Film Critic Roger Ebert Dead at 70 Of Cancer

New submitter AndyKrish links to the BBC's report that just two days after penning a "leave of presence" in which he says "I am not going away," Roger Ebert — "arguably the world's most famous film critic" — has died of cancer. Ebert was a long-time film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as (most famously along with Gene Siskel) for a string of television shows. In the course of dealing with persistent cancer that affected his thyroid and jaw, and which took away his voice, Ebert became a prolific blogger on movies as well as other topics, and drew on cutting edge technology to regain the power of speech.

Comments

Sad Day

[MightyMartian]

I didn't agree with every review, but all in all he was damned good critic, and a significant part of his Great Movies list is a must-see for me.

Re:Sad Day

[tedgyz]

I generally agreed with his reviews much more than his partner Siskel. Roger recognized that not all movies have to have a greater purpose. Sometimes it is ok to just have fun.

Re:Sad Day

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve Jobs also died of cancer. I guess everyone's a critic.

Re:Sad Day

[AK Marc]

But both of them were capable more than most of saying "I didn't like 28 Days Later, but for a zombie movie, it was so much better than most, I'll give it a thumbs up" (28 Days just being something I could see them saying, I can't recall a specific incident at the moment). They didn't rate every movie like it was for the Best Picture Oscar, but managed some context. Sort of like Skyfall. If you like Bond, you'll like Skyfall. If you think Bond movies have become too slow, and the action scenes all try too hard to out do the previous movie's scenes, then you'll hate it. So how do you rate it? It depends on what you want to see. They were better at articulating that distinction within their reviews than most, who would just give it a star rating and move on.

Don't mess.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Speaking of Winston Churchill, Ebert is author of the biggest burn since Churchill. Rob Schneider took out an ad about a generic critic ragging on his Deuce Bigalow, or maybe that animal man movie, saying, "Who does his guy think he is, some Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic?"

Ebert then writes, "Well, speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

Re:Siskel & Ebert Sneak Previews

[Hatta]

Siskel & Ebert was from a different time when you could turn on the TV and see two educated people have a lively and respectful disagreement about matters of quality. I don't expect I'll live to see such a thing again.

Re:Siskel & Ebert Sneak Previews

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

It was a very sad day when Gene Siskel died fairly young, and now we've lost Roger Ebert as well. It's just movies, I realize

It isn't "just" movies - movies are a major part of modern culture. Once a society gets above the level of mere subsistence, culture is pretty much the entire point of human existence.

Re:Siskel & Ebert Sneak Previews

[Darinbob]

A respectful disagreement on the internet? Jane, you ignorant slut!