Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Remembering Roger Ebert

In other news, I'm sure you've already heard about the recent passing of Roger Ebert by now. But I felt compelled to throw in my two cents, and this is the first real opportunity I've had to do so.

I started writing movie reviews online back in 2003 because I thought it would be something fun to do. Watching and talking about movies is something I've always enjoyed, so I thought it would be a cool hobby to pick up. I'm far from a professional film critic or even a good writer, but I still enjoy doing that a full decade after I created "Sutton at the Movies." And as the years have gone by, I've often found myself looking to Ebert's reviews for inspiration if I was suffering from a particularly bad case of writer's block. While I disagreed with Ebert's opinions just as many times as I agreed with him, he always expressed himself in a way that was engaging, entertaining, and intelligent. Even if you felt differently about a movie than he did, Ebert always found a way to make a convincing argument about why he liked or didn't like something.

And truth be told, Roger Ebert made me want to be a better writer. I know I'll never, ever be on his level. He was light-years ahead of everybody else, on a plateau where only he and Gene Siskel resided, while I'm just a guy who writes dorky little articles on the Internet a few times a month as a hobby. And I could win the Pulitzer Prize a hundred times and still never be as good at this as Ebert was. The best I can do is to keep on trying, because there's no fun to be had in the opposite. And all that's left for me to say is this: Thank you, Mr. Ebert. Thank you for making movie critiquing fun. I hope you had as much fun writing your reviews as I had reading them.

More 3D Dinosaurs, Please

I know I don't typically post here after I've seen a movie, since I usually save that for my other blog. But I've got some movies to discuss here that I'm not reviewing over there, so let's chat.

Last week, I ventured out to see G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the remake of Evil Dead, and the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park. I've already written my review of Evil Dead and I'm working on one for G.I. Joe, so let's talk about Jurassic Park. I absolutely love Jurassic Park even though I hadn't seen it all the way through in at least a decade prior to the re-release, so I was jazzed by the idea of seeing it in 3D.

And you know what? The 3D effects are awesome. A lot of movies that are converted into 3D after the fact don't turn out as well as movies that are natively shot in the format, but Jurassic Park's conversion is fantastic. It actually adds a lot to the movie, especially the T-Rex scenes, the Gallimimus stampede, and the where the raptors stalk the kids in the facility's kitchen is scarier too.

I know not everyone enjoys 3D movies, but Jurassic Park is totally worth seeing in that format. Maybe it's me, but the movie actually felt a lot more fun since it felt like the dinosaurs could actually pop out of the screen at any time. I'd totally recommend checking it out if you don't have a problem seeing with the 3D format, or if you've been needing a reason to see the first (and best) Jurassic Park on the big screen. It's totally worth it.