Roger Ebert

[Ca Bob]

Ebert is probably best known to the American people for the television show he hosted with Gene Siskel, but his greatest contribution, I think, was in his writing. He wrote thousands of reviews and columns, some of which are collected into best selling books. He had an amazing wit and a real way with words. One of my favorite books of all time is his I Hated Hated Hated This Movie. It's a collection of columns that panned films, and it teaches a lot about the writing and structuring of films while being hilarious.

I suppose this post could have gone on the other side, but I also see Ebert as something of a political activist, in that he didn't shy away from controversial views and he was not averse to taking a moral tone. He was an early discoverer of Obama and took a pledge never to buy anything from an unsolicited spam email.

The guy could write. Really write.

[Lemon Drop]

I'm going to get that book for my son, who admired Ebert quite a lot. I didn't know about his political activism...what were his points of view, other than supporting this president?

[samintx]

I was surprised he got a "star". Must have missed that news. His TV show was a must along with Wallstreet Week with Ruckhyser (spelling) in years long gone. Loved it when Siskel and ebert disagreed.

[$tevie]

An older interview which gives a nice overview of Ebert's ability to think about various topics without clinging to any particular ideology.

http://progressive.org/mag_intvebert

[hal]

Ebert's scathing reviews are fun, but don't dismiss the reviews of the movies he loves best. I find it harder to write extreme praise without just saying, "Wow - this was great. Really, really great" over and over...

Here's a SunTIme page that features his 100 favorite movies...

spend some time with this...

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs...s_first100

Here are a few for the lazy...

Being There http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs...303%2F1023

The Big Lebowski http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs...989%2F1023

Have you ever tried to write why the Wizard of Oz is a great movie - don't bother - ebert nailed it http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs...348%2F1023

[Black]

I thought this little video was great:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/news/2013/04/v...ebert.html
(may have been posted already- too bad)


I really feel like I lost someone I knew personally, like a coworker I always enjoyed joking with.

[SteveG]

Thanks for the Ebert arrow to The Big Lebowski.

After some light Google research, I realized that I knew the teenaged Jeff Dowd (prototype for The Dude) from Ithaca and even had his Old Man for freshman economics. What an interesting discovery for me, even though decades later. Thanks.

[hal]

Black wrote:
I thought this little video was great:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/news/2013/04/v...ebert.html
(may have been posted already- too bad)


I really feel like I lost someone I knew personally, like a coworker I always enjoyed joking with.

thanks for that - it was very nice...