|
The Great
Movies
By Roger Ebert
Published by Broadway Books
Reviewed by David Chiu
Most people know Roger Ebert as the rotund,
bespectacled movie critic who has exchanged jabs with fellow
critic the late Gene Siskel and now with Richard Roeper on television.
But Ebert, a Pulitzer winning prize columnist for the Chicago
Tribune, is a thoughtful, analyst of the cinema and a student
of the classic cinema. His latest book The Great Movies
should be required reading for film fans and for film and media
studies students. Ebert chooses 100 films from the 20th century
and writes insightful essays about each of them from analysis
of the plot and the people behind the films: the actors and directors.
Some of his choices are pretty obvious: The Godfather,
Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Star Wars,
Notorious, Lawrence of Arabia, A Hard Day's
Night, and 2001:A Space Odyssey. Yet others might
seem a little surprising like Manhattan, Broken Blossoms,
Beauty and the Beast, JFK, the 'Up' documentaries.
But Ebert offers a valid explanation for the picks that we seem
to question that makes us want to check out those films. Ebert
writes in a clear, simple, non-elitist style even for those of
us, who never attended film school, that shows a deep appreciation
for the craft. For any film studies library, this is essential.
|
|
