Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

I saw the headline earlier - dammit, Roger - we need you!

I don't know how to update the title of this thread.

We've lost a tremendous literary icon. Thank you, Roger, for sharing your beautiful mind with us.

I knew it wouldn't be long after he announced is leave of presence, but I'm kind of in shock that it happened so quickly. I'll really miss his reviews and wit on Twitter.

What?! Roger you were a brilliant funny man and lead me to discover a love of cinema and movies that lasted a lifetime. RIP.

Oh no oh no oh no. And he had just posted that "leave of presence" column. So so sad.

damn damn damn DAMN

Oh, so sad. RIP, sir.

I just saw the news on Twitter. RIP Roger.

So sad. But I'd like to think that Gene was there to welcome him into the big balcony in the sky.

Snarryfan wrote:So sad. But I'd like to think that Gene was there to welcome him into the big balcony in the sky.

Heh, and angels with excellent cleavage?

Damn, that makes me sad. I had that thought, but hoped he could treat the cancer for a bit longer. I am glad he is out of pain; he went through so much in the last few years of his life.

Now this is truly sad.

Oh, Roger. I am very sad. RIP, good sir.

I am really devastated by this - crying like I knew him or something.

My heart sank when I saw on Tuesday that the cancer had returned, but I expected him to have at least a little more time. Appropriate that I read the news on Snarkfest since I know we all love him. RIP Roger.

This quote from the Sun Times obit was a jaw-dropper:

All that need be mentioned of Ebert’s social life was that in the early 1980s he briefly went out with the hostess of a modest local TV show called “AM Chicago.” Taking her to the Hamburger Hamlet for dinner, Ebert suggested that she syndicate her show, using his success with Siskel as an example of the kind of riches that awaited. While she didn’t return his romantic interest, Oprah Winfrey did follow his business advice.

--
Every time I see a movie, I always wonder what Ebert's review will say about it. Really depressed that I'll never know again.

Carrie Ann wrote:I am really devastated by this - crying like I knew him or something.

Me too. I think for me a part of that is how present he was on social media. I followed his twitter and facebook, and read his blog. It made him seem more like someone I knew instead of just someone whose work I read.

vwlphb wrote:

Carrie Ann wrote:I am really devastated by this - crying like I knew him or something.

Me too. I think for me a part of that is how present he was on social media. I followed his twitter and facebook, and read his blog. It made him seem more like someone I knew instead of just someone whose work I read.

Exactly, I remember how excited I was to be his friend on Facebook. And he was still updating it up to a few days ago.

So sad.

Shit.

How tragic. He was a force to be reckoned with in popular criticism, and managed to help an entire generation realize that they didn't need film degrees to know what worked in a movie and what didn't.

This is a bit TL;DR sorry but when I was a teenager, this was the late '80s and early 90's, I was hugely into films and film criticism and theory but this was pre-internet so my information was limited to whatever books I could afford and whatever different film magazines I could find in Galway because Eason's, the big newsagents/bookshop hadn't opened here yet. (I was a bit of an anomaly in the family that way because I wanted to know everything about films, pretty much down to who the caterer was). So I knew of the name Roger Ebert and I knew his show with Gene Siskel enough to recognise them when they were lampooned on early episodes of The Simpsons. But my first real exposure to his writings on the Microsoft Cinemania CD-ROM that came with my first desktop computer back in 1996. I had the Leonard Maltin books and I used to see him on Entertainment Tonight back with Leeza Gibbons and John Test (bless) so I knew his work, but this was the first time I'd ever read Roger Ebert's views on anything. And the one that really struck me was his take on Aliens because it was a film that I thoroughly enjoyed but nobody else I knew seemed to 'read' it the same way I was seeing it; they saw it as a horror action but I was seeing that and a story about a family. And Roger Ebert spent paragraphs talking about this and it was great to see someone talk intelligently and respectfully about such a film, because prior to that, it seemed (to me) that if you weren't a French film from the 1960's or some Oscar bait film, nobody gave it anything but a cursory review. And his reviews on that CD-ROM really broadened my horizons, film wise.

So I'm very sorry to hear of his passing because I've read some of his pieces over the past few years, thanks to the internet, and he always gave every film a chance and whether he liked it or not, he always wrote intelligently and if he didn't like something, he always had a reason that was interesting to read. There aren't too many like that out there.

Reading this is making me weep. I feel like I've lost a snarky, patrician mentor-figure with a gusto for life and a love for the finest things. Ní fheicfimid a leithéid arís go deo. R.I.P. Roger, you'll be missed.

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.

Godspeed, Sir. The world is a little less wonderful today.

Soleil wrote:We've lost a tremendous literary icon. Thank you, Roger, for sharing your beautiful mind with us.

I heard the news while driving home. One of my first thoughts was 'go to Snarkfest...they'll understand what you're feeling today'.

I'll pull some of his review collections from my bookshelf tonight & remember how much joy I felt reading and watching someone else geek out over movies, albeit in a far more articulate & insightful manner than I ever could. Thank you, Roger. And I think I need to thank Chaz as well, not only for helping keep Roger's work going through his illness, but for being an awesome inspiration to many great pieces Roger wrote.