Again, my thanks. My stubborn rejected of popular culture in my youth kept me from reading pieces by then-famous critics and these are in fact the first widely-published film reviews I've ever read - and I am quite impressed.

By the time I shed (at least a layer) of my social isolation and opened myself up to elements of mass media (and to published criticisms) it was 2012 and my access point to media (the web) flooded me with amateur crit work from blogs and b-movie crowd-sourced review sites. Metacritic has replaced the crowned kings of criticism.

But the two pieces you shared were insightful, well-composed, and informative. I'm now curious to read more of this caliber.

Thanks again!

Well, Ebert did win a Pulitzer Prize for his writing. I love the guy and still mourn his passing.

A good place to start.

Great Movies | Roger Ebert

Enjoy 2001: A Space Odyssey!

He was a great man.
I didn't necessarily agree with all his reviews, but they were always insightful and prepared you for what was to come.
And he did have a wonderful taste overall.
Deciding whether I want to watch a particular movie has become much harder since he died.

The worst I ever disagreed with him was with Fight Club. He totally blew that one.

You've seen "Life Itself" right? Would love to hear your thoughts on that.

I haven't.
I'm not big on documentaries, although this one should be worth watching.

Have tissues close by. It's so well done and incredibly insightful. His relationship with Siskel was the very definition of Love/Hate. But in the end it was all a very deep love.

Hey Chula, this discussion was pretty fun! Do you want to have another, with a different movie?

I just read his review, and yeah, he missed the point. It's like he understands what the movie is trying to say, but just doesn't like all the violence or the types of people he feels would enjoy the movie, so he misinterprets it out of spite.

I don't see Fight Club as being about any kind of philosophy. It doesn't have any answers, it just expresses the irreconcilable differences between primal male psychology and modern life: modern society castrates a man's urges toward violence and action (there's a reason we play football and Call of Duty), but when they give themselves fully to "masculinity", they become slaves to their new hunter/gatherer lifestyle just as much as they were before. The movie doesn't even really take sides, or suggest a solution, it just expresses frustration.

And when you find out that the author is gay, it kind of adds another element.

Pretty much.

To be fair, though, most of the young guys who like the movie are a bunch of meathead morons who miss the point.

P.S. In a little less than a couple of weeks, we have proto-metal in the Metal Album Survivor thread. Zeppelin, Sabbath, UFO, etc. I expect you to show up when the time comes.