Roger Ebert Home

Far Flungers

Far Flungers

Political Persecution, American Style

Just a few months ago, our President signed the National Defense Authorization Act 2012 after almost unanimous bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, while the media almost unanimously ignored it. This is that same troubling act that permits…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

Is it a curse or a gift?

David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone" (1983) is my favorite adaptation of a Stephen King horror novel. Some parts from "The Shawshank Redemption" are terrifying in a different way, and are better classified in other genres. I'm also fond of some…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

"Honey, I Shrunk the Iron Curtain!"

It may seem an odd choice for a personal classic, but you need to bear in mind under what circumstances this writer had first encountered Joe Johnston's less-than-pint-sized family adventure flick, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." The year was 1990,…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

The Persistence of Memory

Memories don't really have a beginning, a middle and an end. They're more like vignetted sensations, impressions and paraphrases, where the most prominent detail might be sticky fingers from handling a bunch of wheat. If you could only live with…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

Through a swan, darkly

Mirrors and reflections have always been an obsession for filmmakers from all over the world - something that came as a result of the wealth of symbolism that they inspire, of course, but also of the psychological development all of…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

A world of one's own

In a science magazine I used to read during my high school years, one of my favorite sections was on the science in SF movies. (The magazine is still published; whenever I come across it at the campus book store,…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

D D L J - Dee Dee Ell Jay

Streaming on Netflix Instant. The movie starts out so beautifully. The great Indian actor Amrish Puri stands there with his dignity, dressed in a perfect mix of Western and native Indian attire, feeding a flock of pigeons in London's monochrome…

May contain spoilers

Far Flungers

A taxi driver goes South

Looking back at the Hollywood blockbuster action films of 2011 when the year was about to end, I found none of them could top the raw realism of the ambitious South Korean thriller "The Yellow Sea" (2010). When I endured…

May contain spoilers