I write sometimes (bylines at RogerEbert dot com, The Film Stage, elsewhere). Often I don’t.
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllPinned reviews
More-
Stop Making Sense 1984
Seen it a thousand times and still feel like each viewing is new. So much of what I love about Jonathan Demme's work goes beyond his distinctive close-ups or his love of music, live performance, or even his love of humanity in all its strangest forms. All of that is here, but I think what stands out about his films above all else are those small moments in between with minor characters or backing performers getting a moment to shine…
Translated from by -
New York Stories 1989
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
[Rating applies only to “Life Lessons”]
Abstract painter Lionel Dobie (Nick Nolte) paces back and forth in front of a canvas in a hulking shuffle, gripping his cigarette and a rag like crude weapons in his smudged hands. He cuts the figure of a caveman who awoke from an ancient slumber and clawed his way to the top of the New York art scene. His self-ascribed anthem, Procol Harum’s mournful “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” plays as he fails to…
Translated from by
Recent reviews
More-
Bringing Up Baby 1938
Deeply relate to Susan in that I also believe I could befriend a large and dangerous cat with a little music
Translated from by -
Babygirl 2024
This is maybe a little too neat and tidy for its own good in the end and too eager to reassure but I sure had fun while it was going. Feel like the Eyes Wide Shut comparisons are largely superficial and this is a lot closer to Unfaithful. Can’t really match that film’s thorniness (or horniness) but the focus on Kidman’s self-discovery, fear of getting caught and desire to risk it all because of how thrilling it is is critical to its success. A movie that earns its close-ups, and Kidman really knows how to make the most of them.
Translated from by
Popular reviews
More-
Bottoms 2023
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
A very long hour and a half. I feel like I'm squinting to see the movie everyone is responding to rather than what I'm seeing. Everything about it feels off to me.
There is no sense of time or place — it feels half like a 90s throwback (complete with an Avril Lavigne-set montage that seems to proceed with no discernable pace or comic effect beyond waiting for a just-so record scratch) and half set in the present but with…
Translated from by -
