THE BALCONY IS CLOSED
Apr. 5th, 2013 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogOdds are you’ve heard that Roger Ebert has finally lost his battle with cancer.
And I pretty much have to post something about it for three reasons.
1. Earlier this week, Ebert posted on his blog that he was taking a “leave of presence”, meaning he was going to hand off main review duties to Richard Roeper and others, but continue to write at a more manageable pace, given his health problems. Three days later, he was gone. In retrospect, it makes me wonder if on some level he knew he didn’t have much time left, but didn’t want to publicly commit to full retirement.
2. Like a lot of people of my generation, I first saw him on PBS with Gene Siskel (back when the show was called Sneak Previews), and that show served not only as a good way to preview upcoming films (this was in the days before YouTube, children), but also as a sort of weekly lesson on how to think about movies more critically. Sneak Previews was a major influence on how I looked at films with a critical eye. Those reviews you see in this blog every so often? That’s partly Ebert’s doing.
3. Ebert wrote the screenplay for one of my favorite films, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.
I’ve always respected Ebert for not only being a good film critic, but also one that could write a good trashy Russ Meyer film.
Respect.
Two thumbs up,
This is dF
And I pretty much have to post something about it for three reasons.
1. Earlier this week, Ebert posted on his blog that he was taking a “leave of presence”, meaning he was going to hand off main review duties to Richard Roeper and others, but continue to write at a more manageable pace, given his health problems. Three days later, he was gone. In retrospect, it makes me wonder if on some level he knew he didn’t have much time left, but didn’t want to publicly commit to full retirement.
2. Like a lot of people of my generation, I first saw him on PBS with Gene Siskel (back when the show was called Sneak Previews), and that show served not only as a good way to preview upcoming films (this was in the days before YouTube, children), but also as a sort of weekly lesson on how to think about movies more critically. Sneak Previews was a major influence on how I looked at films with a critical eye. Those reviews you see in this blog every so often? That’s partly Ebert’s doing.
3. Ebert wrote the screenplay for one of my favorite films, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.
BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS TRAILER with ERICA GAVIN from Erica Gavin on Vimeo.
I’ve always respected Ebert for not only being a good film critic, but also one that could write a good trashy Russ Meyer film.
Respect.
Two thumbs up,
This is dF
