name | Mysterious Skin |
---|---|
director | Gregg Araki |
producer | Gregg Araki |
screenplay | Gregg Araki |
based on | |
starring | Joseph Gordon-LevittBrady Corbet |
music | Harold BuddRobin Guthrie |
cinematography | Steve Gainer |
editing | Gregg Araki |
distributor | TLA Releasing |
released | |
runtime | 99 minutes |
country | |
language | English |
gross | $1,524,966 }} |
Neil, showing signs of being homosexual at an early age (he was preoccupied with male models depicted in his mother's Playgirl magazines), interprets the coach's abuse as an initiation into sexuality. He becomes sexually compulsive, particularly attracted to middle-aged men. Eventually, Neil drifts into petty crime and becomes a prostitute.
Brian reacts to the abuse by developing psychogenic amnesia and forgetting the events, for many years suffering from nose bleeds and bed-wetting. In his teen years, Brian becomes nerdy and withdrawn, perceived by others as nearly asexual. Strange, unsettling memories in recurring dreams lead Brian to suspect that he and another boy may have been abducted by aliens.
While trying to untangle his confused memories at 19, Brian sees a photo of his childhood baseball team, recognizing a young Neil as the boy from his bizarre dreams. Eventually, the two young men meet for the first time in over a decade, uncovering the secrets they share as well as beginning to heal one another.
According to psychologist Richard Gartner, the novel Mysterious Skin is an uncommonly accurate portrayal of the long-term effect of child sexual abuse on boys.
The film has been the subject of some controversy in Australia, where the Australian Family Association requested a review of its classification, seeking to have the film outlawed due to its depiction of pedophilia. They suggested that the film could be used by pedophiles for sexual gratification or to help them groom children for sexual abuse. The six-member Classification Review Board voted four-to-two in favour of maintaining an R18+ rating. The controversy is referenced in a review excerpt from the Sydney Morning Herald on the Region 4 DVD that reads: "How anyone could have wanted it banned is beyond me".
Category:2005 films Category:2000s drama films Category:American films Category:American coming-of-age films Category:American drama films Category:American LGBT-related films Category:English-language films Category:Coming-of-age films Category:Films based on novels Category:Films set in the 1970s Category:Films set in the 1980s Category:Films set in the 1990s Category:Independent films Category:Male prostitution in the arts
de:Mysterious Skin – Unter die Haut es:Oscura inocencia fr:Mysterious Skin it:Mysterious Skin he:עור מסתורי nl:Mysterious Skin ja:謎めいた肌 no:Mysterious Skin pl:Zły dotyk ru:Загадочная кожа fi:Mysterious Skin sv:Mysterious SkinThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Gregg Araki |
---|---|
birth date | December 17, 1959 |
birth place | Los Angeles, California |
occupation | director, scriptwriter, editor, producer, cinematographer |
domesticpartner | Kathleen Robertson (1997-1999) }} |
Two years later, Araki made a name for himself on the festival circuit with The Long Weekend (O' Despair). Produced, directed, written, photographed and edited by Araki (for his own Desperate Pictures Company), this very small-scale Big Chill derivation involved a group of recent college graduates brooding over their futures during one woozy, boozy evening.
He followed this up in 1992 with The Living End, a road movie about two HIV-positive men whose paths cross one fateful day and the tumultuous relationship which ensues. The film starred Craig Gilmore and Mike Dytri, and featured Mary Woronov (who appeared in several "underground" films by Andy Warhol) and cult favorite Paul Bartel. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Araki's next three films comprised his "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy."
Totally Fucked Up (1993) (Totally F***ed Up in publicity) chronicled the dysfunctional lives of six gay adolescent people who have formed a family unit and struggle to get along with each other and with life in the face of various major obstacles. Araki himself classified it as "A rag-tag story of the fag-and-dyke teen underground....A kinda cross between avant-garde experimental cinema and a queer John Hughes flick". The movie explored the young people's depression and misery.
The Doom Generation (1995) was a black comedy brimming with graphic violence, cultural symbolism and relentless eroticism. The film starred Rose McGowan, Johnathon Schaech and James Duval (who had starred in Totally Fucked Up), with cameos by indie favorite Parker Posey, comedienne Margaret Cho, 21 Jump Street actor Dustin Nguyen, The Brady Bunch star Christopher Knight, The Love Boat star Lauren Tewes, Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss and musician Perry Farrell. While largely trashed by critics, the piece won a measure of respect in a number of circles and is available on DVD and VHS in both rated and unrated versions due to several sex scenes as well as the violent climax.
