I found this profile of Roger Ebert inspiring. Ebert has lost his lower jaw and, with it, his ability to speak or eat normally. But he’s still living his life, still watching movies and reviewing them.
Movie criticism is something that is easy to make fun of (“if movies — or films as you’ve probably started calling them — were really so serious and artistic, would they really show them in a place where you could buy orange crush?” Fran Liebowitz once asked), but I’ve always had a lot of respect for Roger Ebert. He is a real scholar of film who nonetheless presented mainstream American with thoughtful recommendations on whatever dreck Hollywood produced that week. At his best, he displays some of the insight and erudition of Pauline Kael with none of the self-involvement. For a teen-ager like me, living in an isolated place, his bits (presented at the end of the show) on older movies by people like Orson Welles and Truffaut gave a glimpse of another world. In one of his books, there were various lists of “top ten movies of all time” and I tried to rent them all when we got a VCR.
I always loved that when Vincent Gallo called Ebert “a fat pig”, Ebert replied “although I am fat, one day I will be thin, but Mr. Gallo will still have been the director of The Brown Bunny.”
Comrade javafascist
It was a great piece about a courageous man. Ebert alone makes having a twitter account a joy.
Trinity
@Comrade javafascist: I couldn’t agree more! I retweet Mr. Ebert regularly. He’s a gem of a human being.
MikeJ
Ebert is great because while he appreciates Truffaut and Kurosawa, he also appreciates a good popcorn flick like Tomb Raider (three stars). And of course his screenplay for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls made him that much more likeable as a reviewer.
Morbo
Obligatory Critic clip
demo woman
Ebert commented on the piece on his site..
Xantar
I also loved the follow up to the spat with Vincent Gallo: Gallo claimed to have put a hex on Ebert’s colon. Ebert responded that he had viewed his own colonoscopy and found it more enjoyable than The Brown Bunny.
merrinc
I’ve always felt that when Roger Ebert sat down to watch a movie, he was predisposed to write a good review because he genuinely loves films. With Kael, it seemed that she probably couldn’t wait to get to her typewriter and pound out a lot of catty, pithy remarks because what she loved most was her own cleverness. Kael enjoyed tearing down, Ebert is happiest when he can find something positive to say about a film.
Oh, but when there is no goodness to be found:
“…a movie almost awesome in its badness.” — Highlander 2. Can’t argue with that.
And one of my most favorite reviews EVAH:
Thanks for the link, Doug.
Comrade Mary
Ebert’s tweets are provoking pedantic temper tantrums among conservatives.
pat kelly
The line is a paraphrase of a Winston Churchill zinger:
“I may be drunk, miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”
It’s a good one.
debit
@Morbo: I loved that episode and watch that clip all the time. It’s funny; when I was younger, I almost never agreed with Ebert, now his word is gold. I should go back and look at the movies he’s panned, but I loved, and see if I still feel the same.
MMM
His blog and comments from his readers are quite worth the time. Almost as good as BJ. No pet pictures though that I remember.
Breezeblock
Roger is the fashizzle.
Did I do that right?
I’m slowly working thru his Greatest Films list. With “slowly” being the operative word.
Persia
@merrinc: That is my favorite opening paragraph possibly of anything. What an awesome guy.
Bubblegum Tate
I have hugely respected Ebert for a long time. He’s a great reviewer, an excellent writer, and a fantastic critic. His writing over the past several years has been consistently amazing–the long-form blog post format really agrees with him, as does the ability to interact with fans via the comments section. His discussion of Gene Siskel was incredibly moving, and his decision to out himself as a member of AA touched off a sprawling and fantastic discussion/debate about dealing with alcoholism, dealing with a loved one’s alcoholism, and whether it’s proper to discuss one’s own AA membership. He really is a gift.
I had the pleasure of interviewing him back in 2003 or so, and though it was evident that this was a quick discussion being squeezed into a schedule chock full of much more important things, he was still very engaging, open, and wanting to have a nice chat, even with a nobody like me. It was an enlightening discussion beyond the words that were spoken.
(And the fact that he drives Andy Breitbart’s Merry Band of Idiots up the wall is a happy little bonus.)
Rob in Denver
It was a fantastic profile. One of the best things he does is host Ebertfest… the cheapest, coolest, least pretentious film festival on the planet.
Comrade Mary
Ebert tweets Tiger: Tiger Woods: “I came. I saw. I conquered. I came.”
KDP
Back in January, my friends at Body Impolitic linked to this post by Ebert in which he writes of what the experience of being unable to eat has meant in his life. It is a lovely and moving post in which he writes that he misses the act of dining rather than the loss of eating food.
Persia
@Bubblegum Tate: What is great about Ebert as a reviewer was that his perspective’s generally so solid– even if you disagreed with him, you could tell why and where you differered.
