Today is a sad day for the movie industry.
Roger Ebert wasn't an actor or a director. He was just a movie critic. I know you're thinking "well he wasn't just a movie critic, he was the movie critic." And you're right. He was the movie critic. His opinion mattered more than anyone else. It's mattered for almost 50 years.
What I did read was old reviews from the archive on his site. If I found myself enjoying a well made movie then I would just look it up on his archive and read the whole thing. I never went out of my way to read a full review of newer films except for those that I was really curious to see what he thought of them. Occasionally I would watch a little bit of his old TV show, some of them with Roeper and some of them with Siskel. I was a casual fan, but his opinion mattered.
But his opinion always mattered. I've never really known why, but it just always has. He's been reviewing movies since my parents were babies. That's, like... a long time ago. He even worked as he fought cancer, which ultimately took his life.
What am I trying to say? Roger Ebert has been so prolific in his writing that he has influenced thousands of movie critics over the decades. Myself included, even though I don't take it too seriously. He reviewed movies in the Sun-Times, but ultimately will be remembered for his television times with Gene Siskel before he died in 1999.
Reviews from critics can make or break the success of a film with a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
If Ebert says a movie is bad, are you going to want to see it?
But yeah. I don't have much to say about the guy other than I enjoyed reading his reviews. Not often enough, but other than Peter Travers and the people at Entertainment Weekly, I don't bother to read too many reviews...
Anyway...
I've been seeing a lot of "thumbs down for Roger Ebert's death" and stuff.
I disagree.
I say "two thumbs up for a beautiful career."
Rest In Peace 1942-2013
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