Nowhere (1997) was described by its director as "A Beverly Hills, 90210 episode on acid". It centered around a group of bored, alienated adolescent people in Los Angeles during a typical day of kinky sex, drugs, and the requisite wild party. Duval, Rachel True, Nathan Bexton, Debi Mazar, Christina Applegate, Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe, Jaason Simmons, Scott Caan and Mena Suvari starred in the film, with cameos by Beverly D'Angelo, Facts of Life star Charlotte Rae, Traci Lords, Shannen Doherty, Rose McGowan, John Ritter and International Male and fitness model Brian Buzzini.
Araki's subsequent effort, the romantic comedy Splendor, tells the story of a woman (Kathleen Robertson) who cannot choose between two men (Johnathon Schaech and Matt Keeslar) and so decides to live with them both. Splendor was both a response to the controversy surrounding his relationship with Robertson and an homage to screwball comedies of the 1940s and 1950s. Hailed as the director's most optimistic film to date, it made its premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.
Araki's next venture was the ill-fated MTV series This Is How the World Ends (2000), which was meant to have a budget of $1.5 million. The network only gave him $700,000 and hoped to find partners to finance the difference. Araki offered to make the pilot episode for $700,000, and MTV took him up on it, but after the pilot was shot it was not picked up for broadcast. There are, however, bootleg copies of the pilot circulating the internet.
Following a short hiatus, Araki returned with the critically acclaimed Mysterious Skin (2004) based on a novel by Scott Heim, which tells the story of a teenage hustler and a withdrawn young man obsessed with alien abductions, and how they both deal with the sexual abuse they suffered from their Little League coach when they were children. With this film, Araki found critical acclaim and a generally good public reaction.
Araki's ninth feature, made in 2007, was the stoner comedy Smiley Face, starring Anna Faris, which he directed with a screenplay by Dylan Haggerty. Araki wanted to make a comic film after shooting the more serious and darker Mysterious Skin. Critics have mentioned the potential of this film in becoming a "cult classic".
Araki's tenth film Kaboom made its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and was awarded the first ever Queer Palm for its contribution to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. The film was released in America on January 28.
One consistent feature of Araki's work to date is the presence of music from the shoegazer genre as film soundtracks, first seen on Totally Fucked Up and heavily so on the films Nowhere and Mysterious Skin (even going so far as to employ Robin Guthrie to oversee the latter's score). Both The Living End and Nowhere are named after tracks by shoegazing bands (The Jesus and Mary Chain and Ride respectively).
Category:1959 births Category:Bisexual people Category:American film directors of Japanese descent Category:LGBT directors Category:Living people Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:University of Southern California alumni
de:Gregg Araki es:Gregg Araki fr:Gregg Araki it:Gregg Araki hu:Gregg Araki ja:グレッグ・アラキ pl:Gregg Araki ru:Араки, Грегг fi:Gregg Araki sv:Gregg Araki zh:葛瑞格·荒木This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Brady Corbet |
---|---|
birth name | Brady James Monson Corbet |
birth date | August 17, 1988 |
birth place | Scottsdale, Arizona, USA |
death place | }} |
His most recent television role was in Fox TV's award winning drama series 24, playing Derek Huxley, the son of Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) new girlfriend. Brady appeared in the first six episodes of the fifth season.
In 2003, Corbet landed his first film role when he was cast opposite Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Vanessa Hudgens and Jeremy Sisto in director Catherine Hardwicke's Thirteen.
Following his big-screen debut, Corbet starred as Alan Tracy, the youngest son of a billionaire ex-astronaut (played by Bill Paxton) in Thunderbirds (2004), Jonathan Frakes' live-action movie based on the British TV series of the mid-1960s.
In 2004, California filmmaker Gregg Araki cast him opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the director's eighth film, Mysterious Skin. In the film, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim, Corbet portrayed Brian Lackey, a troubled teen who is plagued by nightmares and believes that he may have been abducted by aliens. The film debuted in that year's Venice Film Festival and had a limited release in 2005.
