{"id":6297,"date":"2024-10-19T23:07:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T03:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6297"},"modified":"2024-10-19T23:07:51","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T03:07:51","slug":"life-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/19\/life-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Life Itself<\/strong> (2014)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Magnolia\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 120 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, brief nudity\/sexual images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Steve James\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joshua Abrams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Dana Kupper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 4, 2014 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Roger Ebert, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Chaz Ebert, Errol Morris, Ava DuVernay, Ramin Bahrani, A.O. Scott, Richard Corliss, Marlene Iglitzen, Stephen Stanton (voice of Roger Ebert), Gene Siskel (archive footage).<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

Dear esteemed members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019d like to humbly suggest that you hand over the Best Documentary Oscar to Steve James for Life Itself<\/strong>, a brilliant and beautiful look at the life of film critic Roger Ebert. It\u2019s unlikely that any other documentary will come close to achieving what James does with his movie. By way of supporting my argument, I\u2019ve attached my review of the film. Here it is, for your consideration.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sincerely, George Rother aka Movie Guy 24\/7<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m seriously considering sending this off to the Academy upon publication. I don\u2019t know what weight my words will carry, but if there\u2019s any justice in the world, Life Itself<\/strong> will walk off the golden statuette on Oscar night.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, was (and still is) one of the most influential people in my life. I was first introduced to him and his partner Gene Siskel on their popular weekly program Sneak Previews (Thursday nights, 9pm, PBS). I also had the pleasure of meeting him in person at a book signing in \u201998. Through the years, I\u2019ve immensely enjoyed reading his reviews, especially the bad ones. I was saddened when I first learned he was sick with cancer and mourned when he lost that battle in April of last year. I felt as though I lost a good friend and movie companion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When the end came near, Ebert invited James (Hoop Dreams) into his hospital room for an intimate look at the man behind the reviews. Based on his 2011 memoir, Life Itself<\/strong> is at once beautiful, compelling and moving. In the space of two hours, James gives us an overview of Ebert\u2019s brilliant career and not-always-perfect life. We also get to spend time with the critic during his sad last days, robbed of his voice by throat cancer and communicating by way of a computer-generated voice on his laptop. The sight of Ebert without his lower jaw is shocking and saddening.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ebert\u2019s journalism career began in his teen years when he covered sports for a local paper in Urbana, Illinois. He became the film critic for the Sun-Times in 1967, a position he held until his death. One of the defining moments of his early career was seeing the Russ Meyer movie Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! at a local theater. It led to an appreciation of Meyer\u2019s work and co-writing the screenplay for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), now regarded as a cult classic (I still have my signed VHS copy).<\/p>\n

\u00a0For me, the most fascinating part of Life Itself<\/strong> is his contentious relationship with Siskel, film critic for the more prestigious Chicago Tribune. On their show, they often disagreed and many times found themselves at each other\u2019s throats. They had a memorable dispute over Benji the Hunted (1987) of all movies. We get to see outtakes from their show where they would trade insults between takes. It\u2019s a known fact the two men couldn\u2019t stand each other, professionally and personally. They did develop a respect for one another near the end of Siskel\u2019s life (he died of brain cancer in \u201999). According to Siskel\u2019s widow, they sort of became friends.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We get to know Ebert intimately through archival footage, old photos and interviews with family, friends and associates. His wife Chaz talks about how they first met at an AA meeting (Ebert got sober in \u201979 and stayed that way) and their love-filled marriage. We often see her sitting right by him as he types away in his hospital bed. Her love and devotion for her husband is palpable. We hear from such esteemed filmmakers as Scorsese (Goodfellas) and Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God) as well as new talents like Bahrani (Man Push Cart) and DuVernay (I Will Follow) who recounts first meeting him as a little girl. James includes clips from movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Cries and Whispers and (of course) Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s already fascinating, but Life Itself<\/strong> becomes poignant when the scene shifts back to the ailing critic. We even get to hear about his final hours when he made the decision to stop fighting and accept the inevitable. I really feel like I got to know Ebert which is a testament to the effectiveness of Life Itself<\/strong>. I owe the man a huge debt of gratitude as he contributed a great deal to my lifelong love of film. I\u2019ve always had the highest respect for Ebert; he\u2019s actually my main role model. It\u2019s because of him that I became a film critic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0My personal feelings for Ebert are a big part of why I love Life Itself<\/strong> so much. But even without that, I\u2019d still love this movie simply because it\u2019s very well done. It\u2019s apparent James also loves Ebert and why not, the critic spoke glowingly of his first effort, the high school basketball doc Hoop Dreams. Documentary filmmaker Morris (The Thin Blue Line) tells how Ebert brought his 1978 movies Gates of Heaven to the public\u2019s attention by speaking about it on three separate shows. Life Itself<\/strong> serves as both an examination of one\u2019s man life and a tribute to the most prominent film critic of the late 20th<\/sup> century. It\u2019s beyond excellent and outstanding, it\u2019s perfect! It\u2019s an absolute and total must-see for film lovers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019d like to close with a quote from Ebert in which he says, \u201cI was born inside the movie of my life. I don\u2019t remember how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me.\u201d You certainly kept me (and many others I\u2019m sure) entertained, Roger. God speed, sir.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life Itself (2014)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Magnolia\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 120 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, brief nudity\/sexual images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Steve James\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joshua Abrams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Dana Kupper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 4, 2014 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Roger Ebert, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Chaz Ebert, Errol Morris, Ava DuVernay, Ramin Bahrani, A.O. Scott, Richard Corliss, Marlene Iglitzen, Stephen Stanton (voice of Roger Ebert), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-documentary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Life-Itself-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6297"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6443,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6297\/revisions\/6443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}