The Wandering Earth
I can't think of another recent computer-graphics-driven blockbuster that left me feeling this giddy because of its creators' consummate attention to detail and infectious can-do…
Bill Paxton
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The Circle (2017)
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Mae's Father
Matt Zoller Seitz -
Mean Dreams (2017)
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Wayne Caraway
Nick Allen -
Term Life (2016)
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Detective Keenan
Brian Tallerico -
Nightcrawler (2014)
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Joe
Matt Zoller Seitz -
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
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Master Sergeant Farell
Matt Zoller Seitz -
Million Dollar Arm (2014)
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Tom House
Susan Wloszczyna -
The Colony (2013)
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Mason
Godfrey Cheshire -
2 Guns (2013)
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Earl
Odie Henderson -
Titanic [3D] (2012)
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Brock Lovett
Roger Ebert -
Haywire (2012)
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John Kane
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The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
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Directed by
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Thunderbirds (2004)
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Jeff Tracy
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Broken Lizard's Club Dread (2004)
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Coconut Pete
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Apollo 13: The Imax Experience (2002)
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Fred Haise
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Frailty (2002)
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Dad, Directed by
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Vertical Limit (2000)
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Elliot Vaughn
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U-571 (2000)
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Dahlgren
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Mighty Joe Young (1998)
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Gregg O'Hara
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A Simple Plan (1998)
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Hank Mitchell
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Titanic (1997)
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Brock Lovett
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The Evening Star (1996)
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Jerry
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Twister (1996)
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Bill Harding
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Apollo 13 (1995)
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Fred Haise
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True Lies (1994)
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Simon
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Indian Summer (1993)
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Jack
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Trespass (1992)
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Vince
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One False Move (1992)
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Hurricane Dixon
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Weird Science (1985)
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Chet
Roger Ebert
* This filmography is not intended to be a comprehensive list of this artist’s work. Instead it reflects the films this person has been involved with that have been reviewed on this site.
“A Simple Plan” isn’t your typical Sam Raimi movie, and that’s why it’s his best
An ode to Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan on its 20th anniversary.
Out of the Past: Noir City: Chicago is Back for 10th Year
The 10th anniversary of the Chicago edition of the traveling Noir City festival runs from August 17 to 23 at the Music Box Theatre.
No False Moves: Carl Franklin on His Noir Films
An interview with director Carl Franklin, on the occasion of his film "One False Move" receiving a special presentation at Chicago's upcoming Noir City festival.
We Should Be So Lucky: A Tribute to Harry Dean Stanton
The staff pays tribute to Harry Dean Stanton.
Thumbnails 8/22/17
Theodore Collatos on "Tormenting the Hen"; Essay that changed film criticism; Who really directed "Tombstone"; True star of "Frasier"; Post-horror movies taking over cinema.
#297 March 7, 2017
Matt writes: Just yesterday, the winners in RogerEbert.com's recent giveaway were announced. Each of them received a copy of The Great Movies IV, the final installment in Roger Ebert's collection of essays analyzing some of the greatest achievements in cinema. Chaz Ebert's article revealing the winners also included the book's foreword written by Matt Zoller Seitz.
Video: Bill Paxton on “A Simple Plan” at Ebertfest 2001
A video of Bill Paxton's 2001 appearance at Ebertfest, where he discussed "A Simple Plan" with Roger Ebert and composer Brian Tyler.
The Consummate Everyman: Goodbye to Bill Paxton
The RogerEbert.com staff says goodbye to Bill Paxton.
Bill Paxton: 1955-2017
A tribute to the late actor and director, Bill Paxton.
TIFF 2016: “Lion,” “Mean Dreams,” “Planetarium,” “Norman”
On four films from TIFF, including works starring Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman and Richard Gere.
Book Review: "Aliens: The Set Photography"
A review of "Aliens: The Set Photography," released by Titan Books.
Thumbnails 5/18/16
Jeff Nichols brings "Loving" to Cannes; Cherchez la femme; Best of Cannes so far; STX pays $50 million for unmade Scorsese movie; "Mean Dreams" thrills at Cannes.
Sun Valley Film Festival Honors Clint Eastwood, "Finders Keepers"
A report from the 2015 Sun Valley Film Festival.
Video Interviews: Jake Gyllenhaal & Rene Russo on "Nightcrawler"
Thumbnails 10/27/14
Boone and Henderson on "Dear White People"; Brody on "Birdman"; Serpico on the NYPD; Sragow on film criticism; Uhlich on "Citizenfour" and "Nightcrawler."
TIFF 2014: Traveling in a Darkened Theater
A report from the Toronto International Film Festival on "Nightcrawler," "Clouds of Sils Maria," "Bird People," "The Tale of Princess Kaguya," and "The Dead Lands".
