Autumn, by Roger Ebert. The season of new beginnings and the forever-remembered smell of burning leaves. [more inside]
posted by Turtles all the way down on Nov 17, 2009 - 14 comments

Roger Ebert on the owning of books.
posted by ocherdraco on Oct 9, 2009 - 133 comments

Clips from the Errol Morris documentary Gates of Heaven which Roger Ebert named one of the ten best films of all time. Lady in the Doorway ll Music Man ll Gates of Heaven ll Couples Scene ll Humans cannot be this way ll Say it out loud
posted by vronsky on Sep 21, 2009 - 29 comments

My Name is Roger, and I'm an alcoholic. Roger Ebert talks about AA.
posted by kmz on Aug 25, 2009 - 133 comments

The O'Reilly Procedure Roger Ebert waxes nostalgic about a calmer, more rational mediasphere and dissects the rhetorical strategies of Bill O'Reilly. [more inside]
posted by mecran01 on Jun 23, 2009 - 90 comments

How delicious is the Beyond The Valley of the Dolls Tarot Deck? Even the man who wrote the movie gave the deck two thumbs up. [more inside]
posted by hermitosis on Apr 21, 2009 - 21 comments

Tennessee Williams said it was the best film version of any of his plays. Roger Ebert called it "awkward and hopeless on its most fundamental level". John Waters calls it a major influence on the development of his taste. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Feb 18, 2009 - 14 comments

The day will come when the words of Shakespeare are no longer known. Roger Ebert looks back on a long career and waxes philosophical.
posted by The Card Cheat on Feb 10, 2009 - 60 comments

Roger Ebert gives Ben Stein a spanking. [more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing on Dec 6, 2008 - 173 comments

Death To Film Critics! Hail The CelebCult! "A newspaper film critic is like a canary in a coal mine. When one croaks, get the hell out. The lengthening toll of former film critics acts as a poster child for the self-destruction of American newspapers, which once hoped to be more like the New York Times and now yearn to become more like the National Enquirer. We used to be the town crier. Now we are the neighborhood gossip."
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys on Nov 29, 2008 - 37 comments

It is acceptable, but rarely, to join in a general audience uproar, as at the first Cannes press screening of "The Brown Bunny." Even then, no cupping your hand under your armpit and producing fart noises. Roger Ebert's little rule book.
posted by Knappster on Nov 2, 2008 - 39 comments

An open letter to sports columnist Jay Mariotti , who resigned from the Sun-Times and lashed out during a TV interview announcing that newspapers were dead. (via Sports Filter)
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys on Aug 29, 2008 - 25 comments

Roger Ebert to return to writing movie reviews. Love him, hate him, disagree with him, worship him, whatever, but Pulitzer Prize winning movie critic Roger Ebert, after several operations that have left him without the power of speech, will return to writing movie reviews shortly after his 10th Annual movie festival, Ebertfest. Me, personally, I'm happy as heck about this.
posted by willmize on Apr 2, 2008 - 56 comments

I never saw Simon Birch but I found this interview Roger Ebert did with Ian Michael Smith really amazing. I don't know if it was how comfortable Ian is with sci-fi-ing up his body, how the two of them used technology to overcome their current physical conditions, the discussions of "disability blogospheres" or just how happy Roger seems to be in this conversation but the whole thing made me smile...and something made me think MeFi would agree.
posted by Brainy on Aug 31, 2007 - 15 comments

In Scenes from an Overrated Career, film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum writes a rare New York Times op-ed arguing that the work of recently deceased director Ingmar Bergman is overvalued compared to Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson. Both Roger Ebert and David Bordwell respond to Rosenbaum's takedown of Bergman, while Rosenbaum writes a brief eulogy blog post on Bergman. Meanwhile, another blogger discusses how Antonioni and Bergman hated each other despite recent obits that have paired them together.
posted by jonp72 on Aug 13, 2007 - 23 comments

The American Film Institute decided the need for more money an update to their 1998 list of the 100 Greatest Movies was so pressing that they made a new list. Ebert (and friends) ask where's Fargo?. The IHT wonders why the past decade has only spawned four new, worthy movies. And, generally, no one seems super excited about it. (some links go to wikipedia to avoid registration on AFI's site).
posted by ztdavis on Jun 21, 2007 - 88 comments

"I ain’t a pretty boy no more" Roger Ebert is determined to attend his Overlooked Film Festival tomorrow.

We spend too much time hiding illness. There is an assumption that I must always look the same. I hope to look better than I look now. But I'm not going to miss my festival.

[via]
posted by kirkaracha on Apr 24, 2007 - 124 comments

Get Well Roger Flickr Group. Roger Ebert, still recovering from an arterial burst following surgery to remove cancer near his jaw, could use a little love. Show some, and be a gigantic nerd, by taking a picture of yourself giving a "thumbs up" and uploading it to this Flickr Group. They'll be sending the whole spiel to the good sir himself after they have enough pictures uploaded. Previously.
posted by Sticherbeast on Sep 19, 2006 - 13 comments

In 30 years of going to Cannes, Roger Ebert has witnessed Francis Ford Coppola suffering from post-Apocolypse insanity and learned Jerry Lewis's secret for preventing riots--but the most interesting character he ever met there was a loudmouthed, fast-talking Texan named Silver Dollar Baxter with an uncanny gift for bluffing...
posted by yankeefog on May 9, 2005 - 5 comments

On the meaning of life... and movies: The radiation made it difficult for me to handle solid food, and I existed on a product named Ensure, which kept everything humming along. Very early on the first morning in Cannes I woke early, as I always do, and wandered, as I always do, down to the all-night cafe by the port, and ordered, as I always do, a croissant and cafe au lait. I dunked the croissant into the coffee, as I always do, and ate it, and that was the beginning of real food again.

