Roger Ebert

[Rodneyontheblock]

Other than the fact that he was the father of all critics musically he was imfamously noted for calling the Graduate soundtrack a unmemorable throwaway. That and he had his Oscar preshow where he got to select whom he thought should win at the Oscar for each catagory which included BEST SONG and his selections were usually right on especially for indie music fans since he loved Elliot Smith's work and thought he was robbed when he lost for BEST SONG. He also stuck up for Bjork when that arrogant Richard Roeper called her voice unbearable while her and Thom Yorke were nominated for best song. It's going to be so hard to read reviews on Metacritic without seeing his name and reviews listed from now on. Such a great loss to fans of critics worldwide.

[jamieW]

Well said, Rodneyontheblock. I didn't often agree with his taste in music (I remember him being particularly hard on Neil Young), but I was once studying film criticism, and thoroughly enjoyed watching him and Gene Siskel many years ago. As a film critic, I thought he was one of the best writers out there, and was very sorry to hear that he'd died. He was a huge inspiration to me when I used to write about films myself, until I realized that all of my favorite movies were either 30-70 years old, small, independent films, or foreign films that would never be shown at the multiplexes where I live, meaning that I probably would've been negatively reviewing 9 out of every 10 "blockbuster" movies I was forced to watch. I'll forever be thankful, though, for Roger Ebert's eloquent writing, and the fact that he brought many of my favorite movies to my attention (including the terrific "Dancer in the Dark," featuring a powerful performance by Bjork, which you mentioned).

[BleuPanda]

His death has hit hard for me. I go to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and him being an alumni is a big part of why I decided to go there for film studies. Definitely a big blow to me. But the way he has affected me and what I plan to do in life will live on forever.

[Stephan]

He will definitely be missed; he was one of the critics I could pretty much always depend on--even when we disagreed. I'll be giving This Movie Sucks another read sometime soon. It's a perfect illustration of how he made every review fun to read, something which hardly anyone else does.

[Gillingham]

I didn't know that he died until now. Sad news.
I don't know about his tastes in music, but I do enjoy reading his film reviews.

[McJagger]

He wrote a screenplay for a proposed Sex Pistols movie called "Who Killed Bambi?" that you can read here:http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04 ... enpla.html