Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

14 Apr 2011 19:06

tags

Culture: Roger Ebert’s masterful one-star review of “Atlas Shrugged”

  • A man in black, always shot in shadow, is apparently John Galt. If you want to get a good look at him and find out why everybody is asking, I hope you can find out in Part 2. I don’t think you can hold out for Part 3.
  • Roger Ebert • In his one-star review of “Atlas Shrugged, Part 1.” Another sample of Ebert ripping apart the cash-in film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s masterwork: “There is also a love scene, which is shown not merely from the waist up but from the ears up. The man keeps his shirt on. This may be disappointing for libertarians, who I believe enjoy rumpy-pumpy as much as anyone.” It’s times like these that Roger Ebert works best — by, due to the nature of the subject material, changing from critic into comic. source

16 Feb 2011 15:01

tags

Politics: Lara Logan released from hospital, in “remarkably good spirits”

  • good news on the lara logan front. It’s being reported that Logan has been dismissed from the hospital following her “brutal and sustained sexual assault” in Cairo. While an unnamed source claims that, fortunately, Logan’s assault was “not a rape,” we can hardly imagine of the terror of it, especially in the context of a wild, tumultuous scene in Tahrir Square. Logan is reportedly in surprisingly good spirits, and is home with her family. Best wishes for her, and for her recovery. Relatedly, though, film critic Roger Ebert had this to say: “The attack on Lara Logan brings Middle East attitudes toward women into sad focus.” We’re all for somberly analyzing the broad implications of specific events, but really? Unless you can’t imagine a woman in America being sexually assaulted in a chaotic mob, it seems a little cheap and easy to paint a whole part of the world with the brush of this horrible event. Still, better than Nir Rosen’s analysis was. source

29 Sep 2010 21:06

tags

Culture: Reviews: “The Social Network” receives epic amount of praise

  • » What Roger Ebert says: If you only trust Roger Ebert like us, you can feel free to know that this is in fact the movie of the century: “David Fincher’s film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its brilliant hero, but in the same way. It is cocksure, impatient, cold, exciting and instinctively perceptive.” So yeah, we’ll be at the theater on Friday wearing a “Free Zuckerberg” shirt.

11 Sep 2010 11:58

tags

Culture: Cancer survivor Roger Ebert’s bringing back “At the Movies”

  • Nobody can hold Roger Ebert down. The notable film critic, whose health problems (and amazing methods of working around them) have warmed the hearts of many in recent years, isn’t letting his condition hold him down. In fact, he’s bringing back his old “Two Thumbs Up” workhorse, this time in a return to its public-television roots. While he won’t be one of the two main critics (AP’s Christy Lemire and NPR’s Elvis Mitchell take those reins), Ebert will be featured in every episode, speaking in his newly-computerized voice. This rules. source

13 May 2010 11:19

tags

Politics: Some bizarro hippie has been ripping on Roger Ebert’s cancer

Ebert has long been a critic of the bizarro hippies who gives as hard as he gets, but let’s face it guys, making fun of his condition (as Caleb Howe did) is below the belt. source

30 Apr 2010 09:45

tags

Culture: Roger Ebert’s official stance on 3-D movies: He hates them

  • 3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension. Hollywood’s current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal. It adds nothing essential to the moviegoing experience.
  • Film critic and all-around awesome person Roger Ebert • Talking about the craze towards three-dimensional films started by “Avatar” and continued with pretty much every major hit movie so far this year. His argument? It makes you sick, and you don’t really need it to tell a great story. “A great film completely engages our imaginations,” he writes. “What would ‘Fargo’ gain in 3-D? ‘Precious’? ‘Casablanca’?” source

12 Apr 2010 10:10

tags

Politics: The professional god-like newspaper critic: A dying art form?

  • We’re all critics. If I were starting Entertainment Weekly today, it wouldn’t be a magazine, and it likely wouldn’t hire critics.
  • Entertainment Weekly founder (and iPad hatah) Jeff Jarvis • Regarding the state of criticdom. With a much wider variety of voices and the decline of the newspaper industry, the importance of movie, music, food and book critics is quickly declining, and some wonder if the nuance of the art will go away. “If Roger Ebert says it, does it carry value? Yes,” Jarvis notes. “But how many Roger Eberts are out there, and how many do we need?” Personally, we like Roger, but Metacritic gives a wider range. source
 

02 Mar 2010 15:42

tags

Culture: Amazing: Roger Ebert “talks” in his real voice again

  • There are no words for how awesome this is. Ebert is an amazing human being. source

28 Feb 2010 11:58

tags

Culture: Roger Ebert will start “talking” again on Oprah. Whoa.

Ebert did some commentary tracks before he lost his voice. Those tracks were used to create a computerized Ebert voice, which will hit Oprah tomorrow. Whoa. source

18 Feb 2010 21:55

tags

Culture: Dear Roger Ebert: You’re awesome. Esquire is awesome, too.

  • This is Roger Ebert. He’s not looking like he did during his heyday, worn away by thyroid cancer. But even though he can’t speak, eat or drink due to the removal of his jaw, he’s still an amazing personality, something his blog (and this immaculate Esquire profile) emphasizes. He’s put on a brave face despite what’s happened to him, and it speaks volumes of him that he’s still a vibrant human being despite his condition. You rule, Roger. source