I'm just happy that he ended his incomparable career on an enthusiastic Thumbs Up. Glorious and fitting.
One of my favorite Ebert reviews. That film was nauseatingly bad, and coming from Rob Reiner a baffling little turd of celluloid.
@J. Allen: Hear, hear. I was afraid his last review was for The Host. I could think of far better movies, no doubt, but if I were to depart tomorrow I'd like to see Into Darkness tonight; because always in motion the future is, and and all that...
The people who are defiling this thread ought to look into a mirror and shame themselves into silence. Not for behaving in a way that some find disagreeable, but for being of such a limited perception that they are unable to rise above their own crude mediocrity for 10 minutes in a memorial thread for someone who actually was someone. Roger Ebert's greatest achievement was that he was somebody. That is a claim that not many, if any, in this thread can make. By comparison to the man, we are nobodies. If you can't respect that, or try and wriggle around it, then you're simply a coward. His work elevated him above most people on the planet. He stood out, stood up and when he spoke, people listened. He added something to the world. A sizable portion of the planet knew who he was, had read his writing and had an appreciation for his work. Millions of people judged the man's work to be worthy of their time. This is something that, once again, most of us cannot honestly claim. On many evenings I spent 30 minutes to an hour just browsing and reading his reviews of movies I hadn't even seen, just because they were thoughtful and interesting pieces of writing. Even when I disagreed with him, I read his writing because his arguments were informed and his opinion always totally respectable. He once stated after the release of the computer game BioShock that "games would never be art"... a view I respected because I granted that his complex understanding of the subject was greater than my own, even if I disagreed with it from my own distant vantage point. I could go on, but I'd be repeating myself. The ones who came here not to remember but to stir... I can honestly say your perspectives are so narrow that I pity you. Your ambitions so limited that I wouldn't want to be you. You live and breath what the rest of us cast aside and seem to thirst for more at the end. You wallow in mediocrity and will never change. We'll all join Ebert one day. Few of us, if any, will leave behind such a legacy as he did. RIP Roger Ebert.
For what it's worth, Ebert ultimately did moderate his views on games a bit; those who are tempted to begrudge him that would be well-advised to read his bio on Wikipedia.
Just to be clear.. I wasn't the one who tried to defile the the thread. I was simply pointing out that, in the latter ten years or so of his reviews, he inserted more of his personal politics. As a commentator with as much stature as he has, that's for the most part, okay, but as foxhot and I were trying to say, there was more blatant politicizing in his columns than ever before. Sometimes, I thought it was blatant. It's my opinion. He was still my favorite columnist ever, bar none... and someone who helped shape who I am today as a thinker regarding movies and even life itself.
Why? Because he was moderately well known to the public? Or is everyone supposed to treat him like a close and dear family member, gutted at his passing, and knowing our lives will never be the same without him? Or is everyone supposed to deeply mourn and respect any living creature that dies? "It's nice that some people consider it to be something more than that... but don't shit yourself when not everyone agrees." --Joker But it's okay, I guess if spend all of your time bitching about the living, you have to respect something. So it might as well be dead strangers you've never met let alone had any kind of personal relationship outside the delusions of your own mind.
There's a certain irony in asking to drop "political bullshit" and then linking to a "lovely" story about, among other things, Ebert's political views and eulogies from various politicians.
Oh, I am perfectly willing to let it go (though apparently no one else is, given many of the posts above mine and after hers). I just thought the particular article choice was ironic. What can I say? It's like rain on your wedding day...
On a completely apolitical note... Tyler Perry Arrested After Police Determine ‘Temptation’ Was Last Movie Seen By Roger Ebert: The decision to bring Perry into custody came on the heels of the autopsy report finding Ebert’s cause of death was revulsion, most likely caused by watching “Tyler Perry’s Temptation” which scored a dismal rotten rating of 17% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Back on topic: auntiehill, the article you posted was lovely. I especially liked the bit about the government official who ended his comments at the service with "In heaven, the angels are all saying "Thumbs up." I think it would be patently obvious from the outpouring of people who attended Ebert's funeral that the man will be universally missed; cinema criticism and cinema itself as a whole will be far lesser with his absence now.
Maybe if the reader is applying a ridiculously politically-partisan filter. There is one sentence that could be construed as pointing to personal politics, in a Glenn Beck dog-whistle kind of way: "Quinn heralded Ebert’s passion for education, social justice and working-people’s rights." Those concerns point exclusively to lefties, apparently? And the fact that a lot of Democratic politicians showed up at a funeral for a prominent Chicagoan is hardly surprising given the political makeup of the city. The article was reporting the events of the funeral, not taking an editorial position so there is really no comparison to the political axes being ground in this thread. Much less irony.
I printed out Ebert's 300 Great Movies list, and will be going through checking off what I've seen, and then working towards seeing the rest of them.
I think you mistook my tone for disgust. I was actually amused. Damn. Now the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
I think you've mistaken everyone's tone for actually wanting to listen to more of your whining or "amused" commentary when in reality they'd all just prefer it if you'd shut the hell up or at least start another thread. But you're committed now so you won't do that. Can't lose face in this stupid quest to prove whatever the hell it is you're trying to prove. You're dragging people who plainly aren't even interested in a political debate in this case and who never got involved in the political argument before (like auntiehill) into your hyper-partisan bullshit where even someone who is only extremely peripherally related to politics like Roger Ebert is now some lightning rod of liberal thought. She was just posting a nice memorial commentary on his life that itself was only barely politically related, but you are so petty you couldn't resist making another dig. Ebert rarely made some political comments in relevant movie reviews and an occasional editorial. He's not Marx or even Michael Moore. Do you have to sort everything through the prism of right and left? I can understand the commentary if it was someone who was actually a prominent political figure, but Roger Ebert? Seriously? Can't you just say something nice about his movie reviews without acting like a jerk, or failing that, don't say anything at all? And no, in anticipation of your inevitable and no doubt annoying (if your previous comments are any indication) comeback, I don't give a shit what some liberal said in some barely conservative actor's or reviewer's memorial thread in the past. They're not me. I'm not responsible for every other liberal's comments in the past and it's not hypocrisy to point out something I disagree with even if another liberal (or conservative in your case) has done it. We're all individuals, so taking what auntiehill posted and dragging it into your or anyone else's political nonsense was out of line, as has been the entire fucking tangent about politics in this thread. You can try and say this post is contributing to the disrespect of a memorial thread, but that ship sailed long before I even posted, first with some pedantic fuckwittery over the perfectly acceptable title and then with people who probably can't even eat a bowl of cereal in the morning without knowing Tony the Tiger's or Count Chocula's political stances. If having to see a half-paragraph respectfully stated commentary on healthcare accessibility that doesn't denounce anyone and is in a review of a movie about healthcare makes your blood boil, then you need to get a fucking grip.