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Before Asian representation in American blockbuster entertainment like “ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ” and “ Crazy Rich Asians ,” Gene Luen Yang’s 2006 YA graphic novel American Born Chinese was one of the very few works of media that existed in a once barren media landscape. The book discussed the complexities of growing up Asian in America, covering self-acceptance, assimilation, racial identity, and breaking down racial stereotypes, all while riffing on Wu Cheng'en’s “ Journey to the West .” The Disney+ television adaptation of “American Born Chinese” attempts the same feats as Yang’s novel but doesn’t quite have the same impact. Developed by “Bob’s Burgers'' writer/producer Kelvin Yu , the series centers on Jin Wang (Ben Wang), a second-gen Chinese American teenager in suburban California who wants to lead an ‘American’ life. At home, the marriage between his mom Christine (Yeo Yann Yann), and dad Simon ( Chin Han ), hangs by a thread. At his predominan...

Tony, Emmy, AFI and Golden Globe Award-winner   Jeffrey Wright , one of the most prolific actors of our time, will take part in a conversation about his illustrious career moderated by RogerEbert.com publisher Chaz Ebert at the Cannes Film Festival's American Pavilion on Thursday, May 25th, at 12:30pm. The Conversation is an open event in the Roger Ebert Conference Center of the American Pavilion, but you must have credentials to enter the International Village.  The "In Conversation: Jeffrey Wright" event will give festivalgoers the opportunity to hear Wright speak at length about his acclaimed credits, which include HBO's "Westworld," the James Bond and Batman franchises, both the Broadway and film versions of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" and Wes Anderson's " The French Dispatch " and "Asteroid City," the latter of which is premiering this year at Cannes.  Wright broke onto the big screen in 1996 with a harr...

" The French Dispatch ," which showed at Cannes in 2021, was one of Wes Anderson's most divisive movies. I fell into the camp that thought it was way too busy, and that all its competing narrative conceits drained it of energy, especially in the second and third chapters. Viewed from that perspective, Anderson's latest film, "Asteroid City," which premiered in competition today, is almost movingly low-key. The trailer made "Asteroid City" look like Anderson's version of an atomic-age alien-invasion picture, but that's not quite right. In a black-and-white intro, a host (Bryan Cranston) informs viewers that what they will be watching is a rehearsal for a  play  called "Asteroid City," set in a fictional American town. This allows Anderson to pay homage not just to "The War of the Worlds," "Invaders From Mars," and their ilk, but to another, almost opposite mode of storyt...

The cultural reckoning of #MeToo has made everyone more aware of the common horror of sexual assault (more than 460,000 annually in America, according to the Department of Justice) and, in turn, the damage of a false accusation. But it has always been about taking each instance on a case-by-case basis, even when the media takes a traumatic story to the tribunal of public opinion.   Nancy Schwartzman ’s harrowing documentary “Victim/Suspect” wades into tricky waters to ultimately make a vital point. By focusing on young victims who were then arrested for making false accusations, the film is an urgent reminder of the nuance with which each sexual assault case must be handled, starting with the authorities. As the eye-opening journalism within this movie proves, young women like Emma, Nikki, and Diyanie were intimidated by police during overlong depositions and pushed into recanting their statements. Their hope of finding safety and justice ended with them in handcuffs....

Three young filmmakers from Chicago are traveling to France this week to attend the Cannes Film Festival. As they set off on the dream trip, Isis Gullette, Unique Moore and Christal Westmoreland are reflecting on how DePaul University and the Chicago Housing Authority launched their filmmaking dreams. The three met during the “Become a Filmmaker” program, a six-week summer intensive in DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts, tailored for CHA residents . They have each returned, summer after summer, and were chosen for the trip for their talent and commitment to the craft. “At the core, the programs are designed to provide youth with new economic pathways and the tools to share their voices with the world,” said Liliane Calfee, a faculty member at DePaul and director of the program. She and others from the university will serve as chaperones and guides.  Chaz Ebert , president and CEO of Ebert Digital and the film criticism website RogerEbert.com, lived in CHA housing as a...

After decades of Joe Dante and Chris Columbus ’ iconic creations being dead in the sunlight, writer/developer Tze Chun pours fresh water with the animated family prequel, “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai,” a delightful return to form for the franchise and new fantastical ground for exploration. Set in 1920, decades before the events of the original, Gizmo (A. J. LoCascio, picking up the reins from Howie Mandel ) and his fellow Mogwai live in peace and harmony in their Jade Garden valley. When a hawk attacks his village, Gizmo sacrifices himself to protect his community, leaving him on a bog floating down a river and through China. He’s found by a traveling circus ringleader who snatches him up and forces him to act. Enter young Sam Wing ( Izaac Wang ), an ordinary kid who loves to make tea at his family’s shop with his cautious parents, Fong ( Ming-Na Wen ) and Hon (B. D. Wong). However, Sam’s adventure-seeking grandfather ( James Hong ) implores him to leave his comfort zone....

It's easy to take certain filmmakers for granted, and one of the easiest to take for granted is Finland's Aki Kaurismäki , whose films (" The Match Factory Girl ," " The Man Without a Past ," " The Other Side of Hope ") are so consistent, and so instantly recognizable as his, that news of a new one can easily elicit a shrug. Which makes "Fallen Leaves" the surprise of the festival so far—not because Kaurismäki has deviated from the deadpan mode that's been his signature since at least "Hamlet Goes Business" (1986), but because he's brought it close to something like perfection. "Fallen Leaves" packs so much into just 81 minutes, and so effortlessly. It is a comedy that is sweet without ever tipping into sentimentality. It is a romance between two lonely people who for a time appear to have no hope of finding happiness. It is a political film—an expression of solidarity with frustrated working-class employees...

