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160-466: After working on his third film Magnolia , Anderson planned to make his next film around 90 minutes, with Sandler in mind as the lead due to Anderson's love for him and his films. It features the video art of Jeremy Blake in the form of visual interludes. The film received positive reviews from critics, with Sandler's performance receiving widespread acclaim. However, the film was a box office bomb , failing to recoup its $ 25 million production budget at

320-474: A Healthy Choice promotion and amass a million frequent-flyer miles by purchasing large quantities of pudding. When Lena leaves for Hawaii on a business trip, Barry decides to follow her, using his sister to find Lena, who is overjoyed to see him. As the two spend time together, Barry's sister calls Lena, complicating matters, but Lena lies about having contact with Barry. The romance develops further, leading to Barry's relief from his emotional isolation. On

480-410: A fly-on-the-wall approach to cover nearly every aspect of production, from production management and scheduling to music direction to special effects . The behind-the-scenes documentary is an in-depth look into Anderson's motivation and directing style. Pre-production included a screening of the film Network (1976), as well as Ordinary People (1980). Several scenes showed Anderson at odds with

640-477: A limited release on December 17, 1999, in seven theaters grossing $ 193,604. The film was given a wide release on January 7, 2000, in 1,034 theaters grossing $ 5.7 million on its opening weekend. It eventually grossed $ 22.5   million in the United States and Canada, and $ 26.0   million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $ 48.5   million, against a budget of $ 37   million. On

800-589: A PhD student at the University of Chicago , he prepared to move to Chicago. He needed a job to support himself while he worked on his doctorate and so applied to the Chicago Daily News , hoping that, as he had already sold freelance pieces to the Daily News , including an article on the death of writer Brendan Behan , he would be hired by editor Herman Kogan . Instead, Kogan referred Ebert to

960-533: A biweekly series of longer articles great movies of the past. He gave his blessing ... Every other week I have revisited a great movie, and the response has been encouraging." The first film he wrote about for the series was Casablanca (1942). A hundred of these essays were published as The Great Movies (2002); he released two more volumes, and a fourth was published posthumously. In 1999, Ebert founded The Overlooked Film Festival (later Ebertfest ), in his hometown, Champaign, Illinois . In May 1998, Siskel took

1120-401: A chapter entitled "The Teleporting Animals and Magnolia ", addressing the film. The chapter discusses how one of Fort's books is visible on the table in the library and the film's end credit thanking Charles Fort. The only character who seems to be unsurprised by the falling frogs is Stanley. He calmly observes the event, saying, "This happens. This is something that happens." This has led to

1280-441: A crazed character using many pharmaceuticals. According to Moore, "Linda doesn't know who she is or what she's feeling and can only try to explain it in the most vulgar terms possible". Anderson said that Linda's story was inspired by his own father's wife. For William H. Macy , Anderson felt that Macy was scared of big, emotional parts and wrote "a big tearful, emotional part" for him. While convincing Philip Baker Hall to do

1440-545: A few seconds later." Anderson described the film as an "art-house Adam Sandler film," while film critic Roger Ebert felt Anderson "deconstructed the Adam Sandler movies and put them back together again in a new way at a different level." In writing the elements of the Healthy Choice frequent-flier miles sub-plot line, Anderson was inspired by the real-life story of David Phillips , who successfully amassed over

1600-552: A film begin this brilliantly only to torpedo itself in its final hour," but went on to say that the film "was saved from its worst, most reductive ideas by the intimacy of the performances and the deeply felt distress signals given off by the cast". Philip French, in his review for The Observer , wrote, "But is the joyless universe he (Anderson) presents any more convincing than the Pollyanna optimism of traditional sitcoms ? These lives are somehow too stunted and pathetic to achieve

1760-594: A film critic proved too much, so Ebert left the University of Chicago to focus his energies on film criticism. Ebert's first review for the Chicago Sun-Times began: " Georges Lautner ’s Galia opens and closes with arty shots of the ocean, mother of us all, but in between it’s pretty clear that what is washing ashore is the French New Wave ." He recalls that "Within a day after Zonka gave me

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1920-447: A film critic, Ebert wrote: If I had to make a generalization, I would say that many of my favorite movies are about Good People ... Casablanca is about people who do the right thing. The Third Man is about people who do the right thing and can never speak to one another as a result ... Not all good movies are about Good People. I also like movies about bad people who have a sense of humor. Orson Welles , who does not play either of

2080-667: A harmonium with a hole in its bellows, before going on tour with Aimee Mann . To fix the problem, he covered the hole with duct tape. The situation is mirrored in the film. The film began a limited domestic release on October 11, 2002, grossing $ 118,539 from five theaters. It went on to gross $ 17.8 million in the United States, and an international total of $ 6.8 million, for a worldwide box office total of $ 24.6 million. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , Punch-Drunk Love holds an approval rating of 79% based on 197 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Odd, touching, and unique, Punch-Drunk Love

2240-448: A jerk. I was a bit of a baby. At the first moment of conflict, I behaved in a slightly adolescent knee-jerk way. I just screamed." Anderson met Aimee Mann in 1996 when he asked her husband, Michael Penn , to write the score and songs for his film, Hard Eight . Mann had songs on soundtracks before but never "in such an integral way", she said in an interview. She gave Anderson rough mixes of songs and found that they both wrote about

2400-476: A journalist who knows Frank took care of his dying mother after Earl left. Frank storms out of the interview, after which Phil tries to contact him. Linda goes to see Earl's lawyer, hoping to change his will . She married Earl for the money, but now loves him and does not want it. The lawyer suggests she renounce the will and decline the money, which would go to Frank. Linda rejects his advice and berates Phil for seeking out Frank, but later apologizes. She drives to

2560-633: A leave of absence from the show to undergo brain surgery. He returned to the show, although viewers noticed a change in his physical appearance. Despite appearing sluggish and tired, Siskel continued reviewing films with Ebert and would appear on Late Show with David Letterman . In February 1999, Siskel died of a brain tumor. The producers renamed the show Roger Ebert & the Movies and used rotating co-hosts including Martin Scorsese , Janet Maslin and A.O. Scott . Ebert wrote of his late colleague: "For

2720-470: A legacy of indefatigable connoisseurship in movies, literature, politics and, to quote the title of his 2011 autobiography, Life Itself ." In 2014, Life Itself was adapted as a documentary of the same title , released to positive reviews. Roger Joseph Ebert was born on June 18, 1942, in Urbana, Illinois , the only child of Annabel (née Stumm), a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert, an electrician. He

2880-503: A limited space. He didn't waste time clearing his throat. 'They meet for the first time when she is in her front yard practicing baton-twirling,' begins his review of Badlands . Often, he managed to smuggle the basics of the plot into a larger thesis about the movie, so that you don't notice the exposition taking place: ' Broadcast News is as knowledgeable about the TV news-gathering process as any movie ever made, but it also has insights into

3040-478: A lonely life punctuated by fits of rage and social anxiety. One day, he witnesses an inexplicable car accident, picks up an abandoned harmonium from the street, and meets Lena Leonard (a coworker of Elizabeth, one of his sisters). Lena had orchestrated the meeting after seeing him in Elizabeth's family picture at work. Barry goes to his sister's birthday party, where they tease him about his sexuality, leading to

