As a native Chicagoan I’ve been a fan of Ebert for a long time, in print and then on the internet. I always read his reviews of new movies, which were “calibrated” by a consistency that I found in his writing. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always admired how he articulated his ideas. In later decades he seemed to soften up to “bad” movies with mass appeal but low art, being more generous with ratings than most other critics, an example of how he was a “people’s critic.” Not that he didn’t issue scathing pans when indicated.
As a big movie-goer, for many years Siskel & Ebert were “must-watch” tv.
Roger Ebert taught me that it’s not important what a movie is about, but how it’s about it.
He also taught me that a good movie should make the viewer care about what happens to the characters. Otherwise I’m liable to walk out after I’ve finished my popcorn!
After his disfiguring surgery he said (something like) “I may not be able to speak, but I still have a voice so long as I can write.” Whereupon (they say) he embarked on his most prolific period of movie reviewing up to his death.
I will greatly miss him.
@tom_g “Fag enabler” indeed. I wonder if they also targeted him because he married a black woman?