judge_raz said: The thing that really bums me out about Roger Ebert's death is that there really aren't any other people out there that do what he does anymore. Mostly they're just local critics or they're staff critics or they write blogs and such; they aren't nationally recognized or nationally respected, they aren't household names. And I think that Roger Ebert was significant for that. He wasn't just a film critic, he was a public intellectual. His opinion was well regarded and listened to and sought out frequently, and he was paid for it. People like that just don't exist anymore (and where they do, they either aren't as intelligent as Ebert, aren't as funny or aren't as well educated) and that's really sad. I mean...we seem to be losing public intellectuals at an accelerating pace, while we keep getting more professional celebrities. And I really hope that The Host wasn't the last movie he saw. He deserved way better than that.
