This is why I love Roger Ebert...

[Curtland1015]

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/07/i_am_a_brainiac.html

It may come off as a little egotistical to some, but personally I think he's 100% correct.

[Richardo]

1. Ebert's one of the best journalists out there - not film critic, journalist.

I love his writing.

[Forkboy]

2. He kicks ass.

:)

[necso]

3. At first, I didn't catch the last little bit

of that Robot Chicken clip (which links to the first bit).

Optimus getting a prostrate exam is one of the funniest skits I've ever seen, but my old link seems to have been removed from YouTube... "Using the whole fist, Doc?"

[PVnRT]

4. I wonder if those detractors know

that he gave "Escape from L.A." three stars. He's one of the fairer critics around, and, no, he doesn't just like art films and foreign films. He pans those too, when they suck.

[Curtland1015]

8. Ebert loves lots of cornabll movies.

It's one of the things I love about him.

[WolverineDG]

15. He understands when a movie is made for entertainment only

& not meant to get an Academy Award. Generally, if he likes (or hates) a film, I do too.

dg

[mvd]

16. I do find him fair. Wish there was more of that in the music world

One thing I disagree with, though, is his opinion that this can't be a good film. If you use the fun "popcorn film" criteria, you can justifiably say it's a good film. I don't think many would say Transformers 2 is Oscar material.

It's like thinking the new Ashley Tisdale CD is much more fun than her first, but knowing you won't put it in your best of the year.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. He doesn't think it's bad because it's a popcorn movie.

One of his famous quotes is "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it."

He's actually given rave reviews to some big popcorn movies before (and bad reviews to artsy movies), so it's not an impediment to him enjoying the movie.

[Blue_Tires]

5. holy damn!

i've been a longtime Ebert hater(with a grudging respect), but i have GOT to start reading his blog on a regular basis...he also had an incredible smackdown against some RW blowhard a couple months back...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. One of my favorite people to read.

Everyone should check out his "Great Movies" section on his website.

[sammythecat]

7. Mine too. He's a treasure. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. My dear Curtland1015...

Curious and teachable. Absofuckinglutely!

I love that man, and I miss his reviews on the tube. I know why he doesn't do them anymore...

So damn good, and intelligent.

Thank you for this.

:hi:

[Flaxbee]

10. a very smart, and very funny man, is Roger Ebert. Thanks for

posting the link. :hi:

[Danger Mouse]

11. Nobody can slam a bad movie like Ebert. His pans of 'Freddy Got Fingered' and

the re-make of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' are the stuff of legend.
I love the guy.

[Deja Q]

12. One needn't write a movie to understand the process... he's 100% correct on "Star Trek" (2009) too.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090506/REVIEWS/905069997

[SidneyCarton]

24. I would have to agree.

I like me a space opera every once in a while, so I liked the film, but his criticisms are just. It was also louder than hell.

[BlueJazz]

13. Ebert reminds me of an older Brother that I wish I had had.

[mvd]

14. I like Ebert generally

I don't follow reviewers but am ok with them as long as they don't say their opinion is THE right one and disparage the audience. I saw Tranformers (2007) and it was just ok. I played with Transformers in my youth, so it was worth seeing for that.

[redqueen]

18. I finally read this, and he says anyone who thinks Transformers is good is unevolved.

I'm not against saying people are unevolved... but over taste in movies?

I haven't seen it yet... but I just don't get the idea of saying stuff like that... over movies.



I dunno... I guess I'm on my own here, but I'm not at all fond of Mr. Ebert.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Unevolved in their TASTE

Evolution favors greater complexity.

[redqueen]

21. Good point... but I still find him boorish.

Granted, I find most critics boorish... but still. Unevolved? Such a brilliant, brilliant brainac could surely have come up with a better way to word that.

[TZ]

22. Yeah but you should have seen his total demolition

Of Ben Stein's Creationist junk movie "Expelled". It was BRILLIANT.

[redqueen]

23. Okay now that I could probably get behind.

But I can't take anyone who gives Zohan three stars seriously. I just can't.

[mvd]

31. Just IMO but I think he's one of the fairest critics in all entertainment genres

Can't really think of one in music that I'd definitely say is as fair - maybe Stephen Thomas Erlewine? And even his writing can be pretentious. Ann Powers maybe, too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Then you could be precisely the person he's talking about

A reader named Jared Diamond, a senior at Syracuse, sports editor of The Daily Orange, put my disturbance eloquently in a post asking: "Why in this society are the intelligent vilified? Why is education so undervalued and those who preach it considered arrogant or pretentious?" If sports fans were like certain movie fans, they would hate sports writers, commentators and sports talk hosts for always discussing fine points, quoting statistics and bringing up games and players of the past. If all you want to do is drink beer in the sunshine and watch a ball game, why should some elitist play-by-play announcer bore you with his knowledge? Yet sports fans are proud of their baseball knowledge, and respect commentators who know their stuff.

[redqueen]

35. Why would I be proud of knowledge of sports? It's fucking sports.

And yes, sports commentators are equally useless IMO... but FAR more entertaining than music or movie critics, who seem to think so very, very highly of themselves (unlike sports commentators... hmmmmmm).

Being proud of knowledge is one thing... being a pompous ass about it is quite another.

[Rabrrrrrr]

37. I never said nor implied that you are proud of such knowledge, nor desired it, nor had it.

Not sure where you got that from.

[SteppingRazor]

26. redqueen -- this actually dovetails nicely with the conversation we had on DU a week or so ago...

about the validity of music criticism.

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=8894522


And it, once again shows how there's actually a divergent opinion on the validity of professional opinion-making. To the one side, the opinions of people like Ebert are no more valid (or perhaps only slightly more valid) than anyone else's. To the other, the opinion of a professional critic is more valid than the opinion of many, if not most folks, simply based on that critics breadth of knowledge and expertise. It's actually a pretty interesting point to argue, I think. Obviously, I fall on the opposite side of the debate from you, but I definitely see the point made by the other side.

[redqueen]

27. I thought of that conversation too.

:hi:

[mvd]

29. I made some comments on his blog and was..

generally satisfied with his answer. He says critics' taste can be "different" but not necessarily better. "Unevolved" was the wrong word to use, though. I only use movie reviews as a guide; I know my music taste well and most professional music critics just impose their preferences anyway.

[redqueen]

17. He gave Zohan three stars?

[RFKHumphreyObama]

25. Roger Ebert is great

Even as someone who is not American and lives outside the US where he's not as well-known, he's always someone whose opinion I respect and consult on a regular basis. Even if I disagree with it, he can always present a compelling case for his point of view. He is really a first class act

[cemaphonic]

28. I'm still waiting for a retraction of his panning of Blue Velvet.

He's the best kind of critic though - along with being very knowledgeable about film, he's pretty good about considering the audience the film is aimed at and basing his recommendations on that, instead of just his personal tastes.

Most movie critics either seem to blindly praise everything, or tear down anything remotely commercial.

[Orrex]

33. I heard him complaining about Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet as recently as a few years ago

Can't imagine he'll retract his panning any time soon!

[redqueen]

36. Now I'm curious to know what he said about The Watchmen.

Also about what the fans thought of the movie...

[Jade Fox]

32. "There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of fact. "

Yes, sometimes people are just wrong.

[litlady]

34. Good article, and I don't disagree with his Transformers 2 one star rating...

but I certainly question his three stars for the first Transformers!