RIP Roger Ebert

Ebert also was a great supporter of his old college paper, the Daily Illini, and Champaign-Urbana in general, putting his Overlooked film fest on there.

By the way, "Your Movie Sucks" at the end of his Deuce Bigelow review also became a book title, and the "I Hated, Hated..." title came from another classic beatdown -- the 1994 Rob Reiner clunker "North."

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940722/REVIEWS/407220302/1023

I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.

I hold it as an item of faith that Rob Reiner is a gifted filmmaker; among his credits are "This is Spinal Tap," "The Sure Thing," "The Princess Bride," "Stand by Me," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Misery." I list those titles as an incantation against this one.

"North" is a bad film - one of the worst movies ever made. But it is not by a bad filmmaker, and must represent some sort of lapse from which Reiner will recover - possibly sooner than I will.

Alas, given the movies Rob Reiner has made since then, Ebert was sadly wrong on that last point.

 

This is excellent

 

They were Kornheiser and Wilbon before Kornheiser and Wilbon.

 

He gave a thumb down to "The Client."

 

I was at the Art Institute of Chicago once, looking at the miniature rooms and I had a nice conversation with the guy standing next to me. Normal small talk, I looked up to see who I was conversing with and it was Roger Ebert, he was there with his wife and I assume her family. He could tell that I suddenly new who he was and we smiled. I said I was jealous of him because he could visit the Art Institute any time he wanted and he chuckled and said, "Yes, I am lucky". I said have a nice day and that was that. Sure seemed like a nice man.

 

Their two thumbs up always was a quality review because they had very different tastes. Siskel was more of a technical snob, deconstructing the plotting etc. while Ebert seemed to go at it from a "did the film deliver on its potential, did the filmmaker succeed in making you feel what you expected" kind of thing.
Mixed with their Chicago earthiness, it made for good viewing.

 

So, so sad. RIP Mr. Ebert.

 

RIP and holy shit is that funny.

 

Jones shares some of Ebert's Post-It notes ...

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/ebert-post-it-notes

 

Shame, I really looked forward to Siskel and Ebert on Sundays.

 

Sepinwall's tribute:

www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/the-balcony-is-closed-roger-ebert-1940-2013

 

Wow, Ebert was not that much older than me (so when I was a kid turning on "the Balcony" Ebert was barely over 30).

Thanks for the Sepinwall link, he really does put Ebert in perspective. I read Ebert's reviews just like Sepinwall lays out, whether he believed the movie accomplished what it set out to do.