Sunday, August 15, 2010

More things to do before dying

  1. Talk less and listen more.
  2. Play hide and seek whenever you get the chance.
  3. Agree to disagree, gracefully. 
  4. Find someone you like to argue about movies with! It is with a very heavy heart that I watched the last episode of At the Movies tonight. I was a huge fan of the original show with the Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel. They didn't just make it cool to seek out non-Hollywood films and to love documentaries. They also made it acceptable, preferable even, to disagree about a movie loudly and enthusiastically. (And almost always gracefully -see point 3.) I was such a huge fan I once convinced a friend to get Roger Ebert's autograph for me when I couldn't attend a screening he was introducing at a Vancouver Film Festival, back in the 80s. Over the years, I continued to tune in, sporadically, watching the hosts come and go but always enjoying the original premise of two people reviewing a movie rather than the traditional one found in newspapers. So, not it's gone but there is a bright light (aside from the ongoing presence of Roger Ebert's website) - news that Roger Ebert and his wife, Chaz, are working on a new movie review show. I can only hope it will continue to encourage people to not just watch movies, but to dissect, debate and delight in them. And for that we really do need a companion.

No comments:

Post a Comment