Corbet also has appeared in the indie rock band Bright Eyes' music video "At The Bottom Of Everything" (2005). In October 2006, he was featured in the Ima Robot video for "Lovers in Captivity," which was produced independently of their Virgin record label and was featured in an Out Magazine article.
Year !! Title !! Role | ||
2011 | Martha Marcy May Marlene | |
2011 | Regular Boy > | |
2011 | Melancholia (2011 film)Melancholia || Tim | | |
2010 | Two Gates of Sleep > | |
2007 | Funny Games U.S. > | |
2007 | Sunny & Share Love You > | |
2004 | Mysterious Skin > | |
2004 | Thunderbirds (film)Thunderbirds || Alan Tracy | | |
2003 | Thirteen (film)Thirteen || Mason Freeland | |
Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes | |||
2008 | Law & Order | Patrick Friendly | |
2006 | 24 (TV series)24 || | Minor characters in 24#Derek Huxley>Derek Huxley | 6 episodes |
2003 | Oliver Beene| | Spencer | 1 Episode |
2002 | Greetings from Tucson| | Brian | 1 Episode |
2001 | I My MeStrawberry Eggs | Yoshihiko Nishinada | |
2000 | NieA under 7| | Alien Boy #1 | |
2000 | The King of Queens| | Stu | 1 Episode |
Category:1988 births Category:American amateur film directors Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Scottsdale, Arizona
de:Brady Corbet es:Brady Corbet fr:Brady Corbet nl:Brady Corbet ru:Корбет, Брэди sl:Brady Corbet fi:Brady Corbet sv:Brady CorbetThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Roger Ebert |
---|---|
birth name | Roger Joseph Ebert |
birth date | June 18, 1942 |
birth place | Urbana, Illinois, U.S. |
occupation | Author, journalist, film historian, film critic, screenwriter |
nationality | American |
education | Urbana High School,Illinois High School Association |
alma mater | University of Chicago,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,University of Colorado |
language | English |
home town | Chicago, Illinois |
period | 1967–present |
subject | Film |
notableworks | The Great Movies; The Great Movies II; Beyond the Valley of the Dolls |
spouse | Chaz Hammelsmith(July 18, 1992 – present) |
influenced | A. O. ScottRichard CorlissJames BerardinelliMichael PhillipsWill LeitchHarry KnowlesDavid Bordwell |
awards | Pulitzer Prize for film criticism |
website | http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/ |
portaldisp | }} |
Ebert is known for his film review column (appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, and later online) and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The Movies, all of which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel. After Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert teamed with Richard Roeper for the television series Ebert & Roeper & the Movies, which began airing in 2000. Although his name remained in the title, Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006, when he suffered post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer which left him unable to speak. Ebert ended his association with the show in July 2008, but in February 2009 he stated that he and Roeper would continue their work on a new show. Ebert's current show, Ebert Presents at the Movies, premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert contributing a review voiced by someone else in a brief segment called "Roger's Office".
Ebert's movie reviews are syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and worldwide by Universal Press Syndicate. He has written more than 15 books, including his annual movie yearbook which is predominantly a collection of his reviews of that year. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. His television programs have been widely syndicated and have been nominated for Emmy awards. In February 1995, a section of Chicago's Erie Street near the CBS Studios was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way. In June 2005, Ebert was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the first professional film critic to receive such an award. He has honorary degrees from the University of Colorado, the AFI Conservatory, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Forbes has described him as "the most powerful pundit in America".
Since 1996, he has written a Great Movies series of individual reviews of what he deems to be the most important films of all time. This list and his associated reviews have now expanded to include over 300 movies. Since 1999, he has hosted the annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival in Champaign, Illinois.
Regarding his early influences in film critiquing, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies: :"I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine... Mad's parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin—of the way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies; I lost it at Mad magazine."
After briefly attending the University of Chicago, Ebert received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was editor of The Daily Illini and member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La dolce vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. After Ebert wrote an article on the death of writer Brendan Behan for Chicago Daily News editor Herman Kogan, Ebert was given a job as a reporter and feature writer at the Sun-Times in 1966. After movie critic Eleanor Keane left the paper, editor Robert Zonk gave the job to Ebert.
In 1969, his review of Night of the Living Dead was published in Reader's Digest.
Ebert co-wrote the screenplay for the 1970 Russ Meyer film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and likes to joke about being responsible for the film, which was poorly received on its release but is now regarded as a cult classic. Ebert and Meyer also made Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, Up!, and others, and were involved in the ill-fated Sex Pistols movie Who Killed Bambi? In April 2010, Ebert posted his screenplay of "Who Killed Bambi?" aka "Anarchy in the UK" on his blog. Since the 1970s, Ebert has worked for the University of Chicago as a guest lecturer, teaching a night class on film. His fall 2005 class was on the works of the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
In 1975, Ebert and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune began co-hosting a weekly film review television show, Sneak Previews, which was locally produced by the Chicago public broadcasting station WTTW. The show was picked up by PBS in 1978 for national distribution. In 1982, the critics moved to a syndicated commercial television show named At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and in 1986 they left to create Siskel & Ebert & The Movies with Buena Vista Television (part of Disney). The duo was known for their "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries. When Siskel died in 1999, the producers retitled the show Roger Ebert & the Movies with rotating co-hosts. In September 2000, fellow Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper became the permanent co-host and the show was renamed At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper.
On January 31, 2009, Ebert was made an honorary life member of the Directors Guild of America during the group's annual awards ceremony.
Ebert ended his association with Disney in July 2008, after the studio indicated they wished to take At the Movies in a new direction. He and Gene Siskel's widow, Marlene Iglitzen Siskel, still own the trademark phrase "Two Thumbs Up." On February 18, 2009, Ebert reported that he and Roeper would soon announce a new movie review program. Ebert reiterated this plan after Disney announced the last episode of the program would air in August 2010.
Ebert stated in his August 18, 2010 "Answer Man" column that he was writing his memoirs.
Ebert has emphasized that his star ratings have little meaning if not considered in the context of the review itself. Occasionally (as in his review of Basic Instinct 2), Ebert's star rating may seem at odds with his written opinion. Ebert has acknowledged such cases, stating, "I cannot recommend the movie, but ... why the hell can't I? Just because it's godawful? What kind of reason is that for staying away from a movie? Godawful and boring, that would be a reason." In August 2004 Stephen King, in a column, criticized what he saw as a growing trend of leniency towards films from critics including Ebert. His main criticism was that films, citing Spider-Man 2 as an example, were constantly given four star ratings that they did not deserve. In his review of The Manson Family, Ebert gave the film three stars for achieving what it set out to do, but admitted that didn't count as a recommendation per se. He similarly gave the Adam Sandler-starring remake of The Longest Yard a positive rating of three stars, but in his review, which he wrote soon after attending the Cannes Film Festival, he recommended readers not see the film because they had access to more satisfying cinematic experiences. He also declined to give a star rating to The Human Centipede, arguing that the rating system was "unsuited" to such a film: "Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine."
Ebert has reprinted his starred reviews in movie guides. In his appearances on The Howard Stern Show, he was frequently challenged to defend his ratings. Ebert stood by his opinions with one notable exception—when Stern pointed out that Ebert had given The Godfather Part II a three-star rating in 1974, but had subsequently given The Godfather Part III three and a half stars. Ebert later added The Godfather Part II to his "Great Movies" list in October 2008 stating that his original review has often been cited as proof of his "worthlessness" but he still hasn't changed his mind and wouldn't change a word of his original review.
Ebert has occasionally accused some films of having an unwholesome political agenda, and the word "fascist" accompanied more than one of Ebert's reviews of the law-and-order films of the 1970s such as Dirty Harry. He is also suspicious of films that are passed off as art, but which he sees as merely lurid and sensational. Ebert has leveled this charge against such films as The Night Porter.
Ebert's reviews can clash with the overall reception of movies, as evidenced by his one-star review of the celebrated 1986 David Lynch film Blue Velvet ("marred by sophomoric satire and cheap shots... in a way, [director Lynch's] behavior is more sadistic than the Hopper character"). He was dismissive of the popular 1988 Bruce Willis action film Die Hard ("inappropriate and wrongheaded interruptions reveal the fragile nature of the plot"), while his positive review of 1997's Speed 2: Cruise Control ("Movies like this embrace goofiness with an almost sensual pleasure") is the only one accounting for that film's 2% approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes critical website.