#161 March 27, 2013
"As film exhibition in North America crowds itself ever more narrowly into predictable commercial fodder for an undemanding audience, we applaud those brave, free spirits who still hold faith with the unlimited potential of the cinema." - Roger
#162 April 3, 2013
Marie writes: The Ebert Club Newsletter is now three years old! And the occasion calls for some cake - but not just any old cake, as it's also now officially Spring! And that means flowers, butterflies and ladybugs too. Smile.
#157 February 27, 2013
Marie writes: It's a long story and it starts with a now famous video of a meteor exploding over Chelyabinsk, Russia. Followed by alien conspiracies fueled by the internet and which led me to investigate further. Where did it come from? Does anyone know..? Yes! According to The NewScientist, the rock came from the Apollo family of near-Earth asteroids, which follow an elongated orbit that occasionally crosses Earth's path.That in turn led me to yet another site and where I learned a team of scientists had discovered two moons around Pluto, and asked the public to vote on potential names. They also accepted write-in votes as long as they were taken from Greek and Roman mythology and related to Hades and the underworld - keeping to the theme used to name Pluto's three other moons. And how I eventually learned "Vulcan" has won Pluto's moon-naming poll! and thanks to actor William Shatner who suggested it. Behold Vulcan: a little dot inside a green circle and formally known as P5.
Prometheus: Alien origins:The skeleton beneath the exoskeleton
The visceral impact that Ridley Scott's "Alien" had in 1979 can never quite be recaptured, partly because so many movies have adapted elements of its premise, design and effects over the last three decades -- from John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing" (1982) to David Cronenberg's remake of "The Fly" (1986) to "Species" (1998) and "Splice" (2009). No movie had ever looked like this. And it still works tremendously -- but let me tell you, in 1979 a major studio science-fiction/horror film that hinted darkly of interspecies rape and impregnation was unspeakably disturbing. (It got under my skin and has stayed there. We have a symbiotic relationship, this burrowing movie parasite and I. We nourish each other. I don't think Ridley Scott has even come close to birthing as subversive and compelling a creation since.)
The thing is, the filmmakers actually took out the grisly details involving just what that H.R. Giger " xenomorph" did to and with human bodies (the sequels got more graphic), but in some ways that made the horror all the more unsettling. You knew, but you didn't know. It wasn't explicitly articulated. Dallas (Tom Skerrit) just disappears from the movie. The deleted "cocoon" scene (with the haunting moan, "Kill me...") appeared later on a LaserDisc version of the film, and then was incorporated into the 2003 theatrical re-release for the first time. The deleted footage:
#98 January 18, 2012
Marie writes: Okay, this is just plain cool. This is clearly someone using their brain, in combination with "what the hell, let's just go ahead and try it..."
Dr Julius Neubronner's Miniature Pigeon CameraIn 1903, Dr Julius Neubronner patented a miniature pigeon camera activated by a timing mechanism. The invention brought him international notability after he presented it at international expositions in Dresden, Frankfurt and Paris in 1909-1911. Spectators in Dresden could watch the arrival of the camera-equipped carrier pigeons, whereupon the photos were immediately developed and turned into postcards which could be purchased. (click images to enlarge.) - from The Public Domain Review. Visit the site to see even more photos.
A Simple Plan
May Contain SpoilersSometimes ordinary people becoming evil are more frightening than Dr. Hannibal Lector or Frank Booth. Villains like them are downright scary, but they are basically outsiders with a monstrous nature beyond our common sense. In contrast, the characters in Sam Raimi's crime thriller "A Simple Plan" (1998) are nice, ordinary people we can identify with, at least in the beginning. We can recognize their human wishes, desires, and motives. We can understand why they are driven into the plot while it's getting bloodier and more complicated. As a result, it is frightening to observe them doing horrible things, and one question immediately pops up in our minds - what would I do if I were in their circumstance?
# 73 July 27, 2011
"I love music so much and I had such ambition that I was willing to go way beyond what the hell they paid me for. I wanted people to look at the artwork and hear the music." - Alex Steinweiss
I know I'm right about 'Knowing' and its critics were unknowing
Q. In the review that you and Siskel did of "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer," you said the movie drained years, even centuries, out of the human "time pool." I did some calculations and learned that it's worse than you feared.
Movie Answer Man (04/20/2003)
Q. I just saw "Better Luck Tomorrow" and enjoyed it tremendously. However, most of my friends were disappointed by the ending. I myself would have liked to see more of the characters' reactions to the killing (especially Ben's after Stephanie chooses him). Then I read in a review that Ben's concluding voice-over narrative was modified from the version shown at Sundance in 2002, ostensibly to soften the ending and make the film more palatable for a wider audience. What was different in the original version? (Brian Wong, New York NY)