RogerEbert.com publisher Chaz Ebert's third video dispatch from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, made with Scott Dummler of Mint Media Works, features a roundtable discussion in which she is joined by  contributors Jason Gorber and Isaac Feldberg to discuss two of this year's most buzzed about selections, Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" and Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest." Also included are excerpts from the film's respective press conferences featuring insights from Scorsese, Glazer, Robert De Niro and Osage National Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear.  You can view Chaz's full report in the video embedded below... from All Content

On May 6th, one of the most impressive red carpet events in recent Windy City memory took place at Chicago’s AMC River East. Laura Terruso ’s endearing new comedy, “About My Father,” had its long-awaited premiere in the hometown of its co-writer and star, the wildly successful comedian Sebastian Maniscalco . He stars as an Italian American character named after himself, who is eager to propose to his American girlfriend, Ellie ( Leslie Bibb ). But before he can receive the approval of his father, Salvo ( Robert De Niro ), Sebastian must allow his dad to meet Ellie’s wealthy family: her parents Bill ( David Rasche ) and Tigger ( Kim Cattrall ) along with their two eccentric sons, Doug ( Brett Dier ) and Lucky (Evanston native Anders Holm , who can also be seen in “The Muppets Mayhem” on Disney+). When I first spoke with Maniscalco, he took a moment to savor the incredible events of his day, which began with him and his real-life father Salvo being interviewed with De Niro by Gayle King...

Disney’s live-action remakes of their beloved, animated classics have seemed like a shameless cash grab with uneven results. Rather than produce original content, the thinking appears to have been: “Here’s a thing people like already. Let’s just give it to them again in a slightly different form.” Some have been legitimately magical ( David Lowery ’s “Pete’s Dragon,” Kenneth Branagh ’s “Cinderella”), while others have been empty exercises in glossy, computer-generated imagery (“ Dumbo ,” last year’s atrocious “Pinocchio”). “The Little Mermaid” is better than the vast majority of these movies, in that it stays true to the core of what people loved about the 1989 original while also expanding the story and characters in necessary ways. The literal fish-out-of-water tale of a mermaid who makes a Faustian bargain to explore the human world and pursue true love feels a little archaic in retrospect. Ariel is an inquisitive and rebellious teenager, but she basically goes from being a king’s...

Todd Haynes may seem like a highbrow filmmaker, but as a determined deconstructionist of American culture, he has to be broad-minded in his tastes. If " Safe " put his spin on the disease-of-the-week movie , "May December" offers his take on Lifetime specials and tabloid culture—or at least a meta consideration of how those formats, not to mention true-crime movies, come to be. Natalie Portman stars as Elizabeth, an actress whose best-known role is in a hit TV show called "Norah's Ark." (The plot is only alluded to, but it sounds like Elizabeth plays some sort of super-veterinarian.) Now she's preparing to appear in a fact-based indie film, and so she travels to Savannah, Ga., to meet the woman she'll be playing. The woman is Gracie ( Julianne Moore ), and Haynes introduces her as a totally ordinary housewife getting ready to welcome Elizabeth at a barbecue. Then the film, written by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, reveals exactly why Gra...

Once again, Martin Scorsese has managed to leave his peers in the dust. "Killers of the Flower Moon, " which had its premiere at Cannes on Saturday, is a gigantic film that would be unwieldy in most directors' hands, but in Scorsese's it becomes an epic of gratifying density and complexity. In a sprawling cast, even smaller turns—many by unfamiliar (to me) actors playing members of the Osage Nation—leave vivid impressions. A narrative that is thick with facts and resists an uplifting arc gains momentum through a bluesy Robbie Robertson bass line and Thelma Schoonmaker's editing. Over three hours and 26 minutes, "Killers" never goes three flashbacks deep like " The Irishman " did, but I still wish there were a way to put this festival on hold so that I could study every transition. In terms of genre, "Killers of the Flower Moon," adapted by Scorsese and Eric Roth from the nonfiction book by David Grann , is probably most accurate...

On May 19, the anniversary of the birth of his friend Malcolm X, pro football star, actor and activist Jim Brown died at age 87. Brown, whose public career spanned eight decades, died on the heels of fellow activist Harry Belafonte , and his contemporary sex symbol and former co-star Raquel Welch . What kind of figure trafficked with both Raquel Welch and Malcolm X? A highly complicated one, as Brown's legacy attests. Despite his good work as a civil rights icon and superstar on the field and screen, the superhero running back will be remembered as much for his history of domestic violence arrests as his advocacy for Black business ownership and street gang truces.  Brown's Hollywood career began in L.A., where he was for that year's Pro Bowl all-star game. An official from 20th Century Fox approached him, and suggested the Browns star take a screen test. Brown's screen debut was in the Western produced the same year, “Rio Conchos”. In a film starring Richard Boone ...

Roger called Martin Scorsese the most gifted director of his generation, America's finest filmmaker... I am at the Cannes Film Festival where Martin Scorsese's latest film, "Killers of the Flower Moon" will premiere Saturday, May 20th. So I felt it was time to update our series "Roger's Favorites" to finally add the one director I knew to be Roger's personal favorite. Roger said that Scorsese never made an "unworthy film." And so our Literary Editor Matt Fagerholm and I combed through all of the reviews we could find so that we could present Roger's own words in praise of Marty. But the reviews don't tell the whole story. In the introduction to Roger's book "Scorsese By Ebert," he examines why he developed such a lasting bond with Marty citing the similarities in their backgrounds even though they were from two different worlds.  "We were born five months apart in 1942, into worlds that could not have differ...