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In the age of streaming, there’s a widespread belief that every movie is available, all the time, everywhere. Don’t fall for it! Some of the greatest movies ever made are nowhere to be found due to everything from music rights snafus to corporate negligence. In this column, we take a look at films currently out-of-print on physical media and unavailable on any streaming platform in an effort to draw attention to them and say to their rights holders, “Release This!”

When Peter Bogdanovich‘s musical “At Long Last Love” opened in 1975, the verdict was nearly unanimous — critics agreed that the wunderkind behind “The Last Picture Show,” “What’s Up, Doc?” and “Paper Moon” had badly stumbled in his attempt to revive the style of 1930s Ernst Lubitsch musicals like “The Love Parade” and “The Merry Widow.” Even Roger Ebert, who gave the movie one of its more sympathetic reviews,...

Ready to return to “Tombstone?”

The George P. Cosmatos-directed western, which was released theatrically back in 1993, is arriving on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc on April 22, alongside a 4K digital release available on the same day wherever you buy your movies. The film has been “meticulously remastered and restored,” according to the official press release, “with stunning visuals and immersive sound.”

Kurt Russell plays U.S. Marshall Wyatt Earp, a gruff lawman who recruits his brothers Virgil and Morgan (Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton), along with gunslinger Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) for the notorious gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. Powers Boothe plays Curly Bill Brocius, one of the Cowboys in a loose confederation of cattle rustlers, that go up against the Earps and Holliday. Dana Delany, Jason Priestley and Michael Biehn also star.

In 2002, a director’s cut of “Tombstone” was released on DVD, containing six extra minutes of footage,...

Roger Ebert is perhaps the best-known and respected film critic. From 1967 until he died in 2013, he worked as the film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times, and in 1975, he became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. That same year, he teamed up with The Chicago Tribune's critic, Gene Siskel, to co-host various television programs. The most well-known is At the Movies, where they reviewed films with fiery passion and an iconic "thumbs up/thumbs down" ranking system. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert cycled through co-hosts before teaming up with Richard Roeper from 2000 until 2008, when Ebert left the show having lost his voice to cancer treatment.

"The Last Starfighter" firmly established itself as part of the canon of great '80s science-fiction and fantasy films upon its release in 1984. Directed by Nick Castle (who initially found fame playing Michael Meyers in John Carpenter's "Halloween" in 1978), it tells the tale of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a young high schooler from a trailer park who aces an arcade game and sets the high score. Little does he know, however, that this arcade game was really a test of his abilities as an actual starfighter, which leads to him being recruited into the Star League to fight against an intergalactic threat. 

When Alex realizes that he's been drafted into a real war, he declines his chance to be a hero and demands to be taken back to Earth. Fortunately, this turns out to be a good thing for the galaxy at large, as an enemy armada soon after...

Tombstone fans hankering for an equally entertaining dust-up must travel from Arizona to California and meet Pale Rider, the highest-grossing Western of the 1980s. Directed, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood, Pale Rider marked the legendary actor's first Western since The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976 and the last until the Oscar-winning Unforgiven in 1992. Of course, Pale Rider has plenty in common with the outstanding High Plains Drifter, with both starring Eastwood as a ghostly personification of death (though it's never been entirely confirmed in the latter).

Apart from its commercial success, Pale Rider was championed by famed film critic Roger Ebert in his four-star review, whose opinions continue to be respected 12 years after his death. Pale Rider may feature more of a supernatural and metaphysical quality than Tombstone, yet both movies are sure to appeal to vivid, violent, well-performed Westerns that withstand the test of time.

'Pale Rider's Premise,...

Way before Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, Roger Ebert — the most influential film critic of all time — was the person both fans and moviemakers looked at to see if a movie had passed the quality test. Interestingly, he hardly ever glanced at television. The Pulitzer Prize winner reserved his sophisticated reviews for cinema, even though networks were kind to him. Apart from writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert hosted three review shows over the years, namely Sneak Previews, At the Movies, and Siskel & Ebert & the Movies.

Ebert’s preference for cinema is understandable, considering tons of new movies were coming out each month. If he chose to review TV shows too, he wouldn’t have had the time to watch everything. The latter would especially have been extremely time-consuming. Consequently, he would never have become the great prolific critic we remember him as. However, Ebert and his equally influential review buddy,...