3200-487: A million frequent flier miles from buying $ 3,000 worth of Healthy Choice's pudding. Anderson received approval from Phillips and Healthy Choice to adapt Phillips' story into the film. A major source of inspiration for Punch-Drunk Love came from the films of Jacques Tati , while Barry's blue suit was inspired by musicals, such as The Band Wagon (1953) and Singin' in the Rain (1952) . Filming and editing took place over

3360-446: A movie on its style rather than its content, and often said "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it's about what it's about." He awarded four stars to films of the highest quality, and generally a half star to those of the lowest, unless he considered the film to be "artistically inept and morally repugnant", in which case it received no stars, as with Death Wish II . He explained that his star ratings had little meaning outside

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3520-456: A moviegoer: "For five or six years of my life (the years between when I was old enough to go alone, and when TV came to town) Saturday afternoon at the Princess was a descent into a dark magical cave that smelled of Jujubes, melted Dreamsicles and Crisco in the popcorn machine. It was probably on one of those Saturday afternoons that I formed my first critical opinion, deciding vaguely that there

3680-503: A new movie-review program, and reiterated this plan after Disney announced that the program's last episode would air in August 2010. In 2008, having lost his voice, he turned to blogging to express himself. Peter Debruge writes that "Ebert was one of the first writers to recognize the potential of discussing film online." His final television series, Ebert Presents: At the Movies , premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert contributing

3840-507: A new version of the Eric Weber course, "How to Pick Up Women," but utilizing hypnotism and subliminal language techniques. Anderson transcribed the tape and did a reading with Reilly and Chris Penn . Anderson then incorporated this dialogue and his research on Jeffries and other self-help gurus into Mackey and his sex seminar. Anderson felt that Cruise was drawn to the role because he had just finished making Eyes Wide Shut , playing

4000-492: A phone call with Cruise and expressed his intention to write a film for him, and despite being unfamiliar with Anderson, Sandler gave his blessing. Sandler was intimidated upon first viewing Magnolia , leading him to be "fucking terrified" and doubt his ability to carry Anderson's next film. Anderson helped alleviate Sandler's fears upon personally delivering the script. Sandler's casting was officially announced in November 2000;

4160-550: A plain-spoken Midwestern clarity...a genial, conversational presence on the page...his criticism shows a nearly unequaled grasp of film history and technique, and formidable intellectual range, but he rarely seems to be showing off. He's just trying to tell you what he thinks, and to provoke some thought on your part about how movies work and what they can do". — A.O. Scott , film critic for The New York Times Ebert often included personal anecdotes in his reviews; reviewing The Last Picture Show , he recalls his early days as

4320-439: A repressed character, and was able to then play a character that was "outlandish and bigger-than-life". Anderson filmed a full-length infomercial with Cruise and even bought time on late night TV to play it on. Anderson wrote the role of Earl Partridge for Jason Robards , but Robards could not do it due to a staph infection . After George C. Scott declined the role, Robards managed to take it. He said of his character, "It

4480-444: A reputation for writing memorable ones for the films he really hated, such as North . Of that film, he wrote "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it." He wrote that Mad Dog Time "is

4640-648: A review voiced by Bill Kurtis in a brief segment called "Roger's Office," as well as traditional film reviews in the At the Movies format by Christy Lemire and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky . The program lasted one season, before being cancelled due to funding constraints. In 2011, he published his memoir, Life Itself , in which he describes his childhood, his career, his struggles with alcoholism and cancer, his loves and friendships. On March 7, 2013, Ebert published his last Great Movies essay, for The Ballad of Narayama (1958). The last review Ebert published during his lifetime

4800-413: A romantic lead because it was something different that the actor had not done before. For Philip Seymour Hoffman , Anderson wanted him to play a "really simple, uncomplicated, caring character". Hoffman described his character as someone who "really takes pride in the fact that every day he's dealing with life and death circumstances". With Julianne Moore in mind, Anderson wrote a role for her to play

4960-407: A serious outburst in which he breaks sliding glass doors. Afterwards, he asks his brother-in-law to refer him to a therapist. Instead, Barry calls a phone sex line to cope with his loneliness. The phone sex operator tries to extort money from him and then sends four henchmen, who are brothers, to collect. This complicates his budding relationship with Lena, as well as his plan to exploit a loophole in

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5120-712: A sportswriter would cover Secretariat . As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and president of the United States Student Press Association . One of the first reviews he wrote was of La Dolce Vita , published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. As a graduate student, he "had the good fortune to enroll in a class on Shakespeare 's tragedies taught by G. Blakemore Evans ... It

5280-522: A thing. It had to be set some time. But it was made now and it's about us." Thirty-one years later, he wrote "When I saw it, I had been a film critic for less than six months, and it was the first masterpiece I had seen on the job. I felt an exhilaration beyond describing. I did not suspect how long it would be between such experiences, but at least I learned that they were possible." He wrote Martin Scorsese 's first review, for Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967, then titled I Call First ), and predicted

5440-402: A truly great movie made you so happy that you'd tell me a week later your spirits were still high." Ten years after Siskel's death, Ebert blogged about his colleague: "We once spoke with Disney and CBS about a sitcom to be titled Best Enemies . It would be about two movie critics joined in a love/hate relationship. It never went anywhere, but we both believed it was a good idea. Maybe the problem

5600-733: A vacant parking lot and attempts suicide by drug overdose . Dixon finds Linda near death in the car, takes the money from her purse, and calls an ambulance. Jim loses his gun while trying to catch a suspect. When he meets Claudia, they promise to be honest with each other, so he confesses his ineptitude as a cop and admits he has not been on a date since he divorced three years earlier. Claudia says he will hate her because of her problems, but Jim assures her that her past does not matter. They kiss, but she leaves him. Jimmy goes home to his wife, Rose, and confesses that he cheated on her. She asks why Claudia does not talk to him, and Jimmy admits that Claudia believes he molested her. Rose demands to know if it

5760-408: A year and a half due to several reasons, such as Anderson scrapping the first two weeks of shooting over fears that he was "making the same movie" as his previous filmography, as well as the threat of Hollywood strikes in 2001, that led to Sandler and Watson filming other projects in between filming Punch-Drunk Love . Anderson declined more funding from Revolution Studios , as he was determined to keep

5920-482: Is a 1999 American drama film written, directed and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson . It stars an ensemble cast , including Jeremy Blackman , Tom Cruise , Melinda Dillon , Philip Baker Hall , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Ricky Jay , William H. Macy , Alfred Molina , Julianne Moore , John C. Reilly , Jason Robards (in his final film role) and Melora Walters . The film is an epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness and meaning in

6080-543: Is a legitimate and beautiful artistic choice in motion pictures, creating feelings and effects that cannot be obtained any other way. He wrote: "Black-and-white (or, more accurately, silver-and-white) creates a mysterious dream state, a simpler world of form and gesture. Most people do not agree with me. They like color and think a black-and-white film is missing something. Try this. If you have wedding photographs of your parents and grandparents, chances are your parents are in color and your grandparents are in black and white. Put

6240-412: Is about to kill himself, frogs fall through his skylight, causing him to shoot the television and cause a house fire. Rose crashes her car near Claudia's apartment but makes it inside and reconciles with her daughter. Earl is awakened and sees Frank beside him before dying. Linda's ambulance crashes near the hospital. Donnie is rescued by Jim, and Jim's lost gun falls from the sky. Jim helps Donnie return

