Roger Ebert Movie Review

What If Darth Vader Worked At McDonalds
Tell the fry tech to drop more fries before the lunch rush...

Weekend Box Office: March 7-9, 2008

10,000 B.C. tops the box office with $35.9 million

Daily Box Office: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

10,000 B.C. tops Wednesday's box office with $2.0 million

Married Life / *** (PG-13)

By Roger Ebert Remember the time businessmen were expected to drink martinis at lunch, and the time they were expected not to? Ira Sachs' "Married Life" begins with Harry taking Richard into his confidence at a martinis-and-cigarettes lunch that confirms the movie is set in 1949. Harry (Chris Cooper) is a buttoned-down, closed-in, respectable type. Richard (Pierce Brosnan) is more easygoing. You can tell by the way they smoke. Harry is painfully earnest as he tells his friend that he plans to leave his wife for a much younger woman. The younger woman truly and deeply loves him. All his wife wants is sex.

Funny Games / 1/2 (R)

"Anyone who leaves the cinema doesn't need the film, and anybody who stays does." -- Michael Haneke on his previous version of "Funny Games" By Jim Emerson, Editor The new Hollywood edition of "Funny Games," writer-director Michael Haneke's clinical reenactment of his Austrian torture-comedy experiment from 10 years ago, is an attempt to replicate the earlier study under English-language conditions.

Paranoid Park / ***1/2 (R)

By Jim Emerson, Editor The title of Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park" refers to a rough skateboard park underneath a bridge in Portland, Ore. -- a place where, they say, "dead bodies" are buried beneath the contoured cement. It also describes the confused conscience of Alex (Gabe Nevins), the emotionally isolated teenager who narrates the movie and who actually sounds like a teenager while doing it. In voiceover, Alex reads aloud from his journal as if he were delivering a book report in class, but he's trying to confess the darkest secret of his young life.

Let's Get Lost / *** (No rating)

By Jim Emerson, Editor In the center of the frame, very close to the camera, hangs a studio microphone that could be mistaken for a vintage Soviet communications satellite. Chet Baker, 58, is recording Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's "Imagination." His voice isn't quite as soft and papery as it used to be, but the image -- like every shot of Baker in Bruce Weber's "Let's Get Lost" -- is about the face, not so much the music.

The Band's Visit / **** (PG-13)

"The Band's Visit" (PG-13, 86 minutes). The Alexandria (Egypt) Police Ceremonial Orchestra arrives on the wrong bus in the wrong small Israeli town, and are stranded overnight. The bandleader (Sasson Gabai) stiffly approaches Dina, the owner of the cafe (Ronit Elkabetz) and what begins is a long, tender night of shared loneliness. An exquisite film that also functions quietly as a comedy. Rating: Four stars.

The Bank Job / **1/2 (R)

"The Bank Job" A serviceable B-grade British heist movie, "The Bank Job" is no better than its generic title. It front-loads the naughty sex and back-loads the plot twists (the titular crime takes place in the middle), but apart from the prominence of Princess Margaret, it's a pretty routine job, as the use of the hackneyed phrase "plot twists" earlier in this sentence should indicate. For a movie about crime and sleaze and sex, it ought to be a lot more fun. Instead, it just reminds you of better caper movies, from "Riffifi" to "Inside Man," and how they were more fun than this one is. Inspired by the 1971 "Walkie-Talkie Bank Job" in London. 2.5 stars

Great Movie: Ordet (1955)

By Roger Ebert For the ordinary filmgoer, and I include myself, "Ordet" is a difficult film to enter. But once you're inside, it is impossible to escape. Lean, quiet, deeply serious, populated with odd religious obsessives, it takes place in winter in Denmark in 1925, in a rural district that has a cold austere beauty.

Movie Answer Man: The Questions That Will Not Die

This column originally ran August 27, 2000: The Answer Man has a special folder for The Questions That Will Not Die. These questions are like urban legends. While the general population faithfully repeats the story about the blind date who stole the kidney, the AM is asked yet once again if there is not a ghost in "Three Men and a Baby." This column is dedicated to answering Questions That Will Not Die and no others. Clip and save. Please. Q. I heard Rex Reed say on a talk show that Marisa Tomei didn't really win the Oscar -- that Jack Palance got confused and read her name instead of Vanessa Redgrave's. Is this true? Greg Nelson, Chicago A. When Joseph Gonzales of Waco, Texas, asked this question, the AM replied: "The accountants for Price Waterhouse, who have memorized the name of every winner, are poised backstage ready to race out and make an on-the-spot correction should anyone mistakenly (or deliberately!) announce the wrong winner -- which would be hard to do, since the presenter is reading from a card that has only one name written on it." But that was not good enough for Chicago's James Berg, who wrote: "Reed explained that a 'stoned' or 'drunk' Palance read the last name on the TelePrompTer and did not properly open the envelope." So the AM turned to Bruce Davis, executive director of the academy, who issued an official statement: "The legend of Marisa Tomei's 'mistaken Oscar' has appeared in various forms over the years and in that short time has achieved the status of urban myth. There is no more truth to this version than to any of the others we've heard. If such a scenario were ever to occur, the Price Waterhouse people backstage would simply step out onstage and point out the error. They are not shy." Not only is the rumor untrue, it is unfair to Marisa Tomei, and Rex Reed owes her an apology.