Movies are a love language. When you stop to think about it, it’s a grand gesture for hundreds of people to put years of effort, time, and sacrifice into making something for you. On a tangential level, to crib from Roger Ebert’s wise words, movies are an “empathy machine.” We’re allowed to feel some sense of, if not love, then at least compassionate understanding. I’d argue this ability to feel empathy is not limited by genre or subgenre. This is not to say that every movie invites empathy, but rather that it can be found regardless of the aspects that make up the genre.

And yes, that even includes what Ebert called “Dead Teenager Movies,” more commonly known as the slasher film. As recent entries in the subgenre have proven, there’s plenty of compassion to be squeezed from the slasher genre as well. You may...

Netflix announced 12 new titles for the first of the month and then added a dozen more to the mix. The stealth release slate was at least as good as the previously announced group. Happily, it included one of my favorite films ever. If you haven't seen it yet, this is your chance to add it to your list.

I saw this movie at the theater when it came out in 1989. It was astonishing, amazing, and absolutely brilliant. Sounds like an especially arrogant LLC, doesn't it? Well, it truly was and still is all of those things. From the opening frame to the last, I was riveted, as was the entire audience. As soon as it was available on DVD, I had my own copy. That was followed by the Blu-ray, then the digital version. And lucky you, you get to watch it now on Netflix.

When I say this is...

During the 1970s, Disney animated films went through a bit of an unfortunate slump. With lower budgets and significantly rougher animation, films like "The Aristocats" and "Robin Hood" just didn't have the same power to impress audiences as the innovative and high-end attempts of the previous few decades. Though "The Aristocats" was a box office success and critics were fairly kind to it,it has mostly become a footnote in Disney animation history. 

"The Aristocats" follows the adventures of a fancy housecat named Duchess (Eva Gabor) and her kittens Marie (Liz English), Toulouse (Gary Dubin), and Berlioz (Dean Clark) after they are catnapped by the jealous butler of their owner, Madame Adelaide, and end up lost under a bridge in Paris, where they befriend alley cat J. Thomas O'Malley (Phil Harris). "The Aristocats" is quite a bit of fun with some truly underappreciated Disney characters, which makes us wonder what...

Quick LinksKevin Costner Was Originally Attached to Work on TombstoneThe Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp Was a Box Office BombKevin Costner Continues to Invest in Western Epics

Long after 1957's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral starring Burt Lancaster and Kurt Russell premiered, one of the most famous incidents of the American West once again graced the silver screen in the form of Tombstone (1993). With an all-star 1990s cast, the film has since gone on to be considered a hallmark of the Western genre. And its hold on audiences remains strong to this day. Surprisingly, one of the most notable Western actors missing from its roster of luminaries was Kevin Costner. But this was not always the case for Tombstone.

Costner had once been attached to act in the project, but opted out when he had different goals for the picture. He would go on to release his own project the following year,...

Last year, over 670 films were released in America, and that number has been steadily increasing every year since the end of the pandemic. That’s why I believe the Academy Awards’ limited selection of nominees will never be able to please everyone no matter how hard they try. That being said, it’s awfully clear that the Academy likes some kinds of movies more than others, as horror fans have noticed that genre productions are very rarely rewarded at the annual ceremony.

And while we think there’s a good chance that both Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance might earn their very own statuettes at this Sunday’s event, today we’d like to take a look back on other horror movies that were infamously snubbed at the Oscars. After all, it wasn’t very long ago that nearly all scary movies had to fight to...

Roger Ebert — the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism — always tried his best to be fair in his reviews. He might have gotten a few things wrong about some movies and dispensed a bit of corrosive advice that some filmmakers took to heart but he could be counted on to give the most accurate assessments throughout his 46-year stint as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Consequently, he earned the admiration of both fans and fellow critics, including his equally talented critic buddy Gene Siskel, who was ever happy to leave the spotlight to him.

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Phone BoothRMysteryThrillerRelease DateApril 4, 2003Runtime81 minutesDirectorJoel SchumacherCastSee All

Colin Farrell Stu Shepard

Kiefer Sutherland The Caller

Forest Whitaker Captain Ramey

Radha Mitchell Kelly Shepard

Where to watchCloseWHERE To WATCHStreaming

Writers Larry Cohen Powered by

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The Belgium submission for the 2025 Oscars blends the sports intensity of “Challengers” with the emotional weight of “She Said.”

