Elton John has never played it safe, cultivating a flashy stage persona that’s sustained him for decades. But “Rocketman,” the movie about his life and music, does. Taron Egerton works his ass off and sings his heart out as the legendary performer, but all his efforts are in the service...
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Reviews
RogerEbert.com — Running With Beto
It’s easy to see the allure of Beto O’Rourke after watching the documentary “Running With Beto,” which follows the former Texas congressman’s unsuccessful attempt to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. He’s young, enthusiastic and affable. He’s got a bit of that JFK and Obama magic — the same charisma...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Sun Is Also a Star
Beautiful, young people fall in a swoony, doomed love over the course of a single, eventful day in a sun-dappled New York City. Yes, “The Sun Is Also a Star” is the impossibly contrived stuff of Young Adult fantasies. And yet the leads are so lovely and the city is...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Hustle
Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway try to outwit and out-con each other in the comedy “The Hustle,” a remake of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (which itself was a remake of “Bedtime Story”). These ladies are game for anything, and their antics prompt giggles here and there, and the clothes are fun,...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Wine Country
I am very much the target audience for “Wine Country,” starring a staggering array of talented comedians. Amy Poehler (who also makes her directing debut), Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell and Emily Spivey play longtime friends who go away for a ladies’ weekend in Napa Valley. But...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — El Chicano
A different kind of superhero emerges during these blockbuster times in “El Chicano,” an operatic yet gritty drama from director and co-writer Ben Hernandez Bray. Raul Castillo, who was so great in “We the Animals,” is an LAPD detective on the hunt for a Mexican-American Batman — a masked man...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The White Crow
“The White Crow,” Ralph Fiennes’ drama about Rudolf Nureyev’s defection from the Soviet Union in 1961, captures the Russian dance legend’s bravado and brash spirit, but it never reaches his resplendent heights. It’s handsome but restrained. Oleg Ivenko, a dancer making his film debut, is quite good, though, in the...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Penguins
“Penguins,” the latest documentary from the folks at Disneynature, consists of 76 minutes of penguins waddling adorably across Antarctica. In IMAX. This is basically all you need to know. It’s got the cutesy anthropomorphizing that marks so many films in the series and makes them extra kid-friendly, but this time...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Hellboy
Walking out of the extremely R-rated “Hellboy,” I was so overwhelmed by the whole experience that I couldn’t decide whether it was amazing or terrible. But pretty soon I realized that, yeah, it’s the latter. Guillermo del Toro’s signature touch is sorely missing in this bombastic, cacophonous reboot. Having said...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Dumbo
If I’m not sobbing in a pile of tears by the end of your “Dumbo,” then you’ve done something wrong. Tim Burton’s live-action remake of the Disney animated classic feels like a stretched-thin pastiche of better Tim Burton movies. Reminders of his superior work are everywhere, from the Danny Elfman...
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