6400-405: Is also delightfully funny, utilizing Adam Sandler's comic persona to explore the life of a lonely guy who finds love." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale. Writing for Rolling Stone , Peter Travers felt

6560-571: Is given a good enough script that isn't shackled by the tropes of a mainstream genre, he can actually do very well at carrying a three-dimensional character onto the big screen." Alan Dorich of Comic Book Resources shared that the film's critical success "changed the course of Sandler's career forever" and "opened new opportunities that enhanced his legacy as a performer," leading to other dramatic roles in films such as Men, Women & Children (2014), The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019). Magnolia (film) Magnolia

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6720-422: Is no mistaking the exceeding creativity that has gone into nearly every shot, transition, narrative choice and musical selection," and praised Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's performances. He also opined that "Sandler fans will probably take it as a lightweight, but agreeable enough, outing with slightly weird elements to it, while Anderson partisans could split between those who will revel in

6880-408: Is not good art, it is not good cinema, and it is not good porn" and approvingly quoted the woman in front of him at the drinking fountain, who called it "the worst piece of shit I have ever seen." Ebert's reviews were also characterized by "dry wit." He often wrote in a deadpan style when discussing a movie's flaws; in his review of Jaws: The Revenge , he wrote that Mrs. Brody's "friends pooh-pooh

7040-455: Is probably even now writing a thesis about how Murray's famous cameos represent an injection of philosophy into those pictures. In the first Great Movies , he wrote: Movies do not change, but their viewers do. When I first saw La Dolce Vita in 1961, I was an adolescent for whom 'the sweet life' represented everything I dreamed of: sin, exotic European glamour, the weary romance of the cynical newspaperman. When I saw it again, around 1970, I

7200-472: Is superb". Kenneth Turan, in his review for the Los Angeles Times , praised Tom Cruise's performance: "Mackey gives Cruise the chance to cut loose by doing amusing riffs on his charismatic superstar image. It's great fun, expertly written and performed, and all the more enjoyable because the self-parody element is unexpected". In his review for The New York Observer , Andrew Sarris wrote, "In

7360-425: Is true, but Jimmy says he cannot remember. Rose leaves him. Elsewhere, Donnie steals the money, but when he decides to return it, he cannot get back inside the office. While Donnie climbs a utility pole to the roof to try to return the money, Jim sees him and feels compelled to investigate. Suddenly, frogs begin falling from the sky . One of them hits Donnie, and he falls from the pole and smashes his teeth. As Jimmy

7520-652: Is used as the loud playing music in Claudia's apartment scene when Officer Jim arrives and was also featured in the trailer for the film. The soundtrack album , released in December 1999 on Reprise Records , features the Mann songs, as well as a section of Jon Brion 's score and tracks by Supertramp and Gabrielle that were used in the film. Reprise released a full score album in March 2000. Magnolia initially opened in

7680-484: The Saturday Night Live : The Best of Adam Sandler compilation DVD, primarily with the skit " The Denise Show ," saying, "I saw this Best of Adam Sandler DVD from Saturday Night Live , and an amazing thing happened. There's this moment when he's doing this talk show called "The Denise Show," about his ex-girlfriend who's left him, and his father calls up and says, 'What are you doing; you're embarrassing

7840-504: The 72nd Academy Awards and won the award in that category at the Golden Globes . It has been regarded by many sources as one of the greatest movies of all time. Los Angeles police officer Jim Kurring investigates a disturbance at a woman's apartment, finding a body in a closet. Dixon, a neighborhood boy, unsuccessfully tries to tell him who committed the murder. Jim goes to the apartment of Claudia Wilson, whose neighbors called

8000-533: The Chicago Sun-Times , remains online as an archive of his published writings and reviews while also hosting new material written by a group of critics who were selected by Ebert before his death. Even as he used TV (and later the Internet) to share his reviews, Ebert continued to write for the Chicago Sun-Times until he died. On February 18, 2009, Ebert reported that he and Roeper would soon announce

8160-495: The Illinois High School Association state speech championship in "radio speaking," an event that simulates radio newscasts. "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

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8320-690: The Russ Meyer movie Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970). Starting in 1975 and continuing for decades, Ebert and Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel helped popularize nationally televised film reviewing when they co-hosted the PBS show Sneak Previews , followed by several variously named At the Movies programs on commercial TV broadcast syndication . The two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked

8480-478: The San Fernando Valley . The script was inspired by the music of Aimee Mann , who contributed several songs to its soundtrack . The film had a limited theatrical release on December 17, 1999, before expanding wide on January 7, 2000. Magnolia received positive reviews. It grossed $ 48.5 million against a $ 37 million budget. Of the ensemble cast , Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at

8640-411: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 82% of 217 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "An eruption of feeling that's as overwhelming as it is overwrought, Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia reaches a fevered crescendo and sustains it thanks to its fearlessly committed ensemble." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned

8800-581: The '00s", while Time Out listed the film as one of the best films of the 21st century. Filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola , Lee Unkrich , Judd Apatow , Kleber Mendonça , Miranda July , Bong Joon-ho , David Gordon Green , Guillermo del Toro , Jason Reitman , Isabel Sandoval , Barry Jenkins and Taika Waititi , and actors Brad Pitt , Bill Nighy , Owen Wilson , Javier Bardem , Daniel Day-Lewis , Austin Butler , Timothée Chalamet , and Andrew Scott have cited it as one of their favorite films. The film

8960-445: The 2001 Grammys . Most of the remaining seven Mann songs were demos and works in progress; "Wise Up", which is at the center of a sequence in which all of the characters sing the song, was originally written for the 1996 film Jerry Maguire . At the time, Mann's record label had refused to release her songs on an album. The song that plays at the opening of the film is Mann's cover of "One" by Harry Nilsson . Mann's track "Momentum"

9120-553: The Fury ... He approached these works with undisguised admiration. We discussed patterns of symbolism, felicities of language, motivation, revelation of character. This was appreciation , not the savagery of deconstruction, which approaches literature as pliers do a rose." One of his classmates was Larry Woiwode , who went on to be the Poet Laureate of North Dakota. At The Daily Illini Ebert befriended William Nack , who as

9280-408: The Rain , when Judy Garland follows the yellow brick road, when Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling, when John Wayne puts the reins in his teeth and gallops across the mountain meadow, there is a purity and joy that cannot be resisted. In Equinox Flower , a Japanese film by the old master Yasujirō Ozu , there is this sequence of shots: A room with a red teapot in the foreground. Another view of

9440-607: The University of Illinois and received his undergraduate degree in journalism in 1964. While there, Ebert worked as a reporter for The Daily Illini and served as its editor during his senior year while continuing to work for the News-Gazette . His college mentor was Daniel Curley , who "introduced me to many of the cornerstones of my life's reading: ' The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ', Crime and Punishment , Madame Bovary , The Ambassadors , Nostromo , The Professor's House , The Great Gatsby , The Sound and