Ebert often makes heavy use of mocking sarcasm, especially when reviewing movies he considers bad. At other times he is direct, famously in his review of the 1994 Rob Reiner comedy North, which he concluded by writing that:
Ebert's reviews are also often characterized by dry wit. In January 2005, when Rob Schneider insulted Los Angeles Times movie critic Patrick Goldstein, who panned his movie Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, by commenting that the critic was unqualified because he had never won the Pulitzer Prize, Ebert intervened by stating that, as a Pulitzer winner, he was qualified to review the film, and bluntly told Schneider, "Your movie sucks." Ebert and Schneider would later mend fences regarding this. (See "Personal life" below.)
Ebert has been known to comment on films using his own Roman Catholic upbringing as a point of reference, and has been critical of films he believes are grossly ignorant of or insulting to Catholicism, such as Stigmata and Priest, though he has given favorable reviews of controversial films with themes or references to Jesus and Catholicism, including The Passion of the Christ, The Last Temptation of Christ, and to Kevin Smith's religious satire Dogma. However, Ebert identifies himself today as an agnostic.
He often includes personal anecdotes in his reviews when he considers them relevant. He has occasionally written reviews in the forms of stories, poems, songs, scripts, open letters, or imagined conversations. He has written many essays and articles exploring the field of film criticism in depth.
Ebert has been accused by some horror movie fans of bourgeois elitism in his dismissal of what he calls "Dead Teenager Movies". Ebert has clarified that he does not disparage horror movies as a whole, but that he draws a distinction between films like Nosferatu and The Silence of the Lambs, which he regards as "masterpieces", and films which he feels consist of nothing more than groups of teenagers being killed off with the exception of one survivor to populate a sequel.
Ebert has indicated that his favorite film is Citizen Kane, although he has expressed ambivalence in naming this film in answer to this question, preferring to emphasize it as "the most important" film. His favorite actor is Robert Mitchum, and his favorite actress is Ingrid Bergman. Ebert has emphasized his general distaste for "top ten" lists, and all movie lists in general, but due to his participation in the 2002 Sight and Sound Directors' poll, he has revealed his top-ten films (alphabetically): Aguirre, Wrath of God; Apocalypse Now; Citizen Kane; Dekalog; La dolce vita; The General; Raging Bull; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Tokyo Story; and Vertigo.
Ebert has long been an admirer of director Werner Herzog, whom he supported through many years when Herzog's popularity had been eclipsed. He conducted an onstage public "conversation" with Herzog at the Telluride Film Festival in 2004, after a screening of Herzog's film Invincible at the Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival. Herzog dedicated his 2008 film Encounters at the End of the World to Ebert, and Ebert responded with a heartfelt public letter of gratitude.
In 2005, Ebert opined that video games are not art, and are inferior to media created through authorial control, such as film and literature, stating, "video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful", but "the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art". This resulted in negative reaction from video game enthusiasts, such as writer Clive Barker, who defended video games as an art form, stating that they have the power to move people, that the views of book or film critics are less important than those of the consumers experiencing them, and that Ebert's were prejudiced. Ebert responded that the charge of prejudice was merely a euphemism for disagreement, that merely being moved by an experience does not denote it as artistic, and that critics are also consumers. Ebert later defended his position in April 2010, saying, "No video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form." He also stated that he has never found a video game "worthy of (his) time", and thus has never played one. Cracked.com writer Robert Brockway responded by opining that this made Ebert unqualified to judge video games, and that debating Ebert on such a topic was comparable to "a structured philosophical debate on the importance of pacifism and restraint with a rabid badger: Your opponent is not only unqualified from the start, but it's obviously just out to attack you."
In a July 1, 2010, blog entry, Ebert maintained his skepticism that video games can ever be art in principle, but conceded that he should not have expressed this opinion without being more familiar with the actual experience of playing them. He reflected on the reaction to his blog entry, gamers' attempts to recommend to him games such as The Shadow of the Colossus, and his reluctance to play games due to his lack of interest in the medium.
He also frequently laments that cinemas outside major cities are "booked by computer from Hollywood with no regard for local tastes", making high-quality independent and foreign films virtually unavailable to most American moviegoers.
Ebert is a strong advocate for Maxivision 48, in which the movie projector runs at 48 frames per second, as compared to the usual 24 frames per second. He is opposed to the practice whereby theatres lower the intensity of their projector bulbs in order to extend the life of the bulb, arguing that this has little effect other than to make the film harder to see. Ebert has been skeptical of the recent resurgence of 3D effects in film, which he has found unrealistic and distracting.
