Ebert and Writing

  • “Eventually you’ll know more than I do, and then you can have the job.” Roger Ebert.

This is from Ebert’s “A Memo to Myself and Certain Other Film Critics,” first published November 17, 1991 and included in the collection Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert (432). In this brief essay, Ebert considers some of the tensions inherent in his writing, since his reviews are read by both general audiences and film experts. Another good line: “Writing daily film criticism is a balancing act between the bottom line and the higher reaches, between the answers to the questions (1) is this movie worth my money? and (2) Does the movie expand or devalue my information about human nature?” (Originally posted April 4, 2013)

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