Great Movies
Tributes
A Steady Intensity: Charles Grodin, 1935-2021
If the best comedy is essentially very serious, or has a very serious basis, then that explains the career of Charles Grodin.
May contain spoilers
If the best comedy is essentially very serious, or has a very serious basis, then that explains the career of Charles Grodin.
A tribute to another legend gone too soon.
An interview with Winston Duke, the star of Us, Black Panther, Spenser Confidential, and Nine Days.
Who and what you should nominate for Emmys this year.
A report from this morning's Golden Globes nominations announcement, and a full list of the nominees.
A sneak peek from AFI FEST 2018 of Chuck Lorre's new Netflix series about Hollywood has-beens and wannabes, starring Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas.
A tribute to the great journalist, Tom Wolfe.
A look at the contenders for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress this year and how many of them play a historically-beloved role for Oscar, the mother.
Elmore Leonard gets the Prestige TV treatment but they forgot to include his most essential element, tight pacing.
A tribute to the late Arthur Hiller, director of classics that include "The Americanization of Emily," "Love Story," "The In-Laws."
An overview of the films that will be theatrically released in the 2015 fall season.
To celebrate Roger's birthday, we picked some of our favorite reviews of films he loved.
An obituary for the great Christopher Lee.
Paul Walker, who died yesterday in a car crash at 40, was an action film star known for his Everyman charm and his ability to provide a dependable center for the craziness around him.
Peter Sobczynski ranks 27 films by Brian De Palma.
This year's Outguess Ebert contest seems a little like shooting fish in a barrel. For the first time in many a year, maybe ever, I think I've guessed every one correctly.A few years ago, I came across an article about the newly identified psychological concept of Elevation. Scientists claim it is as real as love or fear. It describes a state in which we feel unreasonable joy; you know, like when you sit quiet and still and tingles run up and down your back, and you think things can never get any better.
I tried applying it to that year's Oscar nominees. Did it work any better than any other approach? You need Elevating nominees. An example of Elevation would be when the bone morphs into a space station in "2001." Did I feel Elevation in making any of my Guesses this year. That doesn't mean it was a bad year at the movies. Harvey Weinstein, accepting his achievement award from the Producers' Guild, said he thought 2012 was the best in 90 years. Maybe he felt Elevation when he gazed upon the Weinstein Company's box office figures.
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Marie writes: Not too long ago, Monaco's Oceanographic Museum held an exhibition combining contemporary art and science, in the shape of a huge installation by renowned Franco-Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping, in addition to a selection of films, interviews and a ballet of Aurelia jellyfish.The sculpture was inspired by the sea, and reflects upon maritime catastrophes caused by Man. Huang Yong Ping chose the name "Wu Zei"because it represents far more than just a giant octopus. By naming his installation "Wu Zei," Huang added ambiguity to the work. 'Wu Zei' is Chinese for cuttlefish, but the ideogram 'Wu' is also the color black - while 'Zei' conveys the idea of spoiling, corrupting or betraying. Huang Yong Ping was playing with the double meaning of marine ink and black tide, and also on corruption and renewal. By drawing attention to the dangers facing the Mediterranean, the exhibition aimed to amaze the public, while raising their awareness and encouraging them to take action to protect the sea.
• As told to Roger Ebert
Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin walk into a hotel room, and that sounds like the set-up for a joke. It's more like a long-delayed punchline. These guys have been stars for more than 40 years, but until "Stand Up Guys," they've all three never been in a movie together. Arkin and Pacino were in "Glengarry Glen Ross" together, and Walken and Pacino were both in "Gigli," but that's as far as it goes.
I mention they go way back.
"Yes, absolutely," Walken says. "I've known Al for decades, from New York and from, you know..."
"He didn't know I was an actor," Pacino says, "until we did this movie. He'd just see me around the street a lot."
