New Documentary on Roger Ebert to Premiere During Final Ebertfest

Film fans and critics are marking a poignant moment this April with the last ever Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, affectionately known as Ebertfest, held in the hometown of the beloved late critic, Champaign, Illinois.

Ebertfest began in 1999 as the “Overlooked Film Festival,” created by Roger Ebert himself. He envisioned it as a way to showcase films he believed deserved wider recognition. The festival was held at the beautiful Virginia Theatre in his hometown of Champaign, Illinois, where he also attended the University of Illinois and studied journalism. In 2007, it was renamed “Roger Ebert’s Film Festival,” but most people still know it simply as Ebertfest.

Roger Ebert passed away in 2013, but his wife, Chaz Ebert, has kept his Ebertfest film festival going in his memory. She had announced that the 2025 festival would be the last in its usual format, but a 2026 Ebertfest was later revealed, with the theme “The Last Dance.”

A new documentary celebrating Roger Ebert and his festival, titled The Last Movie Critic, will be shown at the farewell festival. The film, directed by Luke Boyce and Michael Moreci, uses footage from 15 Ebertfests and features interviews with fellow critics and renowned filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, Tilda Swinton, Ava DuVernay, Joachim Trier, and Ramin Bahrani.

Here’s the poster for The Last Movie Critic, created by artist Viktor Miller Gausa, before its debut at Ebertfest.

Here is The Last Movie Critic’s official synopsis:

Unlike a traditional biography, The Last Movie Critic – a film by Luke Boyce and Michael Moreci, drawing on Roger Ebert’s own writings – tells a story through the eyes of a film student attending Ebertfest. She’s trying to understand what made Ebert such a beloved and influential critic – what fueled his passion for cinema. Through the festival and the films he championed, Ebert’s own words guide us, revealing his belief in the power of movies to connect us, broaden our understanding, and ultimately, make us more human.

The new film, The Last Movie Critic, will debut on April 17th at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois, as part of the final Ebertfest. The festival will also feature screenings of classic films like Buster Keaton’s The General and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. A live performance of the play Siskel/Ebert and a showing of The American President will honor the work of Rob Reiner.

You can purchase festival tickets on the Virginia website. For a complete list of films being shown, visit RogerEbert.com.

10 Actors Who Hated How Their Own TV Shows Ended

Bonnie Bartlett, St. Elsewhere

The final episode of St. Elsewhere is remembered as one of television’s most controversial endings, and actress Bonnie Bartlett wasn’t a fan. Bartlett played Ellen Craig, the wife of a doctor at St. Eligius Hospital, and she shared the disappointment many viewers felt with the show’s conclusion – a snow globe reveal that suggested the entire series had been a dream.

“The writers wanted to ensure the show could never be revived,” she explained to Entertainment Weekly during a cast reunion. “I was very upset and thought it was a terrible way to end things!”

Gillian Anderson, The X-Files

When Fox announced the return of The X-Files in 2016, fans were thrilled. However, the revival only lasted two seasons, and the final episode of the eleventh season felt like a second series finale – a letdown for almost everyone, including Gillian Anderson, who had played Dana Scully for all 11 seasons. Both fans and critics disliked the final episode, “My Struggle IV,” finding its storyline repetitive and rehashing old ideas. Key plot points, like Scully losing her son, the death of the Cigarette Smoking Man, and Scully becoming pregnant again, all felt like repeats. After the negative reaction online, Anderson shared a GIF of Scully looking distressed with the caption “Boy oh boy do I ever hear you,” acknowledging the disappointment.

Scott Bakula, Star Trek: Enterprise

The final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise wasn’t just poorly received, it felt disrespectful – both to the series and to its star, Scott Bakula. Bakula, who played Captain Jonathan Archer, was upset that the show’s ending essentially turned it into a small, self-contained story within Star Trek: The Next Generation. His crew only appeared as holograms, serving a plot focused on TNG‘s Commander Riker. Enterprise struggled to gain a large fanbase, and the finale solidified that it wouldn’t be remembered as one of the most popular Star Trek series. The showrunner, Brannon Braga, later admitted that filming that episode was the only time Scott Bakula had ever been unkind to him.

