Roger Ebert movie reviews have producers sitting on pins and needles with bated breath to see if he gives their film a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
Roger Ebert
Born in Urbana, IL in the summer of 1942, Roger Ebert is a screenwriter and film critic. He has been appearing print on the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times starting in 1967. His column, still in print, is also available on the Internet. He has also been a part of two very successful television shows which include Sneak Previews where he watched movie trailers of upcoming and new movies and then gave a quick review. He also was on Siskel & Ebert at the Movies which he hosted with Gene Siskel until Siskel's death in 1999. Richard Roeper joined Ebert and his name was added to the title in 2000. In the middle of 2006, Roger Ebert suffered a medical crisis which left him unable to speak and thus hasn't appeared on the show aside Roeper. Ebert's association with the show officially ended in July 2008 when the production studio decided to go in a new direction.
His television shows have been nominated for the Emmy, and a section of Chicago's Erie Street (close to CBS Studios) was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way. In 2005, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is the first professional film critic to do so. Forbes Magazine named Roger Ebert as the most influential pundit in America. He beat out people like Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly. He also possesses several honorary degrees from the University of Colorado, American Film Institute and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1975, Roger Ebert became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Roger Ebert Movie Reviews
Ebert's movie reviews are seen in more than 200 newspapers all over the United States as well as abroad. Besides newspaper print he has also written over 15 books which include a movie in review yearbook. In 1994, he released the "Great Movies" series of reviews covering the films he deems to be the most important films of all time. Roger Ebert is also very active on the independent film scene hosting the Overlooked Film Festival since 1999.
Style and Taste
Roger Ebert's style of criticism is described as relative and not absolute. His reviews are based on who he thinks the target audience is while taking into consideration the film's value as a whole. He works on a four star scale with four stars being the best. A half star is usually the lowest star a film can get unless he feels the work to be completely void of any merit or morally repugnant. His stars have little weight if not weighed within the context of the review. Sometimes his star rating is at odds with his written review so he can give a movie 3 stars or more but not recommend it based on personal reactions.
Roger Ebert movie reviews are often handled with sarcasm and directness which can be seen in his review of North where he concluded that:
"I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it."
Robert Ebert's dry wit makes his reviews interesting (if not grueling) to watch or read at times. You are never left without knowing how exactly Roger Ebert feels about a movie.
At times, he has been known to defend fellow critics. In 1995, Rob Schneider insulted an LA Times critic after his movie Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo was given a bad review. He called the critic unqualified because he had never won a Pulitzer Prize. Roger Ebert went on record by saying since he had won the prize, he was qualified to review it at which point he told Schneider, "Your movie sucks."
Personal stories and anecdotes are often included in his reviews as are comparisons from his Catholic upbringing. On occasion he has written reviews in the form of short stories, songs, letters, screenplays, poetry and even as imagined conversations.
The Websites of Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert, with over 30 years of writing, has spawned many Internet sources that include blogs, reviews and general information relating to film as a whole. The following represents just a few of those sites:
