Guys guys guys!
I just found a total gem on The Great and Mighty Netflix that I wanted to share with you.
Ohhhhh my. How I loved this. It’s my FAVORITE. Here’s why:
- I grew up on Siskel and Ebert. I LOVE movies. But, as a kid who didn’t get out much – I LOVED watching Siskel and Ebert’s show ABOUT movies even more. I absolutely loved it when they got grumpy with each other. It was affectionate and intense and reminded me of home. 🙂
- Ebert wrote a book called Your Movie Sucks. He really really REALLY hated a lot of movies, and his scathing, hilarious reviews of them ended up as a best seller.
I mean. Look at that FACE.
Here is an example of such prose, when reviewing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:
“[The movie] is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys.”
I LOVE HIM. MY FAVORITE.
3. The director of this documentary, Steve James, also directed one of my all time best, most favorite, winner of all things films: Hoop Dreams.
4. It’s a documentary. Documentaries are my favorite films because they are real. They capture things that are real. I kinda like real. But only when it leaves me with hope and maybe after crying. This did both. I had hope, and I cried. Documentaries can do that, and this one does it well.
5. He fought cancer with dignity and bravery and humor. He is my courageous favorite.
6. And, finally, Ebert is in my special group. He’s one of us. He was in recovery, for over thirty years. This makes him simply more awesome, in every way.
Here is an article that he wrote about his sobriety. It’s also my favorite. It’s awesome and honest and heartfelt and accomplished and has that painfully clear edge to it that so many writers have… It’s my favorite favorite.
My Name is Roger Ebert, and I’m an Alcoholic
So. Did you get the feeling that he might have been one of my favorites?
He was.
Watch Life Itself. If you do, you’re my favorite.
Mr. Ebert, you are my favorite. I give you two thumbs up.
Dana Bowman 
He is one of my all time favorite too. I still miss him whenever I wonder about a new movie. He was a real human who cared about others and thought about things and wrote beautifully. Grateful for his life.
Amen, sister. He had a heart for all he did. I loved reading his stuff… even the scathing stuff!
[…] Conversation has been reviewed by Roger Ebert (I love him, and wrote about it here) as one of his favorites. It’s just so twisty-turny, and at times plays off as downright […]