R.I.P. film critic Roger Ebert

Film critic Roger Ebert of "At The Movies" fame passed away today after a long battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-roger-ebert-dead-20130404,0,602338.story

Very bummed to hear about this. I rarely agreed with Ebert's reviews but they were always so well written (and humorous) that even if he was trashing a movie that I loved, I could never be mad at the guy.

I've read several of his books over the past couple of years, I particularly enjoyed his autobiography (which I believe is called Life Itself, if memory serves), which vividly describes his battle with cancer ...even with a couple of near-death experiences under his belt and having been robbed of the ability to speak by his disease, he was still very positive and full of love for film and for the written word throughout the book. It was a very humbling read and made me admire the man even more than I already did.

He'll be missed. R.I.P. Mr. Ebert.

I learned alot about movies from Roger Ebert, and thanks to his recommendations I saw some incredible movies that most lads 13, 14 avoided.

Like FF said, even when he trashed a movie I loved, it was hard to be mad him, because he made his points and explained his point of view perfectly.

Not many film critics get the thumbs up from me, but he certainly did.

Two thumbs down.

I'm a huge fan of his. I always enjoyed watching At The Movies (or whatever it was called) with him and Gene Siskel and reading his reviews (never read any of his books,though). He'll be missed

007 wrote:

(never read any of his books,though).

If you wanna have some fun, get hold of the books that collect his most brutally, scathingly bad reviews. I've read two of them ("Your Movie Sucks" and "I Hated, Hated, HATED This Movie") and I believe there's a third, but the title escapes me. Great stuff!

*EDIT* Just looked on Amazon, the third book is titled "A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length: More Movies that Suck" ... I gotta get that one!!

R.I.P.

RIP

Fat Freddy wrote:

007 wrote:

(never read any of his books,though).

If you wanna have some fun, get hold of the books that collect his most brutally, scathingly bad reviews. I've read two of them ("Your Movie Sucks" and "I Hated, Hated, HATED This Movie") and I believe there's a third, but the title escapes me. Great stuff!

*EDIT* Just looked on Amazon, the third book is titled "A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length: More Movies that Suck" ... I gotta get that one!!

After reading your hub reviews, I'd think these books would be recommendations for you! After all, you have admitted to watching SyFy originals.

He's no longer suffering. RIP.

Very sad news. I started watching the show "Sneak Previews" on PBS back around 1981 when Siskel & Ebert were the hosts, this was a few years prior to them starting their own syndicated show. Over the years Ebert was always one of my main resources when looking for film reviews, not many critics had the well-rounded knowledge he had and also the ability to appreciate both the artistic and the "popcorn flicks" and judge them accordingly.

He also did some amazing commentary tracks for movies like Casablanca and Citizen Kane that are damn near definitive critical analysis.

I will really miss his insight and his sense of humor.

He was probably the most dedicated movie critic ever.

Such an icon. Even growing up in Norway, where we didn't see their tv shows, Ebert and Siskel were always quoted on film covers etc.

R.I.P.

QuothTheRaven wrote:

After reading your hub reviews, I'd think these books would be recommendations for you! After all, you have admitted to watching SyFy originals.

I just read thru a list of the movies he reviews in the third "Movies that Suck" book on Amazon and I'm like "I saw that one. Saw that one too. Yep, seen that one." and on and on.

Two big thumbs down for cancer. Two big thumbs up for the greatness of both Siskel and Ebert. Sad that they are both no longer with us. I started watching their show in the mid-80s. Hard to believe these days, but that was one of the only places to see actual clips of scenes from movies. And while I often disagreed with some of their reviews I always respected what they had to say. Even today I'll still go to Ebert's archived reviews if I'm curious about a movie.

I may have disagreed with Ebert on some things(In his reviews for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and Battle:Los Angeles, I didn't like his insinuation that anyone who enjoyed those films was an idiot, and I didn't care too much for his thoughts on video games either)but he did have a unique reviewing style that is pretty much impossible to duplicate, so I will definitely miss the guy.

Vexer6 wrote:

In his reviews for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and Battle:Los Angeles, I didn't like his insinuation that anyone who enjoyed those films was an idiot

I'd have to agree with him about those turds.

S.D. wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

In his reviews for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and Battle:Los Angeles, I didn't like his insinuation that anyone who enjoyed those films was an idiot

I'd have to agree with him about those turds.

+100

Quote :

In his reviews for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and Battle:Los Angeles, I didn't like his insinuation that anyone who enjoyed those films was an idiot

The title of his book "A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length" was taken from a line in one of his "Transformers" reviews.

My favorite Roger Ebert story: some years ago comedian Rob Schneider had a bit of a war-of-words in the press with the movie critic of an L.A. newspaper who'd trashed his then-current movie "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo." The critic called Schneider a "third rate comic" (which is probably being kind, IMO) and Schneider responded by saying the writer was "a third rate critic" who was unqualified to review the film since he had never won a Pulitzer Prize.

...when Ebert reviewed the "Deuce" movie, he mentioned the incidents between Schneider and the other critic and then ended his review by saying "As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Fat Freddy wrote:

...when Ebert reviewed the movie, he mentioned the incidents between Schneider and the critic and ended his review by saying "As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Awesome!

Some excerpts from my all-time favorite Ebert skewering, of the John Travolta disaster "Battlefield Earth:"

"'Battlefield Earth'" is like taking a bus trip with someone who has needed a bath for a long time. It's not merely bad, it's unpleasant in a hostile way."

"Some movies run off the rails. This one is like the train crash in The Fugitive."

"The costumes look like they were purchased from the Goodwill store on the planet Tatooine. Travolta can be charming, funny, touching and brave in his best roles; why disguise him as a smelly alien creep? The Psychlos can fly between galaxies, but look at their nails: Their civilization has mastered the hyperdrive but not the manicure."

"I watched it in mounting gloom, realizing that I was witnessing something historic -- a film that for decades to come will be the punch line in jokes about bad movies."

I just read Ebert's review of the second Transformers film and nowhere does he state only idiots would like this film.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997/1023

S.D. wrote:

I just read Ebert's review of the second Transformers film and nowhere does he state only idiots would like this film.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997/1023

My mistake, guess it was just the Battle: Los Angeles review then.

Now i'm starting to wonder if he was joking/exggerating when he said that.

S.D. wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

...when Ebert reviewed the movie, he mentioned the incidents between Schneider and the critic and ended his review by saying "As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Awesome!

I actually liked that film, and to his credit, Schneider did make up for his admittedly foolish actions by visitng Ebert while he was in the hospital and sending him flowers and a card.