History Creator / RogerEbert

[[CausticCritic His wrath, when deployed, was legendary.]] He published three compilations of bad reviews: ''[[Film/{{North}} I Hated, Hated, HATED This Movie!]]'' (reviews published in 1999 and earlier), ''[[Film/DeuceBigalow Your Movie Sucks]]'' (reviews published from 2000-2006) and ''[[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length]]'' (reviews published from 2006-2011). He printed annual compilations of his movie reviews from TheEighties onward, and wrote three books of essays about his favorite movies entitled ''The Great Movies''. These essays are also available on his website in a condensed form. He also wrote Literature/EbertsGlossaryOfMovieTerms, ''Ebert's Little Movie Glossary'' and ''Ebert's Bigger Little Movie Glossary,'' which are books of FilmTropes in ''Literature/TheDevilsDictionary'' form. (An even bigger movie glossary is on his web page.) They could be considered a proto Wiki/TVTropes in a sense (and the {{Trope Namer|s}} for many).

When Siskel died in 1999, Ebert kept on the show with guest hosts until it was settled that it would be ''At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper,'' with Richard Roeper, another ''Chicago Sun-Times'' critic. This made him the most important living movie critic in America. The show ended in 2008 partially because his throat cancer was preventing him from doing most of the episodes for over a year and a half (to do film reviews on television, you obviously have to be able to speak). Sadly, due to a few surgeries that successfully eradicated his cancer, [[TheSpeechless Ebert lost the ability to speak entirely]] and part of his lower jaw was removed. During the last few years of his life, he "spoke" through handwritten notes and a computer speech program. In 2010, a Scottish company created a voice similar to Ebert's own for him to use as his new "voice," using his DVD commentaries and other similar recordings.

* Another review [[InUniverse addressed the]] UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny where one comment said that [[Franchise/XMen Wolverine would beat Storm]] in a fight because he could heal, whereas Storm would die once stabbed by Wolverine. His response was simply to question how someone whose power is [[GoodThingYouCanHeal healing]] could be more powerful than someone who can ''[[ElementalPowers control the elements.]]''

* BerserkButton: Movies that were exploitative, racist, or trying too hard to be "hip" tended to ignite his rage the most.

In 2011, to replace the new ''At the Movies'' which had been canceled by its distributor, Ebert and his wife Chaz started their own movie review show on Creator/{{PBS}} called ''Ebert Presents at the Movies'' hosted by Christy Lemire of the Associated Press and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of Mubi, which follows largely the same format as Ebert's other shows. Ebert himself appeared in a segment on the show called "Roger's Office" which features voice over narration (either with the help of either his new "voice," or a famous friend such as Creator/WernerHerzog or Bill Kurtis) of one of his recent reviews or musings. Ebert still wrote weekly review columns as well as a daily blog and maintained a very active Website/{{Twitter}} account, where he was still an influential force in movie criticism's new dominant medium. His last cancer "treatments" had been such tough going through that he vowed that if the cancer re-emerged, he would let it take its course; [[FaceDeathWithDignity this eventually transpired in 2013.]] His website continues to publish reviews, now written by a team of reviewers.

* RantInducingSlight: Filmmakers invoking NotScreenedForCritics as a ''[[ItsNotSupposedToWinOscars defense]]'' of their work was a sore point for Ebert. Ebert's responses to Creator/KevinSmith and Creator/RobSchneider are two classic examples of this, and from 2005 to 2006, he instituted the "Wagging Finger Of Shame" for all movies that were not screened for critics. (It was discontinued when Ebert realized Hollywood wasn't taking the "Wagging Finger Of Shame" seriously.)

** From [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970411/REVIEWS/704110304/1023 his review]] of ''Film/PinkFlamingos'':
--->'''Ebert:''' Note: I am not giving a star rating to ''Pink Flamingos'', because stars simply seem not to apply. It should be considered not as a film but as a fact, or perhaps as an object.

* WalkingOutOnTheShow: He didn't do it very often, but he did leave ''Caligula'' before it was over.

* WritersCannotDoMath: Ebert was consistent in translating a two-and-a-half star review (out of four) as a "marginal thumbs-down" on ''Siskel & Ebert'', and describing it in text as a "negative review". Two-and-a-half stars out of four is 62.5%, a passing grade in many places, and certainly means there was more about the film to like than dislike.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Because of Roger's endless work cycle -- watching movies, writing reviews, filming ''At The Movies'', as well as conducting interviews and writing thinkpieces -- he rarely saw trailers or even any advertising for most films and went into them cold, which was reflected in his reviews. So unaffected he was by this trope, he was even unaware of the basic premises for such films like ''Film/TheTrumanShow''[[note]]in which he theorized while watching the film that Truman might have actually been suffering from paranoia fuel until the Christ of portion of the film kicked in[[/note]], ''Film/FieldOfDreams''[[note]]because of the AmbiguousSyntax of the title, he didn't know that the film was about baseball until the vision of the baseball field appears to Ray[[/note]], and ''Film/IronMan''[[note]]although Roger was an avid comics reader in his youth, Iron Man was not in his orbit and was completely in the dark about Tony Stark, even admitting in his review that he half-assumed Tony's brain would be put into a robot a la ''[[Film/Robocop1987 Robocop]]''[[/note]]

