Leonard Maltin vs. The Multiplex

Maybe Leonard Maltin's not so cool anymore, I dunno, but his 1995 Movie Guide remains one of my most frequent go-to books for quick film reviews. Anywho he's recently set up his own Youtube channel, and just made this rant against underwhelming service in movie theatres, particularly addressing how the digital era has automated everything and ushered out the requirement of any human presence behind the scenes. Call him an old-fashioned coot or whatever, but he makes some points which in my experience, are entirely valid and common today. If theatre owners are going to charge crazy prices for tickets these days, the least they could do is make sure every aspect of the movie-going experience is worth every penny, including checking little things like focus, audio, etc.

Ebertuaries

When Roger Ebert passed away last Thursday, I don't think I quite anticipated the extent of emotional outpouring that resulted. Obviously the presence of social media these days does have a way of magnifying things, and Ebert was the possibly most well-known film critic ever, but the wide-reaching grief at the news of his death drove home one point: he meant a heck of lot to a lot of people. Neither Donald Richie nor Andrew Sarris, similarly respected giants in film writing who died in the past year, received this much attention.

Ebert was the rare critic who could cut through all the oft-perceived academic high-brow-ness of film writing and make it accessible to everyone. His conversational style, his unmistakable voice (both in writing and speaking) - which I can still hear, and will miss hearing - was often imitated but never bettered. He could preach movies, but not dumb it down, and as someone who reviews films, this is one thing I try to do, and I can tell you, it's not as easy as Ebert makes it seem to be.

Here's a collection of heartfelt online tributes to the man:

What Did Roger Ebert Mean To You? - AV Club Q&A
Roger Ebert was a Superman - Thompson on Hollywood
A Mentor to the End - Variety's Scott Foundas
Roger Ebert Through The Years - clips
Remembering the Roger I Knew - Suntimes blogger Jim Emerson on his colleague
Roger Ebert, my mentor - Monica Eng, Chicago Tribune reporter

Scream 4 as Reviewed by a Blind Film Critic

This is kinda funny/interesting/amazing. Possibly the last thing you'd ever consider in the world of film criticism is a critic who is blind. Yet here's Tommy Edison offering a witty, uniquely focused perspective on film, giving some insight into things us vision-abled people might sometimes take for granted, in particular, the use of sound...

Siskel & Ebert Play a Video Game

Film critics Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel challenging each other in a Sega motion-controlled boxing video game. Amazingly, this was back in 1993 - not 1986, which it looks like. Hilarious and bizarre.