I love Roger Ebert because regardless of how he feels about a movie, I can tell whether I'll like it by the way he writes about it. He doesn't think all films have to be great works of art; he judges them based on whether they achieved their own goals. That said, I do think he's gotten a lot more generous over the years.
Time to slay. Vampires of the world beware!
Buffybot ,'Dirty Girls'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Laga - Aug 28, 2009 9:55:00 am PDT #4015 of 30000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
DavidS - Aug 28, 2009 9:55:54 am PDT #4016 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I love Ebert because he wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
"Z-man! You're a chick!"
tommyrot - Aug 28, 2009 9:56:52 am PDT #4017 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
"This is my happening and it freaks me out!"
Kathy A - Aug 28, 2009 10:02:53 am PDT #4018 of 30000
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
He doesn't think all films have to be great works of art; he judges them based on whether they achieved their own goals.
IMO, the best example of this was his review of The Hidden. He gave it three stars, and mentioned everything that I love about this film in the review.
"The Hidden" takes this situation and makes a surprisingly effective film out of it, a sleeper that talks like a thriller and walks like a thriller, but has more brains than the average thriller. It also has a sense of humor, and some subtle acting by MacLachlan, whose assignment is to play a character who always is just a beat out of step.
Jeff Bridges had a similar challenge in "Starman," in which he played an alien who cloned a human body and then tried to find his way around in it. MacLachlan plays his alien with a certain strange reserve, as if he's trying the controls very lightly, afraid of going into a spin.
Matt the Bruins fan - Aug 28, 2009 10:18:13 am PDT #4019 of 30000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I have to agree. I may not agree with Ebert on every movie, but his reviews give me a pretty good idea of whether it's something I'll enjoy or not.
I remember when that abyssmal Tony Danza movie She's Out of Control came out, and Gene Siskel sighed and said "Maybe I'll just retire."
Frankenbuddha - Aug 28, 2009 1:54:35 pm PDT #4020 of 30000
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
Occasionally, very occasionally, Ebert seems to be deliberately dense about NOT getting the point of a movie, but, for the most part, I love the man's work and his dedication towards film preservation.
Also, the fact that he's still writing weekly reviews, after the botched surgery he had, is a testament to the strength of his love of movies. He could have just retired to writing treatises on movies and gotten paid well for it, but he still wants to be out there seeing what's new. I have a ton of respect for the man.
§ ita § - Aug 28, 2009 5:52:53 pm PDT #4021 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
More remake news: Rob Zombie and The Blob. But he wants to take it in a "crazy direction."
Matt the Bruins fan - Aug 28, 2009 10:11:43 pm PDT #4022 of 30000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
The last one had the blob as a US military experiment gone wrong, complete with screaming half-dissolved victims mired up in it whenever it pressed against a glass barrier. What's Rob Zombie going to do that will be shocking after that?
billytea - Aug 28, 2009 11:02:53 pm PDT #4023 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
The last one had the blob as a US military experiment gone wrong, complete with screaming half-dissolved victims mired up in it whenever it pressed against a glass barrier. What's Rob Zombie going to do that will be shocking after that?
Enter it in So You Think You Can Dance.
Connie Neil - Aug 29, 2009 10:04:27 am PDT #4024 of 30000
brillig
Oh, I was confusing The Blob with The Thing. Which is easy, I suppose.