9600-527: The Volcano . I was simply wrong. In the case of Blade Runner , I think the director's cut by Ridley Scott simply plays much better. I also turned around on Groundhog Day , which made it into this book when I belatedly caught on that it wasn't about the weatherman's predicament but about the nature of time and will. Perhaps when I first saw it I allowed myself to be distracted by Bill Murray 's mainstream comedy reputation. But someone in film school somewhere

9760-437: The aesthetic values of black-and-white photography and against colorization, writing: Black-and-white movies present the deliberate absence of color. This makes them less realistic than color films (for the real world is in color). They are more dreamlike, more pure, composed of shapes and forms and movements and light and shadow. Color films can simply be illuminated. Black-and-white films have to be lighted ... Black and white

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9920-407: The bartender will love him back. He hatches a plan to steal the money from his former boss for the surgery. The show's former producer, Earl Partridge, is also dying of cancer. Earl's trophy wife , Linda, collects his prescriptions while he is cared for by a nurse, Phil Parma. Earl asks Phil to find his estranged son, Frank Mackey, a motivational speaker and pickup artist . Frank is interviewed by

10080-466: The bathroom during a commercial break. When the show resumes, Stanley wets himself. As the show continues, a drunken Jimmy sickens, ordering the show to go on after he collapses. After Rick berates him, Stanley runs away. Former What Do Kids Know? champion Donnie Smith, whose parents took all his prize money, has been fired from his job due to performance issues and is in love with a male bartender with braces . Donnie wants to get braces himself, thinking

10240-477: The best." He began his writing career with his own newspaper, The Washington Street News , printed in his basement. He wrote letters of comment to the science-fiction fanzines of the era and founded his own, Stymie . At age 15, he was a sportswriter for The News-Gazette covering Urbana High School sports. He attended Urbana High School, where in his senior year he was class president and co-editor of his high school newspaper , The Echo . In 1958, he won

10400-547: The box office. Retrospectively, Punch-Drunk Love is viewed as a favorite film of several prominent film directors and actors, and was seen as a launchpad for Sandler to pursue dramatic or unconventional film roles outside of his usual mainstream comedies and is widely regarded as one of the greatest movies of the 2000s and the 21st century. Barry Egan is a bachelor who owns a company that markets themed toilet plungers and other novelty items. He has seven overbearing sisters who regularly ridicule and emotionally abuse him, so he leads

10560-502: The brutal strength of Taxi Driver . On whatever level (sometimes I’m not at all sure) they engage me so immediately and powerfully that I lose my detachment, my analytical reserve. The movie’s happening , and it’s happening to me." He sometimes wrote reviews in the forms of stories, poems, songs, scripts, open letters, or imagined conversations. Alex Ross , music critic for The New Yorker , wrote of how Ebert had influenced his writing: "I noticed how much Ebert could put across in

10720-459: The case of Magnolia , I think Mr. Anderson has taken us to the water's edge without plunging in. I admire his ambition and his very eloquent camera movements, but if I may garble something Lenin once said one last time, 'You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs'." In her review for The New York Times , Janet Maslin wrote, "But when that group sing-along arrives, Magnolia begins to self-destruct spectacularly. It's astonishing to see

10880-408: The chains of the possible. Realistic films show the physical world; animation shows its essence. Animated films are not copies of 'real movies,' are not shadows of reality, but create a new existence in their own right." He concluded his review of Ratatouille by writing: "Every time an animated film is successful, you have to read all over again about how animation isn't 'just for children' but 'for

11040-461: The child actors and labor laws that restrict their work time. The character of Dixon has further scenes filmed but, from Anderson's reactions, they appear not to be working. These scenes were cut completely and have never been shown on DVD. Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( / ˈ iː b ər t / EE -burt ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic , film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He

11200-606: The city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times , Jim Hoge , who hired him as a reporter and feature writer in 1966. He attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter for a year. After movie critic Eleanor Keane left the Sun-Times in April 1967, editor Robert Zonka gave the job to Ebert. The paper wanted a young critic to cover movies like The Graduate and films by Jean Luc Godard and François Truffaut . The load of graduate school and being

11360-473: The constraints of formula, reveals unexpected depths as an actor. Watching this film, you can imagine him in Dennis Hopper roles. He has darkness, obsession and power. He can't go on making those moronic comedies forever, can he?" Errigo called the film "an anti-Adam Sandler movie that proves to be a highly defining moment for the actor" and called Sandler's performance "astonishing." She also felt Watson

11520-513: The context of the review: When you ask a friend if Hellboy is any good, you're not asking if it's any good compared to Mystic River , you're asking if it's any good compared to The Punisher . And my answer would be, on a scale of one to four, if Superman is four, then Hellboy is three and The Punisher is two. In the same way, if American Beauty gets four stars, then The United States of Leland clocks in at about two. Although Ebert rarely wrote outright-scathing reviews, he had

11680-463: The end of the film, frogs rain from the sky. Throughout the film, there are references to the Book of Exodus 8:2 "And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs ." The film has an underlying theme of unexplained events, taken from the 1920s and 1930s works of Charles Fort . Fortean author Loren Coleman 's 2001 book "Mysterious America: The Revised Edition" includes

11840-456: The erudition its writers bring to the horror and special effects genres.)" Corliss wrote that "I do think the program has other merits, and said so in a sentence of my original article that didn't make it into type: 'Sometimes the show does good: in spotlighting foreign and independent films, and in raising issues like censorship and colorization.' The stars' recent excoriation of the MPAA's X rating

12000-413: The family.' And Adam goes into this fit of rage, screaming at his father, and honest to God I saw this moment where it appears as if the whites of his eyes turn black and they roll back in his head. It was like, he just lost his mind. I would play it back, over and over again, and you can see him kinda snap back to reality. The audience is laughing and it's almost like he finally started to hear them laughing

12160-554: The festival's status as a "festival of record". He lamented the decline of campus film societies: "There was once a time when young people made it their business to catch up on the best works by the best directors, but the death of film societies and repertory theaters put an end to that, and for today's younger filmgoers, these are not well-known names: Buñuel , Fellini , Bergman , Ford , Kurosawa , Ray , Renoir , Lean , Bresson , Wilder , Welles . Most people still know who Hitchcock was, I guess." Ebert argued for

12320-539: The festival: "At least, not being able to speak, I am spared the need to explain why every film is 'overlooked', or why I wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls ." Ebert ended his association with At The Movies in July 2008, after Disney indicated it wished to take the program in a new direction. As of 2007, his reviews were syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. His RogerEbert.com website, launched in 2002 and originally underwritten by

12480-436: The film ("Now that I've met you / Would you object to / Never seeing each other again"). The film also features a sequence in which the characters sing along to Mann's song "Wise Up". The character of Jim Kurring originated in 1998, when John C. Reilly grew a moustache out of interest and started putting together an unintelligent cop character. He and Anderson did a few parodies of COPS with Anderson chasing Reilly around

12640-470: The film a frame at a time at the University of Colorado , Marcello seemed younger still, and while I had once admired and then criticized him, now I pitied and loved him. And when I saw the movie right after Mastroianni died, I thought that Fellini and Marcello had taken a moment of discovery and made it immortal. There may be no such thing as the sweet life. But it is necessary to find that out for yourself. In an essay looking back at his first 25 years as

