Tagarchief: Roger Ebert

Life Itself: The Life and Times of Roger Ebert

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


“I was born inside the movie of my life… I don’t know how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me.”
― Roger Ebert

The career of Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013), probably the most famous mainstream film critic of all time, started as a sport writer at a newspaper. “I can write. I just always could”, he said about his early career. He wasn’t exaggerating. His talent was noted and on 21 he already had a column in the local newspaper in Illinois.

He moved to Chicago, got hired directly by The Chicago Sun Times and when their film critic retired, they gave him the job. He would stay in this job until his death in 2013. When he started his job in 1967, he was the youngest film critic in America. One of his early reviews was for Bonnie and Clyde, which was released in that year. He called it “a milestone in the history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance” and awarded it four out of four stars.

Colleagues describe Ebert as ‘fast and furious’. He could produce a thought-out review in 30 minutes. He is the only film critic to win a Pulitzer price. His formula: producing 6 film reviews a week. During his career, he viewed 10.000 movies and reviewed 6.000 of them. From my personal experience, I can say this is a lot.

In his later life, Ebert got cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands and in 2006 his lower jaw was removed. In the documentary Life Itself, the renowned film critic looks back on his life.

Ebert saw films as ‘empathy machines’. They have the power to transport us to different times and places, and place us in the shoes of all sorts of characters. Early in his career, he would drink a lot and develop a major alcohol problem. He checked in AA in August 1997 and stayed sober till his death.

Another notable fact about his early career was he co-wrote the screenplay for Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. What attracted him to Russ Meyer movies? the documentary maker Steve James asks an interviewee. “Boobs”, is the simple answer.

Ebert had a lot to say about films. He would also do live performances in which he would analyse classics like Vertigo and In Cold Blood frame by frame. “He had something interesting to say about every frame”, a friend observes.

He could certainly be critical, but in a kind way, says Martin Scorsese. Ebert reviewed his first film Who’s That Knocking On My Door and promised he would become the American Fellini. He turned out to be right. Many unknown filmmakers loved Ebert; he could lift them – and their films – out of obscurity.

Ebert became really famous when he was coupled to other Chicago critic Gene Siskel for a TV show. The two were enemies at first, but they developed a great dynamic with furious discussions about the movies they loved/hated. For example, Ebert loved Scarface and Siskel hated it and they had a great discussion. The other way around: Ebert said Full Metal Jacket was “not original, and not a masterpiece” and Siskel thought it “was very original and close to a masterpiece.”

The cities New York and L.A. refused to air the program for a long time, because the reviewers were from Chicago. But eventually gave in and their programme At The Movies became a nationwide success; the two thumbs up or down they pioneered could make or break a movie…

A large segment of the documentary focuses on the Cannes Film Festival, which Ebert frequently attended and later wrote a book about. During the festival, he also pioneered early internet use by phoning in daily reviews for his newspaper. Before his passing, he built a cutting-edge website where his entire body of work is archived. It remains a vital resource for film information.

So why is the documentary, which was based on his autobiography, named ‘Life Itself’? A former colleague from the newspaper explains that Ebert was the lead star and director of the movie that was his life. And quite the movie it turned out to be.

12 Roger Ebert Reviews with Surprising Ratings
On IMDb, each classic film from Ebert’s era features a dedicated reviews page where critics contribute. Roger Ebert consistently ranks as the top reviewer for these movies, with each of his reviews including a rating from one to four stars. But which of his ratings stand out as the most unexpected?

1.) Blue Velvet –– 1 out of 4
2.) The Usual Suspects –– 1,5 out of 4
3.) A Clockwork Orange –– 2 out of 4
4.) Die Hard –– 2 out of 4
5.) Fight Club –– 2 out of 4
6.) Full Metal Jacket –– 2,5 out of 4
7.) Once Upon a Time in the West –– 2,5 out of 4
8.) Reservoir Dogs –– 2,5 out of 4
9.) Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace –– 3,5 out of 4
10.) Gates of Heaven –– 4 out of 4
11.) Knowing –– 4 out of 4
12.) Man Push Cart –– 4 out of 4

Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


Director: Tommy Chong
Written by: Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin
Cast: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Evelyn Guerrero, Betty Kennedy

Year / Country: 1980, USA
Running Time: 99 mins.

After the extreme success of Up in Smoke, there just had to be a Next Movie for stoner duo Cheech & Chong. And from the opening moments – where the word “man” appears four times in the first three lines – you immediately know exactly what kind of movie you’re in for.

