Love you Mr. Ebert

Roger Ebert was the only film critic I ever took seriously. The moment I knew he was my guy was when Gene Siskel was alive and they reviewed that awful film the players club. It was a Sunday morning and I was home alone with my siblings since my parents where busy at church and would be picking us up. I wasn't into the McLaughlin group and I wanted to make movies so Siskel and Ebert it was. Of course this was when Roger Ebert still had that awful haircut. Now Gene Siskel ripped the crap out of it. But Roger Ebert hated it but pointed out the brilliance of Bernie Mack in it as the club owner. I think he said it reminded him of 70s Blaxploitation films. Even during the recap at the end he pointed out Bernie Mack's performance . That summed him up so well.
Roger Ebert understood that you couldn't compare Gone With the Wind with Superman, that it was like comparing apples with a burger. That you had to compare the film within its genre which people forget to do. He seemed to try to find some good in the film.Their was never any pretentiousness with him. Only a love for film and filmmakers. There where moments where I disagreed with him, but most of the time I agreed with his assessment .
It feels like most film critics are just frustrated filmmakers. They end up turning their frustration on other people's films. I mean that's what most of the French new wave directors had been. Except for the bizarreness of Armond White and former Seattle Times Critic John Hartl, Roger Ebert to me was the only film critic who actually seemed to love what he did. Yes he had dabbled in screenwriting for Russ Meyer, but he found a love in reviewing films.
My big dream was to one day make a film that he would review. Would he like it? Who knows. But to have Roger Ebert rip your film apart or give it a positive review would be the highlight of any actor or filmmaker.