Roger Ebert describes his battles with cancer--and his love of movies--in the introduction to his 2005 Movie Yearbook.
posted by Faint of Butt on Dec 2, 2004 - 25 comments

"The dog gets no Pernod in this house!" An interview with Lee Marvin, by Roger Ebert, back in 1970. Man, what a character.
posted by GriffX on Nov 19, 2004 - 16 comments

Roger Ebert's new web site, launched by the Chicago Sun-Times, includes nearly 10,000 pieces of the newly svelte critic's writing, including more than 5,500 film reviews dating back to 1967. Love him or hate him, that's quite a (free) resource. [via TV Barn]
posted by realityblurred on Sep 16, 2004 - 31 comments

Why Gollum shouldn't win an Oscar. Many Lord of the Rings fans think Andy Serkis should be nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the films, but as Roger Ebert writes, the actor shouldn't benefit because animators kept Gollum from falling into the Uncanny Valley.
posted by tranquileye on Jan 13, 2004 - 36 comments

"I begin to feel like I was in the last generation of Americans who took a civics class. I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the First Amendment, don't understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don't understand that it's the responsibility of the citizen to speak out....When I write a political column for the Chicago Sun-Times, when liberals disagree with me, they send in long, logical e-mails explaining all my errors. I hardly ever get well-reasoned articles from the right. People just tell me to shut up. That's the message: 'Shut up. Don't write anymore about this. Who do you think you are?'" Roger Ebert chats about dissent, celebrities, the power of film to effect change, and Moore.
posted by fold_and_mutilate on Apr 24, 2003 - 114 comments

I had a really cool site on Wednesday to post, but stopped myself due the (prime time) start of the War, out of respect for MeFi users that have loved ones on either side of the line. It wasn't apprpriate. One of the things I have noticed on this site since last Wednesday is a very strong bifurcation of posts - those who are staunchly anti IraqFilter - who post as if nothing is going on, and those who can't seem to focus on anything else. This seems to be a struggle going on in other circles as well, as seen in this column by Roger Ebert, who discusses the appropriateness of tonights Oscars. The show must go on, right?
posted by Quartermass on Mar 23, 2003 - 21 comments

Roger Ebert salutes Buster Keaton in an article in which he says the Great Stone Face is "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies." High praise indeed! Any other Keaton fans out there? (This is from the Chicago Sun-times--I don't believe registration is required.) And if you want to see Buster smiling--sort of--here's a picture of him with one-time movie partner Fatty Arbuckle.
posted by Man-Thing on Nov 13, 2002 - 19 comments

Professor Barnhardts Journal could become one of my favorite ezines. This week they have a short story from MST3000's Mike Nelson, and last week they had essays from Roger Ebert and T. Coraghasen Boyle. Bored with McSweeneys? Still bummed that Feed is gone? This zine looks like fun.
posted by braun_richard on Oct 9, 2002 - 2 comments

Ebert gushes: After seeing Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," my mind was churning with amazement and curiosity. Talking to Spielberg and his star, Tom Cruise, I found myself not an interviewer but simply a moviegoer, talking the way you do when you walk out of a movie that blindsides you with its brilliance.
posted by kliuless on Jun 17, 2002 - 41 comments

Ebert: "Jason X sucks on the levels of storytelling, character development, suspense, special effects, originality, punctuation, neatness and aptness of thought."

Yeah, but it's in SPACE!
posted by NortonDC on Apr 26, 2002 - 26 comments

Lost on "Mulholland Drive." At a film festival in Boulder, Roger Ebert dissects David Lynch's masterpiece frame-by-frame and comes to the conclusion that, well, he doesn't really come to a conclusion. Or does he? Meanwhile, the DVD was released last week and instead of a commentary track or funny bloopers, it came with a simple insert that provided "David Lynch's 10 Clues to Unlocking This Thriller." For the sake of space, I'll post them in the comments section and let's see if anyone out there can (or wants to) answer them.
posted by adrober on Apr 16, 2002 - 58 comments

Roger Ebert savages "John Q." for general dumbness yet agrees with the message: we should have socialized health care. Steve MacLaughlin, however, details how the film greatly misrepresents medical and health care reality just to make its point -- and he fears that Joe Popcorn is going to absorb it as political education. Given that the film is set in the present day, rather than some fictional dystopian future, is this artistic license or irresponsible oversight? Perhaps libelous propaganda?
posted by Tubes on Feb 18, 2002 - 73 comments

No place for political correctness in film. By Roger Ebert.
posted by adrober on Jan 18, 2002 - 23 comments

The Godfather Mystery Goof is now solved. Thanks to Roger Ebert, Francis Ford Coopola, and Mike Spearns from Newfoundland.
posted by adrober on Dec 16, 2001 - 16 comments

Since we're posting about memorials and the WTC site, here are some interesting words from Ebert.
posted by tomplus2 on Sep 14, 2001 - 28 comments

Is it just me or has Roger Ebert gone fully looney? I was reading his review of "Dinosaur" and came across this criticism: "A dinosaur, even one that spoke English, would be unlikely to know what that line implies." What? Do you mean.... uh.... What? The whole review is like that.
posted by y6y6y6 on May 23, 2000 - 47 comments

Hate vs. Hate Film critic Roger Ebert criticizes Hatewatch, a catalog of hate sites intended for people who hate hate. My commentary is a bit too long for the front page, so I put it on my log. Choose your poison.
posted by baylink on Apr 14, 2000 - 11 comments