eBert aLert

[spatch]

There'd been disappointed tones recently that good ol' Roger Ebert was growing complacent in his old age and was steadfastly refusing to dish out a glowingly wonderful bad review, you know, the kind he was known for and the kind you read movie reviews for. He even had to go so far as to defend his 3-star habit recently, explaining he awards stars for films based on what they're supposed to accomplish, or somesuch nonsense. That is why Garfield, a stupid kid's movie, gets a good rating because it is a stupid kid's movie and tries not to be anything else. Er, ok.

This week, however, he deftly beats the tar out of The Village in such a way that makes me want to give the chubbly Chicago curmudgeon a big hug.

Of the film's Big Shockeroo Twist Ending, he notes "to call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes." Sure, it's no "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B" (thanks, Dorothy) but it's a whole lot better than those clueless half-wits who just had to make a "kitty litter" joke in their Catwoman reviews. (Ebert mentions a litter box in his, but not for snarky soundbite purposes.)

There's life in the ol' codger left.

Comments

[mcsnee.livejournal.com]

His three-star-itis notwithstanding, I get the impression that he isn't even paying attention at a lot of the movies he watches these days. ("Unspecified time and place"? Every other review I've seen has set the movie firmly in 1897, as established by a tombstone shot during a funeral at the beginning of the film.)

Every review of his that I've read recently has contained two or three of these factual errors.

I mean, I love the guy--for the entirety of the 90s, he was THE reviewer, the only one who really gave opinions that mattered to me because they were so spot on most times--but maybe he's just bored with film.

[sargent.livejournal.com]

Part of it is that he doesn't take notes during the film, unlike a lot of reviewers.

[mcsnee.livejournal.com]

He should probably start.

Factual errors make me trust reviews less.

[spatch]

He used to, at least -- some of his better jokes in I Hated, Hated, Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie dealt with the notes he'd been taking at the time.

[sargent.livejournal.com]

Hrm, and now I've found other comments of his mentioning notes, so ignore my previous comments.

[mwittier.livejournal.com]

"Unspecified time and place" is part of the necessary vagueness required of him in this particular review. He's lazy, and makes mistakes, yes, but not in this instance.