Roger Ebert (1942-2013)
Moviegoers and fellow critics, this is a sad day. Eight weeks ago, the legendary Roger Ebert was one of two men who popularised the Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down phrase. The inaugural winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, an honorary award only given to newspaper writers and critics for the Chicago Sun-Times for print and online, whose life ended at age 70 on April 4th, 2013.
He began writing for the Chicago Sun-Times and has been a film critic ever since. Ebert became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1975. That same year, he began hosting a TV show called "Sneak Previews" with Gene Siskel as his co-reviewer and co-host. For many years, the pair became partners. Over the years, the two hosted two "At the Movies" shows on different networks and made appearances, including guest-starring as voices in an episode of the animated prime-time show "The Critic."
In 1999, when Siskel unexpectedly passed away, the producers renamed the show "Roger Ebert & The Movies." Substitute co-hosts filled in for Siskel until the following year, when Richard Roeper, a columnist for the same newspaper organisation Ebert worked for, became his permanent co-host. The show was renamed "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper." They continued to criticise or review features until 2008. Unfortunately, Roger Ebert's health issues took a toll on his physical health, and in 2006, he underwent surgery that removed his jaw, which cost him his ability to speak. It didn't affect his reviewing: he returned to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2007, where he continued writing for the rest of his life and later became active on Twitter.
His success as a reviewer comes from his love of film and his extensive knowledge. He is not just an ultimate movie lover but an intelligent critic. Because of his work, fans genuinely love him. I confess that Roger Ebert was not my inspiration, but the fictional character of "The Critic," Jay Sherman, was the one who got me into that. Here are a few clips of Ebert reviewing movies alongside Siskel and Roeper. I concur that two might be positive: "Return of the Jedi" and "The Lion King," and the other is negative.
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