In Memoriam: Roger Ebert
Some jumbled memories of one of my heroes:
Everything I know and love about movies, I owe to Roger
Ebert. I remember being in seventh grade and typing up my own Ebert-esque
reviews. I penciled in my own star ratings next to his in his annual movie
yearbooks. I have my 1997 copy sitting next to me right now, and I see that I
gave Eraser 4 stars to Ebert’s 3, and
that makes me smile (oh, 15 year-old Kevin). I could always count on these
books to show up under the Christmas tree every year; my parents knew I loved those books, filled with those reviews and brilliant essays. that much. Reading his reviews
either in these yearbooks, rushing first thing to the computer when he began
posting reviews online, or staying up past midnight to watch “Siskel and Ebert,”
his thoughts on movies were, and continue to be, a kind of Daily Office for me.