Roger Ebert Movie Review

Weekend Box Office: January 18-21, 2008

Cloverfield tops the box office with $46.1 million

Daily Box Office: Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Cloverfield tops Wednesday's box office with $1.7 million

"Untraceable" (R, 100 minutes). "Untraceable" is a horrifying thriller, smart and merciless. A psychopath devises ways to slowly kill people online, in live streaming video. The more hits he gets, the further the process continues, until finally his captive is dead. On his trail: Diane Lane as the head of the Portland Cyber Crimes unit, Colin Hanks as her partner, and Billy Burke as a Portland detective. Well made and acted; a sadistic nightmare. Rating: Three stars.

Cloverfield / *** (PG-13)

"Cloverfield" (Pg-13, 84 minutes). Six yuppies flee from a towering monster that is destroying Manhattan; one of them carries a videocam, and the entire movie is shot Queasy-Cam style. Undeniably scary, especially in the first 45 minutes when we don't know quite what is causing the crisis. Produced by J. J. Abrams, creator of TV's "Lost." Rating: Three stars.

Persepolis / **** (PG-13)

"Persepolis" (PG-13, 98 minutes). The story of an Iranian girl's coming of age. Born under the Shah, she and her family were not good fits after his fall and the rise of militant Islam. Outspoken, she's sent to family friends in Vienna to keep her out of truoble, finds unhappiness, returns, is homesick for a nation that no longer exists. Told in beautifully stylized black and white animation, based on the autobiogaphy of Marjane Satrapi, who co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud. Voices by Chiara Mastroianni as Marjane and Catherine Deneuve as her mother. Rating: Four stars.

Honeydripper / ***1/2 (PG-13)

"Honeydripper" (PG-13, 123 minutes). Writer-director John Sayles' new film is set in 1950 at the intersection of the civil rights movement and rhythm and blues. Danny Glover, desperate for cash to save his failing Honeydripper Lounge, books the famous Guitar Sam. But when Sam doesn't turn up, he appeals to a kid who drifted into town: "Tonight, you'll be Guitar Sam." After all, no one knows what Sam looks like. Gary Clark Jr., the rising young real-life guitar star out of Austin, plays the role and fills the movie with music. With Charles S. Dutton, blues singer Mabel John, Stacy Keach. Rating: Three and a half stars .

Cassandra's Dream / ** (PG-13)

"Cassandra's Dream" (PG-13, 108 minutes). Woody Allen's latest uses a plot very similar to Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," to less effect. Colin Farrell and Ewan McEwan play brothers strapped for cash, who are asked by an uncle (Tom Wilkinson) to commit a murder for him. Good supporting work by Hayley Atwell as the babe McEwan is trying to impress, and by Sally Hawkins as Farrell's worrried girlfriend, but the ending, while plausible, is curiously unsatisfactory, and Allen doesn't seem at home with his London cockneys. Rating: Two stars.

Mad Money / *1/2 (PG-13)

"Mad Money" (PG-13, 104 minutes). Curiously casual caper starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes and Ted Danson. The women are service workers at the Federal Reserve Bank who find a way to smuggle a fortune out of their building. Their plan is simple, the complications are few, and they don't get excited much beyond some high-fives and hugs and giggles. La-de-da. Rating: One and a half stars.

Great Movie: Vengeance Is Mine (2008)

By Roger Ebert The title "Vengeance Is Mine" poses an implied question that is never answered: Vengeance for what? This portrait of a cold-blooded serial killer suggests a cruel force without motivation, inspiration, grievance. Unlike most sociologically oriented films in the true crime genre, it lacks the Freudian explanation for everything and shows us pure evil, remote and inhuman. A few scenes from the killer's boyhood feel almost like satirical demonstrations of how any "explanation" would be impossible.

Movie Answer Man: There will be blood bonds

Q. I noticed the letter in the Answer Man from Daniel Stender of Ames, Iowa, who had a project of paintings of scenes from movies featuring people dressed in bear suits but who could only think of two titles, "The Shining" and "The Science of Sleep." Although I do not claim to be an expert in this arcane film field, a few titles immediately leap to mind. I recall Sean Connery in the big-screen version of "The Avengers," Nicolas Cage in Neil LaBute's wildly underrated and completely misunderstood remake of "The Wicker Man," and Warren Beatty in the not-underrated-at-all "Town & Country." Of course, there is also the moment in the immortal "Road House" in which Patrick Swayze subdues one of Ben Gazzara's henchmen by immobilizing him underneath a giant stuffed bear, which deserves at least partial credit. Thank you, however, for including a picture of Nastassja Kinski, the single most beautiful woman to ever step in front of a movie camera, clad in her bear suit from "The Hotel New Hampshire." I can only hope that someone out there asks you to think of movies featuring people wearing snakes so that you can run an even better photo of her. Peter Sobczynski, efilmcritic.com, Chicago A. Credit for Kinski goes to my editor, Laura Emerick. But I am providing the snake photo (see below) to make your day, and perhaps inspire artists to move in another direction. Other responses: Joe Blevins, Arlington Heights: "As someone who once played the role of a bear (and indeed donned a bear costume) in a third-grade play, I was moved by Daniel Stender's request. A few more movies: 'Girls Nite Out,' 'Mr. Write,' 'Bei Mir Liegen Sie Richtig' (German), 'Micawber' and 'Mrs. Henderson Presents.' "I'd also recommend a 1993 episode of 'The Simpsons' titled 'Rosebud' (available on DVD). As the title indicates, it is a 'Citizen Kane' parody. How a grown man dressed as a bear figures into the plot, I would not dare to spoil." ХХCharles Sweitzer, Pasadena, Calif.: "My favorite faux-ursine character in cinema -- the juggling polar bear in Louis Malle's 'Zazie Dans Le Metro.' " ХХJonathan Richards, Fredericton, New Brunswick: "Jack Lemmon wears a bear suit, both with a head and without, in 'Grumpy Old Men.' Lemmon also dances with a person in a panda bear suit in 'My Fellow Americans.'"

Editor's Notes: A message from Roger

From Roger Ebert On Jan. 24, I'll have another surgery, which I hope will solve some problems I've still been living with.

Editor's Notes: Heath Ledger: In Memory

by Jim Emerson Rare is the performance that can honestly be called a "revelation," but that's what it felt like to watch Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain." Not only did he bring iconic life and nuance to the existential loneliness of Ennis Del Mar, a taciturn but complex (and conflicted) character, but for such mature work to spring from the teen-idol star of "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale" was... well, revelatory itself -- the astonishing revelation of a suddenly, fully developed actor whose juvenile efforts scarcely hinted he'd be capable of such moving depth and clarity. Ledger emerged as if from a cocoon, gleaming with promise and flexing his wings.