Thumbs Up
Roger Ebert is maybe the most famous film critic of all time. He was also the first movie critic to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for film criticism. He and his thumb and his insightful reviews influenced movie goers choices for decades and his love for the art form came through in everything he wrote— Whether in praise of a great movie or derision of a bad one. Today we have chosen to focus our attention on those great ones—the movies Roger Ebert absolutely loved. Where does your thumb land on these movies?
Alien
On his Sneak Previews television show with his partner in thumbs Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert gave Alien a "yes" vote and called it "one of the scariest old-fashioned space operas I can remember".
Twentieth Century, Alien (1979)
Groundhog Day
Although Ebert's initial review of Groundhog Day was positive and given 3 out of 4 stars, he would later write, "Certainly I underrated it in my original review"—and go on to elevate it to 4 stars and Great Movie status.
Columbia, Groundhog Day (1993)
Blade Runner
Roger Ebert passed away in 2013, so we will never know whether he would've loved Blade Runner 2049 or not. However, we do know that he loved the first Blade Runner movie—or more specifically, "The Final Cut" version, which is the one he added to his Great Movies list.
Warner Bros., Blade Runner (1982)
Dark City
Not only did Ebert call Alex Proyas's 1998 film a "great visionary achievement"—he went on to give it some of the highest praise one can give to a sci-fi movie, calling it "a film so original and exciting, it stirred my imagination like Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey".
New Line Cinema, Dark City (1998)
Hoop Dreams
To say that Roger Ebert loved this documentary might be an understatement. He named it the best film of 1994, the best film of the decade, "one of the best films about American life that I have ever seen" and "one of the great moviegoing experiences of my lifetime.
Kartemquin Films, Hoop Dreams (1994)
Scarface
Say hello to Ebert's little 4 out of 4 stars friend.
Dog Day Afternoon
Another Al Pacino movie coming up—and one of his best. "The characters are all believable, sympathetic, convincing. We care for them," wrote Ebert. "In a film about cops and robbers, there are no bad guys. Just people trying to get through a summer afternoon that has taken a strange turn".
Warner Bros., Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Magnolia
Ebert gave Paul Thomas Anderson's amazing Magnolia 4 out of 4 stars the first time he reviewed it—but he loved it even more the second time. Writing in his re-review that Magnolia "was not quite the film I recalled...and now that I have seen it again, my admiration has only deepened".
New Line Cinema, Magnolia (1999)
Mulholland Drive
David Lynch's Mulholland Drive split many folks down the middle, with the film receiving some of the highest praise of Lynch's career as well as some of the harshest criticism. Which makes it all the more interesting that Ebert—who had often had issues with Lynch's movies— loved this one as much as he did".
David Lynch has been working toward Mulholland Drive all of his career, and now that he's arrived there, I forgive him for Wild at Heart and even Lost Highway. At last, his experiment doesn't shatter the test tubes. The movie is a surrealist dreamscape in the form of a Hollywood film noir, and the less sense it makes, the more we can't stop watching it".
Asymmetrical Productions, Mulholland Drive (2001)
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a powerful film about desperation, pain, and love and it features two stunning performances from both Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. Not only did Ebert call it the best film of 1995—but he went on to name it the eighth best film of the entire decade.
Spirited Away
We have to agree with Ebert that Spirited Away is one of Hiyao Miyazaki's best films. But Ebert went farther than praising it as one of the best in the director's oeuvre—and widened his praise to all animated films in general, calling it "surely one of the finest of all animated films".
Tokuma Shoten, Spirited Away (2001)
The Pledge
Starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Sean Penn, The Pledge didn't make much noise when it came out in 2001 and has all but been forgotten these 20+ years later. It rarely, if ever, gets brought up when discussing either of these actors' great careers. Unless, of course, you would've been discussing them with Roger Ebert, who gave The Pledge 4 out of 4 stars all those years ago.
Morgan Creek, The Pledge (2001)
Contact
This 1997 sci-fi drama starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey performed well at the box office and while the 68% Rotten Tomatoes score isn't stellar, one critic who did have stellar things to say about it was Roger Ebert—saying it told the "smartest and most absorbing story about extraterrestrial intelligence since Close Encounters of the Third Kind". High praise indeed.
And while he liked it then, he seemed to like it even more 14 years later when he re-reviewed, gave it 4 out of 4 stars, and added it to his Great Movies collection.
Seven
While David Fincher's directorial debut, Aliens 3, didn't land on Roger Ebert's Great Movies list—Seven, his second go around in the director's chair, sure did.
Badlands
When it comes to directorial debuts, there are few better than Terrence Malick's 1973 Badlands. With its 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert is obviously not the only one who loves this movie. But it’s another one he praised heavily and added to his Great Movies list in 2011.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
If we had been compiling this list back in 2001, A.I. Artificial Intelligence wouldn't have been on it. Because while Ebert liked the film when he first saw it, his ranking of 3 out of 4 stars didn't elevate it to the status of "love" we are looking for here. However, rewatching the film years later with new eyes, Ebert fell for it harder and re-ranked it to 4 out of 4 stars and Great Movie status.
Warner Bros., A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Superman
There have been a lot of efforts to make a good Superman movie, and most have failed miserably. But at least they got it right the first time. 1978's Superman might be the best film about the son of Krypton—and it's one of the movies Roger Ebert loved. "Superman is a pure delight," he wrote.