The hauntingly titled “Julie Keeps Quiet,” which is screenwriter Leonardo Van Dijl’s directorial debut, was shot on film like fellow tennis drama “Challengers,” but the comparisons end there. Tessa Van den Broeck stars as a top player at an academy who stays silent when her older male coach is suspended amid an investigation.

The official synopsis reads: “As the star player at an elite youth tennis academy, Julie’s life revolves around the game she loves. She trains hard, pausing only for class or physical therapy before returning to the gym fixated on making it into the Belgian Tennis Federation. When her coach Jérémy is suddenly suspended following the suicide of one of his female protégées, all the players at the academy are encouraged to speak up about their experiences with him.

How did Robert Downey Jr. settle the score with his old critics? ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Robert Downey Jr.’s collaboration with Christopher Nolan in the latter’s Academy Award-winning WWII drama Oppenheimer proved largely successful, placing itself adjacent to the actor’s most iconic role to date — Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the MCU. Turning into Lewis Strauss rightfully earned him a slew of recognitions and accolades, including the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor.

As the name spotlights, the Critics’ Choice Association comprises Hollywood’s most formidable critics, infamous for their professional sway so potent it could forge or fracture careers. Critics, in general, had long been perceived to bear hubris, pretentiousness, and an insatiable appetite, often rendering them faintly unpleasant, as evidenced by countless reviews that might have veered from critiquing into vilifying.

And the Avengers actor was not about to let that pass unnoticed. When...

Jeremy Strong, star of the HBO hit series Succession and recent first-time Oscar nominee, is set to play a Nazi hunter in a new adaptation of the conspiracy thriller novel The Boys from Brazil, according to a report from Deadline.

The Netflix series will be executive produced by The Crown showrunner Peter Morgan. Strong will play Yakov Liebermann, the lead character loosely based on real-life Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The role was previously portrayed by Laurence Olivier in a 1978 feature adaptation of the novel.

The story chronicles Liebermann's attempts to uncover a secret project launched by notorious Nazi officer Josef Mengele, who was nicknamed "the Angel of Death" due to his sinister experiments during the Holocaust. In the novel, Mengele has successfully planted dozens of genetic clones of Adolf Hitler in an attempt to rebuild the Third Reich.

The project may be intended as a contemporary political commentary. Strong received...

In any conversation about the greatest film critics of all time, lists that would include such prominent voices as Paulene Kael and Leornard Maltin, would have to also include Roger Ebert. Alongside fellow Chicago film critic Gene Siskel, Ebert brought film reviews to a national audience on his various television shows, and his books of film criticism are some of the best of all time.

One of the things that made Roger Ebert one of the most entertaining film critics of all time was that it was equally interesting to hear him discuss films that he loved as it was to listen to him tear into the ones that he hated. One of the genres of movies that Ebert could be the harshest on were horror films, and his least favorite movies in the genre were often ones that cared more about being shocking and gross than being interesting.

Hellraiser...

These days, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is obviously considered a comedy classic. But when it was first released back in 1975, there was no guarantee that people would like it. And specifically, there was no guarantee that film critics would like it.

Several critics did enjoy the Pythons’ first original feature film. The New York Times’ Vincent Canby called it “a marvelously particular kind of lunatic endeavor,” and Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune, hailed Monty Python and the Holy Grail as “an incredibly silly film of great humor, brilliant design and epic insanity.”

But other critics weren’t so impressed. Variety argued that it was “basically an excuse for set pieces, some amusing, others overdone.” Gene Siskel claimed that it “contained about 10 very funny moments and 70 minutes of silence”. In the U.K., film critic and journalist Barry Norman hosted Film 75, the 1975 iteration of his long-running movie review series.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel helped change the conversation around film criticism, thanks to Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. For roughly 20 years, the duo became the de facto sounding board for films that were released in theaters - long before Rotten Tomatoes existed, or people had social media as a way to express their opinion about movies. But Siskel and Ebert had a way of breaking down what they loved (or didn't love) about a movie; in a way, they were breaking down film criticism for their audience. All good things must come to an end though, and 25 years ago, Siskel and Ebert at the Movies' final episode would mark the end of an era of television.

“Every film about war ends up being pro-war,” François Truffaut once said in a 1973 interview with Gene Siskel in the Chicago Tribune.

