Roger Ebert

Even though movies aren't reviewed around here quite as often as we'd like, the fact that the words "movie,"and "review" are in our title requires us to say a few words about Roger Ebert, the longtime movie critic who passed away yesterday.

I grew up watching At the Movies, with Gene Siskel and Ebert. What a great show. Although Siskel and Ebert did agree a fair amount of the time, it was their intense, and very real bickering that really took the show to another level. The concept of a show with two people with differing viewpoints arguing with each other has unfortunately been copied far too many times, but back then, it was a novel and highly entertaining concept. Most people assumed the two critics couldn't stand one another.

I usually found that Ebert's opinion carried more weight with me (honestly, that's not a dig at him being the more portly of the two in those days). In those days, movie critics weren't quite as commonplace as they are now, and they were a bit more pretentious. Ebert was different though. He was just as quick to heap praise on a movie that might not be considered particularly artistic, but simply provided humor or entertainment.

I also admire Ebert for continuing to stay in the public spotlight somewhat after his cancer surgery had left him without the ability to speak. While this meant his television days were behind him, he still poured himself into writing about not only movies, but politics and life in general.

I'll resist the temptation to say something like, "thumbs up Roger," but I'll just say that I can't imagine another movie critic ever being as influential as he was.