Sunday 4 November 2012

Roger Ebert superlatives


From memory (plus a little help from the internets), here are a some super superlative quotes from film critic Roger Ebert, whom I love to read:

An early preview of Life of Pi (2012) "This is the best use of 3-D I've ever seen"

"Fargo (1996) rotates its story through satire, comedy, suspense and violence, until it emerges as one of the best films I've ever seen".

No Country for Old Men (2007) "Many of the scenes in No Country for Old Men are so flawlessly constructed that you want them to simply continue, and yet they create an emotional suction drawing you to the next scene. Another movie that made me feel that way was Fargo. To make one such film is a miracle. Here is another".

Cloud Atlas (2012), "Surely this is one of the most ambitious films ever made."

"Grave of the Fireflies (1988) doesn't attempt even the realism of "The Lion King" or "Princess Mononoke," but paradoxically it is the most realistic animated film I've ever seen--in feeling."

Monster (2004): "This is one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema."

A tale of the american prison system, Into the Abyss (2011) "may be the saddest film Werner Herzog has ever made."

Come and See (1985): "This 1985 film from Russia is one of the most devastating films ever about anything, and in it, the survivors must envy the dead"

The Passion of the Christ (2004) "This is the most violent film I have ever seen."

The Life of Oharu (1952), "Here is the saddest film I have ever seen about the life of a woman".

I Spit on Your Grave (1980): "A vile bag of garbage named "I Spit on Your Grave" is playing in Chicago theaters this week. It is a movie so sick, reprehensible and contemptible that I can hardly believe it's playing in respectable theatres... Attending it was one of the most depressing experiences of, my life".

Bonus: the only film Ebert ever walked out of, Caligula (1980): "If it is not the worst film I have ever seen, that makes it all the more shameful: People with talent allowed themselves to participate in this travesty".