Ebert has provided DVD audio commentaries for several films, including Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Dark City, Floating Weeds, Crumb, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (for which Ebert also wrote the screenplay, based on a story that he co-wrote with Russ Meyer). Ebert was also interviewed by Central Park Media for an extra feature on the DVD release of the anime film Grave of the Fireflies.
On the day of the Academy Awards, Ebert and Roeper typically appear on the live pre-awards show, An Evening at the Academy Awards: The Arrivals. This airs prior to the awards ceremony show, which also features red carpet interviews and fashion commentary. They also appear on the post-awards show entitled An Evening at the Academy Awards: The Winners. Both shows are produced and aired by the American Broadcasting Company-owned Los Angeles station KABC-TV. This show also airs on WLS-TV as well as the network's other owned stations along with being syndicated to several ABC affiliates and other broadcasters outside the country. Ebert did not appear on the 2007 show for medical reasons.
In 1995, Ebert, along with colleague Gene Siskel, guest starred on an episode of the animated TV series The Critic. In the episode, Siskel and Ebert split and each wants Jay as his new partner. The episode is a parody of the film Sleepless in Seattle.
In 1996, Ebert appeared in "Pitch", a documentary by Canadian film makers Spencer Rice and Kenny Hotz.
In 2003, Ebert had a cameo appearance in the film Abby Singer, in which he recited the white parasol monologue from Citizen Kane.
Roger Ebert founded his own film festival, Ebertfest, in his home town of Champaign, Illinois and is also a regular fixture at the Hawaii International Film Festival.
On May 4, 2010, Ebert was announced by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences as the Webby Person of the Year having taken to the Internet following his battle with cancer.
On October 22, 2010, Ebert appeared on camera with Robert Osborne on the Turner Classic Movies network during the network's "The Essentials" series. Ebert chose the film Sweet Smell of Success to be shown.
Roger Ebert suffered from alcoholism and quit drinking in 1979. He is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and has written some blog entries on the subject. He has been friends with, and at one time dated, Oprah Winfrey, who credits him with encouraging her to go into syndication. He is also good friends with film historian and critic Leonard Maltin and considers the book Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide to be the standard of film guide books.
A supporter of the Democratic Party, Ebert publicly urged liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to give a politically charged acceptance speech at the Academy Awards: "I'd like to see Michael Moore get up there and let 'em have it with both barrels and really let loose and give them a real rabble-rousing speech." During a 2004 visit to The Howard Stern Show, Ebert predicted that the then-junior Illinois senator Barack Obama would be very important to the future of the country. During a 1996 panel at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Conference on World Affairs, Ebert coined The Boulder Pledge, by which he vowed never to purchase anything offered through the result of an unsolicited email message, or to forward chain emails or mass emails to others.
He is critical of the Intelligent Design movement. He has also stated that people who believe in either creationism or new age beliefs such as crystal healing or astrology are not qualified to be President. Regarding his belief system, he doesn't "want to provide a category for people to apply to me" because he "would not want my convictions reduced to a word" and states, "I have never said, although readers have freely informed me I am an atheist, an agnostic, or at the very least a secular humanist—which I am".
On April 25, 2011, he achieved one of his long-time goals: winning one of the weekly caption contests in The New Yorker magazine after more than 100 attempts.
Ebert underwent further surgery on June 16, 2006, just two days before his 64th birthday, to remove additional cancerous tissue near his right jaw, which included removing a section of jaw bone. On July 1, Ebert was hospitalized in serious condition after his carotid artery burst near the surgery site and he "came within a breath of death". He later learned that the burst was likely a side effect of his treatment, which involved neutron beam radiation. He was subsequently kept bedridden to prevent further damage to the scarred vessels in his neck while he slowly recovered from multiple surgeries and the rigorous treatment. At one point, his status was so precarious that Ebert had a tracheostomy performed on his neck to reduce the effort of breathing while he recovered.
Ebert had pre-taped enough TV programs with his co-host Richard Roeper to keep him on the air for a few weeks; however, his extended convalescence necessitated a series of "guest critics" to co-host with Roeper: Jay Leno (a good friend to both Ebert and Roeper), Kevin Smith, John Ridley, Toni Senecal, Christy Lemire, Michael Phillips, Aisha Tyler, Fred Willard, Anne Thompson, A.O. Scott, Mario Van Peebles, George Pennacchio, Brad Silberling, and John Mellencamp. Michael Phillips later became Ebert's replacement for the remainder of Roeper's time on At the Movies, until mid-2008, when Roeper did not extend his contract with ABC.
