I like "Life Itself" as an overview of who Roger Ebert was and what he achieved. I liked that it revealed the different aspects of his personality, both good and not so good.
And there's wisdom all throughout the movie for us to glean, like how he and Gene Siskel were showing us how two adults could have a public fight and then walk it back and move on to the next thing. They were teaching us the art of debate and rhetoric and showing how you don't have to get personal and that arguing can be quite healthy and very productive.
It allows us to conclude that it's a wise thing to not give up on love, which is why Chaz becomes a strong supporting character in the film.
It gives us an idea of the usefulness of good critics and the value of sharing good art with anyone who will listen.
It values the notion of wearing your intelligence on your sleeve and sharing everything you know.
It also values the idea of revealing one's vulnerabilities. Perhaps it can help others when we investigate openly our own shortcomings or problems.
I think a feature documentary about Siskel & Ebert and the role of critics would be its own wonderful movie based on the footage of it here in "Life Itself".
I would have liked to have seen even more footage of Roger, particularly of those three amazing commentaries he made for "Citizen Kane", "Casablanca" and "Dark City". I don't know that there are three better commentaries than those ones. They're so packed with info and detail.
And finally, I do think that in another movie down the line, I think it would be interesting to explore in further depth the force he had as a cultural writer. After all, he was named America's top pundit just a few years back.
But for a first project and the first one I can think of about an actual film critic, "Life Itself" is a fine overview of his life and a good introduction to who Roger Ebert is for all the new movie lovers out there starting down the road of deepening their own movie-going experience.
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