Roger Ebert taught me how to love movies. He peeled back the curtain and took out the guts of anything he spoke on in a way no other critic did. Every Ebert review I read felt like this wonderful celebration of art even when he hated something. Every other critic sounded just sounded like they were talking to themselves.
I was never able to catch Siskel and Ebert on television at
the right time, nor could I ever consistently watch the show when Richard
Roeper came aboard. But in the age of the internet when I discovered "At The Movies" I went to town. I watched every review of every film that I loved and reveled in the discussion.
Ebert embraced possibility in film. Even in the moments I disagreed with
him(everything he ever said about video games), I felt the discussion he drove
inspired only the positive.
I always imagined myself in my wildest fantasies one day
meeting him, and thanking him for every inspiration to piece together a
sentence I could need. Maybe I would show him my films? Maybe he would love
them? Maybe he would hate them? I just wanted to talk about them.
As a movie fan, I feel like I’ve lost my voice on what to
look for. Then again, Mr. Ebert lost his voice long ago with this whole cancer
thing, yet still spoke volumes about the art he loved. The only thing I can do
is remember what he taught me: that movies can teach you things about life you
would have never thought possible.
I’ll miss you Roger. But I’ll think about you every time I
walk into a theater with a ticket in my hand. You’re the reason I’m still there.
-Z
