I hope you don't mind me bumping this thread up...I wrote my own tribute to Roger Ebert for RetroJunk. I talked about why I respected him, as well as some other things. I hope you all like what I had to say: http://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/4192/remembering-roger-ebert
Sincerely,
John Kilduff...
Also, has anybody visited the Siskel and Ebert website with old episodes of their various programs? That's fun to look at.
I would disagree about criticism, though -- the qualification to review movies (aside from the ability to communicate) is having viewed them, not having made them. A critic isn't reviewing the filmmaking process; he's reviewing a piece of entertainment.
The clip of Oprah declaring him cancer-free in 2010 and him crossing his fingers is kind of creepy now.