Tag: Roger Ebert

RIP Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013): Another Critic in the Room

RIP Roger Ebert. As a critic and a personal mentor, he tapped into the universal idea that the movies are for everyone.

I met Roger Ebert just once. I was invited beyond all good reason to Ebertfest in 2009 by his Chicago Sun Times print editor Laura Emerick. In between films, she asked, “Would you like to meet Roger?” Somehow I didn’t think it was an option. He had been battling cancer for several years at that point, but his appearance at the festival, to sit through 10 films in less than five days, was an enormous act of strength for someone who had just so recently attained stability with his health.

Those who have attended Ebertfest know where he sits. It’s the furthest back seat in Champaign’s Virginia Theater, right on the aisle and by the door on a slightly elevated platform. Chaz sits directly to his left.

Ms. Emerick walked me into the aisle as a flock of people gathered by the exit and by Ebert to say hello. He wore a bright white sweater that only seemed to amplify his then dangling chin, a newly defining feature that was impossible to forget, but somehow most everyone managed to ignore. Even for being a television star, Ebert was about his words, not his mug shot.

I was introduced and muttered something about how much I admired him and enjoyed reading his work, but because I was not about to have a stimulating conversation with him given his condition, the part I remember more vividly and painfully is walking away.

I said my piece, he smiled, or seemed to, and that was all. The more fulfilling memories of that weekend were talking with Michael Phillips, Richard Roeper and a handful of other critics and filmmakers. Ebert was just another critic in the room.

Some years later, I got the chance to attend a press screening of the movie “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” with RedEye film critic Matt Pais. Those who have been in that room, albeit a much smaller number, know where Ebert sits: the furthest back seat, right by the aisle and the door. Chaz was there that day too.

I didn’t make a scene or even try to say hello, because I definitely had no right being there this time. I don’t recall seeing him at the end either. He gave it three and a half stars. I gave it two, and I wondered which movie he had seen. I had more fun hashing out my thoughts with Pais. But regardless, I was content in knowing that I got to share this movie moment with Ebert, even if again he was just another critic in the darkened room. Continue reading “RIP Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013): Another Critic in the Room”

Rapid Response: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Anyone who is a fan of Roger Ebert’s work might scratch their head when they finally come across his screenplay credit for “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.”

“You mean the Russ Meyer movie? The guy infatuated with enormous breasts? That Russ Meyer?”

Yes, that Russ Meyer. He worked with him on three movies, starting with “Dolls,” and for a while I looked at their low IMDB grades and wondered if this was a part of Ebert’s career he was trying to erase.

But having just finished reading Ebert’s memoir “Life Itself” (a brilliant, moving book by the way), you begin to fully understand why Ebert would come to have such a mutual bond with Russ Meyer and how “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” could really be no different than the absolutely batshit crazy sexploitation film that it is. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”