Ebert & Learnie
18. Jul, 2014 
0 Comments
Life Itself
Rule of Thumb
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
R | 115 min
I love me some Roger Ebert [You can read what he meant to me here].  Everyone loved him.  That’s why he got even more popular than ever when he lost his jaw and ability to eat and drink and became a mad blogger and twittererer.  His fighting of cancer and continuing his love of movies made it even easier for us to be a fan and root him on.  And then he left us.  But before he did, someone Ebert championed – Hoop Dreams director Steve James – followed him around in his waning months, to tell his life story, and his death story, with help of Ebert’s memoir, also the title of the film
Ebert deserves a doc about his life.  There’s no denying that.  And James’ one is good enough, but I feel like it only scratches at the surface of what made Ebert Ebert.  It all becomes much clearer, about 1/3 of the way thru, when Gene Siskel enters the picture.  Ebert’s past is colorful stuff  – the Pulitzer win, the Russ Meyer screenplaying, the love of booze and ladies – but what really made Ebert Ebert was his partner Siskel (and you should see his past – staring at boobies at that Playboy Mansion!!!!!).  Without Siskel, this doc would probably not need to exist.  But Siskel left us too early, and his due is long overdue.  He’s a figure equally as important as Ebert is/was, but he didn’t get his final say – as he choose to hide his sickness, where Ebert didn’t
I cannot fault Life Itself as itself, but I just wish the focus was wholly equal – where each thumb’s owner got their diligence dued, dude.  Two thumbs are better than one, but one is still better than none.  Now we have zero thumbs.  But…
Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers
Life lives in limited release AND on demand!
and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…
