never understood why Ebert didn't have the good grace to retire. He's one "expert" I got tired of hearing about years ago. Need for money or ego is keeping him going I guess.
Ego is my bet as in "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Siskel has his name before mine!!! I won a Pulitzer mine should've been first!!!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!" (Yes he really did used to bitch and moan about that constantly).
Although I don't always agree with them, I still find his reviews to be much better than most.
Agreed. Ebert was one of those film critics back in the '80's or '90's that I knew if he disliked a movie, than I would certainly. He was very reliable. But over time what he recommended or judged "good" increasingly seemed mediocre. Or just weird. For instance, his fawning over whatshername for whatever her bad film was... was just creepy. Apologies I cant remember either, blocked them out.
For me, I think Ebert became too much a celebrity and wasn't critical enough, or was just too inconsistent between reviews to bear anymore. And reaching out to opine on things like Games as Non-Art was just stupid [which is the point of this thread....] Maybe this is a problem with movie reviewers; namely, the more popular they become and chummy with the media and film stars, the more they start to flake. In the last few years I found the same arc with Mark Kermode. Anyways, YMMV etc.
I've certainly become less reliable as my popularity rises.
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone