Roger Ebert

[Gold Trumpet]

I like Roger Ebert. I may disagree with him. I may think something he wrote wasn't very good. But the truth is, like Pete said, he's always a friendly personality with his criticism. I think too many people are too apt to personally attack him. Disagreeing with him or thinking less of one of his pieces doesn't merit an attack.

I also don't mind the way he recommends casual films. Sometimes his best sense is being able to rescue films that looks like duds. This summer has been pathetic on good quality entertainment and he's been in line with my opinion almost every step of the way. And if Over the Hedge didn't have funny trailers, his review could have been the reason I saw it. His review for the Da Vinci Code was also my only interest in the movie. I also live in a cheap market and my theater can get away with $4 tickets so I can see a lot of movies.

My main argument against him is that he doesn't stand up against more films. He's a critic who is a surveyor of all the beliefs and trends and philosophies going in film but he's too easy to see good in all of them. It feels like he doesn't want to offend any major base of viewership. The friendly personality in him can translate to a complacent attitude for films.

[JG]

Ebert's still the best.  He sorta educated me on film and guided my DVD collection to where it is today.   My tastes have certainly evolved so I now disagree with him quite often, but I still think the guy is great.  My main problem with him comes from his belief that film is not a medium for ideas, rather creating an emotion.  I think cinema is so wonderful because it is capable of achieving a synthesis of the two.   Recently his reviews have been a mess, but that good ol' Ebert witticism still shines through once in a while:

Like many other Sandler movies, [Click] lingers studiously over bodily functions. After losing enormous amount of weight, for example, Michael plays with a big flap of loose skin around his stomach, plopping it up and down long after any possible audience curiosity has been satisfied. During an argument with his boss (David Hasselhoff), he freeze-frames the boss, jumps on his desk and farts. When he puts his boss back on "play," the boss inexplicably decides his secretary has put feces in his salad. Anyone who can't tell poop from lettuce doesn't deserve to be a senior partner. They teach you that in business school.

[MacGuffin]

Leno thumbs up for reviews

Jay Leno will step into the critic's chair next week as he takes on guest co-hosting duties for "Ebert & Roeper." The host of NBC's "Tonight Show" will be the first guest co-host for the syndicated movie review show while regular co-host Roger Ebert recuperates at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after surgery last month. Leno will join Richard Roeper for the Aug. 5-6 episode of the show, which is distributed by Buena Vista Television, to review the films "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," "Miami Vice," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Night Listener" and "Shadowboxer." "America knows Jay as the country's most popular late-night talk show host, but I know him as a guy who loves movies and loves to debate movies with Roger and me -- both on camera and backstage at 'The Tonight Show,' " Roeper said.

[Derek237]

The two greatest things I love to watch on TV have finally merged.

[jigzaw]

ugh

[I Love a Magician]

Ha. What the fuck.

[MacGuffin]

Roger Ebert Letter
Here's a letter from Roger Ebert from his hospital bed:

By Roger Ebert Aug 17, 2006
I have always believed in full disclosure. When I announced that I had a recurrence of salivary cancer that required surgery, I had no idea when I went into the hospital on June 16 that I would still be here on August 16.

On June 16 they removed the cancer in my right jaw area, including a section of my jaw bone. It was successfully reconstructed. On July 1, I was packing to leave the hospital when my blood vessel ruptured. We have since learned that the rupture was caused by a break down of tissue surrounding the artery as a result of radiation treatments I had three years ago.

I had a particularly intense form of radiation called neutron beam radiation, which is more effective for certain cancers, but which is also more debilitating to healthy tissue than conventional radiation.

Finding a solution to protecting the arteries is what has kept me in the hospital, and in bed, since July 1. As you can imagine, it is no fun being hospitalized this long. Fortunately for me, I have received excellent medical care at Northwestern Hospital led by Doctors Harold Pelzer and Neil Fine. This is a unique situation and the doctors are moving cautiously, but they are enthusiastically optimistic about my recovery. I have also had the loving support of my bride Chaz, and good friends and colleagues. I am a lucky man.

I have learned, however, just how quickly one loses strength when confined to the bed for a long period of time. I will need rehabilitation to regain my strength, including voice rehabilitation to strengthen my vocal cords. The doctors have had me on a tracheostomy collar to keep my airways open during the period of surgeries for the ruptured blood vessels. Your vocal cords are like other muscles, they get rusty when they are not used daily. I may have other treatments or procedures as prescribed by my doctors, and so I hope you understand that while I believe in full disclosure, I also need the time and privacy to heal.

I am happy to report that despite all, I am doing well. I started physical therapy, I communicate with friends on a daily basis, I play my iPod and listen to songs with Chaz and the doctors and nurses, and I write. Don Dupree, the Executive Producer of "Ebert & Roeper" installed a plasma TV and DVD player in my room. I am going to watch "Half Nelson" and I hope Kevin Smith was right. I also thank my good friend Jay Leno for sitting in my chair in my absence, and, of course, thanks to Richard Roeper.

I thank all of you for your prayers, your well-wishes, your gifts, cards, e-mails and flowers. I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't tell you when, but I sure look forward to being back on the movie beat.

[modage]

aw, i hope he's ok! 

[pete]

wow I guess if he doesn't retire now he's never gonna retire.  when he said full disclosure, I was prepared for the worst!

[MacGuffin]

'Ebert' will rely on guest thumbs

Film critic Richard Roeper, the co-host of the syndicated "Ebert & Roeper," said that the program will continue using guest critics on an ad hoc basis to fill in for the ailing Roger Ebert. It could be a long series of replacements: In a statement released Thursday, Ebert said that doctors are "enthusiastically optimistic about my recovery" but cautioned that he could not predict when he'll be released from a Chicago hospital.

Roeper told Channel Island he'd prefer to rely on a series of substitutes rather than naming a single guest critic to serve for the duration of Ebert's recovery from cancer surgery. So far, Roeper has squared off against "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, director Kevin Smith and, this week, TV host and screenwriter John Ridley.

The guest selection has been a collaborative process, Roeper said, among himself, Buena Vista Productions executives, Ebert and Ebert's wife, Chaz. "I want to be clear: They [the studio] haven't forced us to choose anyone," Roeper said. "They've been great throughout this whole thing."

Some writers have complained that the show has been relying on celebrities rather than professional film critics to fill the shoes of Ebert, perhaps the most recognized movie reviewer in the world.

"This is an indicator of how Disney perceives the show," said David Poland, columnist and editor of the Movie City News website. Poland served as a guest critic on the show before Roeper was hired in 2000 to replace Ebert's original partner, Gene Siskel, who died in 1999. He said: "I think Disney's just trying to keep ratings up during this period. I do think they're having a hard time figuring out what to do next."

Ebert has been a TV fixture for more than 30 years. He and Siskel began a movie-review program on a Chicago PBS station in 1975. Walt Disney Co.-owned Buena Vista Television has syndicated the show under various titles since 1986.

In June, Ebert underwent surgery for a recurrence of salivary cancer, and has been hospitalized ever since.

[Derek237]

Man, I really hope Ebert gets back soon. Seeing Jay and Silent Bob guest host was fun and all, and it's not as if they were idiots who had no business being there, but it didn't really feel like a film review show. It felt more like they were having casual film conversations. I really miss Ebert's insight, and I never realized how fucking obsessed Roeper is about the Oscars and won't shut up about it. "I felt Heat should have won best picture of 1995," "I think all the performances here are Oscar-caliber," "Gangs of New York should finally win Martin Scorsese his best director Oscar," Alright, we get it.

I first got really bummed when Pirates Of The Carribean 2 came out, and realized that I would not be able to see an Ebert review of it, and many many other films to come. It never occurred to me how much of a routine it had become to me to check Ebert's reviews every single Friday. Hope he gets better.

[MacGuffin]

Roger writes from rehab
by Roger Ebert

For 40 years, I didn't miss a single deadline, but since July, I have missed every one. I also, to my intense disappointment, missed the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Having just written my first review since June ("The Queen" -- for 10/12), I think an update is in order.

Faithful readers and viewers will recall that I expected a speedy recovery from surgery for salivary cancer last June. My expert (and now beloved) doctors had an encouraging game plan, and I expected to be back at work right away. Then I had several episodes of sudden and serious bleeding.

They stabilized me, operated on me to deal with the arteries, kept me sedated to avoid disturbing the affected areas -- and then I essentially spent July and August completely out of it. I remember only fragmentary episodes.

In September, my bleeding hazards stabilized, I came off sedation to find I had lost track of two months of my life, and starred in several prayer vigils for which I am eternally grateful to my wife and tower of strength, Chaz; my family and friends, and the many clergy who came to see me.

