Iconic film reviewer and journalist Roger Ebert passed away today. Hurrying around my office on an errand today, I glanced at my phone and saw that someone had tweeted, "Roger Ebert R.I.P." and I had to pause for a second to register my shock and sadness. I had only heard yesterday that he was taking a "leave of presence" to deal with a reoccurence of the cancer which has afflicted him for many years. I admire his volume of work and the intelligence and clarity of his reviews. He's the type of person I would like to emulate in my own writing. I am not sure if I ever shall. He and reviewer Gene Siskel added a new dimension to movie viewing for me in a way that no trite 3D treatment ever could. For better or worse, after watching their views and considering their viewpoints, I could not think of movies in the same way again. It prompted me to write a blog post about them a few years ago.
http://crossroadsofimagination.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-roger-ebert-and-gene-siskel-made-me.html
I am very grateful to Roger Ebert for expanding my ideas about my movie viewing. I don't consider myself a real cinephile, but he definitely taught me to consider movies from a different angle and think a bit differently. He was a true teacher.
Goodbye sir......
Read more about Mr. Ebert from the paper where he got his start in his long and prolific career:
The Sun-Times on Roger Ebert
