I personally like how Ebert managed to seem down-to-earth and snobby at the same time, but I do agree that he seemed to "round up" his ratings a lot. For example, always seemed very grateful to be living in an age where technology allowed him and others to see stuff that could barely be imagined while he was a child, and this gratitude, while admirable, led him to give outstanding reviews to films that were average at best, such as The Phantom Menace and Avatar. Even his review and rating of the first Transformers movie seems generous. Meanwhile, Gene may have been more snobby and contributed less to the film criticism culture, but I doubt a documentary about someone who spent his childhood hanging out with Playmates would be boring, at least not if they just made sure to keep it short enough (a common criticism of Ebert's film is that they didn't).
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