re: "Hated hated hated hated hated this movie." Ebert's review turns 20

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ebert most likely took payoffs to give shitty movies good review. I don't know how else to explain his lack of consistency.

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No, it's because Ebert looked beyond "fun only," which is really the only drive of the general movie goer. His talent was in, most of the times, being able to communicate what that fun meant in movie terms. This meant...

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also, if he morally objected to a movie, he would give it a bad review. Kick arse isn't a work of art or even a great/memorable movie, but it was a thumb up/over the threshold movie, and he slammed it because he didn't like kids committing violence...what a terrible critic.

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Why is there something wrong with this? To believe that there should be some positive merit to a film is a good thing.

I like Kick-arse, but I'm ok with him not liking it for those very reasons. I get it. He's trying to communicate to a general populace, not just me, that a movie may be unacceptable for certain types of people like him.

That's a bit harsh.

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And again, him making the movie review about him and not about the film.

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Ebert believed in the responsibility of the artist.

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Not that there are any movie critics I enjoy, but for instance there are several game critics who objectively review games, and yet movie critics always make it a statement of taste or personal choice.

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For multiple reasons. First, the game audience is much narrower than the film audience. Second, games have literal, tangible outputs. A terribly controlled game is a terribly controlled game. You can tell. A game that's too easy, again is easy to tell. A game that has bad graphics is obvious.

Films are far more esoteric. People who review games are reviewing a reactive quality with something they can tangibly (for lack of a better word) get feedback from. There are few game reviewers who spend their time reviewing narrative structure, character, writing, cinematography and all the subjective things that are highlighted in films, and that are much more difficult to communicate.

I'm chime in to defend Ebert. He did like some B grade movies, he liked some great movies and missed the boat on others. Undoubtedly many people will think some of his reviews were wrong in retrospect but I really don't think that matters or is the point of being a critic.

He gave the reader his point of view. You understood why he did or didn't like a movie and that helped you to make decisions about whether to see the movie.

Given the diverse tastes of many people around here they would no doubt be accused of being mean spirited, hacks, or paid off by anonymous internet posters but I think that's just the nature of having strong opinions and a perspective when you work in the public eye. Ebert really left behind a great legacy of loving and thinking about film and I think fans of movies tend to appreciate that he was authentic and generally very good at his job.

Just watched North. Your basic bad kids movie. Difference being that it had a cast made up of some pretty major stars.

Didn't know this was Scarlett Johansson's first movie. Little 10 year old Scarjo running around!

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I'm chime in to defend Ebert. He did like some B grade movies, he liked some great movies and missed the boat on others. Undoubtedly many people will think some of his reviews were wrong in retrospect but I really don't think that matters or is the point of being a critic.

He gave the reader his point of view. You understood why he did or didn't like a movie and that helped you to make decisions about whether to see the movie.

Given the diverse tastes of many people around here they would no doubt be accused of being mean spirited, hacks, or paid off by anonymous internet posters but I think that's just the nature of having strong opinions and a perspective when you work in the public eye. Ebert really left behind a great legacy of loving and thinking about film and I think fans of movies tend to appreciate that he was authentic and generally very good at his job.

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Well said.

Marriotti cemented his hypocritical nature when, shortly after bashing some athlete for abusing a woman, was arrested for assaulting a female companion. Goodbye career, hello obscurity.