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Roger Ebert

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Biography

Recent Role:
Co-Host on Roger Ebert Presents At The Movies
Gender:
Male
Birthplace:
Urbana, Illinois, USA
Birth Name:
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was born Reinhold Timm June 18, 1942 in Urbana, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois and received an undergraduates while working on the "The Daily Illini".z

In 1967, he began his long association with "The Chicago Sun Times" where he would spend the rest of his journalistic career as their chief film critic.

In 1975, Roger Ebert became the first and, to date, only film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize. Also that she year, he began his association with a fellow critic named Gene Siskel as the two were paired on a monthly local show



… More called Opening Soon At a Theater Near You which eventually moved to PBS. It was a completely new kind of television format consisting of two guys sitting in theater seats discussing the latest movies, and summing up their assessment with a simple "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" assessment.

In 1982, their show, under the new title At the Movies, went into syndication and was now seen nationwide and in 1986 they joined with Buena Vista under the new title Siskel & Ebert, a title that would remain for the next two decades.

The two became so popular that their bitter fights were parodied in movies and in TV skits and eventually the trademark on "Thumbs Up - Thumbs Down" became such a part of popular culture that Gene and Roger had it trademarked.

On February 20, 1999, he lost is longtime friend and colleague Gene Siskel to cancer. Feeling that his friend would want him to go on with the show, he began inviting a series of guest critics from various newspapers to review the new movies, at this time the show was going under the temporary title "Roger Ebert & The Movies". This practice continued until mid-2000 when found a permanent co-host in Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper. The show eventually became Ebert and Roeper and ran under the same format for the next eight years.

In July of 2006, Ebert was forced to step away from the balcony when cancer in this jaw forced him into surgery and rendered him unable to speak. At that time, Roeper continued the show with rotating guest critics until Buena Vista decided in the Summer of 2008 that it didn't want to continue with "Ebert and Roeper any longer. But, despite his illness, Roger Ebert is still active, still writing his weekly reviews and is still one of the most beloved film critics of all time.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    Roger Ebert hide show

    Roger Ebert is one not just one but the best crictiC. His show is done well with chechy music. I like the way they rate movies thumbs up thumbs down . Thats very good. It is sad how he has missed so many episodes for Ebert and Roper but to me he is a lengend

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    Water78 Added Dec 8, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    8.8 Great
    My bias towards fellow Chicagoans aside...I find Roger Ebert to be spot on in his reviews about 85-90% of the time. hide show

    I am from Chicago, and we have a variety of film critics to choose from, but even if I was from another state I would still agree with most of Ebert's reviews. He usually is very fair, despite personal preferences, and can judge a film by what it is. There have been several movies that I have had absolutely no interest in until reading his review...And I secretly thank him for textually persuading me to see a great movie. On the flip side, he has kept me from (or delayed me from) seeing not-so-good movies.
    While I take his word as gospel the majority of the time, like with any review...It comes down to opinions. I feel like some people tend to forget that opinions are not fact, no matter how strongly you may believe in them. Until Roger and I have a major disagreement, I will continue to follow his reviews to the end of the Earth.
    *cue dramatic end music*

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    spazzx625 Added Apr 21, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    9 Superb
    He is better than his co-star. hide show

    Roger Ebert has been critiquing movies since 1967, and has hosted his tv show for 23 years, first with the late Gene Siskel, and now with Richard Roeper. I like Ebert better than Roeper, since Roeper is a cynic. They are both critical, but Ebert is better. He has fun reviewing the movies he critiques. He made the famous "two thumbs up" famous. Ebert works well. He started as a sports reporter, and now continues to do a great job reviewing movies. He's wonderful, but still critical. He's better at critiquing movies than Roeper, probably because he's been doing it for so long. Nevertheless, he's one of the best reviewers out there.

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    AshleeRoxMySox Added Mar 18, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    2.1 Terrible
    The Jerk hide show

    the king of trashing movies like jason x why review it. for somebody who does not read comics there have been a couple of comic book movies that got really good reviews. i am too smart to watch sitcoms and shows like dukes of hazzard. i spend my time reading books well the little engine that could must be more inportant than watching dukes of hazzard and charlies angels. theres another movie that got trashed once again you do not take the charlie angels movies seriously. so the king of trashing good movies gets a star and all this publicity then the world is stupid.this guy sucks and so does millon dollar baby.

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    verybadmovies Added Aug 28, 2005 All my reviews
 

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