movie Glossary
Magnetic Beach Effect
Whenever a storm at sea capsizes boats and leaves the shipwreck survivors adrift and helpless, the next dawn finds them sprawled on a beach. It is always a nice, clear day.
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An Education (PG-13)
by Roger Ebert
"An Education" tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who is the target of a sophisticated seduction by a 35-year-old man. This happens in 1961, when 16-year-old girls were a great deal less knowing than they are now. Yet the movie isn't shabby or painful, but romantic and wonderfully entertaining.
Q. You ask questions about zombies at the end of your "Zombieland" review. If we set aside the George Romero playbook, which states that "they're us" and which makes associations between zombies and American consumer culture, the military complex and technological addictions, the general purpose of zombies is simply to give audiences a glimpse of what happens to the body after death.
Leon Morin, Priest (No MPAA rating) (1961)
by Roger EbertAt the Siskel Center 10/23-29.In 1961, one year after he appeared in "Breathless" and two years after she appeared in "Hiroshima, Mon Amour," Jean-Paul Belmondo and Emmanuelle Riva made "Leon Morin, Priest." They were both in the white heat of their early careers; Belmondo would make five other films that year. The director was Jean-Pierre Melville, known for his films about gangsters and the Resistance. A crime film might have been ideal for them, but instead they filmed this story at the intersection of desire, religion and politics.
by Roger Ebert
"These two newlyweds are driving down to Florida on their honeymoon," Lou Jacobi was telling me. "The guy puts his hand on his wife's leg. 'We're married now,' she tells him. Why don't you go a little farther?' So, he goes to Fort Lauderdale."
This was in a restaurant in Toronto in 1999, where we were having lunch before Lou was scheduled to dedicate his star on Canada's Walk of Fame. Lou died Friday at 96.
Has there been a more harrowing and courageous performance this year? Willem Dafoe plays a wholly evil man occupying a wholly evil world in Lars on Trier's "Antichrist," a new film that challenges its viewers so boldly that some have fled from the theater. Von Trier's films often stir up heated discussion, but never has he made a film quite this formidable.
by Roger Ebert
In her next film, Gabby Sidibe will play Miss Popularity. This is a fair distance from the abused, fearful victim she plays in the title role of "Precious." People half-convinced the actress must be like the character will need a readjustment.
by Roger EbertPasses go on sale Nov. 1 for Ebertfest 2010, which will be held April 21-25, 2010 at the restored Virginia movie palace in Champaign-Urbana. The cost is $125, which covers all 12 screenings. The panel discussions are free and open to the public.
by Roger Ebert (1986)Cary Grant is dead, and with him dies an era in motion picture history. The man who combined debonair charm, classic grace and a subtle sense of the sinister in some 72 movies died late Saturday of a stroke in Davenport, Iowa. He was 82.
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It has been argued that universal health care is an offense against individual liberty. I've been told by readers that they'll deal with their own health care, thank you very much, and have no interest in government interference. At root this is a libertarian argument; conservatives are more likely to oppose it on the grounds that it undermines the free enterprise system. They warn of a Nanny State.
I met a man who didn't sleep. This was in the summer of 1988. I was in Toulouse, France, to visit a friend I'd made some years earlier in London, Dominique Hoff. Her sister, Marie-Christine, told me: "There is a man you must meet. He's the smartest man I know. He was my professor in dental school. He invents dental tools, and he can fix anything with his hands. He and his wife have converted a big old barn in the country into a home and workshop and a place for his collection." His collection? I said. The sisters laughed. "You'll see."
Post your own CIFF feedbackTina Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," an independent American production, won the Gold Hugo as the best film in the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, and added Gold Plaques for best supporting actress (Jossie Harris Thacker) and best screenplay (Mabry). It tells the harrowing story of three black children growing up in rural Mississippi in circumstances of violence and addiction. The fim's trailer and an interview with Mabry are linked at the bottom.
thumbs
Linked here are reviews in recent months for which I wrote either 4 star or 3.5 star reviews. What does Two Thumbs Up mean in this context? It signifies that I believe these films are worth going out of your way to see, or that you might rent them, add them to your Netflix, Blockbuster or TiVo queues, or if they are telecast record them.
Gathered here in one convenient place are my recent reviews that awarded films Zero Stars, One-half Star, One Star, and One-and-a-half Stars. These are, generally speaking to be avoided. Sometimes I hear from readers who confess they are in the mood to watch a really bad movie on some form of video. If you are sincere, be sure to know what you're getting: A really bad movie.
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