Once again, story takes a back seat. Cheech lands a date with the hot chiquita from the welfare office, while Chong hangs out with his Texan cousin Red (played by Cheech Marin), who arrives in L.A. carrying a massive bag of weed. From there, the film unfolds as a loose string of comedy sketches, nearly all of them revolving around drugs and general idiocy, set against the now familiar L.A. backdrop.

Highlights include a lowrider showdown, the systematic torment of their neighbors, and – because why not – an alien abduction in a marijuana field. As with most sketch-based comedies, some bits land better than others, but the tone is consistent throughout: unapologetically dumb, rude, hazy, and laid-back.

Critics were not impressed. Roger Ebert famously wrote, “This movie is embarrassing. There’s no invention in it, no imagination, no new comic vision, no ideas about what might be really funny.” He’s not wrong. And yet, the chemistry between Cheech and Chong remains endlessly watchable. In the end, the biggest joke may be the meta one: that these two lovable burnouts found an audience large enough – and devoted enough – to support an entire franchise built almost entirely on being this relaxed about effort.

Rating:

Biography: Tommy Chong (1938, Edmonton, Canada) is a comedian, actor, writer, and activist best known as one half of the legendary stoner duo Cheech & Chong. Raised partly in Canada and later the United States, Chong first made his mark in music and improvisational comedy before teaming up with Cheech Marin in the late 1960s. Together, they became countercultural icons with hit comedy albums and films like Up in Smoke, shaping weed humor for generations to come. Beyond comedy, Chong has appeared in films and TV shows, including a memorable role on That ’70s Show, and has been a vocal advocate for cannabis legalization, even serving a brief prison sentence in the early 2000s that further cemented his status as a counterculture symbol.

Filmography: Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie (1980), Nice Dreams (1981), Still Smokin (1983), Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers (1984), Toto: Without Your Love (1986, Music Video), Far Out Man (1990)

Memories of Live Events

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Today the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021 started… Online. The pandemic has been going on for nearly a year now and live festivals have become a distant memory. It’s not that I don’t appreciate their online efforts, but unfortunately it’s impossible to capture the unique atmosphere the festival normally generates. Therefore, I don’t cover this years’ festival (sorry folks at the IFFR) but instead turn back to clock and return to the past, a time when pandemics and lock-downs were still only products of the imagination and Hollywood movies. Let’s hope that next year we can return to a sustainable new normal, including live film festivals.

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2008

Day 1

26-01-2008 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

The annual Rotterdam Film Festival. I have been looking forward to this. A little too much maybe. I dreamed last night that I missed half the programme. Not a very likely scenario. I got two days in which I hope to see at least ten movies/short film programmes. Let the cinema frenzy begin.

Lot’s of coffee and ready to see film number 1. The Egyptian drama Le chaos, directed by maestro Youssef Chahine. I haven’t seen many Egyptian films (not one). Nor was I aware of the existence of ‘popular Egyptian cinema’, as the festival catalogue describes it. Curious I entered the dark screening room of the Pathé cinema.

It was all right. A well-crafted combination of a romance and a political story. It revolves around the brutal police chief Hatem, who rules the Choubra district in Cairo with an iron fist. His only weakness is the passion he feels for his neighbour girl Nour, who in her turn is smitten by district attorney Cherif. A series of events unfold leading to a riot, the blossoming love between Nour and Cherif, and a showdown with tyrant Hatem.

Up to the next film, or rather event. Robert Breer: Image by Images 3, one of the compilation programmes of filmmaker in focus Robert Breer’s shorts. His background as a painter becomes immediately apparent with the first one; BANG!. It consists of animated drawings and real footage. Recently transferred to 35mm it looks pretty sharp. The following two shorts FUJI and SWISS ARMY KNIFE WITH RATS AND PIGEONS are very similar; no story, just images. And technically pretty neat.

Then follows STOCKHAUSEN’S ORIGINALE: DOUBLTAKES, a 32-minute documentary of some sort of performance in Germany (?). As Breer basically said himself in the Q&A afterwards; ‘what an underexposed, incoherent and hardly comprehensible mess. The programme finishes with two more animated short: TRIAL BALLOONS and TIME FLIES.

After an excellent lunch in Turkish eatery Bazar, it was time for something more commercial. In Rotterdam that usually means the latest American indie. I managed to get a ticket for Jason Reitman’s Juno. The much discussed and Oscar nominated comedy/drama that Roger Ebert describes as ‘one of the best movies of the year’.

