Two very enthusiastic thumbs up
April 4, 2016 10:38 AM   Subscribe

"We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls." Three years ago today, Roger Ebert passed away.

Some remembrances of the man. His reviews of the movies that he considered to be the "Great Movies." The column in which he announced his "leave of presence." His TED Talk on the new voice he had to use late in his life.

The movies that he hated the most. And all this week, his beloved wife Chaz is curating a list of the things he loved the most.

(Unrelated to movies: In 2009, he publicly admitted to a problem with alcohol, and his essay on the topic is characteristically genuine and honest.)
posted by jbickers (10 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
(I have many favorite quotes from him, but this is certainly near the top of the list, in writing about the movie "Mad Dog Time": "... the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time.")
posted by jbickers at 10:39 AM on April 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


"We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls."
And Twitter is the Director's commentary.
posted by Speculatist at 10:42 AM on April 4, 2016


When my folks left Chicago many decades ago, their friends took them out drinking as a kind of farewell party.

So, Roger Ebert wanders into a bar packed with theatre weirdos and asks them what's going on. When they explain it was a going away party for one of their gang, Ebert responds by buying them a pizza and a bottle of whisky, then disappearing into the night like a magical Chicagoan pizza fairy.

Class act, that guy.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:44 AM on April 4, 2016 [18 favorites]


Me, watching (or thinking about watching) any film that's come out since Roger Ebert's passing:

"I wonder what Ebert thought about this mov-- Shit!"
posted by usonian at 12:24 PM on April 4, 2016 [12 favorites]


Heading to Ebertfest next week for the seventh time in a row and the forth one without Roger. It's not quite the same without him but his spirit still lives in the Virginia Theater during the festival.

Since his passing, I've made it a goal to watch every one of his Great Movies and am currently at 59% and it's been such an amazing education. I watch each film and then read his essay on it and I feel like I'm getting the equivalent of a degree in film history.
posted by octothorpe at 12:41 PM on April 4, 2016 [8 favorites]


Roger Ebert was the best kind of human. An intelligent, honest, creative soul. He left the world a better place, which is wonderful, apart from the part where he left the world.

(Conflict of interest statement: He said nice things about a book I helped write. He also said harsh things about a movie I was in.)
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 3:43 PM on April 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


I just read Your Movie Sucks yesterday. *sigh*
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:45 PM on April 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


"What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away."

Am I awful for being mad at this, then and reading it now? I never did like it when someone would write me e-mail about how they were going to be around forever and it really meant "I'm outta here forever, you're never hearing from me again."
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:31 PM on April 4, 2016


*Love* that Chaz link of his favorite things. What a way to honor someone.
I'm completely stealing the idea.
posted by DigDoug at 6:32 AM on April 5, 2016


(I have many favorite quotes from him, but this is certainly near the top of the list, in writing about the movie "Mad Dog Time": "... the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time.")
Classic. That same review concludes delightfully by saying, “Mad Dog Time should be cut into free ukulele picks for the poor."

The day he passed away, I spontaneously recorded this clumsy remembrance for my movie podcast (self-link).
posted by churl at 10:26 AM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


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