A Brief Ramble About Roger Ebert

Yesterday the world lost an anomaly and amazing film critic, Roger Ebert. Any self-respecting, aspiring critic simply cannot begin the process of the profession without first reading through Robert Ebert’s reviews. He a forerunner of film criticism because his reviews were insightful, thorough, and well-rounded. Every time I watched a film and found myself having trouble piecing together what elements of it worked or not, I’d go to the Sun Times and read what Roger had to say in order to formally assemble my thoughts. In fact, a long time goal of mine was to meet Roger and have a conversation similar to this:

Me: Roger Ebert? Holy crap, I love your work!

Roger: You’re The Cinephiliac? You’re writing is phenomenal! I was beginning to lose hope in film criticism these days until I started reading your blog.

Me: Wow really? Thank you, that’s truly inspiring.

Roger: No, you’re inspiring! Would you like to get coffee or something? I would love to pick your brain for a bit.

Me: You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that. Coffee’s on me!

Sadly, I’ll never be able to live out this fantasy. Roger was one of the few legitimately great critics that I’ve stumbled across who wrote passionately and thoroughly. I may not have always agreed with him, but I truly respected his opinion. As a lover of 1960’s campy psychedelia, I will leave you with the memory of Roger from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, his first screenplay. May his legacy live on and his thumbs be remembered forever. RIP Roger Ebert.