Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Category: 4 Stars

  • A new reason to love Lucy (****)

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    Lucy – 2014 Written and Directed by Luc Besson Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked, Choi Min-sik, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Nicolas Phongpheth, Analeigh Tipton, Paul Chan For all the activity Luc Besson has had in movies over the last decade as writer and producer for some interesting action fare (most notably in the Transporter and Taken series), he has not directed many live…

  • Unbroken (****) is a fitting tribute to the spirit

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    Unbroken – 2014 Director Angelia Jolie Starring Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittrock Screenplay Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand The first thing readers of the book based on the remarkable life of Louis Zamperini need to prepare for is that there is no way this movie, vast as it is, can match the sheer…

  • The Maze Runner (****) stays on a true course

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    The Maze Runner – 2014 Director Wes Ball Starring Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Ki Hong Lee Screenplay Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers, T.S. Nowlin based on the book by James Dashner Never having read The Maze Runner, word has it that the series is one of the better in the immense wave of dystopian stories that have consumed mass…

  • Interstellar (****) is cautiously ambitious, and laden with love

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    Interstellar – 2014 Director Christopher Nolan Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine, Josh Stewart, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi Written Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan There are lots of interesting ideas presented with Interstellar. Of all things, the film starts with a future that echoes our perilous past. Crops are set afire, the air filled with swirling…

  • Belle (****) is a beautiful complicated being

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    Belle – 2013 Director Amma Asante Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Sam Reid, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Tom Felton, James Norton Screenplay Misan Segay and Asante Belle has a premise quite unlike any I have seen.  This is not to say that there are no films that have covered the idea of race, freedom and proper British society…

  • The Fault In Our Stars Extended Edition (****): So much depends…

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    The Fault In Our Stars – 2014 Director Josh Boone Starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe Screenplay Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber based on the book by John Green There is one point early on in The Fault in Our Stars which rings partially true.  Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace Lancaster (Elgort and Woodley) have met cute in…

  • Bad Words: Finally Bateman is not the nice guy

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    Bad Words – 2013 Director Jason Bateman Starring Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Rohan Chand, Ben Falcone, Philip Baker Hall, Allison Janney Screenplay by Andrew Dodge  Black comedy is an all or nothing venture.  You either have to go into it with total disregard or settle for School of Rock territory.  It’s not that the latter category is a loser, it just doesn’t…

  • Life Itself is a story of success wrestled from a life of obscurity

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    Life Itself – 2014 Director Steve James Featuring Roger Ebert, Chaz Ebert, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Ava DuVernay, Gregory Nava, Marlene Iglitzen, Errol Morris, A.O. Scott, Richard Corliss, Ramin Bahrani Screenplay based upon Life Itself by Roger Ebert There is a scene in Life Itself where we see Roger Ebert taking a walk during a vacation with one of his step-grandchildren,…

  • Non-Stop has Characters, Heroes

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    Non-Stop – 2014 Director Jaume Collet-Serra Starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Jason Butler Harner, Anson Mount, Lupita Nyong’o, Linus Roache, Corey Stroll Screenplay John W. Richardson, Chris Roach, Ryan Engle Non-Stop is the kind of movie that is full of surprises.  It has the burden of a premise that we’ve seen many times before, most notably in Passenger 57, Executive Decision,…

  • Mary Poppins and Saving Mr. Banks

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                    Mary Poppins – 1964 Director James Stevenson Starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns Screenplay Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi based on the book by P.L. Travers Saving Mr. Banks – 2013 Director John Lee Hancock Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Colin Farrell, B. J. Novak, Ruth Wilson Screenplay Kelly…