Product Description

When America wants to know movies, it turns to Roger Ebert, the only film critic to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2002 presents all of Ebert's reviews from January 1999 to mid-June 2001. This annual volume - required reading for film fans - also contains all of his interviews and essays for the year, the biweekly "Questions for the Movie Answer Man," his daily notebooks from major film festivals, plus a list of all movies and star ratings ever appearing in an edition of this annual collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2167240 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 912 pages

Amazon.com Review
Roger Ebert collects the past few years of his reviews along with interviews, essays, and "Ask the Movie Answer Man" into one sturdy volume--Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2000. The reviews, of course, are the main feature of the book, and they bear the hallmark of a man who no longer worries about censoring himself. (On Robin Williams in Father's Day: "He's getting to be like the goofy uncle who knows one corny parlor trick and insists on performing it at every family gathering.") He also clearly loves movies enough to be vastly irritated when they are poorly or lazily made. (On The Wedding Singer: "Did anybody, at any stage, give the story the slightest thought?") But Ebert does not have the snooty tastes of the stereotypical film critic--he gives the deliriously sleazy Wild Things an enthusiastic review because it is so incandescently trashy that in its own way it becomes a thing of beauty. Ebert is also not afraid to go out on a limb, boldly naming the box-office failure Dark City the best movie of 1998, and taking the risk of being the only audience member to blast an ultrahip entry at the Toronto Film Festival for being racist. And of course the book functions as a valuable browser's read and video-store companion, providing a list of recent movies and a quick answer to the does-it-suck-or-not question. --Ali Davis

About the Author
Roger Ebert has been the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967 and is the only motion picture critic to have won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. His reviews are syndicated to some 200 newspapers in the United States and Canada. Ebert is cohost of the national TV program Ebert & Roeper which appears on more than 200 television stations and ranks as the top-rated weekly syndicated half-hour show on TV. He is the author of 15 books, including The Great Movies, Roger Ebert's Book of Film, and I Hated Hated, HATED this Movie. Roger won the Video Premiere Award for Best DVD Commentary of the Year (for Citizen Kane) and his Web site has been named the best on-line movie review site by the Online Film Critics Society.

Customer Reviews

Funny, wise, and thorough
Film critics generate hostility among some filmmakers who apparently consider the expression of an honest opinion the ultimate act of arrogance. "How dare they tell people they have no right to like (insert a title here)," Burt Reynolds once said on Entertainment Tonight. Of course, everyone who states an opinion ("I like it," "I don't like it") is playing the role of critic, including Reynolds, and the best critics do not tell people what they have a right to like. They tell you what THEY like and why. The professional film critic who does his job right is simply a more thoughtful member of the audience who takes the time and possesses the wisdom to explain why a film hits the target or fails to do so. Roger Ebert takes the time and has wisdom to spare. The fact that the Pulitzer Prize winning Chicagoan is America's most popular critic is probably a happy accident owing less to his skill than to TV exposure (there was a time when Gene Shalit and gossip-monger Rona Barrett were probably the two most popular "critics" thanks to their gigs on morning television), but Ebert's status is richly deserved. He genuinely loves movies, and that love is evident throughout his various collections of film reviews, including the excellent Movie Yearbook. He is smart without being pompous, funny without being cruel, and wise without being pedantic. He is also thorough, seeing and writing reviews of even the most obscure movies, including those that may be deemed unworthy of attention by other critics at big city newspapers. You may not always agree with him, but it's doubtful you'll ever read one of his reviews without being enlightened, amused, or, best of all, encouraged to see something you may have otherwise missed. Anyone for whom movies are more than mere entertainment but an art form with the potential to change the way the audience looks at life, should find a place on their bookshelves for Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook.

Like to trash movies? Roger does. And, oh, boy, is he good
Movie reviews aren't always going to agree with your personal opinion. Sometimes you will like a movie and somebody like Mr. Ebert may think it isn't worth the celluloid it's printed on. But, when Ebert hates a film, he LOATHES it. The fun of this book is in seeing how he manages to tear down a film completely and so thoroughly in a single line. Who wants to read a glowing review of a film (especially if you thought it was dreck anyway?) But reading Ebert trash "The Jackal" as being the tale of "an over achiever" who would import bugspray from Iran if he were hired to kill a mosquito, is pure literary gold. In a time where most people are content to say a movie was either good or bad, depending on the mood they were in when they saw it, Ebert blows a great breath of fresh air into critical savagery. And if that's not worth the cover price, why do you want a movie review compendium in the first place?

Ebert's big book of movies never disappoints!
The 2003 edition of Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook is the sixth I've purchased and it is sure to exceed every one that came before it. Ebert is a fine writer with the uncanny ability to make every review readable, fun and insightful--whether it's his 5th review or his 5,000th. The extras are what makes these books so enjoyable. From the movie glossary to the index of all his reviews (with star ratings), the book is absolutely jam-packed with information.

My personal favorite section is the interviews he does with various directors, actors and movie business people. Ebert always asks the right questions without the usual creampuff fluffery you come to expect from interviews in Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, etc. He pushes their buttons and gets under their skin--and the results are usually pretty entertaining.

Of course, the real value of Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook is the reviews. The book contains all the reviews of the past several years, along with handy notes on cast and crew, and, of course, the star ratings.

If you love movies, this book is a real treasure and a bargain at any price!