In a sense, he’s still right about that even when considering Mstyslav Chernov’s “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” one of the most visceral, experiential depictions of combat ever captured in a documentary. The Ukrainian director, who won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for his previous “20 Days in Mariupol,” is clearly glorifying his country’s righteous struggle against the Russian invaders, and in that practical sense, this is not an anti-war film. On an existential level, however, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” is absolutely an anti-war film, one that shows the numbing futility of combat like nothing else viewers may have ever seen.

Chernov, an Associated Press war correspondent in various theaters of combat around the world before war came to his native Ukraine, is extraordinarily adept at...

Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel are often considered to be among the top tier of film critics, particularly their TV series At The Movies (originally known as Siskel & Ebert & the Movies). The duo were known for their scathing sense of humor when it came to their reviews, along with their famous "Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down" system (long before Rotten Tomatoes was a thing). In all that time, Ebert and Siskel never reviewed a television series — except for one major occasion. That review was for the short-lived animated series The Critic, which was ironically about a movie critic's life.

Opinions. Everyone's got one. And when someone does creative work for a living, the floodgates are wide open for criticism, constructive or otherwise. David Lynch was a true artist in every sense of the word, and when he left the world on January 15, 2025, the internet was awash with tributes. He made the ordinary extraordinary through his surreal approach to creating sculptures, music, films, painting, and more. With his character influencing his artistic practice in fascinating ways, his orderly manner contrasted with the chaotic dreamscapes he imagined.

Lynch earned dedicated fans far and wide, including filmmaker Martin Scorsese, comedian Mel Brooks, and the renowned film critic Elvis Mitchell. However, not everyone felt the same. Another influential film critic, Roger Ebert, really disliked Lynch's movies, clashing with the director's surreal visions and believing he was deliberately obscure and didn't wrap stories up properly. But, there was one unexpected G-rated movie, an anomaly in Lynch's ouevre,...

The late, great David Lynch obviously gave us so many wonderful films over the course of his career. I mean, the guy literally turned a failed ABC TV pilot with no surviving costumes or sets into a movie that some have hailed as the greatest film of the 21st century.

Probably one of his more underrated works was 1997’s Lost Highway, the film that dared to ask: what if O.J. Simpson was a saxophone-playing Bill Pullman, and he briefly had the ability to shape-shift? At the very least, it’s the only movie in history to use “Two Thumbs Down” from Siskel and Ebert as a selling point in its marketing campaign.

Lost Highway is especially notable for comedy fans, because it featured Richard Pryor’s final screen performance. Pryor plays Arnie, who owns the auto shop that employs Pete – the young man who may or may not be some...

The world of film lost one of its biggest, most unconventional names this week with the death of David Lynch at the age of 78. Lynch was one of the most singular filmmakers to have ever lived, and his is a filmography where that descriptor, "singular," really does fit. Lynch was a one-of-a-kind director, whose work was so unique, so head-scratching, yet so compelling that he was able to create indelible image after indelible image across stories set in the worlds of science fiction, suburbia, and everywhere in between. But what that also means is that David Lynch was among the most divisive directors. A few people have noted that Lynch's last notable piece of work was as the legendary John Ford in the final scene of Steven Spielberg's 2022 film "The Fabelmans"; his one-scene cameo is absolutely delightful, hilarious, and kind of as inexplicable as the rest of Lynch's career.

Legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert didn't review the classic Western movie Tombstone when it was first released, and it was only because of Val Kilmer that they ever saw it at all. Tombstone was a smash-hit when it was released in 1993. It made $56 million domestically at the box office (via Box Office Mojo), and it earned a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 74%. Interestingly, however, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert didn't contribute to Tombstone's critical reception until over a month after the film was released.

Tombstone was first released on Christmas day in 1993, but Siskel and Ebert didn't review it until February 5, 1994. Instead, their 1993 Christmas episode focused on forgotten films like Heaven and Earth and Grumpy Old Men. It's strange that the two most prominent film critics of the 1990s didn't review one of the best Westerns of the 1990s until a full month after it was released,...

As each new year begins, folks celebrate, sometimes with great relief, the passage of time and the cultural highs that held us aloft. Looking back means not quite being ready to look forward, which helps explain the phenomenon of bad movies that plague theaters every January, a notorious dumping ground...

