“Hugo” “Hugo” celebrates the birth of the cinema and dramatizes Scorsese’s personal pet cause, the preservation of old films. In one heartbreaking scene, we learn that Melies, convinced his time had passed and his work had been forgotten, melted down countless films so that their celluloid could be used to manufacture the heels of women’s … Read more
Editor’s note: Earlier this month, the 2023-24 University of Illinois College of Media Roger Ebert Fellows attended the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, MO. It’s an ideal first festival for any moviegoer, its documentary focus allowing for a wide range of stylistic and thematic encounters and venues of all sizes. Here are their reports. HANNA … Read more
You make an important point in your discussion of Archbishop Desmond Tutu that forgiveness is not only a spiritual obligation but in the most practical sense “political expediency.” Many people might think that because an act helps to achieve a political goal it is somehow less “pure.” What do you think? Yes, that’s a good … Read more
All throughout the year, we were fortunate to have incisive film reviews and opinion pieces from so many whose names are too numerous to mention, but they include: Brian Tallerico, Matt Zoller Seitz, Matt Fagerholm, Nell Minow, Robert Daniels, Marya E. Gates, Isaac Feldberg, Sheila O’Malley, Glenn Kenny, Christie Lemire, Tomris Laffly, Godfrey Cheshire, Clint Worthington, Simon Abrams, Carlos Aguilar, Nandini … Read more
“I cannot believe that it was almost 25 years ago that Roger and I started the Roger Ebert Film Festival at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana,” said Ebert. “And I am pleased to be installed as an Honorary Alumnus. Over these years our mission of encouraging empathy through the movies has grown to include … Read more
Every few years Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert go viral. The compilations of their outtakes — which inevitably devolve into shouting matches and brutal insults — are always good for a laugh. So is their review of the comedy Cop and a Half, where Siskel was absolutely gobsmacked (and possibly a little offended) that Roger Ebert gave the film, … Read more
The Appendix is a masterstroke in how it honors what Gene and Roger did in passionately championing work that they believed in. I was especially happy to see Nancy Savoca’s “Household Saints” on there, which I struggled to find online after watching its rave review on “Siskel & Ebert” [you can view it at the … Read more
“The Color of Money” “If this movie had been directed by someone else, I might have thought differently about it because I might not have expected so much. But “The Color of Money” is directed by Martin Scorsese, the most exciting American director now working, and it is not an exciting film. It doesn’t have … Read more
The Toronto International Film Festival 2023 had a very strong lineup. We are all mindful and supportive of the ongoing actor and writer strikes. Still, there was plenty to see and talk about. However, as you can see, I’m still in my Barbenheimer mode. Congratulations to Greta Gerwig for being the first woman director to bring … Read more
“Spike Lee is not only only one of the best filmmakers in America, but one of the most crucially important, because his films address the the central subject of race,” Roger Ebert wrote in his four-star review of “Malcolm X.” “Every Lee film is an exercise in empathy.” Lee attended Ebertfest in 2014 for a special 25th … Read more