oohsarracuda's review against another edition
3.0
Re-read: November 2018, for Friday Night Bad Movies & Junk Food fodder. 3 stars.
Originally read: May 2012. 4 stars.
Originally read: May 2012. 4 stars.
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
I've heard his reviews on his popular show(s), but hadn't really read them before this year. He's very, very funny, (humor's subjective, but we have the same sense of humour, thank goodness). Even reading them back to back to back, it doesn't pall. I don't always entirely agree with his take, but he gives reasons, and I concede his points. This made for very fun bedtime reading, a few a night.
Tiny caveat: I don't like gruesome horror movies (nor does he), but he describes much of the gruesome which is just as bad, for me, as watching the movie. So skip by anything if, like me, that would be nightmare-inducing.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
Tiny caveat: I don't like gruesome horror movies (nor does he), but he describes much of the gruesome which is just as bad, for me, as watching the movie. So skip by anything if, like me, that would be nightmare-inducing.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
crowyhead's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of Roger Ebert's reviews of recent movies earning two stars or fewer. There's some hilarious bits here and it's a great deal of fun. Ebert is also occasionally spot-on in questioning the deeper social implications of some of the films; I thought his review of the remake of "I Spit on Your Grave" was particularly good, and gets right to the heart of what makes the film troubling. This is a great book to have lying around to dip into occasionally, or as a reference, and I also enjoyed just reading it straight through.
foxwrapped's review against another edition
2.0
I read only the movies that I was familiar with, Atlas Shrugged, Thor, Fanboys, Basic Instinct 2, yadda yadda. Entertaining but not particularly enlightening, which is... to be expected I suppose. But I did expect funny, passionate "I hate this movie, so so much" reviews instead of like, grumpy get-off-my-lawn rants. Instead of "A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length" the title should be like, "Meh. I don't get why you kids like these things."
patthebook's review against another edition
3.0
This is fun! It isn't always enjoyable to read negative criticism of things but Ebert has a knack for keeping them light, rarely if ever mean-spirited, and posing interesting questions that are often much more interesting than he movies sound.
He has a couple of tells though! 80% or more of these reviews include the words "I dunno" (you can tell he's disappointed when his grammar slips), probably 30% or better include an outright dismissal of some kind ("But you don't need to worry about that"), and pretty much every one asks at least one hypothetical question.
And frankly, as good as this collection is, it just makes me want to read the first volume. Especially since the earliest film here is 2008.
He has a couple of tells though! 80% or more of these reviews include the words "I dunno" (you can tell he's disappointed when his grammar slips), probably 30% or better include an outright dismissal of some kind ("But you don't need to worry about that"), and pretty much every one asks at least one hypothetical question.
And frankly, as good as this collection is, it just makes me want to read the first volume. Especially since the earliest film here is 2008.
kristenlopez8's review against another edition
3.0
It's a book of collected reviews. Ebert's style is always great but if you've read these reviews when they were originally published there's no reason to read the book.
middlekmissie's review against another edition
5.0
There's a good reason that Ebert is probably the best-known movie critic of all time. His turns of phrase, his concise wittiness, are brilliant.