Roger Ebert
[2] Ebert endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, championing filmmakers like Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and Spike Lee, as well as Martin Scorsese, whose first published review he wrote.Starting in 1975 and continuing for decades, Ebert and Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel helped popularize nationally televised film reviewing when they co-hosted the PBS show Sneak Previews, followed by several variously named At the Movies programs on commercial TV broadcast syndication.His college mentor was Daniel Curley, who "introduced me to many of the cornerstones of my life's reading: 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary, The Ambassadors, Nostromo, The Professor's House, The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury ...[30] Ebert's first review for the Chicago Sun-Times began: "Georges Lautner’s Galia opens and closes with arty shots of the ocean, mother of us all, but in between it’s pretty clear that what is washing ashore is the French New Wave.[39] Beginning in 1968, Ebert worked for the University of Chicago as an adjunct lecturer, teaching a night class on film at the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.Richard Corliss, in Film Comment, called the show "a sitcom (with its own noodling, toodling theme song) starring two guys who live in a movie theater and argue all the time".)"[47] Corliss wrote that "I do think the program has other merits, and said so in a sentence of my original article that didn't make it into type: 'Sometimes the show does good: in spotlighting foreign and independent films, and in raising issues like censorship and colorization.'You were one of the smartest, funniest, quickest men I've ever known and one of the best reporters...I know for sure that seeing a truly great movie made you so happy that you'd tell me a week later your spirits were still high.[65] His RogerEbert.com website, launched in 2002 and originally underwritten by the Chicago Sun-Times,[66] remains online as an archive of his published writings and reviews while also hosting new material written by a group of critics who were selected by Ebert before his death.In a curious sense, the events in the movie seem real, and I seem to be a part of them...My list of other out-of-the-body films is a short and odd one, ranging from the artistry of Bonnie and Clyde or Cries and Whispers to the slick commercialism of Jaws and the brutal strength of Taxi Driver.When Gene Kelly splashes through Singin' in the Rain, when Judy Garland follows the yellow brick road, when Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling, when John Wayne puts the reins in his teeth and gallops across the mountain meadow, there is a purity and joy that cannot be resisted."[115] Ebert concluded his review of Hoop Dreams by writing: "Many filmgoers are reluctant to see documentaries, for reasons I've never understood; the good ones are frequently more absorbing and entertaining than fiction.In 1982, he chose, alphabetically, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Bonnie and Clyde, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, Notorious, Persona, Taxi Driver and The Third Man.In 2012, he chose 2001: A Space Odyssey, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Apocalypse Now, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The General, Raging Bull, Tokyo Story, The Tree of Life and Vertigo.His main arguments were that they were too strict on sex and profanity, too lenient on violence, secretive with their guidelines, inconsistent in applying them and not willing to consider the wider context and meaning of the film."[136] Ebert also frequently lamented that cinemas outside major cities are "booked by computer from Hollywood with no regard for local tastes," making high-quality independent and foreign films virtually unavailable to most American moviegoers."[149] Examples of Ebert dissenting from other critics include his negative reviews of such celebrated films as Blue Velvet ("marred by sophomoric satire and cheap shots"),[150] A Clockwork Orange ("a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning"),[151] and The Usual Suspects ("To the degree that I do understand, I don't care").Therefore, Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo while passing on the opportunity to participate in Million Dollar Baby, Ray, The Aviator, Sideways and Finding Neverland.[193] In 1997, Ebert appeared in Pitch, a documentary by Spencer Rice and Kenny Hotz[194] and the Chicago-set television series Early Edition,[195] where consoles a young boy who is depressed after he sees the character Bosco the Bunny die in a movie.He discusses the dynamics of appearing with Gene Siskel on the 1970s show Coming to a Theatre Near You, the predecessor of Sneak Previews on Chicago PBS station WTTW, and expresses approval of the proliferation of young people writing film reviews today on the internet."