I find that when I am actually writing, I enter a zone of concentration too small to admit my troubles. Roger Ebert More Quotes by Roger Ebert More Quotes From Roger Ebert It amazes me that filmmakers will still film, and audiences will still watch, relationships so bankrupt of human feeling that the characters could be reading dialogue written by a computer. Roger Ebert reading feelings character Much has been written about Generation X and the films about it. Clerks is so utterly authentic that its heroes have never heard of their generation. When they think of "X," it's on the way to the video store. Roger Ebert clerks hero thinking I had a hard time watching "Wolf Creek." It is a film with one clear purpose: To establish the commercial credentials of its director by showing his skill at depicting the brutal tracking, torture and mutilation of screaming young women. When the killer severs the spine of one of his victims and calls her "a head on a stick," I wanted to walk out of the theater and keep on walking. Roger Ebert hard-times skills directors It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is a famous journalistic legend about the time a young reporter covered the Johnstown flood of 1889. The kid wrote: God sat on a hillside overlooking Johnstown today and looked at the destruction He had wrought. His editor cabled back: Forget flood. Interview God. Roger Ebert editors missing kids Rollerball is an incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of plot, meaning, rhythm and sense. There are bright colors and quick movement on the screen, which we can watch as a visual pattern that, in entertainment value, falls somewhere between a kaleidoscope and a lava lamp. Roger Ebert entertainment color fall To say that George Lucas cannot write a love scene is an understatement; greeting cards have expressed more passion. Roger Ebert passion writing cards It's easier to identify with loss than love, because we have had so much more experience of it. Roger Ebert easier loss Of what use is freedom of speech to those who fear to offend? Roger Ebert freedom-of-speech speech use Life is made up of challenges that cannot be solved but only accepted. Roger Ebert accepted challenges life-is Life's missed opportunities, at the end, may seem more poignant to us than those we embraced — because in our imagination they have a perfection that reality can never rival. Roger Ebert imagination opportunity reality The Muse visits during the process of creation, not before. Roger Ebert muse creation process Lebanon was at one time known as a nation that rose above sectarian hatred; Beirut was known as the Paris of the Middle East. All of that was blown apart by senseless religious wars, financed and exploited in part by those who sought power and wealth. If women had been in charge, would they have been more sensible? It's a theory. Roger Ebert paris religious war A movie isn't good or bad based on its politics. It's usually good or bad for other reasons, though you might agree or disagree with its politics. Roger Ebert agree reason might My favorite love scenes in movies don't involve passion, they involve nobility or sacrifice. Roger Ebert my-favorite sacrifice passion Marlon Brando is the most influential movie actor of the century. Roger Ebert influential century actors I just assume I'm right. Partially out of conviction and partially as a pose. Roger Ebert conviction assuming Who wants to live in the present? It's such a limiting period compared to the past. Roger Ebert live-in-the-present want past What makes people interesting is the spirit that shines through. Roger Ebert shining people interesting Improvisation is a weird word because we often think it means that you make things up out of whole cloth right there on the spot, and that's rarely the case in acting. You have to know who the character is, what the situation is and what is needed. Roger Ebert character mean thinking Film has become a marketed commodity, and the opportunities and audiences for art cinema have grown smaller. There is a general downturn in cultural literacy, perhaps because of television. Roger Ebert cinema opportunity art
