Roger Ebert

Life Itself: an additional personal thought

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Yesterday I commented on the Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself.  Today I’m reflecting on Roger Ebert as the main reason that my love of cinema grew, as did my passion for sharing under appreciated and overlooked movies. In other words, I wouldn’t be writing this blog if not for Ebert.

My college History of Film class and the groundbreaking movies of the 70s (The Godfather, Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces) had awakened my interest in movies.  But Roger Ebert was the leading evangelist for independent and foreign cinema in the US. Without the Siskel & Ebert TV shows, I wouldn’t have known to seek out a French film like La cage aux folles or the debut features of indie directors John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus Seven) and Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It).  Heck, I just looked at my list of 50 Greatest Movies of All Time, and, without Ebert’s guidance, I never would have seen The Seven Up series, Blue/White/Red, Secrets and Lies, and, probably, Do the Right Thing.

Along the way (and from technology to technology), I made it a point to seek out Ebert’s movie recommendations.  The first show that I set up my massive 1982 VCR to record was Siskel & Ebert’s Sneak Previews. In the early 2000s, Roger Ebert’s was the first blog that I checked every day. The reason that I signed up for Twitter was to follow Roger Ebert.

So, thanks, Roger.  Thanks from The Movie Gourmet.

Life Itself: Roger Ebert’s truth

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Roger Ebert in LIFE ITSELF
Roger Ebert in LIFE ITSELF

Life Itself is the affectionate but not worshipful documentary on movie critic Roger Ebert’s groundbreaking career, courageous battle against disease and uncommonly graceful death.  Ebert popularized movie criticism and evangelized for the lesser known foreign films, documentaries and indies that I love.  In a 2002 cancer treatment, Ebert lost his lower jaw and, with it, his ability to talk or eat.  Astonishingly, this didn’t slow him down; he replaced his television show with a pioneering blog and Twitter account – and remained just as productive and influential as ever.

Filmmaker Steve James set out to make a movie of Ebert’s memoir of the same name, but – just as the project started – Ebert’s cancer returned.  So the story includes Ebert’s final illness and death.  Ebert retained the joy in his life far longer than could most in his situation – it’s a marvel and a model for the rest of us.

James is one of the deserving filmmakers whose art was boosted by Ebert, who picked James’ obscure documentary Hoop Dreams as the best film of the year. Ebert similarly helped directors from Spike Lee in the 1980s to Raman Bahrani in the 2000s. In Life Itself, Errol Morris says that he would have had no career without Ebert and Siskel, and Martin Scorsese says that they saved his career.

But the primary theme of Life Itself is truth.  In his work, Ebert demanded truth from himself and from the cinema that he reviewed.  In this film, Ebert insisted on showing the person he was at the end – with his infirmities on full display.  There are moments of frustration where he is not so lovable and stories about his personal flaws.  We are all packages of virtues and weaknesses; seeing Roger’s weaknesses just adds credibility to his strengths and accomplishments.

Life Itself is a Must See for fans of Roger Ebert and for people musing on their own mortality.  People with less of an interest in Ebert may find the movie a little too long.  But the human story of a life – challenged and then ending – is very strong.

2013 at the Movies: farewells

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Roger Ebert’s passing was a particularly somber moment for me because the Siskel & Ebert television show was one of the two essential triggers for my love of movies (along with my college History of Film class).

I first set up my massive 1982 VCR to record his and Siskel’s Sneak Previews. In the early 2000s, Ebert’s was the first blog that I checked every day. The reason that I signed up for Twitter was to follow Roger Ebert.

Roger Ebert was first a great film critic, period. He was also the most effective popularizer of movie criticism. Most importantly, especially for me starting in the late 1970s, he was the leading evangelist for independent and foreign cinema in the US. Without Siskel & Ebert, I wouldn’t have known to seek out a French film like La cage aux folles or the debut features of indie directors John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus Seven) and Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It).

In taking a “leave of presence” the day before his death, Roger Ebert wrote, “On this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”

On the lighter side: Roger Ebert’s favorite lines from his movie reviews.

In 2013, we also lost the genius of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen, groundbreaking indie filmmaker Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack), the iconic Lawrence of Arabia star Peter O’Toole and Eleanor Parker, Oscar-nominated in 1951 for Caged, perhaps the best ever women’s prison movie.

Ebert’s favorite lines

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Roger Ebert was never snarky unless a movie deserved it – and then he was masterful.  In 2011, he published Roger Ebert’s Favorite Lines From Movie Reviews, which quickly made my own list of Other People’s Great Movie Lists.

Here are some examples from Ebert’s reviews:

“Pearl Harbor is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle.”

“Heaven’s Gate is the most scandalous cinematic waste I have ever seen, and remember, I’ve seen Paint Your Wagon.”

“I know full well I’m expected to Suspend My Disbelief. Unfortunately, my disbelief is very heavy, and during Ocean’s Thirteen, the suspension cable snapped.”