Tubi has become one of the best places for action fans to get their fix of explosions, espionage, and endless body counts. One classic thriller to have found renewed success on the platform after years in limbo is the Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman action movie No Way Out, the 1987 movie that not only provided both stars with a hit but was also one of their most critically successful films.

A political conspiracy thriller based on the 1946 novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing that rivals some of the best in the genre, Costner stars as Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell, who becomes caught up in the suspected murder of the mistress of Secretary of Defense David Brice (Hackman). With both men romantically tied to the victim, Farrell must play a cat and mouse game in order to prove his innocence after Brice frames him for the murder. From tense stand-offs to a satisfying climax,...

In his nearly 50 years as film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert had a reputation for being lucid, passionate, and, when a film happened to rub him the wrong way, cranky. As seen in his weekly sparring sessions with the Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel on their syndicated review show, Ebert could unleash withering invective at a film that wasted his time and/or insulted his intelligence. He was infamous for his hatred of the 1980s spate of slasher films, as well as his "How could they do this to Jennifer Jason Leigh" one-star pan of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Filmmakers were occasionally stung enough by his ire that they named characters after him who were snobby, mean-spirited, or downright monstrousness.

Ebert is, of course, hardly alone in this. Any critic whose job requires them to watch over 200 movies every year is going to need to blow off some steam from time to time.

An unfairly criticized Jim Carrey movie has gotten a new streaming home. As of Jan. 1, The Cable Guy is now available to stream on Max.

Released in 1996, The Cable Guy was directed by Ben Stiller and written by Lou Holtz Jr. The movie features Sonic the Hedgehog 3 star Jim Carrey as a cable TV installer who aggressively befriends a customer played by Matthew Broderick. While it was expected to reach greater heights financially with Carrey in the lead, the film was still profitable at the box office, earning over $102 million against a budget of $47 million — $20 million of which reportedly went straight into Carrey's pocket. Its reception was also divisive, garnering mixed reviews and respective critics and audiences scores of 55% and 51% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Related Jim Carrey's $484 Million Comedy With Morgan Freeman as God Gets a New Streaming Home

This comedy classic from Sonic the Hedgehog's Jim Carrey featuring Morgan...

Released in 1993, Kurt Russell's Tombstone has long-since passed into legend as one of the defining Westerns released after the supposed decline of the genre. Financially successful, but not to the degree that it broke into the year's box office top 10, and critically appreciated, but not exactly adored at the time, the entertaining look at some of the key events in Wyatt Earp's life stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most famous examples of Westerns.

In the three decades since its release, appreciation for Tombstone's cast has grown the most, not least because of stand-out performances by Kurt Russell (as Wyatt Earp), Val Kilmer (in his career-high role of Doc Hollywood), and Michael Biehn (Johnny Ringo), but also because of the numerous early performances by incredibly talented actors who would go on to far bigger things. As Roger Ebert said, Russell and Kilmer were so good that their performances became almost ubiquitous,...

From humble beginnings, raised without electricity in rural Arkansas, Billy Bob Thornton eventually found his way to the bright lights of Hollywood. A chance encounter and encouragement from director Billy Wilder set Thornton down a screenwriting path. This led to him co-writing what Gene Siskel called "his favorite movie of the year," the gritty drama One False Move in 1992. The same year, Thornton booked a reoccurring role on the sitcom Hearts Afire alongside the late John Ritter, whom he reunited with for several movies until Ritter's untimely death after they collaborated in Bad Santa.

Few movie critics are more respected than Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Originally working for separate Chigago-based newspapers, they were paired up in 1975 to host numerous television series reviewing movies. Thanks to their intelligent wit, frequent professional debates, and signature "thumbs up" rating style, they became a mainstay of American culture and are remembered today as being among the best movie critics of all time.

Over a decade ago, Woody Harrelson shared a surprising choice for best cinematic sequel. The Hunger Games star's pick wasn't a popular take for best sequel like Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back or even a family film like Toy Story 2, but rather a nearly-forgotten box-office failure. Even more surprising, Harrelson's pick is an underrated family film starring a talking pig and duck.

Woody Harrelson Loves a Children's Film about a Pig

Back in 2012, actor Woody Harrelson was talking to Rama's Screen about the upcoming film The Hunger Games, the first in the series. By that point, all three Hunger Games books had been written, and Lionsgate had announced that they would be releasing a film adaptation of the second book in 2013. Harrelson felt uneasy about doing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire because he doesn't "believe in sequels," but he quickly remembered a sequel that did a good job.

