It’s a documentary … about physics. But “Particle Fever” is surprisingly thrilling with an emotional payoff. It takes a potentially daunting topic — the search for the elusive Higgs boson particle — and makes it accessible for the layperson without dumbing anything down. It’s also shot beautifully. My RogerEbert.com review....
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Reviews
RogerEbert.com — HairBrained
“HairBrained” suggests what it might look like if “Rushmore” hero Max Fischer had stuck his finger in a light socket. This self-consciously quirky comedy feels contrived and unconvincing from the very start. My one-star RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Endless Love
My love … there’s only you in my life. And this remake which in no way resembles the 1981 Franco Zeffirelli original. Director and co-writer Shana Feste kept the names the same in adapting this melodramatic story of forbidden teenage love, but she took out all the crazy. My RogerEbert.com...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Outsider
Jason Statham apparently was unavailable for this B-action movie about a beefy British bad-ass (Craig Fairbrass) who flies to Los Angeles to identify the body of his estranged daughter. But when he pulls back the sheet at the morgue, the young woman lying before him is a stranger, so he...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Pretty One
Zoe Kazan is lovely in a multitude of roles, playing various versions of identical twin sisters. She and Jake Johnson share some effortless banter, but this ambitious comic drama doesn’t always hit the right marks tonally. My RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Labor Day
He’s a hunky convicted killer on the run. She’s a lonely divorcee raising a 13-year-old son. Over one unusually hot holiday weekend, they fall in passionate, doomed love—and they bake a heavily metaphorical pie. Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet do their best with some laughably soapy material in Jason Reitman’s...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Run & Jump
Will Forte displays even deeper dramatic ability following “Nebraska” — and reveals himself as a surprisingly appealing romantic lead — in the small, Irish gem “Run & Jump.” But the even greater revelation is Maxine Peake, who’s radiant as a housewife and mother of two struggling to maintain her optimism...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Life of a King
Chess: It’s just like life! Did you know that? Cuba Gooding Jr. teaches the game to inner-city youth — and uses it as a not-so-subtle metaphor — in this well-intentioned but ultimately formulaic story of an ex-con trying to rebuild his life. My RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Jamesy Boy
James Burns’ reckless youth and road to redemption are the subject of “Jamesy Boy,” a film with a message of inspiration, to be sure, but not much in terms of innovation. Newcomer Spencer Lofranco doesn’t seem quite ready for his first lead role opposite a strong supporting cast that includes...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Dumbbells
The title says it all. This is an incoherent, low-budget throwback to the raunchy sex comedies of the early 1980s. But those movies at least seemed vaguely focused compared to this painfully unfunny romp about idiots at a Los Angeles gym. My zero-star review for RogerEbert.com. Read the review...
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