I miss him every time I think of him, which is often. What a treasure.
I saw him in person several times, between UIUC (where he held a film festival every year), and Chicago but never talked to him. I regret never telling him how much his writing meant to me.
Now that I have a father who's dying of cancer, my admiration for Roger Ebert has grown higher. When _he_ was dying of cancer, rather than hide away from public sight, Roger Ebert let the world see him (which his lower jaw removed), helping to fight some of the shame and stigma that comes with being ill.
I want to float a rule that I wish more critics could embrace:
When judging art, also ask yourself, “how well did this achieve the goals it set out to achieve?”
Too regularly I see critics set their own bar to measure something with. But a good critic knows that both Gordon Ramsay and Ronald McDonald are great at what they do. Is the Mario Movie a good movie? Well, what was it trying to be? Was it that?
"Respect the reader's time.
For example, in reviewing "City of Ember," a film about a city of the future buried deep beneath the surface of the earth," you must not say it "looks like it was shot on a sound stage." As Louis Armstrong said about jazz, some folks they know, and the others, you can't tell 'em.'
Never heard that Armstrong quote, but I'm stealing it
Edit (maybe add Ebert to the title, I wouldn't have read it haven't I seen the website!)
“Were I to recommend, say, a rice cooker, that must not imply I obtained it for free, or that 100 lb. sacks of rice were being dropped at my door. I mention this because I may be compelled to recommend a rice cooker in the very near future, in defense of my Who's Who entry, which claims I can cook almost anything in a rice cooker.”
No posing for photos! Never ask a movie star to pose with you for a picture. No movie star ever wants to do this. They may smile, but they're gritting their teeth. "It is the Chinese Water Torture," Clint Eastwood told me. "And 99 times out of a hundred, the stranger they hand their camera to looks through the lens, pushes the button, and says 'It isn't working!' and then the fan has to walk over to the guy and demonstrate the camera and say, 'now try it'. And then it isn't working again. Looking at someone looking puzzled at a camera, that's the story of my life."
I've talked with a few celebs now and then. Never asked for a photo or autograph. But I would make an exception. I just missed meeting Robert Plant at a local restaurant, and if I had met him, I would have debased myself for a picture and autograph.
Context: this was a giant "subtweet" of the douchebag who (briefly) took over as co-host of At the Movies and violated every single one of these rules.
I saw him in person several times, between UIUC (where he held a film festival every year), and Chicago but never talked to him. I regret never telling him how much his writing meant to me.
Now that I have a father who's dying of cancer, my admiration for Roger Ebert has grown higher. When _he_ was dying of cancer, rather than hide away from public sight, Roger Ebert let the world see him (which his lower jaw removed), helping to fight some of the shame and stigma that comes with being ill.