As Hollywood adjusted to the whims and desires of Baby Boomer moviegoers heading into the 1970s, studios found themselves making fewer and fewer Westerns. Long one of the most reliably profitable genres, younger viewers who'd come of age rebelling against much of what their parents held dear were turned off by this continued mythologizing of how America pursued its manifest destiny. They rejected John Wayne, but turned out for Italian-produced Spaghetti Westerns, especially those starring Clint Eastwood. As a result, the only semi-traditional Hollywood Westerns Boomers would embrace tended to feature Eastwood in the starring role (e.g. "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales").

One notable exception to the Eastwood rule was Michael Crichton's sci-fi/Western blend "Westworld." The 1973 film stars Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as a pair of buddies who take a vacation to an adult amusement park called Delos to live out their dreams...

Roger Ebert was arguably the most famous American film critic of all time. Known for his countless witty and insightful film reviews in the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as for the TV program At the Movies, which he hosted alongside fellow Chicago film critic Gene Siskel, Ebert remained one of the most entertaining and well-respected critics among the film-going public for over four decades before his passing in 2013. Nevertheless, Ebert was not afraid to dissent from the consensus opinion of his fellow film critics if a film did not appeal to him.

One of the most prominent examples of this was his review of Stanley Kubrick's controversial sci-fi classic, A Clockwork Orange (1971), to which he only awarded two stars (out of a possible four). Specifically, Ebert took issue with what he felt were the film's troubling political messaging and the empathetic portrayal of its disturbed protagonist, Alex (memorably played...

While Bill Murray’s Scrooged has become required holiday viewing, it wasn’t universally beloved upon its release in 1988. Noted film critic Roger Ebert, for one, wasn’t a fan.

“Scrooged is one of the most disquieting, unsettling films to come along in quite some time,” Ebert wrote in his scathing one-star review. “It was obviously intended as a comedy, but there is little comic about it, and indeed, the movie’s overriding emotions seem to be pain and anger. This entire production seems to be in dire need of visits from the ghosts of Christmas.”

Bad reviews are part of the business, but that doesn’t mean Murray couldn’t question them. Two years later, Murray was scheduled for a sit-down with Ebert to discuss his directorial debut, Quick Change, according to Far Out.

Ebert wrote about their initial interaction. Murray popped into a bathroom to get camera-ready, only...

Film critic Gene Siskel thought that Jack Nicholson’s second directing effort, the comedy-western Goin’ South, was just okay, giving the film two and a half stars out of four. There was at least one way it could have been better, he said. “The film could use more of John Belushi, the Animal House star, wasted here in a walk-on as a fat Mexican deputy sheriff.”

There was someone else who believed Belushi could use more screen time: John Belushi. And he would have had more scenes if he could have behaved properly. But things were goin’ south right after Belushi signed on to the project for five weeks of work at $5,000 a week. “What the hell does John Belushi want to do this for?” wondered Nicholson, according to Daniel De Visé’s The Blues Brothers.

Good question. Belushi was a mess when he arrived in Mexico for filming. Producers...

Throughout the 1980s, slasher films dominated theater screens and the shelves of video stores. Providing audiences with a form of escapism, monsters such as Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger appeased audiences and their lust for carnage and creative killings, all the while serving up heaps of sexuality, which reinforced puritanical American expectations that drug use and pre-marital sex were almost always the cause of characters meeting their untimely end. In 1986, a different type of film explored violence in a way almost undiluted in realism. Entitled Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, James McNoughton's effort offered a glimpse into the world of serial murder.

Loosely based on real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, it garnered praise from contemporary critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, both of whom had been open about their disdain regarding the rising popularity of the slasher film. The titular character, portrayed by Michael Rooker, offers a glimpse...

Like the grand majority of film critics out there, Roger Ebert, the famous Chicago Sun-Times referent for all things regarding movies, and probably the most important film critic in history, didn’t exactly love horror movies. It didn’t matter if it was on the TV show Siskel & Ebert, with fellow critic Gene Siskel, or reviewing in print material, Ebert famously looked down on most horror movies. Only a handful of scary films made his Great Movies list (according to his website there are only 16), and a four-star rating was not common. But this doesn’t mean he wasn’t impressed by them occasionally, a good example being Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

Made in 1994, but from an idea director Wes Craven had in 1987, New Nightmare is a different kind of horror film. There’s nothing quite like it in the universe of scary films, and this is probably...

Legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were known for their passionate discussions about movies, whether they were raving about arthouse offerings like My Dinner with Andre or fiercely debating the artistic merits of Home Alone 3.

But what about TV?

Well, apart from that time that they reviewed an episode of Saturday Night Live during the episode, the famous duo didn’t really discuss TV shows. But that all changed thanks to one very special animated series: The Critic. Al Jean and Mike Reiss’ underrated primetime cartoon chronicled the life of a portly New York film critic and TV host Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz) who routinely trashed Hollywood blockbusters such as Scent of a Wolfman and Dennis the Menace II Society.

So, naturally, Siskel and Ebert took note of The Critic. They then took the highly unusual step of reviewing it on a 1994 episode of their show,...

Back in March 1975, TV viewers were thoroughly blindsided by the shocking death of MASHs Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, in what became one of the show's most shocking plot twists. Played by McLean Stevenson, Blake was the lovable and usually bumbling commanding officer of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, best known for his laid-back, yet compassionate leadership style and an all-consuming love for fishing. Blakes warm demeanor compared to some of Mash's other characters helped balance the rigors of war all around the dark edges of the show during its first three seasons.

The season 3 finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," opens with the happy news that Blake has earned his necessary rotation points and is receiving his long-awaited discharge. The mood is celebratory and upbeat, seasoned with poignant goodbyes. As he preps for a return to his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois, Blake bounces between disbelief and joy, revealing how much hes...

Time flies when you're observing genius, and for some of us it feels like just yesterday that Denzel Washington was a preposterously talented young actor with a future of untold greatness laid out before him. What would he be? A charmer like Cary Grant, an everyman like James Stewart, or a stalwart like Sidney Poitier? It felt like he could be anything, everything, and, 43 years later, he's delivered on that promise with interest. Denzel Washington is everything: A gentleman, a playboy, a badass, a crusader, a villain, and a bit of a clown. Without fail, he takes your breath away by being the best possible version of whatever it is his character was written to be.

After a rough start with the wrongheaded 1981 racial satire "Carbon Copy," Washington found his footing in a supporting turn with "A Soldier's Story." In 1988, he received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal...

Over more than 40 years in Hollywood, Denzel Washington has only ever reprised one of his characters: Robert McCall of The Equalizer trilogy. Nearly 30 years ago however, there was another potential franchise in the works for him that he, the studio, and director Carl Franklin were all eager to see work.

It's safe to say that Quentin Tarantino is a pretty great, well-respected filmmaker — but which movie is his absolute best according to its Rotten Tomatoes score? That would be his 1994 masterpiece "Pulp Fiction," which earned a rating of 92% on the review aggregator.

This isn't totally surprising; "Pulp Fiction" might be Tarantino's best-known film, and it won him his first Academy Award. A non-linear jumble of interconnecting stories mostly anchored by hired assassins Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), "Pulp Fiction" is at once breathtakingly brilliant and disgustingly crude and gory, showing off Tarantino's unique ability to marry bloodshed and impeccable dialogue to create movies that are completely and totally unique. It's followed closely on Tarantino's Rotten Tomatoes charts by 1992's "Reservoir Dogs," Tarantino's first-ever feature film — which earned 90% — and the second movie to win him a screenplay Oscar, the deliciously satisfying revisionist history "Inglourious Basterds,...

Silent Night, Deadly Night, one of many slasher films that were prominent throughout the 1980s, might never have achieved widespread notoriety and recognition had it not been for the outrage from protesters who heavily objected to Santa Claus, a beloved holiday figure, being tied to such a violent film. Theaters were picketed by outraged parents and even Gene Siskel remarked that the filmmakers were profiting from "blood money." As was the case with the Pmrc hearings held the same decade regarding the lyrical themes of many musical artists, the controversy only piqued public curiosity. Thanks to the advent of home video, Silent Night, Deadly Night was soon viewed by anyone who had a penchant for horror films and access to a Vcr.

As is the case with any film that gains notoriety, be it from the box office, acclaim among fans, or, in the case of Silent Night, Deadly Night,...