12800-545: The film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C-" on an A+ to F scale. USA Today gave the film three and a half stars out of four and called it "the most imperfect of the year's best movies". Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film four stars out of four, praising it in both of his reviews from 2000 and 2008, and as his second favorite film of 1999, behind Being John Malkovich . He said in

12960-422: The film by explaining the significance of the rain of frogs, Hall told him a story about when he was in the mountains of Italy and got caught in bad weather—a mix of rain, snow and tiny frogs. Hall had to pull off the road until the storm passed. According to an interview, Hall said that he based the character of Jimmy Gator on real-life TV personalities such as Bob Barker and Arthur Godfrey . The rain of frogs

13120-514: The film under $ 30 million in terms of budget. Anderson brought in the visual artist Jeremy Blake to create what the New York Times called "trippy, fluid sequences of abstract art" to use as transitions in the film. Sandler shared phone numbers with Tom Cruise , when he visited Saturday Night Live during the taping of an episode hosted by Cruise's then-wife Nicole Kidman . While filming Magnolia , Anderson contacted Sandler through

13280-416: The film was the smiling face of actress Melora Walters . The next image that came to him was of Philip Baker Hall as her father. Anderson imagined Hall walking up the steps of Walters' apartment and having an intense confrontation with her. Anderson also did research on the magnolia tree and discovered a concept that eating the tree's bark helped cure cancer. Before Anderson became a filmmaker, one of

13440-457: The film, his response was "Chill The Fuck Out and Cut Twenty Minutes." Essays have been written on the themes in Magnolia , such as regret; loneliness; the cost of failed relationships as a result of parents, particularly fathers, who have failed their children; and cruelty to children and its lasting effect (as demonstrated by the sexual assault perpetrated on Claudia by Jimmy). At

13600-516: The film. David Ansen of Newsweek described the film as "a romantic comedy on the verge of a nervous breakdown," praising the film's unpredictability and cinematography, but felt Lena was underwritten, concluding that it was "an emotional jigsaw puzzle that's missing a couple of crucial pieces." Giving the film three stars out of five, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian felt the story was "deeply unconvincing" and "a short cut to an entirely unearned emotional resolution that doesn't begin to illuminate

13760-831: The film. Sandler went on to win Best Actor at the Gijón International Film Festival for his performance and was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy . Anderson won the award for Best Director at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or . The film was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics . The film

13920-465: The filmmaker scores his biggest success, as the actor exorcises the uptight fastidiousness of Eyes Wide Shut ... Like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction , this cautiously packaged movie star is liberated by risky business". The Independent said that the film was "limitless. And yet some things do feel incomplete, brushed-upon, tangential. Magnolia does not have the last word on anything. But

14080-687: The first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism . Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America." Per The New York Times , "The force and grace of his opinions propelled film criticism into the mainstream of American culture. Not only did he advise moviegoers about what to see, but also how to think about what they saw." Early in his career, Ebert co-wrote

14240-440: The first five years that we knew one another, Gene Siskel and I hardly spoke. Then it seemed like we never stopped." He wrote of Siskel's work ethic, of how quickly he returned to work after surgery: "Someone else might have taken a leave of absence then and there, but Gene worked as long as he could. Being a film critic was important to him. He liked to refer to his job as 'the national dream beat,' and say that in reviewing movies he

14400-434: The first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time. Oh, I've seen bad movies before. But they usually made me care about how bad they were. Watching Mad Dog Time is like waiting for the bus in a city where you're not sure they have a bus line" and concluded that the film "should be cut up to provide free ukulele picks for the poor." Of Caligula , he wrote "It

14560-439: The first review, " Magnolia is the kind of film I instinctively respond to. Leave logic at the door. Do not expect subdued taste and restraint, but instead a kind of operatic ecstasy". After rewatching it in 2008, he added the film to his ' Great Movies ' list. Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B+" rating, praising Cruise's performance: "It's with Cruise as Frank T.J. Mackey, a slick televangelist of penis power , that

14720-489: The good people in The Third Man , has such a winning way, such witty dialogue, that for a scene or two we almost forgive him his crimes. Henry Hill, the hero of Goodfellas , is not a good fella, but he has the ability to be honest with us about why he enjoyed being bad. He is not a hypocrite. Of the other movies I love, some are simply about the joy of physical movement. When Gene Kelly splashes through Singin' in

14880-400: The history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance. It is also pitilessly cruel, filled with sympathy, nauseating, funny, heartbreaking and astonishingly beautiful. If it does not seem that those words should be strung together, perhaps that is because movies do not very often reflect the full range of human life." He concluded: "The fact that the story is set 35 years ago doesn't mean

15040-510: The ill-fated Sex Pistols movie Who Killed Bambi? In April 2010, Ebert posted his screenplay of Who Killed Bambi? , also known as Anarchy in the UK , on his blog. Beginning in 1968, Ebert worked for the University of Chicago as an adjunct lecturer, teaching a night class on film at the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies . In 1968, his profile of Lee Marvin

15200-409: The jagged and disturbing - and gripping - ideas that swirl around the beginning of this film," and felt the film's core romance was "the most bafflingly unreal love story you can imagine." Sandler's lead performance received acclaim. Giving the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised Sandler's performance in his review, saying, "Sandler, liberated from

15360-634: The job, I read The Immediate Experience by Robert Warshow ", from which he gleaned that "the critic has to set aside theory and ideology, theology and politics, and open himself to—well, the immediate experience." That same year, he met film critic Pauline Kael for the first time at the New York Film Festival . After he sent her some of his columns, she told him they were "the best film criticism being done in American newspapers today." He recalls her telling him how she worked: "I go into

15520-450: The jobs he had was as an assistant for a television game show, Quiz Kid Challenge , an experience he incorporated into the script for Magnolia . He also claimed in interviews that the film is structured somewhat like " A Day in the Life " by The Beatles , and "it kind of builds up, note by note, then drops or recedes, then builds again". By the time he started writing the script, Anderson

15680-512: The joys of this film...is that you really have no idea what's going to happen next." Daniel Fierman of Entertainment Weekly thought the film was a "meditation on true love, the ways in which we are all bizarre, the magic of the perfect match, and the preposterously unlikely nature of the whole enterprise." The Los Angeles Times ' Kenneth Turan stated that the film was "a comedy of discomfort and rage that turns unexpectedly sweet and pure." Writing for Variety , Todd McCarthy said that "there

15840-673: The level of tragedy ". The Time critic Richard Schickel wrote: "The result is a hard-striving, convoluted movie, which never quite becomes the smoothly reciprocating engine Anderson (who did Boogie Nights ) would like it to be." In an interview, Ingmar Bergman mentioned Magnolia as an example of the "strength of American cinema". Roger Ebert included the work in his "Great Movies" list in November 2008, saying, "As an act of filmmaking, it draws us in and doesn't let go." Total Film magazine placed it at number 4 in their list of 50 Best Movies in Total Film's lifetime. In 2008, it

16000-447: The magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies ; I lost it at Mad magazine" — Roger Ebert, Mad About the Movies (1998 parody collection) Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, he attended

16160-659: The men who killed it? Here are some things, however, that I do not believe", going on to list the other ways the film strained credulity. He wrote " Pearl Harbor is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle. Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality. The film has been directed without grace, vision, or originality, and although you may walk out quoting lines of dialog, it will not be because you admire them." "[Ebert's prose] had