And justly so. The audience obviously loved it and so did I. What is not to love about this movie? The razor-sharp script from first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody and the completely disarming performance from Ellen Page as the pregnant teenager Juno suck you into this movie and won’t let you go till the end. This is also due to the contribution of all the great supporting players. Some Oscars would be well deserved.

After a short break I headed for another venue. I was going to see a short film compilation called Short Stories 8: Crime Stories. The four shorts shown were a mixed bag. The first one PLOT POINT (2007, Nicolas Provost) was a pretty cool, atmospheric short from Belgium. About a hypnotic New York where the police force is acting strange. Through sound effects and well-shot and edited imagery, Provost creates a very cinematic and suspenseful little no-budget film. The second film was FOREST MURMURS (2006, Jonathan Hodgson). A beautifully animated short about a mysterious forest in Great-Britain where murders have taken place throughout history.

Then came LE PEAU DURE (2008, Benoit Rambourgh, Jean Barnard-Marlin). A French short about a juvenile kid and the relationship between him and his scumbag father. It was not as intense as it could have been. The final film was WAY OUT (2006, Chen Tao). About a Chinese peasant who starts to pick pockets to satisfy his wife. Beautiful cinematography but as regards content not very interesting.

As a midnight snack I selected a film from the Rotterdämmerung programme; genre films on a late hour. I saw nothing less then George A. Romero’s latest zombie shocker Diary of the Dead. In his fifth ‘Dead’ movie, Romero follows a group of film students who stumble upon a zombie outbreak and decide to cover it.

All in all not a bad day. Now get ready for the sequel.

Day 2

27-01-2008

Another day in Rotterdam. What to watch? I could go for the nine-hour lasting epos Death in the Land of Encantos by Filipino director Lav Diaz. On previous editions of the festival, Diaz had film screenings of similar length. In 2005 Evolution of a Filipino Family (10 hrs) and in 2007 Heremias (9 hrs). I haven’t seen those, so this is my chance to finally have a Diaz experience.

Nah. Lack of patience. I rather go for five quick rushes than one quiet and meditative experience. Exactly the point Diaz is making with his immensely long films. Perhaps next year I’ll go for the new Diaz. Yeah right, who are you kidding?

So of to the first gig. El Asaltante is part of the Sturm und Drang programme. This programme features films by young filmmakers that are still developing their own style. First time Argentinean director Pablo Fendrik made a film about an ageing mugger who commits three robberies in the course of the movie. The action is registered with a steadycam in primarily close-up and medium shots leading to an uncomfortable tension. Pretty good debut by Fendrik

During my break I saw an installation in the NEW DRAGON INNS exhibition. No time to stay for the upcoming screening though. The downside of viewing five films in one day is that the breaks are so damn short. So I rushed back to the cinema.

The second film was a low-budget Iraq movie. Directed by Brian De Palma! Redacted is about the rape of a fifteen year old Iraqi girl at the hands of a squad of US soldiers. The film is based on true events, and shot in very realistically looking staged footage. Not a very happy subject. But it is skilfully directed by De Palma and features strong acting from a completely unknown cast.

Afterwards, having observed this authentic horror, I felt pretty much like a drone. And I still had three movies to go. A double espresso helped me through the next movie. The Japanese manga-film Appleseed: Ex Machina.

This sequel to the 2004 manga-hit Appleseed was a good wake-up call as it started with some ass-kicking action scenes. The story revolves around a high-tech futuristic world in which constant conflicts are taking place between humans and various types of cyborgs. The excitement level of the beginning is not matched later in the movie, but it was still an enjoyable screening.

Now I was going to see my first Tiger film of the year (one of the fifteen films nominated for a Tiger Award), namely Shanghai Trance. A Chinese film directed by young Dutch director David Verbeek. It is made up of three love stories edited together, all playing in the fast growing metropolis Shanghai. In every story, the characters have trouble dealing with the rapid change of their country, as well as dealing with their personal relationships.

Unfortunatly for Verbeek his film didn’t secure an award as I learned later in the evening. The three Tiger Awards went to Wonderful Town (Aditya Assarat, Thailand), Flower in the Pocket (Liew Seng Tat, Malaysia) and Go With Peace Jamil (Omar Shargawi, Denmark).

I booked a surprise film to close of the day. And I got to see…Lars and the Real Girl, the debut from American director Craig Gillespie. The story revolves around the solitary bachelor Lars, who orders a silicone doll from the internet who looks very real (and hot!). It turns out that Lars suffers from a delusional disorder making him believe that Bianca (the doll) is a real person. It wasn’t as silly as this sounds, but it still wasn’t my brand of Vodka. The audience liked it, but I thought this is the kind of movie they show on airplanes. A disappointing surprise festival organisation! Next year I want something better.

