Vertical Limit, Roger Ebert

We watched Vertical Limit last night. It was predictably mindless, but I for one (maybe the only one) was entertained.

Here’s Roger Ebert’s review of it. It’s funny how people react to movies. Henry thought the helicopter sequence was lame; Ebert called it “effective”. To each his own.

Ebert has fast become one of my favorite movie critics. My all time least favorite critic is Paul Tatara of CNN.com. Anyway, I remember Ebert was once writing about being a film critic and he pointed out something insightful. He was giving advice to an upcoming critic and he said the most important thing to do is write. Write about everything, all the time, and hone your craft.

The insight (maybe it’s not an insight) is that being a movie critic has less to do with being a good critic and more to do with being a good writer. And that’s who my favorite critics are – the good writers, regardless of whether I agree with them or not.