Roger Ebert Dies

In his later years, Roger Ebert became known for his politically charged "Tweets."  

Roger Ebert and I didn't agree politically.  But if I refused to enjoy the work of writers/entertainers who disagree with me, I wouldn't have many options.

Roger Ebert has died at the age of 70 after experiencing a recurrence of cancer. His death comes in the same week that I've been praising Paul Harvey, as there aren't a lot of people whose writing causes me to experience bouts of joy.

Ebert will definitely remain my favorite movie critic for two reasons:

1)  He truly understood and expressed beautifully what made a movie great;

 and

2)  He didn't judge whether each movie was an award-winning experience--he judged a movie on whether it delivered a great experience for its intended audience, i.e. an action movie that had great action, a sexy movie that was truly sexy...etc.

In a culture full of snarky writing, it seems that most critics write to impress other critics.  Ebert wrote for movie lovers.  I haven't watched a film in years without going to the Internet to experience Ebert's ability to write about the movie perfectly.   I am going to miss that in future days.