I headed back to my car and found my passenger window smashed! Some junkie had been going through my car. My only relief was that I had left nothing in it to steal. I still felt frustrated and angry. I knew I should have gone for that Diaz film. I bet I would have felt more relaxed about things then. Oh well, next year I’ll have another shot at Buddhist enlightenment.

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2009

26-01-2009

International Film festival Rotterdam 2009 opened with the international premiere of The Hungry Ghosts, the directorial debut of Michael Imperioli, best known for portraying Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos. Imperioli was present, along with his whole entourage, including main actor Steve Schirripa (Bobby Bacala in The Sopranos).

Imperioli proves to be a talented director, besides an actor and a writer. In a mosaic way of storytelling, the film follows the lives of several characters in New York, all searching for something. Off course, the stories come together in the end. Not cinematically revolutionary, but well crafted and featuring some good acting. It reminded me of Scorsese, probably because of the typical New York scene.

Next was L’ange by Patrick Bokanowski, a rediscovered gem from Rotterdam’s regained programme. It’s not exactly a date movie, believe me. It has no story, but solely consists of images, edited in a bizarre and fascinating way. A pure trip movie. It surely put me in a trance for 70 minutes. The beautiful painting-like images would stay in my head for days after the film.

Time for some Asian cinema. Rotterdam always has plenty of that. Takeshi Kitano is one of the Asian directors that contributes a feature to the programme annually. His Zatôichi even opened the festival in 2004. His latest work is Achilles and the Tortois, the last instalment in a loose trilogy about the figure of the artist. The previous entries were Takeshi’s and Glory to the Filmmaker.

Takeshi is – besides a filmmaker – a painter. This film tells about that part of his life. A young boy who only wants to paint grows up to be…Takeshi. An artists who never sold a painting and is always ridiculed. He has some brilliant ideas for paintings though. Overlong, but occasionally very funny film. It is also warmer than most of Takeshi’s works. It might even be his most moving film so far, now that I think about it.

Besides the title of Michael Imperioli’s film, ‘The Hungry Ghosts’ is also a film programme, consisting of Asian ghost movies. Thai horror The Body is one of them. A scary movie it is! A young student starts having nightmarish visions that are só scary that it is almost unbearable. Feature debut of Thai director Paween Purijitpanya. He still has to learn to cut more rigorously, but his talent is evident and fantastic film lovers will undoubtedly hear more from him in coming years.

Mock Up on Mu is the latest creation of found footage director Craig Baldwin. It’s another weird collage of campy sci-fi flicks narrated together. Thematically it revolves around human evolution, space colonisation and military power. Pretty funny. Unfortunately it goes on and on, becoming too much nonsense to handle in one go.

Rotterdam traditionally puts two or three filmmakers in the spotlight at each festival. Not the usual suspects, but unknown talents. This year the honour befalls on Polish Jerzy Skolimowski, Italian Paolo Benvenuti and Swiss experimental filmmaker Peter Liechti, of whom I went to see his latest work, The Sound of Insects – Record of a Mummy.

Based on a true Japanese story, it tells the intriguing – if somewhat morbid – tale of a man who chooses to die of starvation. He retreats to the abandoned woods and waits for nearly 60 (!) days before his soul finally leaves his body. In voice-over, the man records his dying observations. Liechti chooses not to film the man himself, but merely the images the man sees and the sounds (of insects) that he hears. There isn’t much more to it. A curious experience.

British director Pat Holden presented his movie Awaydays, for which screenwriter Kevin Sampson adapted his own cult novel. Against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, it tells the story of the rocky friendship between the two young thugs Carty and Elvis, who live between the hooligan gangs and primitive violence. With a fantastic post-punk soundtrack.

Followed up by stylish Mexican thriller Los Bastardos. Two outlaws keep a drug addicted mother hostage in her own house. The build-up is slow, but the story eventually heads towards an acts of stomach turning violence. The movie is directed by Amat Escalante, who made an impression at the festival a few years back with Sangre. In the Q&A after the film, Escalante says to have been inspired by the films of James Benning and For a Few Dollars More by Sergio Leone. Not by the more obvious Funny Games that is somewhat similar.

The final film for me is the Canadian comedy The Baby Formula, something like The L-Word with a sci-fi twist. Definitely one for the ladies. Two lesbians impregnate each other through medical innovation. Their very different families respond to the situation in their own way. A feel-good comedy that will undoubtedly score high with the audience.