I was so touched when Chaz described those lost months. And now I am at the famous Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago -- learning to walk again! My muscles were atrophied by the weeks of inactivity, and I became a rehabilitation candidate. It's been quite an adventure, made easier by the tireless good cheer and expertise of Dr. Jim Sliwa and his RIC team.

During all of this, I didn't lose any marbles. My thinking is intact and my mental process doesn't require rehabilitation. Visits from colleagues at the Chicago Sun-Times, "Ebert & Roeper," ABC-7 and the film world kept me informed -- although, curiously, I found myself more interested in plunging into the depths of classic novels ("Persuasion," "Great Expectations," "The Ambassadors") than watching a lot of DVDs. I prefer to see the new Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood films on a big screen, for example. But our "Ebert & Roeper" producer Don DuPree brought around a DVD of "The Queen," and when I viewed it, I knew I wanted to review it.

A few more recent movies also will be reviewed, but I won't be back to full production until sometime early next year. The good news is that my rehabilitation is a profound education in the realities of the daily lives we lead, and my mind is still capable of being delighted by cinematic greatness.

I plan to have my Overlooked Film Festival again in April, and cover the Academy Awards and Cannes. I can't wait to be back in the Sun-Times on a full-time basis, and to rejoin Richard Roeper in the "Ebert & Roeper" balcony. Dr. Harold Pelzer and Dr. Neil Fine of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and my personal physician, Dr. Robert Havey, also of Northwestern, assure me I will eventually walk, talk, taste, eat, drink and live, more or less, normally. But it will be a struggle, involving another surgery to complete what began in June.

I have discovered a goodness and decency in people as exhibited in all the letters, e-mails, flowers, gifts and prayers that have been directed my way. I am overwhelmed and humbled. I offer you my most sincere thanks and my deep and abiding gratitude. If I ever write my memoirs, I have some spellbinding material. How does the Joni Mitchell song go? "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone"? One thing I've discovered is that I love my job more than I thought I did, and I love my wife even more!

[MacGuffin]

Having just written my first review since June ("The Queen" -- for 10/12)

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061012/REVIEWS/61012001/1001

[MacGuffin]

Welcome Home, Roger!

Here's one thing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving: Movie City News reports that after five long months in the hospital, film critic Roger Ebert is now recuperating at home, continuing his physical rehab, and going to select screenings.

[MacGuffin]

Roger Ebert Update
January 12, 2007 - Our friend, and ABC7 film critic, Roger Ebert has given us an update on his recovery from treatment for cancer of the salivary gland.

Roger's statement:
"It's been some time since I checked in to let you know how I'm doing. I had hoped to be back in my seat in the balcony alongside my partner Richard Roeper, but the surgeons tell me they will have to take a staged, multi-phased approach to getting me back in shape. To borrow from the Chicago Bears, we tried for the long pass, but now we're going for a series of shorter passes until we score a touchdown.

Although I won't be able to conduct my red carpet interviews at the Academy Awards, I plan to conduct my OUTGUESS EBERT contest in the Sun-Times, and I intend to work with WLS/ABC 7 to make my predictions for the Oscars. In fact, I am eagerly awaiting watching the Academy Awards like a regular spectator for the first time. And Richard and the guest hosts will carry on our tradition on EBERT & ROEPER of telling who they think should win.

All of the tickets for my Overlooked Film Festival have sold out, and we expect to have some nice surprises in Champaign-Urbana April 25-29. I published two books this past fall: AWAKE IN THE DARK, and the MOVIE YEARBOOK 2007. And I am working on the follow-up to I HATED, HATED, HATED THIS MOVIE, tentatively called, YOUR MOVIE SUCKS.

In the meantime, my dear wife Chaz and I want to thank my loyal viewers and readers for keeping us in their thoughts and prayers. We have been receiving a steady stream of calls, letters, flowers and e-mails and they have sustained us through this time out.

I am especially grateful to Gwynne Thomas and Janice Marinelli at Buena Vista for their staunch support during this ordeal. They have also worked so hard with Richard Roeper and Don Dupree to get the best guest critics to help maintain the mission of the show. The show has been consistently interesting and informative thanks to all of them. A big thanks also to Sal Sardo who is launching the newly redesigned Ebert & Roeper website