Matt writes: We could not be more thrilled to return to the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois, for the long-awaited 2022 installment of Ebertfest from Wednesday, April 20th, through Saturday, April 23rd. Click here to view an enticing preview of some films and guests scheduled to appear this year, including such revered filmmakers as Guillermo del Toro, Ramin Bahrani, Terry Zwigoff and more!
Trailers
Lux Æterna (2022). Written and directed by Gaspar Noé. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Abbey Lee, Béatrice Dalle. Synopsis: Two actresses, Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are on a film set telling stories about witches – but that’s not all. ‘Lux Æterna’ is also an essay on cinema, the love of film, and on-set hysterics. US release date is TBA.
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2022). Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp. Written by Dean Fleischer-Camp, Nick Paley and Jenny Slate. Starring Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini, Rosa Salazar. Synopsis: Feature adaptation of the animated short film interviewing a mollusk named Marcel. Debuts in the US on June 24th, 2022.
Petite Maman (2022). Written and directed by Céline Sciamma. Starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse. Synopsis: Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her same age building a treehouse. Debuts in the US on April 22nd, 2022.
The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes (2022). Directed by Emma Cooper. Synopsis: Explores the mystery surrounding the death of movie icon Marilyn Monroe through previously unheard interviews with her inner circle. Debuts on Netflix on April 27th, 2022.
Operation Mincemeat (2022). Directed by John Madden. Written by Michelle Ashford (based on the book by Ben Macintyre). Starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Rufus Wright. Synopsis: During WWII, two intelligence officers use a corpse and false papers to outwit German troops. Debuts in the US on May 11th, 2022.
Charlotte (2022). Directed by Tahir Rana and Éric Warin. Written by Erik Rutherford and David Bezmozgis. Starring Keira Knightley, Marion Cotillard, Brenda Blethyn. Synopsis: An account of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon living in the south of France between 1941 and 1943. Debuts in the US on April 22nd, 2022.
Crush (2022). Directed by Sammi Cohen. Written by Kirsten King and Casey Rackham. Starring Rowan Blanchard, Auli’i Cravalho, Megan Mullally. Synopsis: An aspiring young artist joins her high school track team and later discovers what real love feels like when she finds herself falling for an unexpected teammate. Debuts on Hulu on April 29th, 2022.
The Baby (2022). Created by Lucy Gaymer and Sian Robins-Grace. Starring Sinéad Cusack, Isy Suttie, Shvorne Marks. Synopsis: Follows Natasha, who is furious that her closest friends are all having babies. But when she is unexpectedly landed with a baby of her own, her life dramatically implodes and twists her life into a surreal horror show. Debuts on HBO on April 24th, 2022.
Cypress Hill: Inside the Brain (2022). Directed by Estevan Oriol. Synopsis: A journey across the lives and careers of the groundbreaking, genre-defying Hip Hop group, Cypress Hill, the brotherhood with an everlasting legacy. Debuts on Showtime on April 20th, 2022.
The Biggest Little Farm: The Return (2022). Directed by John Chester. Synopsis: Follows farmers as they transform land into a working farm. Debuts on Disney+ on April 22nd, 2022.
The Railway Children Return (2022). Directed by Morgan Matthews. Written by Daniel Brocklehurst. Starring Jenny Agutter, John Bradley, Tom Courtenay. Synopsis: Follow a group of children who are evacuated to a Yorkshire village during the Second World War, where they encounter a young soldier who, like them, is far away from home. US release date is TBA.
The Bob’s Burgers Movie (2022). Directed by Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman. Written by Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith. Starring Stephanie Beatriz, Gary Cole, Kristen Schaal. Synopsis: The Belchers try to save the restaurant from closing as a sinkhole forms in front of it, while the kids try to solve a mystery that could save their family’s restaurant. Debuts in the US on May 27th, 2022.
Pistol (2022). Created by Craig Pearce. Starring Maisie Williams, Dylan Llewellyn, Louis Partridge. Synopsis: Based on the memoir of Steve Jones, the legendary Sex Pistols guitarist who helped usher in a punk revolution in Britain. Debuts on FX on May 31st, 2022.
Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes (2022). Created by Joe Berlinger. Synopsis: Never-before-heard audio from the interrogation of serial killer John Wayne Gacy threads through this chilling look at his 1970s murder spree. Debuts on Netflix on April 20th, 2022.
Star Trek: Picard: Season Three (2022). Created by Kirsten Beyer, Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman. Starring Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd. Synopsis: Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Debuts on Paramount+ on April 14th, 2022.
Mayans M.C.: Season Four (2022). Created by Elgin James and Kurt Sutter. Starring JD Pardo, Sarah Bolger, Frankie Loyal. Synopsis: Set in a post-Jax Teller world, “Mayans MC” sees EZ Reyes, a former golden boy now fresh out of prison, as a prospect in the Mayan MC charter on the California-Mexico border who must carve out his new outlaw identity.. Debuts on FX on April 19th, 2022.
Russian Doll: Season Two (2022). Created by Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler. Starring Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee. Synopsis: A cynical young woman in New York City keeps dying and returning to the party that’s being thrown in her honor on that same evening. She tries to find a way out of this strange time loop. Debuts on Netflix on April 20th, 2022.
Mississippi Masala (1991), 4K restoration. Directed by Mira Nair. Written by Sooni Taraporevala.Starring Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth. Synopsis: An ethnic Indian family is expelled from Idi Amin’s Uganda in 1972 and lives in Mississippi 17 years later. The dad sues Uganda to get his property back. The grown daughter falls in love with a black man. US release date is TBA.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Matt writes: Co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert spoke with Nick Allen about their new much-talked-about movie, “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” while Nell Minow interviewed its star, Stephanie Hsu. Also be sure to read Marya E. Gates’ enthusiastic review of the film.
Andrea Arnold on “Cow”
Matt writes: For the first installment of our new column, Female Filmmakers in Focus, Marya E. Gates spoke with director Andrea Arnold about her acclaimed new documentary, “Cow,” which was praised by our critic Tomris Laffly.
Free Movies
Power Dive (1941). Directed by James P. Hogan. Written by Maxwell Shane and Edward Churchill. Starring Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Helen Mack. Synopsis: Bradley Farrell, an ace test pilot for McMasters Aviation Corp., breaks his leg when a new airplane crashes because it is too heavy to get off the ground.
Watch “Power Dive”
Waterfront (1944). Directed by Steve Sekely. Written by Martin Mooney and Irwin Franklyn. Starring John Carradine, J. Carrol Naish, Maris Wrixon. Synopsis: A Nazi spy passes himself off as an optometrist in San Francisco’s waterfront district. Someone robs him of his codebook, and he must get it back.
Watch “Waterfront”
Nylon Noose (1963). Directed by Rudolf Zehetgruber. Written by Fred Ignor and Thomas Engel. Starring Dietmar Schönherr, Helga Sommerfeld, Laya Raki. Synopsis: A company’s stockholders hold their meeting at a lonely mansion. A mad doctor conducting experiments in the mansion starts to strangle them one at a time with a nylon noose. The survivors must figure out a way to stop him.