[Gletkin]

Roger Ebert Dies at 70 Following Battle with Cancer
Finally re-united with Gene Siskel.
RIP Rog.

[EastCoastAmerican]

He will be missed. I loved his style of film reviewing.

[The Immortal Goon]

I remember him from when I was a little kid. His influence is on me, and people my age, more than I probably know.

RIP

[Brother of Karl]

I've probably spent more of my time reading Roger Ebert's blogs and reviews than I've spent on any other single writer. It's weird, I don't even watch that many movies, but something about his writing really always resonated with me and I couldn't wait to learn about his opinions on whatever the great or horrible movies had been, or on current events. I probably only watched his show a few times though, before he lost his voice to throat cancer. In his last few years, he really built quite an excellent blog and a twitter feed that I followed for a while. He wasn't exactly a great "political thinker", but he always had opinions on anything that was going on in the world, and I enjoyed reading what he had to say. Because of him, I became much more aware of quality in film and other art forms, and I think it must have helped my overall appreciation. It seems he went gracefully, with his wife by his side. And now we can say once and for all:

The balcony is closed.

[Brother of Karl]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/roger- ... /?ref=auto

CHICAGO—Calling the overall human experience “poignant,” “thought-provoking,” and a “complete tour de force,” film critic Roger Ebert praised existence Thursday as “an audacious and thrilling triumph.” “While not without its flaws, life, from birth to death, is a masterwork, and an uplifting journey that both touches the heart and challenges the mind,” said Ebert, adding that while the totality of all humankind is sometimes “a mess in places,” it strives to be a magnum opus and, according to Ebert, largely succeeds at this goal. “At times brutally sad, yet surprisingly funny, and always completely honest, I wholeheartedly recommend existence. If you haven’t experienced it yet, then what are you waiting for? It is not to be missed.” Ebert later said that while human existence’s running time was “a little on the long side,” it could have gone on much, much longer and he would have been perfectly happy.

That last line was actually something he said frequently about great movies. That a great movie could have always been longer and it wouldn't have been a bad thing.

[Varax]

RIP. One of the few movie critics whose opinion I genuinely respected and a legend in the business for good reason. I'll miss him and his perceptive no nonsense review style - which is often imitated nowadays but rarely done as well.