It debuted in theaters with a whimper, and not a roar, but now you can stream 1998's Godzilla for free. PlutoTV is now streaming the misbegotten Matthew Broderick monster movie. It's one of several Godzilla movies available on the Fast (Free Ad-Supported TV) channel this month. The film was the first-ever American-produced film starring the iconic kaiju and was directed by master of disaster Roland Emmerich fresh off the success of Independence Day. It was anticipated to stomp the 1998 box office, but was excoriated by critics and grossed a relatively disappointing $379 million on a $150 million budget, despite an inescapable marketing campaign and a bevy of tie-in products. Critics may not have been flattered by the film's inclusion of New York's hapless Mayor Ebert and his sniveling assistant Gene, a clear poke at critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.

Fans who havent watched director Martin Scorseses must-see gangster movie can find out why Ray Liottas character, Henry Hill, always wanted to be a gangster when Goodfellas drops on Paramount+ Friday, November 1. Not only does the Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci-led flick rightfully register an impressive 95% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer, but Roger Ebert gave the film a perfect four-star rating. In the late movie critics enamoring review, the Chicago Sun-Times journalist wrote about how Goodfellas stuck with him for days after having seen the picture. The Pulitzer Prize winner wrote (per RogerEbert.com):

For two days after I saw Martin Scorseses new film, GoodFellas, the mood of the characters lingered within me, refusing to leave. It was a mood of guilt and regret, of quick stupid decisions leading to wasted lifetimes, of loyalty turned into betrayal. Yet at the same time there was an element of furtive nostalgia,...

Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) wants his Nazi scalps, and the lieutenant known as the Apache is going to get them all over again when Inglourious Basterds drops Friday, November 1 on Paramount+. This year marks the 15th anniversary of filmmaker Quentin Tarantinos 2009 movie, and the war drama received a perfect four-star rating from the late Roger Ebert. The Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic wrote in his rave review (per RogerEbert.com):

A Tarantino film resists categorization. Inglourious Basterds is no more about war than Pulp Fiction is about what the hell is it about? Of course, nothing in the movie is possible, except that its so bloody entertaining. His actors dont chew the scenery, but they lick it. Hes a master at bringing performances as far as they can go toward iconographic exaggeration. After I saw Inglourious Basterds at Cannes, although I was writing a daily blog, I resisted giving an immediate opinion about it.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Daaaaaalí! (Quentin Dupieux)

At the time of year where every other film is a biopic chasing prestige respectability, we are lucky to have Quentin Dupieux, the prolific, serious-minded, silly filmmaker perfectly positioned to take a sledgehammer to the genre. His second 2023 feature has been described as a “real fake biopic” of Salvador Dalí but is best understood as a return to the heightened analysis of cinematic storytelling à la 2010 breakthrough Rubber––a movie which increasingly looks like the rare weak spot in a filmography equal-parts playful and thoughtful. – Alistair R. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Daddio (Christy Hall)

Daddio, written and directed by Christy Hall, is a two-hander that bristles with energy from the start. A young professional (Dakota Johnson) steps...

Legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert had pretty mixed opinions when it came to movies based on Saturday Night Live sketches. They gave Wayne’s World two thumbs up, but called Coneheads one of the worst films of 1993. And for some reason they were massive fans of Stuart Saves His Family? Really?

But the duo’s harshest SNL criticisms, oddly enough, happened during an episode of SNL.

Siskel and Ebert appeared in the very first episode of the Lorne Michaels-less eighth season. The hook? They would be reviewing the season premiere of SNL — as in the one that was in the middle of airing. As Siskel noted during the sketch, it was “history’s first live review of a television show still in progress,” which is a pretty clever meta joke. It arguably worked far better than the episode’s central, highly-irregular conceit: that host Chevy Chase was...

Tom Cruise has had quite a journey in Hollywood. Starting in smaller productions and making his way into bigger ones, there is no denying that he has explored all that the film industry has to offer. While this has landed him some very successful projects now, it hasn’t always been the best thing for the actor.

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | Credit: Paramount Pictures

For example, before he became the icon that he is today, Cruise starred in quite an unconventional project. On top of the film being completely outside his comfort zone, it also did not do very well with the critics.

With this, it is no wonder that the actor does not want anyone to watch it now that he has so many better works to showcase his talent.

The Biggest Anathema in Tom Cruise’s Career

During an interview with The Uncool,...