“Keanu Reeves is often low-key in his roles, but in this movie, his piano has no keys at all. He is so solemn, detached and uninvolved he makes Mr. Spock look like Hunter S. Thompson at closing time.” — The Day the Earth Stood Still

“She and Daredevil are powerfully attracted to each other, and even share some PG-13 sex, which is a relief, because when superheroes have sex at the R level, I am always afraid someone will get hurt.” — Daredevil

“I am informed that 5,000 cockroaches were used in the filming of Joe’s Apartment. That depresses me, but not as much as the news that none of them were harmed during the production.”

Thank you, Roger Ebert

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Roger Ebert has died.  It’s a particularly somber moment for me because the Siskel & Ebert television show was one of the two essential triggers for my love of movies (along with my college History of Film class).

I first set up my massive 1982 VCR to record his and Siskel’s Sneak Previews.  In the early 2000s, Ebert’s was the first blog that I checked every day.  The reason that I signed up for Twitter was to follow Roger Ebert.

Roger Ebert was first a great film critic, period.  He was also the most effective popularizer of movie criticism.  Most importantly, especially for me starting in the late 1970s, he was the leading evangelist for independent and foreign cinema in the US.  Without Siskel & Ebert, I wouldn’t have known to seek out a French film like La cage aux folles or the debut features of indie directors John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus Seven) and Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It). 

In taking a “leave of presence” yesterday, Roger Ebert wrote, “On this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me.  I’ll see you at the movies.”

A Remarkable Film Distributor

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Roger Ebert just tweeted that today is the 20th birthday of Sony Pictures Classics.  I normally don’t weigh in on distributors, but I note that Sony Pictures Classic has already released three of the films on my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far – Incendies, The Guard and Midnight in Paris.

In 2009-20, their released four films that made my annual top ten lists:  Another Year, The Secrets in Their Eyes and A Prophet.  And, in 2008, Sony Pictures Classics released both my #1 film, I’ve Loved You So Long, and my #2, Rachel Getting Married.  Not bad.

 

Roger Ebert and At the Movies returns to TV this week

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Well, here’s some grand news – Roger Ebert is bringing back At the Movies as Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies, beginning around this Friday, January 21 on PBS. The co-hosts will be respected film critic Christy LeMire and up and coming film critic and blogger Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. Ebert himself will appear with the aid of computer-generated speech in the “Roger’s Office” segment. The show will also include movie bloggers Kim Morgan (sunsetgun.com) and Omar Moore (popcornreel.com). Ebert and his wife Chaz have gone back to the show’s roots and are producing the show for public television stations.

Hereafter and the Critics

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Bryce Dallas Howard and Matt Damon in Hereafter

I’m surprised at the wide range of critical reaction to Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, a film that I admire.   Hereafter now has a middling MetaCritic score of 56 – the same score as Jackass 3D.

Comfortingly, three of the critics that I respect the most reacted to Hereafter as I did.  Metacritic assigned 100 points to reviews by Roger Ebert and Mick LaSalle and 90 points to a review by A.O. Scott.  But enough midrange reviews along with a smattering of  negative reviews brought Hereafter‘s average down.

I read several of the lukewarm and disapproving reviews.  Some didn’t find the supernatural premise credible enough to suspend disbelief.  Some expected an answer about what comes after death.  Some were disappointed by the languid pace after the rock-em sock-em opening sequence.   I think that they all missed the point.  The movie isn’t really about whether there is an afterlife.  It’s about how we living humans deal with mortality with grief, fear, avoidance, faith, questioning and belief or non-belief in an Afterlife.  The richness of the movie is in the superb depiction of actual humans doing what we humans do – including grieving, longing, wondering, scamming, searching and ignoring.

As to the Afterlife, the one character in the movie who really knows that there is one, can’t work hard enough to escape any contact with it.  What does that say?

As a side note, virtually all the reviews, even the most negative ones, praised the tsunami sequence at the beginning.  Everybody loves a good tidal wave.

Roger Ebert and At the Movies return to TV

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Well, here’s some grand news – Roger Ebert is bringing back At the Movies as Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies.  The co-hosts will be respected film critics Christy LeMire and Elvis Mitchell.  Ebert himself will appear with the aid of computer-generated speech  in the “Roger’s Office” segment.  The show will also include movie bloggers Kim Morgan (sunsetgun.com) and Omar Moore (popcornreel.com).  Ebert and his wife Chaz have gone back to the show’s roots and are producing the show for public television stations.

More At the Movies

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As I said yesterday, the thing that Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did better than anyone was to evangelize good films with their series At the Movies (which ends this weekend).  They helped create audiences for indie and foreign films that were ignored by the Hollywood promotion machine.  They even had the guts to rate documentaries like Hoop Dreams and Crumb as their picks for the year’s best film.  Without Siskel and Ebert, I would never seen some of the greatest films of the 80s and 90s.

Here are Siskel and Ebert introducing a great indie film, David Mamet’s House of Games.

And a great foreign film (that launched a great film trilogy), Blue.

And the revival of a restored classic film noir, Touch of Evil.