Roger Ebert

Let's not, shall we?

I found him bland but usually agreed with his overall take on films.

OP = Ben Stiller after Zoolander

it's time to retire from public life.

He was a more insightful critic at the beginning and I admired him for hating Blue Velvet even if I completely disagreed with his review. But by the 90s, he seemed to be way more lenient and gave 4 stars to anything.

When was he a cunt?

You used to love him or hate him. No more.

Fuck you, OP.

Hated his guts, I was actually rooting for him to die. His (and Siskle's) prominence came solely from from being lucky enough to be in the first hit movie critics show. He was an average critic at best, but felt and acted superior anyway.

Siskel & Ebert give OP two thumbs down.

Why is Jigsaw from the Saw franchise on a Roger Ebert thread?

he showed a lot of bravery in his later life. cancer took his voice and most his face but he pressed on. he didnt just roll up in a ball and fade away. siskel was the same, brain cancer, terrible illness but he still showed up.

Wow. Someone needs to research causal links between reviewing movies and cancer.

I preferred Siskel, despite him being a total snob about Sci=Fi and Horror. Ebert was a little better in that respect. But he'd give thumbs up to practically anything, just happy to devour his jumbo-sized bucket of popcorn.

Not that the OP could be bothered to post any, specific beef with Ebert.

i recall seeing a lot of thumbs down from siskel and ebert. they both worshiped woody allen films.

woody allen referred to them as the Chicago morons

I preferred Siskel.

I still can’t believe they’re both gone. So sad.

Sad about Siskel anyway. Ebert was a dickhead, good riddance.

I don’t know her. Who is she ? And what happened to her face ?

Met him in person at the Lake Street Screening Room in Chicago. I would always try to work up the courage to talk to him, then talk myself out of it. I was a lowly critic for my college newspaper and didn’t want to come across as just some punk kid. I also figured he just wanted to do his job and not get bothered.

Later, when I published a freelance review of a prominent book in the Chicago Sun-Times (his paper), I introduced myself. He could not have been nicer. Though cancer had taken his voice, he did his best to congratulate and encourage me through facial expressions and gestures.

Sometimes I wish I had introduced myself sooner. I heard stories from other students who were more brazen in introducing themselves, and I never heard anything negative.

He could be too generous in his assessment of some films, sure, but I’d rather a critic err on that side than to trash things with abandon. He understood the hard work and passion that goes into making a film. No one sets out to make a turkey. Plus his prose could be just beautiful. He didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize for nothing.

I can forgive a lot of cuntiness just for the fact that the man wrote “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”.

Thanks, R20.

All the more reason the OP can go fuck himself.

Is OP Rex Reed in disguise?

I thought he was usually fair and honest.

[quote]His (and Siskle's)(sic) prominence came solely from from being lucky enough to be in the first hit movie critics show.

Wtf is a "hit movie critics show"?

r25

'sneak previews'

What did he do this time?

R13 and r16 made me LOL at 4:00 in the morning.

Has the clip of Gene Siskel and John Ritter from Larry Sanders been taken down YouTube? That was really funny and Gene had some great comedic timing. Now everyone involved in that episode is dead, including Warren Zevon.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was his only writing credit?

I attended a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert of movie music dedicated to Ebert. He and his wife were there and he came out onstage at the end. He was very sick then and his voice came from that amplified gadget he used. The audience loved him.

As I recall, he chose the movie music that he particularly loved for the concert.

The CSO, of course, was splendid.

I think this was the concert...