Oh, this movie is so, so hard to watch. 5/5
Yes, this movie is so, so hard to watch, especially since my thoughts and feelings about
Roger Ebert have changed so much over the years.
When the PBS show "Sneak Previews" began I watched as much as I could. I loved the
show and seemed to agree more with Roger than Gene who I thought was callous and
kind of cold, although occasionally on some movies the feeling reversed and I sided with
Gene and felt that Roger was a big to soft and sappy.
Then sadly Gene died, and Roger was left alone with a series of other people or different
shows. I can still think of the theme song to "Sneak Previews" and I really appreciated
that show and learned about so many movies and things in life that I never thought of or
knew existed, particularly documentaries and foreign movies.
Over the years I am not sure what happened but I started to feel that to make a living
Roger had to sell the movies he reviewed. He was occasionally allowed to pan one or
two movies, but there were a few movies that I thought he gave a 5 to, such as the
Pirates of the Caribbean, that made me sick to my stomach. After seeing so many good
things from this man to see him reduced to the relentless positivism that nauseates me
so these days ... I just could not watch him anymore.
Years went by, and now I heard that Roger was sick, and seeing him and what he had
to live with in his last years just brings tears to my eyes. This is a true exploitation film,
but he is right, it shows us something we do not see very often. I feel so sorry for Roger,
and the compromises he made in his life, and what he ended up with.
The movie is good in that it tells us about the good stuff Roger did in his life, his trials
and tribulations, his triumphs and failures ... really about life itself. Roger lived a good
life. I don't know I can say that I liked him or admired him, but there is a little bit of all
that and some respect, but mostly thanks for the good parts of him that were transmitted
through PBS, the media and the Internet to me so I could learn and grow, so how could
I not be thankful and grateful and respectful of that.
Here is a guy I would never have known in a million years who had a real personal, and
yet non-toxic effect on my life and I am sure many others. There is a lot to be admired
and respected in that, even if he was hard to work with or did write softballs reviews in
his waning years.
I'm sorry Roger is gone, and I feel terrible that he had to go through all of that. I know
I would not want to, and probably could not afford to anyway. Thanks Rog.
5/5 - this does what most movies try to do, touch and affect the viewers personally and
it was a great success in that.
1) UnWatchable 2)Watchable,ButBad 3)Decent,SeeOnce 4)Good,Repeat&Recommend 5)Great,Classic