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Because of Roger's endless work cycle -- watching movies, writing reviews, filming ''At The Movies'', as well as conducting interviews and writing thinkpieces -- he rarely saw trailers or even any advertising for most films and went into them cold, which was reflected in his reviews. So unaffected he was by this trope, he was even unaware of the basic premises for such films like ''Film/TheTrumanShow''[[note]]in which he theorized while watching the film that Truman might have actually been suffering from paranoia fuel until the Christof portion of the film kicked in[[/note]], ''Film/FieldOfDreams''[[note]]because of the AmbiguousSyntax of the title, he didn't know that the film was about baseball until the vision of the baseball field appears to Ray[[/note]], and ''Film/IronMan''[[note]]although Roger was an avid comics reader in his youth, Iron Man was not in his orbit and was completely in the dark about Tony Stark, even admitting in his review that he half-assumed Tony's brain would be put into a robot a la ''[[Film/Robocop1987 Robocop]]''[[/note]]

* QuoteSource:
** ActorAllusion
** AlphaBitch
** BrokeTheRatingScale
** TheChiefsDaughter
** CrossesTheLineTwice
** DutchAngle
** EndingFatigue
** ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
** IdiotPlot
** Film/MyDinnerWithAndre
** Creator/NicolasCage
** NoOSHACompliance
** PragmaticAdaptation
** Film/{{Roxanne}}
** RogerRabbitEffect
** ShotForShotRemake
** WhiteMansBurden

* BigAnimeEyes: [[https://youtu.be/_9WEyuMq0Yk?t=161 Here]]'s what Ebert has to say about anime eyes.

** InsultToRocks

* CoolOldGuy: Took on this role in the Roeper years. Unlike Gene, who was just four years younger than Roger, Roeper was younger and less academic, thus letting Ebert act like the more worldly of the two. It was played for laughs as well, such as when Ebert claimed to be more in touch with younger viewers.

* BigFun: Was often mocked for being overweight, but had an ever-present wit and was often seen smiling and joking in his show.

** His original review of ''Film/WalkTheLine'' was under the impression that a) Joaquin Phoenix was lip-synching to Johnny Cash's music, as he felt it was too uncanny to be Phoenix and b) Johnny Cash proposing to June Carter mid-song was a Hollywood fabrication, although one that Ebert liked anyway. To his astonishment, he learned through the credits that Phoenix did indeed do his own singing, and through responses to the Movie Answer Man, that Cash proposed to Carter as depicted in the film, which was then amended in the review.

-->-- '''Roger Ebert''' on ''Film/DeuceBigalow: European Gigolo,'' a movie on his [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList most hated film list.]]

!!Films he really liked:

* RogerEbertGreatMoviesList

!!Films he really hated:

* RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList

----
!! {{Trope Namer|s}} for:

* FruitCart
* HyperlinkStory
* [[invoked]]IdiotPlot
----

* FourPointScale: Following the Sun-Times editorial policy, Ebert assigned his movie reviews four-star ratings, but often commented on the limitations of the system, such as in his blog post "[[http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/you-give-out-too-many-stars You Give Out Too Many Stars]]." He notes that his reviews do tend to skew positive, and that he considered 2.5 stars to be a pan[[note]]though he also once noted that 2.5 could register as a full 3 stars if said film was of interest in some way to the viewer, or they were a big fan of the genre/director/etc.[[/note]]. He also wrote a lengthy series of appreciations of [[RogerEbertGreatMoviesList Great Movies]], all of which were given four stars. That said, he [[CausticCritic never hesitated to award low marks]] to [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList bad movies]], though for one to earn ''zero'' stars, he had to consider it not just bad but somehow immoral.

Siskel and Ebert's [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple passive aggressive chemistry]] was the stuff of legend. It was often thought that due to their occasionally hostile on-screen presence when they disagreed, that the two hated each other. However, [[VitriolicBestBuds each considered the other a close friend,]] even if their relationship was competitive by nature. In fact, in 2009 on the tenth anniversary of Siskel's death, Ebert posted a [[http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/02/i_remember_gene.html touching remembrance]] of his friend on his blog.

When Siskel [[AuthorExistenceFailure died in 1999,]] Ebert kept on the show with guest hosts until it was settled that it would be ''At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper,'' with Richard Roeper, another ''Chicago Sun-Times'' critic. This made him the most important living movie critic in America. The show ended in 2008 partially because his throat cancer was preventing him from doing most of the episodes for over a year and a half (to do film reviews on television, you obviously have to be able to speak). Sadly, due to a few surgeries that successfully eradicated his cancer, [[TheSpeechless Ebert lost the ability to speak entirely]] and part of his lower jaw was removed. During the last few years of his life, he "spoke" through handwritten notes and a computer speech program. In 2010, a Scottish company created a voice similar to Ebert's own for him to use as his new "voice," using his DVD commentaries and other similar recordings.