My father moved to Los Angeles from the Bronx in 1965. He was 23, and enraptured by the romantic notion of surf culture his beloved Beach Boys personified at their early peak. He and my mom were living in a little apartment a block from the sand in the low-key...
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Christy by Request
Wine the Flick?! — Adrift
Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin star as beautiful, young people in love — and in danger — in “Adrift.” Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur’s drama is based on the true story of survival aboard a storm-tossed yacht in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I knew this would be a prime...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — A Kid Like Jake
“A Kid Like Jake” handles a complicated topic with sensitivity and grace. This is not an after-school special. In depicting the life of a Brooklyn couple (Jim Parsons and Claire Danes) whose kindergarten-bound son, Jake (Leo James Davis), enjoys dressing in tutus and pretending he’s a Disney princess, director Silas...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Tully
In the same vein as 2007’s “Juno” and 2011’s “Young Adult,” “Tully” unearths uncomfortable truths in a wry, wise way. The latest collaboration between director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody features Cody’s hyper-verbal brand of snark, cynicism and subtle poignancy, but it’s tinged with the wistful perspective that comes...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Mrs. Hyde
A timid high school physics teacher gets zapped by lightning in a freak lab accident. When she comes to, she finds she has acquired strange new abilities and a burst of confidence that allow her to seize control of her life like never before. It’s the stuff of a 1980s high-concept,...
Read moreChristy by Request — Local Hero
Don’t let the title fool you: There’s nothing remotely heroic or even vaguely dramatic about “Local Hero.” And that’s what makes it so charming. Writer-director Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film sneaks up on you. It takes its time. It reveals its characters through snippets of conversation and casual interactions. It’s the...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Borg vs. McEnroe
The performances are strong, particularly from Shia LaBeouf as John McEnroe — with the undeniable juiciness of watching one notoriously volatile person playing another. But this telling of the titanic showdown between McEnroe and Bjorn Borg at the 1980 Wimbledon championships is frustratingly superficial, and it does a lot of...
Read moreChristy by Request — After Hours
“After Hours” is a decidedly un-Scorseseish Martin Scorsese film: a light, goofy and surreal comedy with no real stakes. And yet all that brilliant craft is on display, the muscular cinematic energy, the taste for danger and the vivid sense of place within New York City that’s so often his...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Where Is Kyra?
Michelle Pfeiffer gives the performance of her long and eclectic career in “Where Is Kyra?” (Even better than “Grease 2,” which I love with zero irony.) Pfeiffer stars as a desperate, unemployed woman who employs increasingly dangerous tactics to avoid being evicted after the death of her ailing mother. It’s...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Midnight Sun
“Midnight Sun” does what it means to do for the people it means to do it for — and that might just be enough. Twelve-year-old girls will swoon at this weepy, doomed romance between a beautiful, sick girl (Bella Thorne) and the beautiful, hunky boy who dares to love her...
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