American Factory
A snapshot of the struggle between labor and management that is both timeless and distinctly of its time.
Renny Harlin
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Skiptrace (2016)
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Director
Nick Allen -
The Legend of Hercules (2014)
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Director, Writer
Susan Wloszczyna -
5 Days of War (2011)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Mindhunters (2005)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Driven (2001)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Cutthroat Island (1995)
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Produced and Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Cliffhanger (1993)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Rambling Rose (1991)
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Produced by
Roger Ebert -
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert -
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
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Directed by
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.
Things Have Changed a Great Deal Since Your Time: A Reappraisal of the “Alien” Sequels
May Contain Spoilers
A look at the entire "Alien" franchise, and a reappraisal of its unloved installments.
Before "Deadpool": The Golden Age of the R-Rated Blockbuster
A piece on how Deadpool could bring back the R-rated blockbuster and when it really mattered.
Blu-ray Review: “Die Hard: The Nakatomi Plaza Collection”
A look back at the five "Die Hard" movies.
Thumbnails 10/20/14
The roots of reactionary rage; Dietrich Brüggemann on "Stations of the Cross"; Paul Schrader's silent protest; Case closed on murder of Bulgarian defector; Author tracks down her troll.
Paul Schrader: Porn Again?
Is the director's explicit "The Canyons" the nadir of his career—or its climax?
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:
#70 July 6, 2011
Marie writes: Gone fishing...aka: in the past 48 hrs, Movable Type was down so I couldn't work, my friend Siri came over with belated birthday presents, and I built a custom mesh screen for my kitchen window in advance of expected hot weather. So this week's Newsletter is a bit lighter than usual.
So many films, so little time
I have before me a schedule of the 2007 Toronto Film Festival, which opens Thursday and runs 10 days. I have been looking at it for some time. I am paralyzed. There are so many films by important directors (not to mention important films by unknown directors), that it cannot be reduced to its highlights. The highlights alone, if run in alphabetical order, would take up all my space.
High fidelity? Fan thinks not
Q. You mentioned it's difficult to imagine anyone other than Jimmy Fallon as the Red Sox baseball fan in "Fever Pitch" (2005). For me, I'm having a hard time imagining anyone other than Colin Firth as the long-suffering Arsenal soccer fan in "Fever Pitch" (1997).
If at first you don't succeed ...
Q: "Taxi Driver" scribe Paul Schrader's long-shelved version of "Exorcist: The Beginning" is finally seeing the light of day at the International Festival of Fantastic Film in Brussels. Given the lukewarm reception toward Renny Harlin's version, is there any chance of success for Schrader's more restrained, theologically terrifying film here in the States? Chris Lettera, Youngstown, Ohio
