Roger Ebert

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The Enthusiast: On Roger Ebert

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RogerIn 2010, at the age of 67, Roger Ebert reviewed The Human Centipede (First Sequence) – a horror flick that seems to exist primarily to make viewers vomit. As a professional movie critic for more than four decades, Ebert could have been forgiven for skipping it altogether. But he turned in a no-star-rating review that begins with an earnest rumination on the path to mortality: “It’s not death itself that’s so bad. It’s what you might have to go through to get there.”

Tagged: Critics, Death, Roger Ebert
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Ebert’s Game: Still Hidden

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cache-4.jpgIn his “Great Movies” article on Caché, Roger Ebert teases that he found a key to understanding this ever-mysterious movie: “How is it possible to watch a thriller intently two times and completely miss a smoking gun that’s in full view? Yet I did. Only on my third trip through Michael Haneke’s Caché did I consciously observe a shot which forced me to redefine the film.”

Tagged: Cache, Michael Haneke, Roger Ebert, Ways of Watching
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Movies

Ebertfest (Part II): The Movies

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I agree with Roger Ebert’s assessment of Errol Morris’ Gates of Heaven as “bottomless,” with the disclaimer that it’s as much a function of the movie’s open-ended nature as its depth. The filmmaker’s debut has no clearly articulated subject or thesis, and it’s so wide-ranging, with so little guidance from Morris, that its effect and meaning will depend a lot on who watches it and where they are in life. Plus: People I Know and Invincible.

Tagged: Documentaries, Ebertfest, Errol Morris, Gates of Heaven, Invincible, Overlooked Film Festival, People I Know, Reviews, Roger Ebert, Werner Herzog
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Ebertfest (Part I): The Experience

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Errol Morris and Werner Herzog sat together in the back of the auditorium, watching Morris’ first movie, Gates of Heaven, with 1,600 other people. Al Pacino joined us by phone, the day before his 64th birthday. American Movie’s lovably clueless protagonists, Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank, were introduced just minutes before Herzog. This was our April 24 immersion in the sixth annual Ebertfest, also known as Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival.

Tagged: Ebertfest, Errol Morris, Overlooked Film Festival, Roger Ebert, Werner Herzog
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