[235] He lamented that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "has regrettably been under fire in recent years from myopic advocates of Political Correctness, who do not have a bone of irony (or humor) in their bodies, and cannot tell the difference between what is said or done in the novel, and what Twain means by it."[236] Ebert defended the cast and crew of Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) during a Sundance Film Festival screening when a white member of the audience asked “Why, with the talent yup there and yourself, make a film so empty and amoral for Asian Americans and for Americans?” Ebert responded that "What I find very offensive and condescending about your statement is nobody would say to a bunch of white filmmakers, ‘How could you do this to 'your people'?...Asian-American characters have the right to be whoever the hell they want to be.Referring to the subprime mortgage crisis, he wrote: "I have also felt despair at the way financial instruments were created and manipulated to deliberately defraud the ordinary people in this country.I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything concerned with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and the old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.'Instead, he hoped to enlighten readers, challenging them to think, while whetting their appetite for stronger work ... It’s a testament to Ebert’s gift that, after a life spent writing about film, he made us love the movies all the more....I’ve always suspected the reason he settled into this profession is that film reviews, as he wrote them, served as a Trojan horse for the delivery of bigger philosophical ideas, of which he had an inexhaustible supply to share."[267] Hundreds of people attended the funeral Mass held at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral on April 8, 2013, where Ebert was celebrated as a film critic, newspaperman, advocate for social justice, and husband.[269] After the funeral service, he was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois[270] A documentary adaptation of Life Itself (2014), directed by Steve James, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival."[273] In September 2013, organizers in Champaign, Illinois, announced plans to raise $125,000 to build a life-size bronze statue of Roger Ebert in the town, which was unveiled in front of the Virginia Theatre at Ebertfest on April 24, 2014.[295] On May 4, 2010, Ebert was announced by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences as the Webby Person of the Year, having found a voice on the Internet following his battle with cancer.
RogerEbert.comUrbana, IllinoisUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignSneak PreviewsAt the MoviesThe Great MoviesBeyond the Valley of the DollsPulitzer Prize for CriticismChaz Hammel-Smithfilm criticChicago Sun-Timeswriting stylepopulismhumanismWerner HerzogErrol MorrisSpike LeeMartin ScorseseNeil SteinbergKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesThe New York TimesRuss MeyerChicago TribuneGene Siskelbroadcast syndicationbrain tumorRichard RoeperChampaign, Illinoisthyroidsalivary glandsRichard Corlissdocumentary of the same titleRoman Catholicaltar boyMarx Brothers A Day at the RacesAdventures of Huckleberry Finnscience-fiction fanzinesThe News-GazetteUrbana High Schoolhigh school newspaperIllinois High School AssociationspeechPauline Kaellost it at the moviesThe Daily IlliniDaniel CurleyThe Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockCrime and PunishmentMadame BovaryThe AmbassadorsNostromoThe Professor's HouseThe Great GatsbyThe Sound and the FuryLarry WoiwodeWilliam NackSecretariatPhi Delta ThetaUnited States Student Press AssociationLa Dolce VitaShakespeare tragediesG. Blakemore EvansUniversity of Cape TownUniversity of ChicagoChicago Daily NewsBrendan BehanHerman KoganJim HogeThe GraduateJean-Luc GodardFrançois TruffautGeorges LautnerFrench New WaveRobert WarshowNew York Film FestivalIngmar BergmanPersonaArthur PennBonnie and ClydeWho's That Knocking at My Door Fellinicult filmBeneath the Valley of the Ultra-VixensSex PistolsWho Killed Bambi?Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies1989 Academy AwardsThe Washington Postpublic broadcastingsyndicatedAt the Movies With Gene Siskel & Roger EbertSiskel & Ebert & the MoviesBuena Vista TelevisionWalt Disney CompanyThe Late Show with David LettermanThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Arsenio Hall ShowThe Howard Stern ShowThe Tonight Show with Jay LenoLate Night with Conan O'BrienFilm Comment colorizationletterboxingFilm Quarterly CinéasteAmerican FilmFangoriaW. W. Norton & CompanyLouise Brooks David ThomsonCasablancaEbertfestJanet MaslinA.O. ScottBill ClintonThe White HouseRaging BullBill KurtisChristy LemireIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe Ballad of NarayamaThe Host