roger ebert
What Loudmouth Movie Critic Bashed the ‘Old Putz’ His Son Was Hired to Replace?
7:40AM STV | A tipster wasn’t naming names when s/he sent word of one film critic’s rather vocal dissing of another, more “highly respected” critic at a press screening eariler this afternoon. But the math seems easy enough, even for us: A father, a son and a “pathetic old putz” who’s no longer on the air? Show your work after the jump. More »
Roger Ebert Likens Himself to Non-Schumacher Phantom of the Opera
8:38AM Kyle Buchanan | Since Roger Ebert’s return to writing after the 2006 thyroid surgery that left him without part of his jawbone, he’s been a notably more adventurous scribe, unafraid to toss off deadpan satire, rice cooker meditations, and a good Ben Lyons slam now and then. Now, though, after a thoughtful essay on the internal, decay-obsessed Synecdoche, New York, Ebert has been moved to write one of his most personal stories yet: a digressive, Charlie Kaufman-esque meditation on life, death, and his new, Phantom-like face. More »
3:28AM Kyle Buchanan | High on Pot: Roger Ebert’s been on such a unhinged roll as of late (slamming Ben Lyons, posting creationism parodies, and handing out eight-minute reviews) that one may wonder, what’s been eating him? Now, Ebert has taken to his blog with the answer: it’s not what’s eating him, it’s what he’s eating, and what’s he’s eating comes from “The Pot,” a rice cooker that is the recipient of Ebert’s new, 2590-word essay. “We try. We learn. We experiment. When we have absorbed the principle of the Pot, we will find ourselves day-dreaming new combinations.” [Roger Ebert] More »
Ben Lyons Gleans Valuable Starfucking Tips From Roger Ebert
8:34AM STV | Always the type of man to make the best of a bad situation, Roger Ebert has now spun his recent Reviewgate scandal into a deeply constructive thesis on movie critic ethics. And by “deeply constructive,” we mean “a point-by-point indictment of Ben Lyons” — that proven archenemy of taste, restraint and decorum in an ever-thinning field of trained professionals. More »
Roger Ebert Regrets Reviewing Movie He Only Watched For 8 Minutes
2:22AM Kyle Buchanan | Roger Ebert survived a battle with thyroid and salivary gland cancer with his prodigious mind still intact, but ever since his notorious binder-thwacking at the hands of Lou Lumenick, things have been a little… askew. First, Rog stumped his audience with an ode to creationism that seemed more appropriate for Free Republic than the Chicago Sun-Times (later, he informed us it was just satire). Now, Ebert is in hot water after posting a review of the gay independent film Tru Loved that he admits at the end was written after watching only eight minutes. The one-star review is here, his original disclaimer is here, and Ebert’s attempt to walk back the firestorm is after the jump: More »
How Older, White Critics Have Missed the Boat on ‘Rachel Getting Married’
5:09AM Kyle Buchanan | Most of the attention paid to Jonathan Demme’s new film Rachel Getting Married has centered on the Oscar-buzzed lead performance from Anne Hathaway, but many critics are consumed with something the movie treats as a non-event: the fact that the titular Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is marrying a black man, Sidney (Tunde Adebimpe of the band TV on the Radio). The interracial nature of their relationship goes unremarked upon throughout the entire film, and that fact is vexing several film critics, who dismiss such a notion as a fantasy. Enjoy their thinly veiled discomfort with the shocking idea that white people can marry black people in 2008 without someone giving a speech about it, after the jump! More »
4:25AM STV | Roger Ebert, Wise Guy: Despite getting our hands on the damning outtakes of the critic’s recent Q&A explaining Creationism, we allowed for the possibility that the whole episode might have just been an elaborate, tongue-in-cheek statement about people’s eagerness to believe anything they see, hear or read. Right on cue, the crafty Ebert confirmed our suspicions late Tuesday in a finger-wagging ramble entitled This is the Dawning of the Age of Credulity: “Let’s go to work as perceptive readers. It might be a two-step process. [...] I expected better from evolutionists.” Funny — we expected better from a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic. Anyway, Rog, we’re over it. How was Eagle Eye? [Chicago Sun-Times] More »
Roger Ebert’s Creationism Q&A: The Outtakes
8:15AM STV | Following the recent, violent critical confrontation from which he barely escaped alive, Roger Ebert appears to have adopted a generous new perspective on both his life (Lou Lumenick, forgiven) and his work (The Women, three stars). Nowhere is the New Ebert more conspicuous than in his fascinating tutorial about Creationism, which, he argues in his introduction, “should be discussed in schools as an alternative to the theory of evolution.” More »
8:00AM Kyle Buchanan | Though Roger Ebert would rather his thwacking at the hands of Lou Lumenick be forgotten, it seems that New York Post readers aren’t as quick to forgive. Lumenick’s last Toronto Film Festival update neglects to mention the incident (instead focusing on an Anne Hathaway/Keira Knightley Oscar showdown), but every single commenter rips into him anyway, blaming the critic for pummeling a national treasure. “So let me guess: on your next trip you’re going to run over Stephen Hawkins and maybe punch Stevie Wonder, right?!” asks one (another suggests he train his pugilism on cancer-stricken children), while the comments on Lumenick’s review of The Women personally mock the writer, with one person posting, “Here’s to hoping your reviews are boycotted, you are deservedly let go, and you spend the remainder of your years at the grill of a second-rate fast food restaurant.” Punchy! [NY Post] More »
