I agree with Roger Ebert!

[Lexodus]

Shock horror! Using a deliberately misleading thread title? What has the world come to?
In all seriousness, I found myself agreeing with the aforementioned bastard. The topic was Titan A.E. (he said that it was brilliant), and I was as shocked as you are that he could possibly say something that I'd agree with. In retrospect, it wasn't that surprising, but I'd let my hatred of the man cloud all opinion of him. My question is this:
Have you ever found yourself agreeing with somebody you usually hate, or the opposite? What was the situation?

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I never judge people by their prior statements, I believe someone can always have the potential for a valid opinion.

It's when they open their mouths and continue to spew bullshit that I start with the ignoring, but that still doesn't invalidate any prior good points they may have made.

 

[necromanzer52]

I also agree with Roger Ebert. Gladiator is a shit movie.

 

[Airhead]

Some of the opposite, if you'll excuse me: I usually love Bill Maher's show and I find it very funny and to the point, until he touches the topic of vaccinations and what he calls "Western medicine" (meaning the only proven and tested kind of medicine there is, and no longer "Western" BTW). Shocking how a person usually so reasonable can be so distrustful of the branch of knowledge that saves so many lives daily.

 

[smeghead25]

I also agree with Roger Ebert. Videogames can't become art.

They already have.

It's just a different art form.

 

[skips]

I also agree with Roger Ebert. Synecdoche, New York is the best movie of the 00's.

 

[fullbleed]

Shock horror! Using a deliberately misleading thread title? What has the world come to?
In all seriousness, I found myself agreeing with the aforementioned bastard. The topic was Titan A.E. (he said that it was brilliant), and I was as shocked as you are that he could possibly say something that I'd agree with. In retrospect, it wasn't that surprising, but I'd let my hatred of the man cloud all opinion of him. My question is this:
Have you ever found yourself agreeing with somebody you usually hate, or the opposite? What was the situation?

Someone's views on an entirely unrelated topic should make you disregard someone is by and large a great reviewer. Of course he's wrong about videogames and wrong to say what he did, I've also seen an out take from his show where he and Siskel and deliberately offensive to Protestant Christians, his reviews are still good.

Mark Kermode is sort of the UK equivilent of Roger Ebert and has less of a habit of putting his foot in his mouth about topics he has no understanding of. For instance his views on videogames, he doesn't play them and probably never will but he's happy to let other do so and doesn't disregard the medium just becuase he doesn't enjoy them and accepts that there is potential for art in a new medium. He also understands how videogames feel when they're demonised, Mark is a huge lover of horror films and knows what it's like what with the video nasties scandal in the 80s. That aside he's my favourite critic and I agree with him alot of the time and his rants on Sex and the City and Eat, Pray, Love (which he nicknames Fear, Desperation, Murder) are hilarious. He has expanded my knowlage and range of films greatly, he's a huge inspiration for me as a film student.

BUT, he thinks that the Twilight trillogy is better the the original Star Wars trilogy... yeah. Don't all rage too soon or grab your pitchforks and torches just yet, he's still a great critic and has very valid opinions on a lot of films. He's just... a little off on this one, I wonder what he'll think when the next Twilight comes out where everything properly goes batshit bananas insane.

 

[Thaius]

Aw, I thought I was going to get to argue my favorite topic... I study games as an art form, and I really enjoy shooting down Ebert's claims about video games. They're a bit more well thought out than most, but they're still founded in ignorance and painfully easy to destroy. Sigh...

Anyway, I generally disagree with him on everything. There are a few movies here and there, obviously, but his general outlook on film, and art in general, is really messed up, I think. The very fact that he is a proponent of "high art" (aka "I'm better than you because I loved film x"), as well as his tendency to equate action with shallowness, puts him squarely in my "dislike" category.