The name Roger Ebert is synonymous with "film critic." He's top dog, big daddy, been at it since 1967, and he well deserves the title of "most powerful pundit in America." However, this lion of letters is anything but infallible. Deeming a good movie good or a bad movie bad does not a great review make, nor does deeming a bad movie good or a good movie bad make a poor review. Rather, it's more about what a critic takes or fails to take from a particular film, how thoughts lead to thoughts lead to revelations. Every human mind is an impenetrable one; the heart wants what it wants and the mind likes what it likes.
THE BEST
Solaris - 2002, 3.5 stars - "That is a peculiarity of humans: We feel the same emotions for our ideas as we do for the real world, which is why we can cry while reading a book, or fall in love with movie stars. Our idea of humanity bewitches us, while humanity itself stays safely sealed away into its billions of separate containers, or 'people.'"
Shopgirl - 2005, 3.5 stars - "I've been around a long time, and young men, if there is one thing I know, it is that the only way to kiss a girl for the first time is to look like you want to and intend to, and move in fast enough to seem eager but slow enough to give her a chance to say 'So anyway ...' and look up as if she's trying to remember your name."
E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial - 1997, Great Movies - "The whole movie is based on what moviemakers call 'point of view.' Almost every single important shot is seen either as E.T. would see it, or as Elliott would see it. And things are understood as they would understand them. There aren't any crucial moments where the camera pulls back and seems to be a grownup. We're usually looking at things through a child's eye--or an alien's."
The Apartment - 2001, Great Movies - "The valuable element in Wilder is his adult sensibility; his characters can't take flight with formula plots, because they are weighted down with the trials and responsibilities of working for a living. In many movies, the characters hardly even seem to have jobs, but in 'The Apartment' they have to be reminded that they have anything else."
Five Easy Pieces - 2003, Great Movies - "In 1970 (and before and since), most American movies centered on heroes who defined the plot, occupied it, made it happen. 'Five Easy Pieces' is about a character who doesn't fit in the movie. There's not a scene where he's comfortable with the people around him, not a moment when he feels at home."
THE WORST
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 2008, 3.5 stars - "I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you. And I can also say that a critic trying to place it into a hierarchy with the others would probably keep a straight face while recommending the second pound of sausage."
Morning Glory - 2010, 3.5 stars - "'Morning Glory' is a funny entertainment to begin with, and then Rachel McAdams transforms it. And Harrison Ford transforms himself."
Die Hard - 1988, 2 stars - "...The filmmakers introduce a gratuitous and unnecessary additional character: the deputy police chief (Paul Gleason), who doubts that the guy on the other end of the radio is really a New York cop at all. As nearly as I can tell, the deputy chief is in the movie for only one purpose: to be consistently wrong at every step of the way and to provide a phony counterpoint to Willis' progress. The character is so willfully useless, so dumb, so much a product of the Idiot Plot Syndrome, that all by himself he successfully undermines the last half of the movie... Without the deputy chief and all that he represents, 'Die Hard' would have been a more than passable thriller. With him, it's a mess, and that's a shame, because the film does contain superior special effects, impressive stunt work and good performances, especially by Rickman as the terrorist."
Bad Boys II - 2003, 1 star - "There is an ugly scene in 'Bad Boys II' that I want to tell you about. A cop played by Martin Lawrence is alarmed that his 15-year-old daughter is going out on her first date. We see the girl, pretty and hopeful in her new dress, being fussed over by her mother. The doorbell rings, and Lawrence opens it to confront her date, a nervous 15-year-old boy, tall and thin, neatly dressed. Marcus and his partner (Will Smith) intimidate the boy without mercy. He is threatened with the unspeakable if he lays a hand on the girl. They demand to know if he is a virgin. They slap him with the N-word. At one point a gun is pulled on him. 'Ever had sex with a man?' Smith asks. Then with a leer: 'Want to?' The boy is terrified. The needless cruelty of this scene took me out of the movie and into the minds of its makers. What were they thinking?"
Blue Velvet - 1986, 1 star - "...A story that's marred by sophomoric satire and cheap shots. The director is either denying the strength of his material or trying to defuse it by pretending it's all part of a campy in-joke."
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