Lost In Translation
Ebert loved Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, and Bill Murray was a huge reason why: "Bill Murray’s acting in Sofia Coppola‘s Lost in Translation is surely one of the most exquisitely controlled performances in recent movies. Without it, the film could be unwatchable. With it, I can’t take my eyes away".
Focus Features, Lost in Translation (2003)
Withnail And I
As a recovering alcoholic, Withnail and I spoke to Roger Ebert in a way more relatable way than it might to others—but that takes nothing away from this "tour de force". As Ebert wrote when giving it Great Movie status, Withnail and I "achieves a kind of transcendence in its gloom. It is uncompromisingly, sincerely, itself".
Cineplex Odeon Films, Withnail & I (1987)
Mystery Train
Many of Jim Jarmusch's films have gone underappreciated by general audiences, but 1989's Mystery Train is one of his most forgotten. Thankfully, Roger Ebert did all he could to keep it in the public consciousness by putting it on his Great Movies list.
JVC Entertainment Networks, Mystery Train (1989)
The Big Lebowski
When it comes to calling The Big Lebowski a great film...the Ebert abides.
PolyGram, The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Godfather
You probably assumed Ebert loved The Godfather—come on, it's one of the greatest American films ever made. But just letting you know that, in this case, your assumptions were 4 out of 4 stars correct.
Paramount, The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II
Ebert also ranked Part II in his Great Movies list. Although, that wasn't initially the case when the film was first released. In his first review, Ebert handed The Godfather Part II 3 out of 4 stars. But in a 2008 re-edit and re-consideration, he upped it to 4.
Paramount, The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather Part III
No, Ebert didn't hand out 4 stars to Part III as well—but he did give it 3.5 stars (which, you may remember is more than he initially gave to Part II)—and he also defended the casting of Sofia Coppola (whose performance was getting blasted by most critics): "I think Sofia Coppola brings a quality of her own to Mary Corleone. A certain up-front vulnerability and simplicity that I think are appropriate and right for the role".
Paramount, The Godfather Part III (1990)
2001: A Space Odyssey
If Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece hadn't been on this list, it might've made us question everything else Ebert had ever reviewed. But thankfully, there it stands with 4 stars out of 4 and the beautifully written opening of his review:
"The genius is not in how much Stanley Kubrick does in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but in how little. This is the work of an artist so sublimely confident that he doesn’t include a single shot simply to keep our attention. He reduces each scene to its essence, and leaves it on screen long enough for us to contemplate it, to inhabit it in our imaginations. Alone among science-fiction movies, 2001 is not concerned with thrilling us, but with inspiring our awe".
MGM, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Barry Lyndon
We aren't going to mention every Kubrick film Ebert gave 4 stars to, but we did want to highlight one more from one of the greatest directors of all time: Barry Lyndon. It's a film that didn't make much impact when it was released in 1975 but has gained a large following and great recognition in the decades since. To quote the headline of Ebert's 2009 essay on the film: "Technically awesome, emotionally distant, and classically Kubrick". How perfect is that?
Hawk Films, Barry Lyndon (1975)
The Big Red One
Director Samuel Fuller's war film got 3 out of 4 stars from Roger Ebert when he first reviewed the film. However, he later re-reviewed it and upped it to 4 out of 4.
Lorimar Productions, The Big Red One (1980)
Gates Of Heaven
On the surface, this 1978 Errol Morris documentary is about pet cemeteries. But as Ebert wrote in 1997, it is about much more than that: "I have seen this film perhaps 30 times," he wrote, "and am still not anywhere near the bottom of it: All I know is, it’s about a lot more than pet cemeteries".
Gates of Heaven, Gates of Heaven (1978)
Citizen Kane
You may think Ebert has seen Gates of Heaven a lot—but those 30+ viewings probably don't come close to how deep he dove into Citizen Kane throughout his life. "I have analyzed it a shot at a time with more than 30 groups," he wrote, "and together we have seen, I believe, pretty much everything that is there on the screen". It is quite possibly the most praised film of all time, and Ebert was among its biggest admirers.
25th Hour
There are many more well-known, flashier Spike Lee movies, but 25th Hour has quietly been recognized as one of his best. Ebert not only added it to his Great Movies list in 2009, but he also called it one of the best films of the decade as well.
Touchstone Pictures, 25th Hour (2002)
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Charlie Kaufman's brilliant script, Michel Gondry's deft directorial hand, and beautiful performances from Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet all work together to make Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the amazing piece of art it is. "The wisdom in Eternal Sunshine is how it illuminates the way memory interacts with love," wrote Ebert in the essay that accompanied the film's addition to his list of Great Movies.
Focus Features, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Ripley’s Game
There have been many movies made based on the Patricia Highsmith "Ripley" novels, and Ebert really liked pretty much all of them. He even called The Talented Mr. Ripley (maybe the most famous of the movies), splendid. However, in the same paragraph, he also called Ripley's Game, "without question the best".
Fine Line Features, Ripley's Game (2002)
Goodfellas
Allow us to simply quote Mr Ebert's initial 4-star review of this Martin Scorsese masterpiece: "No finer film has ever been made about organized crime—not even The Godfather". But while Goodfellas is an obvious film to have made the list, another Scorsese entry might surprise many out there.
Warner Bros., Goodfellas (1990)
After Hours
Scorsese's 1985 dark comedy After Hours only made a little over $10 at the box office and is oft-forgotten when the director's oeuvre is discussed. But while its stature has grown over time, it was high from the start for Roger Ebert—who gave it 4 out of 4 stars in his initial review and never waivered—eventually adding it to his Great Movies list as well.
