What Movies Did You Agree/Disagree with Roger Ebert?
I remember reading his review of Planes, Trains and Automobiles and he was not entirely thrilled. He didn't like Steve Martin's character, he hated the music, he had a lot of complaints. Since I liked the movie, it really stuck in my mind. Years later, I went back to read his review and he had changed it. Now it was a holiday favorite, no music complaints, etc. I always wondered if he read it later and found it too harsh or if, after it become so popular, he thought his review looked incorrect.
Still, I liked Roger Ebert and on his recommendation I went to see Made in America. One of the worst movies ever IMO. It starred Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson and talk about a lot of obnoxious overacting with these two. Ted Danson was completely over the top and wearing cowboy boots, it was just dumb. I could not understand what Ebert liked about the movie, it was just really bad.
After that, I hesitated to blindly go to the movies he recommended but I often was struck by how well written his reviews were. He was good at cutting to the core of a character, such as Sideways, where his first observation is Paul Giamatti plays an alcoholic. I wanted to give Paul Giamatti's character more credit, but in reality, Ebert was right.
I read that Ebert taught some film classes; I would have loved to have attended or even seen him lecture. I bet they were interesting.