Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

Putli Bai wrote:I can't remember the last time a celebrity death made me this sad. Jim Henson, maybe, or James Herriot. But I'm sitting her with tears streaming down my face.

This is right up there with the passing of Fred Rogers, for me. The world isn't quite the same without him in it.

RIP, Roger. Thanks so much for all you've given.

When I was in college one summer, back when Ebert first started putting his reviews online (so they only went back to 1981 or so), I started reading all of them. I sorted them by star-order and began with the zero and one star movies, then I went back and started again chronologically. I never made it all the way to the present, but it was a lot of fun and I recommend doing that if you have time to kill. Not sure how long his blog will stay up.

I'm so very sad. I used to schedule time to watch him and Gene joke and battle about one of my great loves, the movies. I had a sinking feeling when I read his "Leave of Presence" blog yesterday, but it was such a shock to see the news on Twitter this afternoon.

RIP Roger...a big thumbs up, WAY up, to you.

Just so sad. I don't remember a time of not watching him in some capacity.

Does anyone know what the last movie he saw was?

I gasped out loud when I saw the news today. I hadn't read the post yesterday, and it was a surprise. What a loss.

I think my favorite review will always be his amazing panning of North.

The Dude wrote:Does anyone know what the last movie he saw was?

I really, really hope it wasn't The Host, but that's the last review with his by-line on it.

Chaz's statement.

Since I heard the news I haven't been able to stop thinking about how much his talent, wit, and himself will be missed.

Since I heard the news I haven't been able to stop thinking about how much his talent, wit, and himself will be missed.

He was really just a super-decent guy. I'm a former employee of the Sun-Times News Group and newspaper union member and Roger was a great advocate for both. My favorite thing ever was his takedown of former coworker and noted douche-hole Jay Mariotti.

Jay's not that bad... He's even worse.

I've been prepared for this news for sometime, so what's hitting me most is what an Ebertless world means to our culture. The wit, eloquence, accessibility and unpretentiousness that I doubt any cultural arbiter has a fraction of.

Damn, this is awful news. I'm surprised it happened so fast after the announcement of his leave of presence.

To me he was the last of the truly great movie reviewers, someone who not only still loved movies (was passionate about them, even) but who also wrote about them with such eloquence and intelligence, even those he hated. Particularly those he hated, heh.

I can't even imagine what Chaz is going through. Theirs was an incredible relationship and to not have him by her side after all these years...I don't even know.

Fare the well, Robert. Fare thee well.

For some good memories of the man and his talent, here's 40 hilariously mean reviews that he did.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/40-hilariously-mean-roger-ebert-reviews/

It really does feel like the end of an era. I feel like Siskel and Ebert knew how to make film criticism accessible and fun, but you could also go to their print reviews for more depth. These days, we have hundreds of bloggers who know nothing about film and fill up Rotten Tomatoes with endless banality and attempts at being as dickish as possible. Even a lot of the serious critics these days seem more interested in getting that pull quote out there than they are in really putting thought into their reviews. I disagreed with Ebert vehemently at times, but I never felt he was going into a film with an axe to grind.

I've heard his last review will be for To The Wonder. Which makes me happy. While I haven't seen it yet, I guess if I could choose a final movie for myself, I'd probably go with Malick.

And here are the clips of him and Siskel on The Critic. I think their perfect pairs lift is my favorite part.

They didn't even get to the famous Deuce Bigalow burn!

But Schneider is correct, and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer Prize. 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." As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks.

I can't remember precisely, but Rob Schneider was actually really nice about it--I think he sent Ebert flowers when he first got sick? Which somehow makes it even better. I think that's what I loved about Ebert--he was somehow snarky without actually being mean. Like, the "Brown Bunny" review is famous, but when Vincent Gallo recut the movie, Ebert actually went back, watched it again, and gave the new version three stars. He was snarky, but he was fair.

He really was. And he was honest. He co hosted Regis and Kelly at one point, it may even still have been Kathie Lee at that point and Alicia Silverstone was on promoting Love's Labours Lost. She told him she was always grateful because he had been effusive about Clueless, really adored it. And he said yes it was delightful, then proceeded to trash her current movie except for the songs. It was hilarious.

On a completely off note, Rob Schneider seems to be a class act all around. I still remember him telling Dina Lohan to stop partying with her daughter.

Schneider sent Ebert a bouquet after that review. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/COMMENTARY/70507001

Rob Schneider and his bouquet of flowers to Ebert is one of the big reasons why I may not like his movies, but I think he's a decent sort of fellow.

And I love Ebert's willingness to change his mind. It's a lack of ego and insecurity that I really respect (and you don't see much now). You could tell that his love was the movies and he may have hated them, but it was because he wished they were better and that they could do better.

This is a very sweet post-script to the excellent Esquire article from a few years ago.

Ebert also wasn't a snob. He loved Spiderman 2 just as much as he did Monster's Ball. I think he just saw movies.

He and Siskel were also so wonderful about championing movies. I remember reading an article about the director of Hoop Dreams and he said Siskel and Ebert's effusive praise for that movie really helped it get a mainstream audience. It was generally wonderful when he fell in love with a movie/performance. I still remember being in high school and going to see Junebug because Roger Ebert was SO in love with that movie and Amy Adams' work in it.

Hee, my favorite Ebert memory is him losing his shit on Gene for "revealing" the twist in The Crying Game. I totes was Team Gene, but I loved how passionately affronted Roger was on behalf of the films integrity.