My Courses

Before I was hired a decade ago by Chaz Ebert to work for her at RogerEbert.com, I had never met anyone as busy as my grandma, Marian Tompson. As a co-founder of the world-renowned breastfeeding organization, La Leche League, Marian had a life far different from those of most women who gave birth to seven…

This month, we’re paying tribute to an artist and a movie beloved by our site’s founder, the great and dearly missed Roger Ebert. If not for Roger’s love of Alex Proyas and “Dark City,” I might never have given this incredible visual stylist and marvelously ornery iconoclast a second glance. Still, our patron turned me into…

Contrary to the laurels ensconcing every independent movie poster and advertisement, not every film festival presentation is going to be a winner. Once you cut through the glitz of celebrity and flashing lights over the red carpet, sometimes these movies simply aren’t very good. I was pleased, then, that of the fourteen or so films…

Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut “Nightcrawler” was released ten years ago this Halloween. While not conventionally a horror film, the incisive story of Lou Bloom’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) foray into the information industry is a dossier on the misanthropic, violent appetite of news media. Until “Nightcrawler,” video acquisition felt like a relatively unthought element of watching the…

HBO’s new “Like Water for Chocolate” is sumptuously shot. And it’s not just the costumes or the sets, although they are both clearly rendered with care. Gathered skirts, wide-brimmed hats, and lace-up black boots. Colonial archways and formal sitting rooms. What makes this show feel so rich is the cinematography, framing a kiss between the…