16320-551: The money. Frank goes to the hospital to be with Linda, who will recover. Stanley tells his father, Rick, that he needs to be nice to him, but Rick tells him to go to bed. Jim goes to see Claudia, telling her he wants to make things work between them. As Jim is explaining this, Claudia smiles. Also starring are Thomas Jane as the young Jimmy Gator; Cleo King as Marcie; Orlando Jones as Worm; Clark Gregg and Robert Downey Sr. as employees of WDKK; Patton Oswalt as Delmer Darion; and Pat Healy as both Sir Edmund William Godfrey and

16480-410: The more personal matter of how people use high-pressure jobs as a way of avoiding time alone with themselves.' The reviews start off in all different ways, sometimes with personal confessions, sometimes with sweeping statements. One way or another, he pulls you in. When he feels strongly, he can bang his fist in an impressive way. His review of Apocalypse Now ends thus: 'The whole huge grand mystery of

16640-418: The movie, I watch it, and I ask myself what happened to me." A formative experience was reviewing Ingmar Bergman 's Persona (1966). He told his editor he wasn't sure how to review it when he didn't feel he could explain it. His editor told him he didn't have to explain it, just describe it. He was one of the first critics to champion Arthur Penn 's Bonnie and Clyde (1967), calling it "a milestone in

16800-465: The movies I want to review." He signed off, "So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies." Ebert cited Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael as influences, and often quoted Robert Warshow , who said: "A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit he is that man." His own credo was: "Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions never lie to you." He tried to judge

16960-417: The movies." Ebert championed animation, particularly the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata . In his review of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke , he wrote: "I go to the movies for many reasons. Here is one of them. I want to see wondrous sights not available in the real world, in stories where myth and dreams are set free to play. Animation opens that possibility, because it is freed from gravity and

17120-409: The notion that a shark could identify, follow or even care about one individual human being, but I am willing to grant the point, for the benefit of the plot. I believe that the shark wants revenge against Mrs. Brody. I do. I really do believe it. After all, her husband was one of the men who hunted this shark and killed it, blowing it to bits. And what shark wouldn't want revenge against the survivors of

17280-423: The pace of Sandler's performance. The film's score features no harmonium in the score outside of the notes Sandler plays on it. [1] Brion introduced the instrument to Anderson during their work on Magnolia , however an article stating it was used heavily in the score is incorrect per Brion's account. Many scenes between Sandler's character and the instrument were inspired by Brion. For instance, Brion once found

17440-449: The pairing of Anderson and Sandler was "parallel lines that meet triumphantly in a mesmerizer that stays true to both of their anarchic spirits," and praised the cast's performances, ultimately calling the film's effect "intoxicating." Angie Errigo of Empire complimented Anderson's direction as "simply captivating and exquisitely controlled, with a restless mood and no end of fascinating, beautifully-orchestrated oddness," and said, "One of

17600-1055: The phrase "Two Thumbs Up." In 1982, they moved from PBS to launch a similar syndicated commercial television show, At the Movies With Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert . In 1986, they again moved the show to new ownership, creating Siskel & Ebert & the Movies through Buena Vista Television , part of the Walt Disney Company . Ebert and Siskel made many appearances on late night talk shows, appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman sixteen times and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson fifteen times. They also appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show , The Arsenio Hall Show , The Howard Stern Show , The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien . Siskel and Ebert were sometimes accused of trivializing film criticism. Richard Corliss , in Film Comment , called

17760-401: The phrase "two thumbs up," used when both gave the same film a positive review. After Siskel died from a brain tumor in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, with Richard Roeper . In 1996, Ebert began publishing essays on great films of the past; the first hundred were published as The Great Movies . He published two more volumes, and a fourth

17920-412: The phrase, I simply mean that my imagination has forgotten it is actually present in a movie theater and thinks it’s up there on the screen. In a curious sense, the events in the movie seem real, and I seem to be a part of them...My list of other out-of-the-body films is a short and odd one, ranging from the artistry of Bonnie and Clyde or Cries and Whispers to the slick commercialism of Jaws and

18080-402: The police after she argued with her estranged father, Jimmy Gator, and blasted music while snorting cocaine . Seemingly oblivious, Jim asks her on a date. Jimmy hosts a quiz show called What Do Kids Know? and is dying of cancer . The newest child prodigy on the show, Stanley Spector, is hounded by his father Rick for the prize money and demeaned by the adults, who prevent him from using

18240-417: The production of the film's score. However, rather than scoring the film after rough footage had been shot, Brion made compositions while the film was being made. During the scoring process, Brion would experiment with tones and sounds, carefully making note of what Anderson would respond to. Anderson would create the vocal tempos he would envision in the score and use them on set, even to the extent of inspiring

18400-554: The red pot and leaves the frame. This sequence of timed movement and cutting is as perfect as any music ever written, any dance, any poem. Ebert credits film historian Donald Richie and the Hawaii International Film Festival for introducing him to Asian cinema through Richie's invitation to join him on the jury of the festival in 1983, which quickly became a favorite of his and would frequently attend along with Richie, lending their support to validate

18560-489: The return trip, the four brothers ram Barry's car, mildly injuring Lena. After fighting the brothers off with a tire iron , Barry leaves Lena at the hospital and sets out to end the harassment. He calls the phone-sex line back and finds out the "supervisor" is the owner of a mattress store. Barry drives all the way to Provo, Utah , to confront the owner, Dean, face to face. At first, trying to intimidate Barry, Dean finds him more intimidating once he learns that Barry has come all

18720-403: The role. Anderson met with Cruise along with De Luca who helped convince Cruise to do the film. Frank T.J. Mackey, the character that Cruise would play in the film, was based in part on an audio-recording done in an engineering class taught by a friend that was given to Anderson. It consisted of two men, "talking all this trash" about women and quoting a man named Ross Jeffries , who was teaching

18880-399: The room. The mother folding clothes. A shot down a corridor with a mother crossing it at an angle, and then a daughter crossing at the back. A reverse shot in the hallway as the arriving father is greeted by the mother and daughter. A shot as the father leaves the frame, then the mother, then the daughter. A shot as the mother and father enter the room, as in the background the daughter picks up

19040-449: The same kinds of characters. He encouraged her to write songs for the film by sending her a copy of the script. Anderson said that " Simon and Garfunkel is to The Graduate as Aimee Mann is to Magnolia ". Two songs were written expressly for the film: "You Do", which was based on a character later cut from the film, and "Save Me", which closes the film; the latter was nominated in the 2000 Academy Awards and Golden Globes and in

19200-444: The script "kept blossoming" and he realized that there were many actors he wanted to write for and then decided to put "an epic spin on topics that don't necessarily get the epic treatment". He wanted to "make the epic, the all-time great San Fernando Valley movie". Anderson started with lists of images, words and ideas that "start resolving themselves into sequences and shots and dialogue," actors, and music. The first image he had for

19360-420: The section of the prologue that is set in 1911, Anderson used a hand-cranked Pathé camera that would have been used at the time. Some of the actors were nervous about their scene singing the lyrics to Mann's "Wise Up", so Anderson asked Moore to go first to help set the pace which everyone else followed. Anderson and New Line Cinema reportedly had intense arguments about how to market Magnolia . He felt that

