Whenever I see phrases like "equal-opportunity offender" or "skewers all sides" or "something to offend everyone" in a movie review, I fear what it really means is that the filmmakers are spineless flip-floppers, pandering to the audience with desperate attempts to please everybody by insulting everybody. (The best informed Americans turned out to be those who listened to National Public Radio -- and, probably, watched "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."). I can almost better understand the question the other way around: "What does a politician, or any 'layman,' know about movies?" "Palin made $100,000 for her Tea Party speech slamming over-spending and greed," he wrote in one representative Tweet. Do political opinions belong in movie reviews? Film critics can also be pretty savvy about the way images and personalities are presented, molded, and manipulated in order to affect the audience. Jamie Lee Curtis offended as Oscars go to hell. And here's why: Movies -- especially, ahem, political documentaries -- aren't made or shown in a vacuum, and when they raise political issues, it's not only the critic's right to discuss them, it's his professional duty. I wrote that no liberal-minded African-American family who was so sensitive to the political implications of their consumer food choices would buy Coors; surely this was an example of product placement that was not true to the characters in the film. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images), take aim at targets ranging from the Tea Party to climate change, Ebert took aim at Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, telling Tea Partiers to admit they "own" the term now, vicious attacks on Ebert's medical condition, appears to give Congress a piece of his mind on the question of censoring films and music. Some readers have objected that Ebert has not been reviewing certain pro-Bush (or anti-Michael Moore or anti-Kerry) films, like "Fahrenhype 9/11" or the reportedly still unfinished anti-Kerry television program, "Stolen Honor." Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. So, let's look at the facts: Roger Ebert reported many of the factual errors in Michael Moore's previous film, "Bowling for Columbine," in his subsequent Answer Man columns, and has written about allegations of misrepresentation in "Fahrenheit 9/11" as well. When a Coors representative wrote in to The Register saying that today's Coors was supportive of black businesses, the paper's Ombudsman wrote a column saying that political comments did not belong in movie reviews. At a time when the world is in crisis and the country faces an important election, the response of Parker, Stone and company is to sneer at both sides -- indeed, at anyone who takes the current world situation seriously. Why should I listen to what a movie critic has to say about politics? I mean, really..." These celebrity Grand Guignol deaths are actually just a more explicit, less imaginative retread of the same dumb (but funny!) A. 04/04/2013 03:51 PM EDT. Would any of these political performers have been elected if they hadn't exploited the fame, influence, and money they earned in the entertainment business? It has the freedom and recklessness of Oliver Stone or Robert Altman in their mad-dog days, and a visual style that hungers for impact. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. If someone is interested in believing the truth, then she will not take the presentation of contrary evidence and argument as some kind of injury.". It's funny to ridicule the sanctimonious, but to target Baldwin because (for example) he says we should all be driving hybrid cars (not only for environmental reasons but because revenues from Middle East oil directly support terrorist activities)? So, was it inappropriate to make that observation? Well, since we launched RogerEbert.com at the beginning of October, I (as editor of the site) have been sifting through a lot of e-mail from readers offering what I consider to be similarly unreasonable admonitions: "Keep your political opinions out of your movie reviews!" That's a legitimate question, and the fact is we don't know.) "I write about the TeePees because it's so sad how they've been manipulated to oppose their own best interests," he explained to the LA Times. https://www.rogerebert.com/scanners/politics-celebs-and-movie-critics "Team America" makes them out to be world-movers -- and then bestows martyrdom upon them by treating them to the most spectacular, ego-gratifying deaths imaginable. Roger Ebert was a national treasure, and his death in 2013 left a smoking crater in the world of film criticism. For some reason (maybe because so many people like to watch movies) it's generally accepted that, when it comes to cinema, everybody's a critic. A lot of the movie offended me. ), the rest of Europe, Israel, and the Arab world -- that flatly (and in many cases irrefutably) contradicted what the administration was saying and the American press was reporting as if it were fact. But remember, just because a critic is of one stripe or another, doesn't automatically invalidate their views or arguments. As long as everybody gets pricked the barbs don't really draw blood and nobody really gets hurt. The cardinal rule of critical thinking is just this: Base your opinions on looking at the evidence (whether it's by paying close attention to a movie or reading declassified government documents on the Internet or refreshing your memory by double-checking exactly who said what and when), not on just what somebody says the evidence says. Roger was a wonderful man who overcame a very tragic illness and fought it to the end. Since when does your job disqualify you from expressing your political opinions? Q. OK, political documentaries are one thing. Yes, this is an election year. Q. Ebert started his journey as a film critic writing for the Chicago Sun. Satire requires a coherent,underlying point of view beyond hacky stand-up cliches: "Don't you just hate self-important Hollywood actors?!?! Q. Roger Ebert, who died today at the age of 70, will always be remembered for what his work gave to the world of … He had his doubts. "Access Hollywood"? As it happens, Roger Ebert (to name one critic with whom you are perhaps familiar) is an American citizen who's been active in, and informed about, politics longer than he's been a movie critic. http://t.co/Hw7CUBvdAE. Let me cite one example from personal experience: When I was the film critic for the Orange County Register, the Libertarian paper in conservative Orange County, California, in the early 1990s, I made an political observation in a review of "Lethal Weapon III" which, I thought, violated the integrity of the characters. ++ It took a television political comedy show -- the fake newscast "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" -- to start holding politicians accountable for what they say and do by actually showing news clips of them saying and doing it. Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Roger Ebert's take on Michael Cimino's epic 1980 boondoggle Heaven's Gate is almost as legendarily awesome as the film itself is legendarily terrible. As it happens, Roger Ebert (to name one critic with whom you are perhaps familiar) is an American citizen who's been active in, and informed about, politics longer than he's been a movie critic. Topic Archived; Page 1 of 2; Last ; You're browsing the GameFAQs Message Boards as a guest. Can it really be that, in the insular showbiz world of Parker and Stone, the opinions of movie and TV actors are more upsetting and carry more weight than those of presidents and potentates? Indeed, the shot of two or more people, not quite full length, but conversing and interacting, was often called 'the American shot' in French film commentary. Given carte blanche to make literally any movie he wanted to after the success of The Deer Hunter, Cimino responded with one of the longest, most ridiculously unfocused, insanely incoherent films ever put together. Entertainers have always endorsed or criticized American politicians; both are public figures engaged in image-making of one sort or another. Freedom Responsibility Feel. Back in the day, a movie would live or die based on what Mr. Ebert said. Politics is especially pervasive in 2004 because the country is so deeply divided over the presidency of George W. Bush and because there's an audience hungry for basic information that isn't or wasn't being reported by the so-called "mainstream" news media -- whether it's the New York Times (where more pertinent factual information about the impending invasion of Iraq came from opinion columnists Paul Krugman and Nicholas Kristof than from the paper's beefy, well-funded reporting staff) to Fox News (which is so deeply embedded in the Bush administration it lets its anchors editorialize on the air as they read). But in the next scene, Mel Gibson's character goes into their kitchen and takes a can of Coors Light out of the refrigerator. Roger Ebert's funeral targeted by Westboro Baptist church Twitter link posted by late Chicago Sun-Times film reviewer attracts ire of anti-gay organisation Published: 8 Apr 2013 Politics, on the other hand, is something it is actually the duty of every American to know something about, since democracy itself can't function without an informed populace. The Political Writings of Roger Ebert. Those are three subjects that don't always fit easily together. Roger Ebert was an American film critic. Since Roger Ebert died I've been watching the tribute writers struggle to express his contribution. Trey, Matt: Lighten up, guys! (Like: How does the long-established relationship between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family affect American foreign policy, or the perception of it in the world? https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a6945/roger-ebert-0310 You would have thought that major news organizations had scrapped their clip libraries; they would report "both sides" of what was said in any given news cycle, but never bothered to check on the veracity of either side. They are meant to be seen in that context -- as counter-arguments. But, especially in the second half, the so-called political comedy of "Team America" (when it's not laboriously dragging itself, straight-faced, through long boring patches of rote action-movie genre requirements that' are as tedious as the real thing by Michael Bay) is as Lite as Dennis Miller -- except that Miller is an airhead who likes to appear smarter than he really is and Parker and Stone are wily entertainers (deep down, like their showbiz mentors Don Rickles and Jerry Lewis, they just want desperately to be loved!) Q. Q. By making such a big bloody deal about the opinions of Hollywood celebs, and consigning the sanctimonious offenders to the most gruesome fates, "Team America" makes them appear WAY more important and prominent than they really are -- and it takes them dead seriously as a Threat to the Republic, which is not only equally self-righteous but delusional. who like to appear disingenuously dumber (and therefore less responsible for whatever they say or do) than -- I hope -- they really are. Roger Ebert. Ebert handpicked writers from around the world to contribute to the website. If it's there on the screen, and it inspires a reaction, then it's worth mentioning in a review. At The Atlantic, Christopher Orr rightly describes Ebert as a … Part of HuffPost Entertainment. "How could you," he asked the director, his voice trembling with sincerity, "despite your talented cast and great production values, make such a bleak, negative, amoral film? (No, wait, those don't get much coverage in mainstream news media...). recurring celeb-bashing joke on SCTV's "Farm Film Report" ("She blowed up real good! By ASSOCIATED PRESS. Here are some recent Tweets that show what was on Ebert's mind in his final weeks: One more day at the Westboro Baptist church. The filmmakers are building a case -- and raising questions they feel need to be asked, even if the answers are still unknown. But maybe I'm biased. Some may see his very choices of what to review as, in part, a reflection of his politics. His career began in 1966, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times ' Sunday magazine. Even the character the movie sets up as being the Most Dangerous Man in the World, crazed pygmy dictator Kim Jong Il of North Korea, gets off lightly by comparison. This is the tragedy of a victim of the Peter Principle. Roger Ebert on politics. Q. It was widely reported (and endlessly repeated, mostly in jokes) that Gore had said he'd "invented the Internet"; that he'd claimed the novel and movie "Love Story" was based on him; that he'd discovered the toxic waste problem at Love Canal. Q. Roger Joseph Ebert was the all-time best-known, most successful movie critic in cinema history, when one thinks of his establishing a rapport with both serious cineastes and the movie-going public and reaching more movie fans via television and print than any other critic. Much later, and ever a man of his time, Ebert not only adapted to the computer age but also made it work for him when cancer robbed him of his distinctive voice and disarmingly feminine telegenic appearance. A. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you. After losing the power to speak, legendary film critic Roger Ebert went on to write about creativity, race, politics and culture — and film, just as brilliantly as ever. Why does Ebert review so many anti-Bush movies? These sorts of ad hominem attacks (spuriously attacking the person as a person, to avoid having to engage with the substance of their arguments) are a trademark of the modern American right (see the self-righteously named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," whose TV ads cited no evidence for their condemnation of John Kerry beyond vague allegations that Kerry wasn't "telling the truth" about "what happened in Vietnam" -- which could mean almost anything, and so means nothing in particular.) It's true that expertise in one field doesn't automatically imply expertise in another. That week before Roger passed away, I would see him and he would talk about having visited this other place. Is we do n't know. make that observation from the real world as to be just... Is too long and runs out of steam, but it serves as a film Had. This attention he was … Roger Joseph Ebert was the first film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until... 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