A real fitting tribute to one of the greatest critics ever, and certainly (in my mind) the greatest film critic I've ever read. As a teenager I remember being obsessed with reading his reviews, religiously devouring them each week as they were published in the paper. That being said, I can't say that I really knew too much about the man himself at the time; I watched a bit of his TV show (the one with Roeper, which strangely is never even alluded to in this film), and I recall the moment he announced his ultimately terminal disease, but other than that the written word was all I knew of the man. I feel as though this film is perfect especially for people like me, who were big fans but never really knew Roger Ebert as a person. The movie does a great job of painting a picture of Ebert as a human being, not just a critic, and although it is very lovingly made, I appreciated that it didn't shy away from his faults either (such as his ego, which is mentioned a few times); this of course doesn't take away anything from Roger Ebert at all, the best of men have faults and who could really blame a Pulitzer prize winner for having an ego?
I also really enjoyed the focus on his relationship with Siskel, a classic "enemies become friends" tale, that sadly ends rather tragically, but I think really changed Ebert for the better in a lot of ways.
Ultimately, this is a very well-made documentary and one that is clearly a passion project put together by people who really care about Ebert's legacy. As far as I'm concerned, they did a fantastic job and I'll miss his reviews even more now (I actually went back and reread some of his old ones after the movie). Here's to you Roger Ebert, you may not be able to see us at the movies anymore, but we'll feel you there in spirit.
-Ryan Maples
Rating: 8.5.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382298/?ref_=nv_sr_1
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