19520-586: The show "a sitcom (with its own noodling, toodling theme song) starring two guys who live in a movie theater and argue all the time". Ebert responded that "I am the first to agree with Corliss that the Siskel and Ebert program is not in-depth film criticism" but that "When we have an opinion about a movie, that opinion may light a bulb above the head of an ambitious youth who then understands that people can make up their own minds about movies." He also noted that they did "theme shows" condemning colorization and showing

19680-400: The speculation that Stanley is a prophet , allegorically akin to Moses , and that the " slavery " to which the film alludes is the exploitation of children by adults. These "father issues" persist throughout the film, as seen in the abuse and neglect of Claudia, Frank, Donnie, Stanley, and Dixon. The DVD release includes a lengthy behind-the-scenes documentary , That Moment . It uses

19840-421: The streets with a video camera. Jennifer Jason Leigh made an appearance in one of these videos. Some of Kurring's dialogue came from these sessions. This time around, Reilly wanted to do something different and told Anderson that he was "always cast as these heavies or these semi-retarded child men. Can't you give me something I can relate to, like falling in love with a girl?" Anderson also wanted to make Reilly

20000-440: The studio did not do a decent enough job on Boogie Nights and did not like the studio's poster or trailer for Magnolia . Anderson ended up designing his own poster, cut together a trailer himself, wrote the liner notes for the soundtrack album, and pushed to avoid hyping Cruise's presence in the film in favor of the ensemble cast. Even though Anderson ultimately got his way, he realized that he had to "learn to fight without being

20160-428: The studio for a taping of What Do Kids Know? , the camera seamlessly moving through multiple rooms and hallways and transitioning to follow different characters throughout the single take. For the look of the film, the production designers analyzed films with close, tight and warm color palettes and applied it to Magnolia . They also wanted to evoke the colors of the magnolia flower: greens, browns and off-whites. For

20320-497: The success of Magnolia , Paul Thomas Anderson stated that he was determined to make his next film ninety minutes long, and stated that he wanted to cast Adam Sandler in this film. After establishing his style with his previous films, he wanted to challenge himself within the parameters of a ninety-minute-long romantic comedy. Anderson is a fan of Sandler's comedies, and said his love for his films became "obsession-level" after seeing and enjoying Sandler's 1999 film Big Daddy . He

20480-476: The thrill of his ongoing creative inventions and others who may find this light lifting between heavy workouts." Charles Taylor of Salon.com described the film as a "manic-depressive romantic comedy that aspires to the soul of a musical," and complimented Anderson's direction, Christopher Scarabosio 's sound design, and Jon Brion's score. He believed that Anderson properly utilized the "threat of sudden, bellowing, red-faced rage" of Sandler's known comic persona in

20640-599: The two photographs side by side and consider them honestly. Your grandparents look timeless. Your parents look goofy. The next time you buy film for your camera, buy a roll of black-and-white. Go outside at dusk, when the daylight is diffused. Stand on the side of the house away from the sunset. Shoot some natural-light closeups of a friend. Have the pictures printed big, at least 5 x 7. Ask yourself if this friend, who has always looked ordinary in every color photograph you’ve ever taken, does not suddenly, in black and white, somehow take on an aura of mystery. The same thing happens in

20800-458: The unconventional pairing shocked reporters as Anderson was a rising filmmaker noted for his critically acclaimed films, while Sandler was known for negatively-reviewed mainstream comedies. Aside from the primary named cast, all on-screen actors are non-professionals, which Anderson found more interesting and less complicated. The score to Punch-Drunk Love was composed by Jon Brion . As with Magnolia , Brion and Anderson collaborated heavily for

20960-418: The virtues of letterboxing . He argued that "good criticism is commonplace these days. Film Comment itself is healthier and more widely distributed than ever before. Film Quarterly is, too; it even abandoned eons of tradition to increase its page size. And then look at Cinéaste and American Film and the specialist film magazines (you may not read Fangoria , but if you did, you would be amazed at

21120-418: The way from California. They both agree "that's that". Barry returns home and goes to see Lena to explain why the accident happened. He begs for forgiveness, pledging his loyalty and to use his frequent-flier miles to accompany her on all future business trips after his pudding miles are processed. Lena confesses she was more upset at being left at the hospital, but forgives him and they embrace happily. After

21280-497: The world, so terrible, so beautiful, seems to hang in the balance.'" In his introduction to The Great Movies III , he wrote: People often ask me, "Do you ever change your mind about a movie?" Hardly ever, although I may refine my opinion. Among the films here, I've changed on The Godfather Part II and Blade Runner . My original review of Part II puts me in mind of the "brain cloud" that besets Tom Hanks in Joe Versus

21440-462: The young director could become "an American Fellini ." Ebert co-wrote the screenplay for Russ Meyer 's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) and sometimes joked about being responsible for it. It was poorly received on its release yet has become a cult film . Ebert and Meyer also made Up! (1976), Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979) and other films, and were involved in

21600-517: The young pharmacist. Paul F. Tompkins and Mary Lynn Rajskub provide voice cameos as Chad and Janet, respectively. Paul Thomas Anderson started to get ideas for Magnolia during the long editing period of Boogie Nights (1997). As he got closer to finishing the film, he started writing down material for his new project. After the critical and financial success of Boogie Nights , New Line Cinema , who backed that film, told Anderson that he could do whatever he wanted and Anderson realized that, "I

21760-403: Was "relishing a calming character who is on an even keel." Entertainment Weekly 's Owen Gleiberman said Sandler was "utterly winning to watch" and added that "he has become a tender and arresting presence, like a fusion of Chaplin ’s Little Tramp , Woody Allen , and Edward Scissorhands ." Desson Thomson of The Washington Post proclaimed that Sandler gave "the performance of his life" in

21920-400: Was a fan of Anderson's previous film, Boogie Nights , and contacted Anderson while he was working on Stanley Kubrick 's Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Anderson met with Cruise on the set of Kubrick's film and Cruise told him to keep him in mind for his next film. After Anderson finished the script, he sent Cruise a copy and the next day, Cruise called him. Cruise was interested but nervous about

22080-547: Was a launchpad for Sandler to take on dramatic roles or opportunities outside of his usual mainstream comedies. In a retrospective review following its 2017 release on Netflix , GQ 's Miranda Popkey called the film "Adam Sandler's finest performance and P.T. Anderson's most underrated work," describing it as "a paean to love as a source of unfathomable power." Far Out 's Arun Starkey described Punch-Drunk Love as Sandler's "first true foray into auteur cinema" and "the first indicator of his prowess as an actor and shows that if he

22240-586: Was a major visual influence for the 2024 Pixar film Inside Out 2 . When asked about Punch-Drunk Love following its twentieth anniversary in 2022, Sandler said that the film that enabled him to pursue films different from his usual roles, while sharing that it helped forge a close friendship between him and Anderson. The two reunited in their first project since Punch-Drunk Love when Anderson helped film segments of Sandler's Netflix comedy special 100% Fresh (2018) . Critics agreed that Punch-Drunk Love remained as one of Sandler's best acting performances, and

22400-402: Was covering what people hoped for, dreamed about, and feared." Ebert recalled, "Whenever he interviewed someone for his newspaper or for television, Gene Siskel liked to end with the same question: 'What do you know for sure?' OK Gene, what do I know for sure about you? You were one of the smartest, funniest, quickest men I've ever known and one of the best reporters...I know for sure that seeing

