I love to read his movie reviews. They never seemed formulaic, and he put so much of himself into everything he wrote. In fact, Roger and his work helped motivate me to become a film critic.
My husband and I had the good fortune to meet Roger several years ago at the Telluride Film Festival during the screening of The Mystic Masseur. This film focused on one man’s burning desire to become an author. "Put my picture on the cover," Ganesh -- played brilliantly by Aasif Mandvi -- insists to the publisher of his first book, a catechism about the Hindu religion. While discussing the movie with Roger after the screening, I mentioned to him that Larry and I identified with the main character because we had just finished co-writing a romantic memoir. “Put your picture on the cover just like Ganesh did,” he advised us. (I believe Roger followed his own advice and made sure his photo was seen on many of the terrific books he wrote.)
Roger deserved the various honors he received, which include a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
No doubt about it, Roger Ebert will be missed! My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and fans.
Later, when I became a working stiff in higher education, I only saw movies occasionally. Now that I'm in a wheelchair and limited by access and other factors, I rarely go at all. In the years that I did go to the movies occasionally, I relied heavily on critics to let me know which movies were the best to go to. I remember switching channels to be sure to see what that old guy Ebert (I am much older) was going to say about the movies that just came out that I would see much later on television.
Lately it seems like fantasy and technology have exceeded the storyline and most of the blockbuster movies are like lunch, once digested become trash. After there are twenty sequels they are touted for their profits rather than they're worth as great art.
I do miss a weekly dose of movie criticism by the best. The only place I get it now is on the Sunday Morning show on CBS. Some of the miniseries, like The Hatfields and McCoys, are better than the movies in the theaters for kids.
Ron