The routine at movie premieres is by now well-established. Hotel suites are turned into sets for the stars, who sit on chairs in front of movie posters and vases of flowers while platoons of interviewers are cycled through the room.…
The cliche is: In the 1950s in America, we were all a little like Ozzie and Harriet. In the decadent 1990s, we're descending into armageddon. Gary Ross' new film "Pleasantville" argues the opposite: In the 1950s we were leading blinkered…
As the third annual Chicago Underground Film Festival prepares to unreel, my first task is to define the term underground. These films are not to be confused with "independent films," which are discovered at Sundance by Hollywood agents and lead…
Fasten your seat belts: "Ridefilm" is coming. Sony IMAX announced last week it is scouting two Chicago area locations for installations that will marry movies and moving platforms to create rides that give you the sensation of hurtling through space…
Sometimes a movie opens with such a whoosh that you have to stand back and ask yourself what it represents - whether it has touched a nerve. "Mission: Impossible" has surprised everyone, even its makers, by scoring opening-week receipts in…
In an age when young movie stars are famous for their clothes, their homes, their cars and the clubs where they hang out, Keanu Reeves is famous for his suitcase. He's been living out of one for nearly three years,…
Musings on recent movies and other developments:
Ebert's Best Film Lists1967 - present
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. This is the story of one of the most important films I've seen this year and of the show-business cliffhanger it prompts: Will it find the audience it deserves? Or will it drift into the neverland of home…
Hollywood has given the world three movie genres: Westerns, musicals and film noir. The first two are on the endangered species list, but noir is undergoing an explosive rebirth of popularity - even though the average moviegoer doesn't know quite…
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