Mnemosyne
I grew up in Chicago, so “At the Movies” is part of my early memories. For some reason, the first review of theirs that I remember is The Road Warrior (which I remember they both gave a thumbs-up to).
I now have two film degrees, and I blame Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel for instilling a love of movies in me and making me curious about what wasn’t in the theaters. Bastards. :^)
MNPundit
Some his reviews have been total garbage. Still, he watches movies for a living so more power to him even if I am rarely interested in his thoughts on the subject.
Gregory
@KDP:
One part of the Esquire article that really moved me was when a friend of Ebert’s was enthusing about a meal he was having, and then suddenly stopped, fearing he’d hurt Ebert’s feelings, and Ebert replied via note “no, you’re eating for me.”
I’ve always found Ebert’s criticism invaluable, and his collections of reviews of great and terrible movies are an education in themselves, as well as supremely entertaining reading.
Gregory
@MNPundit:
But he will sometimes admit he was wrong about a movie. For example, in his Great Movies review of Groundhog Day, which he did like, he still admits failing to perceive how great the film is.
wenchacha
I just found Ebert’s blog this week. When he writes, he is such a thoughtful and candid communicator. He gives much more than a few minutes on a tv show could ever allow. I hear his familiar voice in my head, and am reminded of one of my favorite professors in school who also loved film.
Seeing Roger’s face now distorted by surgery is a shock. It is always uncomfortable for me when I see a face that no longer looks quite the way it ought to. He has endured a great number of losses, but there seems to be no bitterness in his essays. Reading comments on his blog, it is clear that many people are glad he is still around to talk about art and politics and life. Me too.
And Andy Breitbart? He can suck my balls.
forked tongue
He’s also an unabashed liberal and atheist, so three thumbs up for the Rog.
sher
have read Ebert’s reviews for more than three decades; he is a great writer and a national treasure…
Mnemosyne
Also, here’s a link to one of my all-time favorite reviews of Ebert’s, which is also in his book “I Hated Hated Hated This Movie”:
Rapa Nui
Chuck
An anatomy of two close collaborators who occasionally loathed one another.
Mnemosyne
@Gregory:
It was kinda funny with the Brown Bunny controversy — IIRC, Ebert later saw the re-edited version and said that it was a much better film than the one he saw at Cannes. So for all of Vincent Gallo’s bitching and moaning, it sounds like he actually took the advice from the critics (including Ebert) and made changes to make the film better.
Billy K
Ebert should not be glossed over as merely a “film critic.” He is a great writer and a great wit. These days we have far too few of either.
dadanarchist
I will always be grateful to Ebert for championing Werner Herzog’s films (hence the dedication to Roger Ebert at the beginning of Herzog’s ‘Encounters at the End of the World’).
‘Brown Bunny’ is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I even saw it in Lower East Side hipster New York (Vince’s people) and people were still talking shit, MST3000 style, throughout the whole screening. That’s the only thing that made it entertaining.
‘Pearl Harbor’ was atrocious too.
Blue Raven
@forked tongue:
Actually, he does not describe himself as an atheist. I read a blog entry of his on the subject just yesterday that he wrote last year, and it was very compelling.
Incertus
He’s certainly the best celebrity Tweeter I’ve ever followed, not that my knowledge of such things is all that extensive. Kevin Smith is good too, though I only started following him with the Southwest controversy.
Dr. Morpheus
@Rob in Denver:
Yes, and I am proud to a citizen of the town that this is hosted in, Champaign Illinois.
I once had the privilege of shaking his hand at one of the Ebertfests. What a true gem of a man.
Ken
An inspiring story I saw posted on Fark about Roger Ebert:
I actually saw Roger Ebert a couple of years ago. Every year I always go to the Florida Film Festival, it is a tradition of mine that I have enjoyed ever since I was a kid. My favorite films to see are the ones that don’t get a lot of hype; the tiny little films that was made with not a lot of money, but with a lot of spirit. That year I decided to see a film from Chile called Play, and I found myself the only person in the audience besides the director, her crew, and one other man – Roger Ebert.
I could barely pay attention to the movie, and spent the entire time stealing glances at a man I’ve idolized for nearly my entire life. After the movie, he walked up to the director and shook her hand, and then turned and started to leave. I have always had a policy not to walk up to celebrities (it always seemed rude to me), but in this case I really couldn’t resist. As he was walking out I stumbled over the seats to get to him.
“Mr. Ebert?”
He turned when I called his name. I was utterly stunned.
“I am a pretty big fan of yours. I have been since I was a little kid; I would say that I wouldn’t know half of the things I know about movies if it wasn’t for your show.”
Just then he stopped, looked me in the eye. I will never forget what he told me:
“blwaaaaahwawerrrrraaggh dfrrragggth. Thhhhssssrrrrup.”
Dr. Morpheus
@Ken:
That’s a cruel, cruel joke. >:-(
But pretty funny too. I think Ebert would laugh at it.
