Roger Ebert’s Journal

Being a film critic involves taking a lot of flak. Setting yourself up for a lot of hatred from Hollywood for expressing a negative opinion. People telling you bitterly that you should try making a movie. Dealing with hexes (more on this below).

Roger Ebert has dealt with all of this and more, always in a uniquely respectful and civilized fashion. He infuses each review with a level of humanistic understanding and wisdom that transcends any other reviews you may read on blogs or even in other newspapers. Almost immediately after watching a movie, I go onto his website to read his review. I come out of it with life lessons and a more cohesive understanding of the work.

I like this quote from his review of Not Another Teen Movie (2001):

“I have here a heartfelt message from a reader who urges me not to be so hard on stupid films, because they are “plenty smart enough for the average moviegoer.” Yes, but one hopes being an average moviegoer is not the end of the road: that one starts as a below-average filmgoer, passes through average, and, guided by the labors of America’s hard-working film critics, arrives in triumph at above-average.”

A lot of people say that they watch mediocre movies because they’re fun and not everything good has to be a fancy award-winner. True, but it doesn’t mean you can’t try to improve your taste so you get more out of movies. Challenge yourself, watch a difficult movie and think about it for a day. It might just bump you up to above-average in no time.

—-

Gracias to Gone Elsewhere

So about hexes. Ebert gave Vincent Gallo (pictured above) a very negative review of his movie The Brown Bunny (2003), which he wrote, produced, and directed. He called it the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival. Gallo, an utterly annoying human being who is currently selling his sperm on his web site for a million bucks, retorted by calling Ebert a “fat pig with the physique of a slave trader.” Good one, Vincent. That outta hurt. Ebert responded: “One day I will be thin, but Vincent Gallo will always be the director of The Brown Bunny.” Gallo, class act that he is, proclaimed to have then put a hex on Ebert’s colon, striking him with cancer! Ebert replied by saying that a video of his colonoscopy would be more entertaining than watching The Brown Bunny.” After that, Gallo fumbled around and said he was misquoted – apparently the whole thing was a joke that was misinterpreted by an interviewer.

Ebert’s basically my idol. He was the first person to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. He was the first film critic to be presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Unfortunately, he is no longer able to appear on the weekend review show, Ebert & Roeper. Ironically, he underwent surgery in 2006 to remove cancer in his right jaw, which included taking out a portion of his jaw bone.

He went from looking like this:

Gracias to FOX

to this:

Gracias to Aaron’s Tracheostromy Page

He still writes reviews that are posted on his website and regularly updates his blog, Roger Ebert’s Journal — one of the best out there. Really insightful posts with the most insightful comments. I think I want to make a movie just so I could read Ebert’s review. Even if it was painfully critical. I’d want him to completely tear it apart with the most mercilessly eviscerating, imaginative prose.

3 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI