TV/Streaming
Great Cast of The Looming Tower Overcomes Narrative Flaws
A review of Hulu's first-rate The Looming Tower, starring Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
A review of Hulu's first-rate The Looming Tower, starring Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Reviews of Idris Elba's directorial debut and a thriller starring Paul Rudd.
A look at 20 of the most promising films of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
A review of Netflix's Western, "Godless," starring Jeff Daniels, Michelle Dockery, Jack O'Connell, and Scoot McNairy.
A tribute to Debra Winger, on the occasion of her first leading role in over 20 years in this week's "The Lovers."
An article announcing the final slate of films scheduled to be screened at Ebertfest 2017.
The latest on Blu-ray, DVD and streaming includes Kubo and the Two Strings, One-Eyed Jacks, Pete's Dragon, and more!
New titles on Blu-ray and DVD including "The Martian," "Mr. Robot" and "Straight Outta Compton."
A review of Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" from its NYFF premiere last night.
A review of Ridley Scott's "The Martian," starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
An overview of the films that will be theatrically released in the 2015 fall season.
What should be nominated for Emmys this year? Let us guide the way.
Picks for the best of the 2013-14 television season, in the form of a Dream Emmy ballot.
An open letter from Woody Allen; an Edna Krabappel tribute; the possibility of a "Prometheus 2"; why film festivals reject good films; the return of "Black Angel" (the film meant to precede "Empire Strikes Back").
I think my very favorite thing in Rian Johnson's "Looper" is a squiggly cloud. It hangs there in the sky above a cornfield and you can't help but notice it. Which is good, because this is a time-travel movie and the cloud comes in handy later when something happens again in this same spot and the cloud tells you what time it is. Thanks to that cloud, you know this is a re-run.
In one version of the present-future-past, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) shoots his future self (Bruce Willis) and in another he doesn't. I couldn't remember why that happened at first just now, but then it came back to me. Johnson brought in Shane Carruth, writer-director of the meticulously planned and way more convoluted time-travel thriller "Primer" (2004) to do some special effects work, which indicates to me that RJ is fairly serious about his science-fiction. (He also wrote and directed "Brick" and "The Brothers Bloom," both of which contain some nifty, well-plotted twists.)
(Update: Here's a "Looper" timeline/infographic.)
