of "Get On Up," the James Brown biopic (check out Odie Henderson's review on Rogerebert.com, and you can also check out the video interview with star Chadwick Boseman and director Tate Taylor), I went scrolling through Youtube the other day, enjoying various James Brown clips. I came across this delight: James Brown giving a dance lesson.
Marie writes: It's no secret that most Corporations are evil - or at the very least, suck big time. And while I have no actual proof, I'm fairly certain there is a special level of Dante's Hell reserved just for them. (Map of Dante's Hell.)That being the case, when my younger brother Paul wrote me about a cool project sponsored by Volkswagen, I was understandably wary and ready to denounce it sight-unseen as self-serving Corporate shyte. As luck would have it however, I was blessed at birth with curiosity and which got the better of me and why I took a look. For what I found was nothing less than extraordinary....
Beginning a new column devoted to films available via Video on Demand in all its forms.
● "How to Fold a Flag"● "We Are the Night"
To say that Javorn Drummond, Jon Powers, Michael Goss and Stuart Wilf come from different walks of life is something of an understatement. If they hadn't served together in Iraq in 2003-04, they never would've met. Now they're back home, separated by geography, uneasy peace and haunting memories of what they saw and did during a war they determined to be pointless. They might meet again someday -- or not -- but they share a bond of life, death and military service that they'll take to their graves.
These are the guys we got to know in "Gunner Palace," the superb 2005 documentary co-directed by the husband-and-wife team of Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein. They defended America as soldiers in the Army's 2/3 Field Artillery Division, never quite sure what they were killing or dying for. There was a fifth "star" in the film, Ben Colgan, who sacrificed his elite Delta Forces post to join the artillery unit in Baghdad. Then he sacrificed his life to an IED.
UPDATED 10/16: Here are brief reviews of all the Chicago Film Festival movies we have seen, in alphabetical order, written by Bill Stamets and Roger Ebert. More will be added as we view them. For a full CIFF schedule, go to www.chicagofilmfestival.com or call (312) 332-FILM.
Great Movies
