Roger Ebert passes.

[Sallow]

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert has died at the age of 70, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

On April 2, Ebert revealed on his blog that his cancer had returned and that he would be reducing his reviewing duties at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ebert wrote that he would be taking a “leave of presence," as he underwent radiation treatment, but it appears the cancer was too far gone already.

“It means I am not going away,” Ebert explained. “My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What's more, I'll be able at last to do what I've always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.”

The 70-year-old film critic was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002, and cancerous growths were found on his salivary glands a year later, forcing him to undergo surgeries that left him without the ability to speak.
Roger Ebert Dead: Legendary Film Critic Dies At Age 70

I've watched several incarnations of "At the movies" and on several channels. It was, by far, some of the best television ever. Both guys were high brow, but approachable. They knew the art and spoke about it with passion. One of those guys was Roger Ebert. He was brilliant, fun, a little annoying but always made alot of sense. And he basically enriched the experience on the planet.

He will be missed.

 

[hortysir]

Truly sad and I mean no disrespect.....

(he'd get the joke )

 

[JoeB131]

ALways enjoyed watching Siskel and Ebert and then Ebert and Roeper.

 

[Politico]

Lucky he lived this long. Announcing his cancer returned 24 hours before he kicked it made no sense.

 

[JoeB131]

Lucky he lived this long. Announcing his cancer returned 24 hours before he kicked it made no sense.

I'm reasonably sure he didn't plan it that way.

 

[Katzndogz]

He was a liberal and therefore no great loss.

 

[rightwinger]

I always enjoyed his reviews. Gene Siskel was more of the type where he had to find something bad about every movie. Ebert looked at movies from more of a common mans perspective than a cinematic perspective

 

[Unkotare]

He was a liberal and therefore no great loss.

When you become so partisan that you lose your humanity (along with your sanity) then you are fucking useless.



YOU are fucking useless, and just as bad as the most extreme far-left liberal nutjobs here.

 

[auditor0007]

I lived in Chicago in the 80's and 90's, and loved watching their show. They both died too young.

 

[mamooth]

Ebert looked at movies from more of a common mans perspective than a cinematic perspective

Yeah, sometimes his review would be like "This is a total mess, but it's an entertaining mess."

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I really enjoyed Siskel and Ebert.

 

[JoeB131]

I kind of liked the earlier ones when they looked like they were about to come to blows over movies...

The later ones were okay, but I think they got to mellow with each other.

Not that I believe in an afterlife... but I'd like to think Gene and Roger are reviewing movies in Heaven.

As long as it isn't another installment of the Transformers Franchise.

 

[Katzndogz]

Gene Siskel absolutely loathed Ebert.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Ebert was truly a blessing to those of us who love movieds.

 

[hoosier88]

Ebert loved movies, & it showed in his reviews, interviews with actors, directors, anyone he could find to interview related to the movies. He was heroic in wanting to keep working, writing, reviewing, having someone else or his PC's vocoder read his text when he no longer could.

You don't see that kind of work ethic much anymore. Godspeed, Roger ...

 

[Interpol]

I was lucky to know Roger.

He let me hang out with him over bran muffins in the late 90's when I was a student. I later published the session in the school paper as an interview. He lamented that "small" films didn't get the attention they deserved in our teenage-led weekend box office culture.

We began to correspond some after that and a year later he began the Overlooked Film Festival in his hometown of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois at the historic Virginia Theater. For 5 days every late April beginning in 1999, the 1500-seat theater would sell out all 10-12 screenings of hidden gems and overlooked formats like black & white, silent, foreign, documentary, independent and even Hollywood films like musicals such as Oklahoma! and films made on overlooked formats like the 70mm showings of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tron, Patton and Lawrence of Arabia.

He had previously had cancer of the salivary gland and thyroid cancer, and in 2006 due to complications of surgery on his neck, part of his jaw needed to be removed because of cancer, and that cut into his vocal chords, taking away his ability to speak.

That didn't stop him. In fact, he got even more prolific, and in 2011 he reviewed well over 300 films, a new 52-week record for him after 45 years of working as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert played up the tension of their perceived relationship on tv, but in reality their relationship was much like professional wrestlers. They loved doing battle and respected each other greatly. Their mutual families both played significant roles at each man's marriage ceremony and Ebert served as a pallbearer at Siskel's funeral in early 1999.

In Champaign every April, before he lost the ability to eat solid food, it was customary for Roger and guests of the Overlooked to pile into the nearest Steak 'N Shake after the last screening of the night. I sat by sucking back shakes and triple steak burgers and listened to him and the likes of Werner Herzog, Paul Cox, Tilda Swinton, Billy Crudup, and Scott Wilson.

Critics are never "beloved", but Roger somehow broke through and made a personal connection with his millions of regular readers the world over. He was syndicated in several countries and in hundreds of publications, and his plain-spoken and soulful writing stemming from strong mid-western values touched a lot of people, no matter their political ideologies.

He was such a kind and generous man to me, and I'm a better writer and a more empathic man because of him. It's difficult to actually make someone laugh or to touch someone with your writing, but he did it on the regular and I think it's why we've seen the outpouring of affection for him and his wife Chaz the last few days.

After he lost his voice, he started a companion blog to his movie review site, and it generated over 100 million hits before it was 2 years old. He expounded on science, technology, current events, cosmology, life in general, and of course, movies.

His last blog--from just last Tuesday--was titled "A Leave of Presence" where he thanked his readers for all their continued support through his health battles and he revealed that his broken hip a couple months ago was due to cancer returning. He explained he would take a step back and heal, pick and choose the odd movie to write about, and push on with producing another tv show as well as remodeling his website.

I think maybe that sort-of farewell gave him closure in a way with his legion of readers and made it a little easier for him to let go. It came as a surprise that just 2 days later he passed away, but in a way not. Chaz explained that she was driving him to his radiation appointment and he just kind of turned, smiled, closed his eyes and drifted off.

If you're going to go, not bad to be looking at the love of your life just before you do.

Doesn't matter if you agreed with the guy's politics, or his opinions on movies; his unique voice will be sorely missed.

 

[iaanhayden]

Yeah, occasionally his reconsider would be like "This is a total untidy, but it's an amusing mess."