Skip to main content

Back to Where It Started


I don't know exactly how to write this entry, except to start off with the fact that I miss Roger Ebert.

It's difficult to put into words, mostly because Mr. Ebert is a man I never knew personally. Our physical paths crossed a time or two during his annual film festival in Champaign-Urbana, but we never spoke, we never e-mailed, we never directly communicated in any way. My relationship with him was as a kid watching him spar with Gene Siskel on an old TV in my bedroom, engrossed in their conversations about movies. And then, as an adult, enjoying his written film reviews, his tweets, and his blog entries.

When Roger Ebert died last April, I felt the loss immediately, mostly because he'd been so prolific through social media during his later years. Knowing that we should no longer expect his updates, or journals, or thoughts on the news was enough to make one sad. Oddly enough, his views on film were a bit distant in the things I would miss about his presence. Now, however, that has changed.

The Academy Award nominations were announced recently, and it occurred to me that I don't think Ebert watched or reviewed any of the nine Best Picture nominees. And it left me sad. Couple that with this time of year being a bit of a frenzy for folks like myself, trying to see some of the most talked-about films of 2013, and I really got into a funk at the (continuing) realization that there will never, ever be another movie where we'll get to know Ebert's opinion of it.

Of the nine Best Picture contenders, I've seen three: Gravity, Philomena and Her (in that order). With Gravity, I thought about Ebert a lot. He tended to like sci-fi movies, and here was a good one. It was science fiction with heart, grounded in a fair smidgen of a reality. But that was one film among many. Now, however, we're in the thick of really good films. After watching both Philomena and Her, I -- almost without thinking -- wanted to look online and read Ebert's review, to see what he thought of them. Alas...

So, we come back to where it all began: a portly, bespectacled, intelligent man from Urbana, Illinois reviewing films. That's where my journey with Roger Ebert started and, after everything from his cancer, his Twitter account, his exquisite blog entries and his wonderful memoir, it all comes back to that. The documentary Life Itself, based on his memoir, will be shown at this year's Ebertfest. That's good. I look forward to seeing it. Almost more, though, I'd love to read Roger's reviews of Nebraska, or 12 Years a Slave.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Cool Breeze

Like so many others, I first met Jean Breeze when I was five years old. She would've been thirty-six at the time. Nearly forty-two years later, our time shared on this earth has come to an end. Jean was a kindergarten teacher at Westview Elementary School in Champaign, Illinois. Her classroom -- at least when I was there -- was at the north end of the school, facing John St. It had a row of windows that let in the sunshine, and it was filled with educational materials, toys and various knick-knacks accumulated over the years. We would take naps there every day. Ms. Breeze would read to us daily. It was a fun place to be. I remember my year there fondly.

Yesterday's Restaurants

The local newspaper has a feature from one of Champaign-Urbana's most legendary restaurateur's, John Katsinas, on what his favorite area restaurants were that have now since closed (or will soon be closing).  It's a nice little read, and has made me stop and think about the restaurants that have come and gone that have left an indelible (and edible) impression on me throughout the years. Here we go....

31 Days of Horror Movies: Thir13en Ghosts

While not a scholar or even a purist, I am somewhat of a film snob. Not a big fan of remakes, specifically when the originals don't need updating. It is therefore an unusual position I find myself in, preferring a remake to an original, and by leaps and bounds. Let's take a look at today's feature...