He is a big man and I mean that in the most gracious sense of the word.
Nick
I still remember his comments on CNN or MSNBC after one of the Gore-Bush debates. This was after Sally Quinn and several others ruefully intoned several versions of Gore ‘wasn’t comfortable in his own skin’.
Ebert comes on, shaking his head and saying, ‘What on Earth were those people TALKING about????’
JoePo
It might have been BJ that linked it back when, but this takedown of Ben Stein’s shitty movie – after Stein accused Ebert of cowardice for not having reviewed it – is f’n priceless.
Brett
What I like (and liked) the most about Ebert is that, whether or not you disagreed with him, you could always be certain of two things with his reviews:
1)They were his actual opinion – he wasn’t “me-tooing”, and
2)He would actually review the goddamn movie, as opposed to a number of film critics (who seem to think movie reviews are an opportunity to show how smart they are first and foremost).
scarshapedstar
What? Shit! I had no idea that Ebert had jaw cancer. I guess that would explain why I haven’t seen him in a while.
But yeah, Ebert is a great guy.
fraught
An unnecessary comparison with Kael. Whatever her character flaws, she was essential to the way most people understood that era of movies. And everyone still reads her in every film school across the country.
I met her. she seemed to be a very nice person. Also irrelevant.
Mnemosyne
@fraught:
Huh? I went to two different film schools — one of them the number one in the country — and I don’t think we ever read a single piece by Kael. And I was a Critical Studies major so if she was an important thinker, we would have read her.
She may have been erudite, but she was a pop movie reviewer just like Ebert, not a serious thinker about film.
fraught
Oh.
Mnemosyne
@fraught:
Don’t get me wrong, she helped get film some respect as an art form and not just an entertainment, but she’s no Andre Bazin.
I think I did use a couple of her articles when I was researching the historical reception of a film, but she’s not a theorist.
(Ahem. Not that I ever get defensive about studying something as useless as film, of course.)
Yutsano
Best. Fucking. Line. Evah. Love how he gives credit to his better half for it too.
JSD
I don’t know about the atheist part (although he was raised and educated Catholic, that I know). The thing that has always impressed me about his liberal views is that he never shied away from using his fame as a movie reviewer to comment on some political matter or other when he felt strongly.
I’ve been watching and reading him for decades. When I lived in Japan for six years, his reviews were carried by the local paper, and were the only thing informing me of what was good to see. When he started posting online, I read his reviews religiously. Indeed, he is perhaps the finest movie reviewer in our nation, always asking the question: What did this movie set out to do, and did it do it?
The only argument I’ve found myself on the opposite side of him is “Can video games be art?” Ebert said they can never be, which later he clarified by saying “high art”. Perhaps they haven’t yet (although someone might argue they have after playing Shadow of the Colossus or Bioshock), but I believe someday they will.
Batocchio
I linked this piece earlier this week – it’s very good. I don’t always agree with Ebert, but he gives thoughtful reviews, and he’s been a great champion of documentaries, independent features and foreign films. He and Siskel really helped introduce Hoop Dreams (among other films) to a wider audience. I enjoy reading his old reviews of the classics. In his best reviews, his joy is impossible to miss.
Ruckus
@Ken:
I can see Ebert laughing at that. And that’s what makes it funny.
Roger Ebert may be the Mark Twain of our time. A good eye for life, a great ability to live it and a wonderful way to write about it.
asiangrrlMN
@Batocchio: It was you! Thank you. I read it when you linked it, and it moved me to tears. I have two of Ebert’s books (the ones about the movies he hated), and I have found him to be a thoughtful, engaging, and warm writer in general. If he could still drink, I would buy him a beverage of his choice.
Allen
I’ve been following his reviews since the 70s, though to be fair I find Richard Roeper’s reviews more trustworthy for my tastes lately.
Also, to be fair to The Brown Bunny, Ebert changed his review after the film was recut for US release (and personally I liked the movie too). He gives it a very good three stars on his four star rating scale, and here’s a quote from his review: “Make no mistake: The Cannes version was a bad film, but now Gallo’s editing has set free the good film inside.”
scarshapedstar
Am I the only one who was kinda let down by Bioshock?
(For the record, I vote Grim Fandango as gaming’s artistic masterpiece.)
New Yorker
One of my favorite move review lines ever:
The rest of the review:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000512/REVIEWS/5120301/1023
I have to admit, I love his reviews of movies he hated just for the snark factor.
Also, the Esquire piece was magnificent and makes me realize what a dignified human being he is.
mattH
I chalk it up to the death of Siskel, who was certainly the more critical (certainly not a bad thing) of the two, and the need to kind of fill that in his and our world.
DougJ
@fraught:
FWIW, I don’t think it makes sense to talk about movie criticism without bringing up Pauline Kael. It’s like mentioning relativity without bringing up Einstein.