James Gandolfini, The Sopranos

James Gandolfini, the actor who played Tony Soprano, was also baffled by the famously abrupt ending of The Sopranos. The final scene shows Tony, his wife, and son in a diner, with Tony anxiously watching for trouble. Just as the diner door chimes, he looks up – and the show suddenly cuts to black. Gandolfini initially reacted with confusion, saying, “What the f—?” after everything his character had been through. However, after thinking it over, he grew to appreciate the ending. And after nearly 20 years, many viewers feel the same way.

Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl

A big part of what made Gossip Girl so popular was the mystery of who “G.G.” really was, so when the show finally revealed the answer, many fans were let down. Penn Badgley, who played Dan Humphrey, wasn’t a fan of the twist either, and discussed it with his co-star Chace Crawford in an interview with Variety. Crawford pointed out that the reveal didn’t quite fit Dan’s character, and Badgley agreed. Over the years, those involved with the show have disagreed about whether Dan was always planned to be the secret antagonist, or if the decision was made later when fans started to guess correctly.

Michael C Hall, Dexter

Michael C. Hall was deeply unhappy with how the original Dexter series ended, and he actively worked to bring the show back twice to address the issues. The finale saw Dexter kill his sister, who was in a vegetative state, and then stage his own death, starting a new life as a lumberjack in Oregon to escape facing consequences for his crimes. Hall admitted to The Daily Beast that many viewers, including himself, felt the ending was unfulfilling and hoped for a better continuation, wondering what ultimately happened to his character.

Ian Somerhalder, The Vampire Diaries

Fans generally loved the way The Vampire Diaries wrapped up the stories of most of its main characters in the series finale. However, Ian Somerhalder shared with Access Hollywood that he and co-star Paul Wesley had hoped for a different ending. They both thought their vampire characters should have died, allowing the human characters, including Elena Gilbert, to finally have peace. Somerhalder felt it would have been a more fitting conclusion, saying, “I just felt that it was more poetic for these two brothers to go away, and then to let these humans resettle back into their town,” but ultimately, he acknowledged his idea wasn’t chosen.

Everyone, Game of Thrones

The finale of Game of Thrones is often considered one of the most disappointing series endings ever, rivaled only by the finale of St. Elsewhere. A now-famous video from the table read of the final scenes perfectly captures the cast’s reaction: everyone was visibly upset and silent, while Kit Harington was shocked to learn his character, Jon Snow, would kill Daenerys Targaryen. Several cast members have since spoken about their disappointment. Harington admitted there were “mistakes made,” Lena Headey said she was “gutted,” Isaac Hempstead-Wright initially thought it was a prank, and Emilia Clarke was so upset reading the final scenes that she went for a long walk and returned hours later with blisters, struggling to process what she had to film.

Alexis Bledel, Gilmore Girls

When Netflix revived Gilmore Girls in 2020, it offered a chance to finally deliver the ending creator Amy Sherman-Palladino had originally intended. Sherman-Palladino had left the show during its initial run, keeping her planned final four words a secret. Fans eagerly anticipated the revival, hoping to learn how she’d always envisioned the series concluding. However, the ending – Rory Gilmore revealing to her mother Lorelai that she’s pregnant – left many disappointed. Alexis Bledel, who played Rory, admitted she’d hoped for a more positive outcome for her character after all her efforts, saying she wanted to see Rory succeed. Lauren Graham, who played Lorelai, strongly disagreed with the choice, calling it a typical “cliffhanger” and an unsuitable way to end the show.

Sarah Hyland, Modern Family

Sarah Hyland, a lead actress on Modern Family, wasn’t in many episodes during the show’s last season. Though viewers saw her character, Haley Dunphy, become a mother of twins in the finale, Hyland wished for a different outcome. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she shared that she’d hoped to see Haley pursue her career ambitions—perhaps as a successful stylist or fashion entrepreneur—while also being a mom. Hyland felt it would have been great to show a strong, working mother excelling in all areas of her life, and she thought Haley was a perfect character to portray that.

2026-04-07 16:57