Just Getting Started
Just Getting Started never really gets going. It only kept me thinking, “Is this ever just going to finish?”
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Roger Ebert became film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. He is the only film critic with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named honorary life member of the Directors' Guild of America. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screenwriters' Guild, and honorary degrees from the American Film Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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Chaz is the Publisher of RogerEbert.com and a regular contributor to the site, writing about film, festivals, politics, and life itself.
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Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor-in-Chief of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine, the creator of many video essays about film history and style, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism, and the author of The Wes Anderson Collection. His writing on film and TV has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, New York Press, The Star-Ledger and Dallas Observer. (Banner illustration by Max Dalton)
60 Minutes on: "Get Out"
As soon as I heard that Jordan Peele's debut feature had the plot of an edgy indie romantic comedy but was in fact "a horror movie," I knew it was going to be terrific. There was just no way it couldn't be. I rarely feel this confident about a film sight-unseen, but as a longtime fan of Peele, it seemed clear that he knew exactly what his movie was about a deep level. "A black man meets his white girlfriend's parents for the first time; it's a horror movie" is the kind of pitch that might earn a delighted "I'm down, brother!" chuckle from the father of said white girlfriend, a brain surgeon played by Bradley Whitford who tells the hero Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) that he would vote for Obama a third time if he could. But for all its laughs, both subtle and broad—and for all its evident familiarity with crowd-pleasing yet grimly clever '80s horror comedies like "They Live!", "Fright Night," "Reanimator," "The People Under the Stairs," "The Hidden," "Child's Play" and other movies that people in their 30s and 40s saw multiple times at dollar theaters and drive-ins and on cable—"Get Out" is no joke. It made all as much money as it did because everyone who saw it, including the ones who only went because everyone else they knew had already seen it, instinctively sensed that it was observing this moment in American history and capturing it, not just for posterity's sake or for perverse entertainment value but as monument and warning.
The Unloved, Part 48: "Margaret"
Scout Tafoya celebrates "Margaret" in his latest video essay about maligned masterpieces.
Will 2018 Have More Female Oscar Contenders Than Ever?
An article about female actors and directors in contention for Oscars this year.
60 Minutes on: "Wonder Woman"
One of the best superhero films, in large part because the title character sincerely believes in values larger than any one person.
My Daughter Loves Country Music
An article about my decision to not attend a country music concert because of racial fear.
The Unloved, Part 47: “The Assignment”
The latest in our monthly series looks at Walter Hill's controversial thriller.
The Fall of Toxic Masculinity and the Rise of Feminine Consciousness
A special edition of Thumbnails detailing the recent sexual harassment cases in the entertainment and tech industries and the brave women who broke their silence.
30 Minutes on: "Straight, No Chaser"
A great documentary about a profound and mysterious artist.
The Unloved, Part 46: "The Mangler"
The newest chapter of our video series takes a look at one of Tobe Hooper's underrated gems.
Hugh Hefner: Memories of a Legend
A collection of memories about Hugh Hefner and social media responses to his passing.