As a kid, we hardly ever got “”good” movies in our town. As a result, I had to live vicariously through Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. While the two-minute reviews certainly didn’t help my Sesame Street ravaged attention span, I loved seeing the two masters at work.
When I first started watching the show it was called “”At the Movies” and it was on channel 9. I didn’t like Ebert, he was mean, Plus, Gene reminded me of a muppet so I sided with him. Also intriguing was the fact that these guys were passionate about film and they were arguing”¦on T.V.! For reals too! Amazing! I was hooked. While I won’t go so far as to say Siskel and Ebert inspired me to get into film criticism, the show and the guys on the show definitely made me realize films weren’t just loud noisy things you saw in a dark room”¦with popcorn. Some were good, some were bad.
Over the years Siskel and Ebert became a weekly tradition and I still watch the show today. However, things haven’t been the same since Gene died. I genuinely like Roeper, but the show just isn’t the same. Now that it’s just been Roeper and a cavalcade of guest reviewers, it’s been really tough to watch. Especially since I know my presence on the show as a guest would definitely have been better than John Mellencamps last week. Jesus, that guy liked everything.
But today Roger Ebert has written something! For fans of R.E., awaiting his newest writings is akin to hearing news of a new George Lucas project or a new Christopher Walken role. The even cooler thing is, we got some pictures of Ebert”¦and he looks surprisingly good, considering all he’s been through.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the new column and accompanying photos are, he’s doing this stuff to promote his “”9th Annual Overlooked Film Festival.” Not only is the guy putting himself out there when he should be resting, not only is he posting photos that soulless pricks are dying to make fun of, not only is he still doing one of the coolest film festivals I’ve ever heard of, he’s still in love with movies. That, is bad a*s and so is Roger Ebert.
Check out the news and photos of Ebert here:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/355049,cst-nws-ebert24.article
NOT Frank Darabont!!!
I’m looking forward to it, truthfully.
I miss Roger Ebert, and I can’t wait until he once again takes his rightful place in the balcony. A.O. Scott from the New York Times and Kevin Smith have been worthy substitutes, but every other guest host has been a schmuck.
Great reply Don!
I’d still anxiously await pretty much anything he does…provided he doesn’t write it.
That’s just too funy. I mean, who’s really looking foward to IJ4?
Prof Tom-
I was being sarcastic and I was also harkening back to a time when he hadn’t bent over and screwed his franchise.
Don’t worry…we all know Lucas is a pinhead! However, I’d still anxiously await pretty much anything he does…provided he doesn’t write it.
Don,
You were going great until you mentioned Lucas. Yes, he might have been innovative a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Yes, ILM may still be the de facto special effects company but Geeeeorge is by no means a great filmmaker. He’s a rich prick who throws money against the silver screen and gets lauded for it.
Damn Don, awesome job. I love Ebert. He and I are the only two people on the planet to not like both Gladiator and Spider-man (though he liked part 2). Ebert is terribly missed and I hope he returns to form soon. I wrote an open letter to him via the FT blog when he first got sick, and even drew a picture of him as well (probably my best picture ever). I always wondered if he ever read it…
Wow man, thanks for posting that. I check his website frequently and probably would have read it soon, but still… It’s great to know that he’s doing ok and that he has such a good point of view on his health. He is completely a bad a*s — even if he had a machine gun and hot woman on his arm, he wouldn’t be any more bad a*s than he is right now.
I also grew up with Ebert, both on TV and in his books. I often disagree with him, but isn’t that the point of film criticism? He deserves major kudos for what he’s doing and I hope he loves the festival.
Fuckin a.