22560-434: Was determined to make a film with Sandler as a lead, saying, "He's always just made me laugh, he gets me, I wanted a piece of him." He specifically wrote Punch-Drunk Love with Sandler and Emily Watson in mind. Anderson had to convince producer JoAnne Sellar , who was "befuddled" with his desire to cast Sandler, that he was the right person for the job. Anderson took inspiration for Barry Egan's characterization from watching

22720-454: Was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary glands. In 2006, cancer surgery resulted in his losing his ability to eat and speak. In 2007, prior to his Overlooked Film Festival, he posted a picture of his new condition. Paraphrasing a line from Raging Bull (1980), he wrote, "I ain’t a pretty boy no more. (Not that I ever was. The original appeal of Siskel & Ebert was that we didn’t look like we belonged on TV.)" He added that he would not miss

22880-581: Was for The Host , on March 27, 2013. The last review Ebert filed, published posthumously on April 6, 2013, was for To the Wonder . In July 2013, a previously unpublished review of Computer Chess appeared on RogerEbert.com . The review had been written in March but had remained unpublished until the film's wide-release date. Matt Zoller Seitz , the editor of RogerEbert.com , confirmed that there were other unpublished reviews that would eventually be posted. A second review, for The Spectacular Now ,

23040-436: Was in a position I will never ever be in again." Michael De Luca , then head of production at New Line Cinema, made the deal for Magnolia , granting Anderson final cut without hearing an idea for the film. Originally, Anderson had wanted to make a film that was "intimate and small-scale," something that he could shoot in 30 days. He had the title of "Magnolia" in his head before he wrote the script. As he started writing,

23200-454: Was initially scheduled to be 79 days, but ending up lasting until June 24, 1999, making a total of 90 filming days plus 10 days of second unit filming. Anderson is known for the use of long takes in his films that move along considerable distances with complex camera movements and transitions with actors and the sets. Of the long takes in Magnolia , the most notable may be the 2 minutes 15 seconds where character Stanley Spector arrives at

23360-542: Was inspired by the works of Charles Fort , and Anderson claims that he was unaware that it was also a reference in The Bible when he first wrote the sequence. At the time Anderson came across the notion of a rain of frogs, he was "going through a weird, personal time", and he started to understand "why people turn to religion in times of trouble, and maybe my form of finding religion was reading about rains of frogs and realizing that makes sense to me somehow". Tom Cruise

23520-515: Was listening to the music of his friend Aimee Mann . He used her first two solo albums and demo tracks for her upcoming third album, Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo , as a basis and inspiration; he said he "sat down to write an adaptation of Aimee Mann songs". In particular, Mann's song "Deathly" inspired the character of Claudia. Claudia uses part of the lyric as dialogue in

23680-503: Was living in a version of Marcello's world; Chicago's North Avenue was not the Via Veneto, but at 3 A. M. the denizens were just as colorful, and I was about Marcello's age. When I saw the movie around 1980, Marcello was the same age, but I was ten years older, had stopped drinking, and saw him not as role model, but as a victim, condemned to an endless search for happiness that could never be found, not that way. By 1991, when I analyzed

23840-614: Was named the 89th greatest movie of all time by Empire magazine in its issue of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time . It received eight votes – five from critics and three from directors – in the British Film Institute 's 2012 Sight & Sound polls. Following the film's release, Anderson said: "I really feel ... That Magnolia is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make." Later he came to consider it overlong; when asked in an interview what he would tell himself to do if he could go back to when he shot

24000-705: Was published in The New York Times . In 1975, Ebert received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism . In 1975, Ebert and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune began co-hosting a weekly film-review television show, Opening Soon at a Theater Near You , later Sneak Previews , which was locally produced by the Chicago public broadcasting station WTTW . The series was later picked up for national syndication on PBS . The duo became well known for their "thumbs up/thumbs down" reviews. They trademarked

24160-483: Was published in August 2013. In his last blog entry, posted two days before his death, Ebert wrote that his cancer had returned and he was taking "a leave of presence." "What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What’s more, I’ll be able at last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only

24320-707: Was published posthumously. In 1999, he founded the Overlooked Film Festival in his hometown of Champaign, Illinois . In 2002, Ebert was diagnosed with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands . He required treatment that included removing a section of his lower jaw in 2006, leaving him severely disfigured and unable to speak or eat normally. However, his ability to write remained unimpaired and he continued to publish frequently online and in print until his death in 2013. His RogerEbert.com website, launched in 2002, remains online as an archive of his published writings. Richard Corliss wrote, "Roger leaves

24480-591: Was raised Roman Catholic , attending St. Mary's elementary school and serving as an altar boy in Urbana. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. His first movie memory was of his parents taking him to see the Marx Brothers in A Day at the Races (1937). He wrote that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was "the first real book I ever read, and still

24640-512: Was released on VHS and DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment on June 24, 2003. The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray in November 2016 with a restored HD transfer, the first time the company had done so for Anderson and Sandler. It has behind-the-scenes featurette about a recording session for the film's soundtrack, a Cannes press conference and deleted scenes. Punch-Drunk Love came in at #33 in The A.V. Club 's "Top 50 films of

24800-563: Was salutary to the max." In 1996, W. W. Norton & Company asked Ebert to edit an anthology of film writing. This resulted in Roger Ebert's Book of Film: From Tolstoy to Tarantino, the Finest Writing From a Century of Film . The selections are eclectic, ranging from Louise Brooks 's autobiography to David Thomson 's novel Suspects . Ebert "wrote to Nigel Wade, then the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times , and proposed

24960-450: Was something about John Wayne that set him apart from ordinary cowboys." Reviewing Star Wars , he wrote: "Every once in a while I have what I think of as an out-of-the-body experience at a movie. When the ESP people use a phrase like that, they’re referring to the sensation of the mind actually leaving the body and spiriting itself off to China or Peoria or a galaxy far, far away. When I use

25120-407: Was sort of prophetic that I be asked to play a guy going out in life. It was just so right for me to do this and bring what I know to it". According to Hall, much of the material with Partridge was based on Anderson watching his father die of cancer. Anderson wanted Burt Reynolds to star in the film after working on Boogie Nights , but Reynolds declined it. Filming began on January 12, 1999, and

25280-402: Was that no one else could possibly understand how meaningless was the hate, how deep was the love." In September 2000, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper became the permanent co-host and the show was renamed At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper and later Ebert & Roeper . In 2000, Ebert interviewed President Bill Clinton about movies at The White House . In 2002, Ebert

25440-647: Was the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Ebert was known for his intimate, Midwestern writing style and critical views informed by values of populism and humanism . Writing in a prose style intended to be entertaining and direct, he made sophisticated cinematic and analytical ideas more accessible to non-specialist audiences. Ebert endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, championing filmmakers like Werner Herzog , Errol Morris and Spike Lee , as well as Martin Scorsese , whose first published review he wrote. In 1975, Ebert became

25600-421: Was then that Shakespeare took hold of me, and it became clear he was the nearest we have come to a voice for what it means to be human." Ebert spent a semester as a master's student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his graduate studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as

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