There are windows throughout “Nowhere Special,” real and symbolic. Over the opening credits, we view windows, giving us glimpses of the outside and a couple of interiors in a rural Irish town. One of those windows is being carefully soaped and squeegeed by John (James Norton). He smiles at a black and white cat on the other side of the glass. James is a single dad to three-year-old Michael (an extraordinary performance by Daniel Lamont). We first see him looking through their apartment window, waiting for John to come home. As soon as Michael sees his father, he goes to the door so he can see ..read more

A weak year for video games so far should get a little bit of a jolt from Sony and Shift Up’s “Stellar Blade,” available this week exclusively on the PS5. Inspired by all kinds of post-apocalyptic gaming, it sometimes feels like a blend of “The Last of Us,” “Fallout,” and “Final Fantasy,” and those influences alone mean it will have fans. It’s a game with some refreshingly fun gameplay and intriguing world-building that’s equally hampered by some clunky mechanics and repetitive settings. However, “Stellar Blade” is a game that rewards patience—just when you get completely exhausted by somethi ..read more

Every genre has a moment, usually dating back to silent film, where you can start to see it crystallize before your very eyes. Science fiction has “A Trip to the Moon,” the American Western has “The Great Train Robbery,” and even the mob movie has “The Musketeers of Pig Alley.” Until “Girl Shy,” starring silent era comedian Harold Lloyd, we had romantic films and we had comedic films. But here, in the story of a shy young tailor’s apprentice who can barely summon up the courage to talk to girls until he meets Mary (Jobyna Ralston), the two narrative elements are blended more cohesively than e ..read more

The Academy’s Board of Governors has approved awards rules and campaign promotional regulations for the 97th Academy Awards.  Many of these changes feel both like revisions to pandemic-era exceptions, as well as reactions to recent qualms about qualifying periods for new releases and, most significantly, the Best Original Score category. Let's take a look at the biggest changes. BEST PICTURE QUALIFICATIONS   For Academy Awards consideration, a feature film must have a qualifying theatrical release between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024. Films distri ..read more

Love songs can be so trite. Rom-coms can be so formulaic. Because we spend much of our lives thinking about love, it’s no surprise that artists are similarly obsessed with matters of the heart. Yet so many of their efforts are dreadful. Chalk it up to how subjective one’s feelings on romance can be. Some find its truest expression in a Celine Dion ballad. Others gravitate to a Glen Powell flick. The art that speaks to you about the complexity, beauty and anxiety of love is so personalized—it can’t be wrong, but others may not understand. For almost 20 years now, Luca Guadagnino has been my go ..read more

After two “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies that involved Hollywood court ordering the blue blur to do the same mundane story as every popular property does by shipping him to Earth and spewing pop culture references as the basis of humor, it's come to the point that Sonic fans, young and old, might develop Sonicholm Syndrome. If you can't run faster than the mediocrity, accept it. Be that it may, one of the standout characters in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” was Idris Elba's vocal take on the red warrior-obsessed barbarian Knuckles the Echidna. Having no knowledge of Earth's customs, lending to no pop c ..read more

For the past twenty-seven years the San Francisco Silent Film Festival has unearthed treasures from the silent film era and presented them with context and curation for audiences of the City by the Bay. Over the decades the festival has grown from presentation only to an organization that helps restore and preserve this fragile art. When I lived in San Francisco during grad school over a decade ago, I was lucky enough to attend many events hosted by SFSS, from their flagship festival back when it was hosted at the historic Castro Theatre to their epic presentation in 2012 of Abel Gance’s “Nap ..read more

In honor of Ebertfest's 25th anniversary this year, we have compiled excerpts from some of the most memorable screenings at our film festival over the years. Click on each bolded title and you will be directed to the full article. And if you have any special memories of Ebertfest between 1999 and 2023, please send them to us at ebertfest@yahoo.com. Thank you, and See You At The Movies! Chaz Ebert Ebertfest Flashback: Donald O’Connor on “Singin’ in the Rain” I didn’t learn any new steps until I went into movies. There was a picture called “Sing, You Sinners,” and the director wanted me t ..read more

For nearly a quarter century, the Chicago Palestine Film Festival has showcased film gems by or about Palestinians. One of the largest global populations of Palestinians lives in Chicago, concentrating in southwest suburban Bridgeview, also known as “Little Palestine.” After a narrow vote, Chicago became the largest American city calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. While violence peppers this century’s Middle East history, the current genocide in Gaza not only casts a dark cloud over all the viewings but also makes these films feel that more urgent. Palestinian films often explore four topi ..read more

Andy Kaufman doesn’t want you to watch his biopic. At the start of “Man on the Moon,” Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey) appears on screen, addressing us directly, using the squiggly voice he’d wield on stage and on “Taxi.” “I would like to thank you for coming to my movie,” he says before admitting, “I wish it was better, you know, but it is so stupid. It’s terrible. I do not even like it! All of the most important things in my life are changed around and mixed up for ‘dramatic purposes.’”  That opening was funny in 1999, but in 2024, it might be even better. Biopics have rarely been a crea ..read more