In October 2006, Ebert confirmed his bleeding problems had been resolved. He was undergoing rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago due to lost muscle mass, and later underwent further rehabilitation at the Pritikin Center in Florida." In May 2007, Ebert blogged that he had received a bouquet of flowers from actor Rob Schneider, with a note signed, "Your Least Favorite Movie Star, Rob Schneider". Ebert took this as a kind gesture despite his negative review of Schneider's Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. Ebert described the flowers as "a reminder, if I needed one, that although Rob Schneider might (in my opinion) have made a bad movie, he is not a bad man, and no doubt tried to make a wonderful movie, and hopes to again. I hope so, too."
After a three-month absence, the first movie he reviewed was The Queen. Ebert made his first public appearance since the summer of 2006 at Ebertfest on April 25, 2007. He was unable to speak but communicated through his wife, Chaz, through the use of written notes. His opening words to the crowd of devout fans at the festival were a quote from the film he co-wrote with Russ Meyer, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: "It's my happening and it freaks me out." Also in April 2007, in an interview with WLS-TV in Chicago, he said, "I was told photos of me in this condition would attract the gossip papers — so what?" On April 23, the Sun-Times reported that, when asked about his decision to return to the limelight, Ebert remarked, "We spend too much time hiding illness." Fans at his website have remarked his public appearances have been inspirational to cancer victims and survivors around the country.
Ebert underwent further surgery on January 24, 2008, this time in Houston, to address the complications from his previous surgeries. A statement from Ebert and his wife indicated that "the surgery went well, and the Eberts look forward to giving you more good news..." but on April 1, his 41st anniversary as a film critic at the Sun-Times, Ebert announced that there had been further complications and his speech had not been restored. He wrote, "I am still cancer-free, and not ready to think about more surgery at this time. I should be content with the abundance I have." His columns resumed shortly after the April 23 opening of his annual film festival at the University of Illinois. During his various surgeries, doctors carved bone, tissue and skin from his back, arm, and legs, and transplanted them in an attempt to reconstruct his jaw and throat, though these transplants would each be unsuccessful, and eventually removed. As a result of these procedures, his right shoulder is visibly smaller than his left, and his legs have been scarred and weakened. On April 18, 2008, it was announced that Ebert had fractured his hip in a fall, a result of the weakening of his body following the unsuccessful tissue transplants, and had undergone surgery to repair it.
Ebert employed a Scottish company called CereProc, which custom-tailors text-to-speech software for voiceless customers who record their voices at length before losing them, and mined tapes and DVD commentaries featuring Ebert to create a voice that sounds more like his own voice. He used the voice they devised for him in his March 2, 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in which he discussed his methods of coping with the loss of his voice and his other post-surgical difficulties. By January 2011, Ebert had been given a prosthesis for his chin created by University of Illinois craniofacial doctors and other specialists. The prosthesis, which took two years to fabricate, is worn by Ebert on Ebert Presents at the Movies, in a medium shot of him that is used for the "Roger's Office" segment.
Category:1942 births Category:American agnostics Category:American humanists Category:American skeptics Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:American film critics Category:American television personalities Category:Film historians Category:Film theorists Category:Cancer survivors Category:American writers of German descent Category:Illinois Democrats Category:Living people Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Urbana, Illinois Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners Category:Science fiction fans Category:University of Cape Town alumni Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni
ar:روجر إيبرت bn:রজার ইবার্ট zh-min-nan:Roger Ebert bs:Roger Ebert cs:Roger Ebert da:Roger Ebert de:Roger Ebert es:Roger Ebert fa:راجر ایبرت fr:Roger Ebert gl:Roger Ebert hr:Roger Ebert it:Roger Ebert he:רוג'ר איברט nl:Roger Ebert ja:ロジャー・イーバート no:Roger Ebert pl:Roger Ebert pt:Roger Ebert ro:Roger Ebert ru:Эберт, Роджер simple:Roger Ebert fi:Roger Ebert sv:Roger Ebert tr:Roger Ebert uk:Роджер Іберт vi:Roger Ebert zh:罗杰·埃伯特This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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