Originally published on FilmDungeon.com

Images a courtesy of International Film Festival Rotterdam

George Lucas, Not Guilty

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Today, on the premiere of ‘The Last Jedi’ – the eighth official episode in the Star Wars saga, creator of Star Wars – Mr. George Lucas – stands trial. He is accused of being a hack.

The prosecution (The internet)
Of the many things that catch blame for ‘ruining’ the Star Wars prequels – Jar Jar Binks, midi-chlorians, almost every line of dialogue George Lucas wrote for Padme and Anakin – there is one moment that makes almost every fan cringe, no matter how dedicated. We’re talking about Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader, literally the jumping-off point of the entire Star Wars saga.

In this moment, Vader learns that he has lost his wife and unborn children…and has been transformed into, like, a Space Robocop. So, what does he do? He breaks free from his shackles and lets out the now infamous, “NOOOOOOO!” that felt like it had a Kanye-level of autotune to it. It felt ridiculous when it should have been the defining moment of the prequels. What the hell was Lucas thinking?

The defense (Johnny Cochran)

This defense will be short and easy. This is the man who gave us Star Wars after all. The original Star Wars films still form the best trilogy ever created hands down. Even the third part – which is never the best in any series – is in case of Star Wars nearly perfect: ‘Return of the Jedi’ contains some of the best stuff of the series. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013) gave each of the three original films the maximum rating of four stars (read his awesome reviews here, here, and here).

So why is Lucas so hated despite being the man who gave us Darth Vader, Yoda, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker amongst many others? Because he also gave us Jar Jar Binks? Because he writes remarkably terrible love scenes? So what? Didn’t the other great filmmakers of his generation make similar mistakes? Francis Ford Coppola cast his daughter in ‘The Godfather: Part III’ and it nearly ruined the film. Yet, he is never criticized in the way Lucas is.

Statistically, after sunshine comes rain. Lucas gave us the best trilogy ever made, so the prequels were never going to top that. Still, that is no excuse for not making better movies. But are they really so terrible?

Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the worst, most will agree. But look at what it does have: the pod race, Darth Maul (IMDb-poll names him the second greatest SW villain after Vader), and the return of many great characters: Palpatine, Yoda and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor is perfect casting as a young Alec Guinness). There is also fun foreshadowing going on of all that is to come. Finally, the world building is spectacular and unforgettable.

Roger Ebert – who gave ‘The Phantom Menace’ 3,5 stars out of 4 – concluded: “Mostly I was happy to drink in the sights on the screen, in the same spirit that I might enjoy ‘Metropolis’, ‘Forbidden Planet’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘Dark City’ or ‘The Matrix’. The difference is that Lucas’ visuals are more fanciful and his film’s energy level is more cheerful; he doesn’t share the prevailing view that the future is a dark and lonely place.”

Episode II: Attack of the Clones – The greatest weakness is the love story, we can be clear about this. But it would be a shame to let that ruin the whole movie experience, because episode II has a lot going for it. First of all, it has a terrific Raymond Chandler-style mystery plot. Also, there is a great sense of urgency; the battle for the galaxy has now really begun. And the filmmaking in general – the editing, sound, production design, music, etc – are all A-grade. There are few filmmakers with such imagination, and with the ability to bring it to the screen, like Lucas.

As for villains, usually the best thing about a Star Wars-film, I don’t like Jango Fett so much, but Count Dooku – played the uncanny Christopher Lee – is terrific, and so is his lightsaber duel with Yoda. The dark side is really prevailing now and Lucas effectively uses the principles of Eastern Philosophy to craft the story development. People may not like Hayden Christensen, but what is actually accomplished by his performance is that we get an uneasy feeling about Anakin. The air gets thick in the confrontational scenes. Unlike Obi-Wan – who was the perfect Jedi-student in episode I – Anakin is the pupil you always have to worry about. And these foreshadowing shots with Palpatine are grand. His quest to the dark side is thus very well handled.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Episode III is a return to the classic space opera style that launched the series, and many agree that Lucas really approaches old trilogy greatness here. In the saga’s darkest chapter, Anakin really journeys to the dark side under the influence of the demonic Palpatine. Aside from the infamous ‘Noooo’-moment, episode III is a thoroughly exciting and enjoyable film with some of the best action sequences in the series.

And so, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if George Lucas is a hack, then Chewbacca lives on Endor, and therefore you must acquit! The defense rests.

So let us all shut the hell up and enjoy Lucas’ legacy.