Your Movie Sucks

by Roger Ebert

Book Overview

Roger Ebert's "I Hated Hated Hated This Movie," which gathered some of his most scathing reviews, was a best-seller. This new collection continues the tradition, reviewing not only movies that were at... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0740763660
• ISBN13: 9780740763663
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

so good, and so fun

This is my first Ebert book. I've savored it as slowly as I could and am almost ready to move on to the 2007 Movie Yearbook. I may not always agree with his take on a movie but I usually do, and I really appreciate his sometimes thought-provoking explanations of why the film failed. The cover photo is superb but don't expect 333 pages of the currently popular unalloyed, hostile snark. When called for, Ebert is surgically ruthless and makes great fun of that which is mockworthy, but underneath it all is a very hopeful and expansive view that, like most optimists, is disappointed when his favorite cinemacrafters and actors do much less than he knows is really in them, or when a potentially good story idea is somehow mangled and made impossible to choke down. He succeeds not because he's brutal and unforgiving but because he loves movies--highbrow, lowbrow, absurd, cerebral--and probably wanted to love each one he ended up having to write a bad review for. The description of his experiences with The Brown Bunny and its maker, Vincent Gallo, is well worth reading and deomonstrates his willingness to give art a second chance and revise his opinion. (I haven't seen The Brown Bunny and probably won't, but I like that Ebert went back for seconds in the spirit of fairness.) His body of work must be a wealth of instruction for anyone involved in making movies. As someone who simply loves to watch movies, I find reading his reviews every bit as pleasureable as chatting about films with a good friend. For the last six weeks I have limited myself to 2 or 3 reviews before turning off the lights and can relate to the reviewer who was worried about exhausting his friends by constantly pestering them with especially fit passages; my poor husband has been enduring this since I started the book, fortunately taking it all in good humor (how else to take it?). Looking forward to many more years of this Good Stuff. Stay well, Roger!

This Book Rocks!

You gotta respect someone that sits through an average of 500 films a year, especially when a huge chunk of those are absolutely dreadful. And when that someone is film critic Roger Ebert you also need to pay attention to what he has to say. As his former reviewing partner, the late Gene Siskel, once stated on The Tonight Show, they watch the good, bad, the mediocre and all the Friday the 13th movies, so they know what they're talking about. "Some of these reviews were written in joyous zeal. Others with glee. Some in sorrow, some in anger, and a precious few with venom, of which I have a closely guarded supply", Ebert states in the introduction to Your Movie Sucks. This isn't the first time that he's gone to that well: I Hated, Hated, Hated, This Movie (2000)--its title taken from Ebert's review of director Rob Reiner's North (1994)--was his first collection of movie reviews with a rating of one and a half stars or less. The full-on skewering continues on Your Movie Sucks and it sure is fun. Before jumping into the 175 film reviews from this decade compiled in alphabetical order, Ebert singles out three of them for the book's prologue: - Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo (2005), sequel to the contemptible Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo (1999). The last three words of the former's review give this book its title and is the funny one among the three in this prologue. - Chaos (2005), which its producers billed as "the most brutal, horrifying movie ever made" and engage Ebert in an open letter discussion of the movie's merits. "...Ugly, nihilistic, and cruel--a film I regret having seen." A sobering review and exchange. - Actor/director Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny (2004), which after Gallo cuts a half-hour from the original version and has a lengthy face-to-face with Ebert explaining his predicament and the circumstances leading to showing an unfinished film at Cannes, the latter gives the new version a 3 star review. The choice insults and name calling on both sides that precedes this is also included and together with the above titled The Brown Bunny Saga. Your Movie Sucks is not only entertaining and often funny, but it frequently explains to the layperson why these movies don't work. If you ever walked out of some of these films thinking they just didn't feel right but couldn't really put your finger on it, you're in luck. Of course, the likes of Daddy Day Care, Dirty Love, The Dukes of Hazzard, Scooby Doo, and the inimitable Freddy Got Fingered are way too easy targets. But there are quite a few films that perhaps with a casting change here, a screenplay touch up there, and maybe with a more sympathetic and/or talented director they could've had a decent flick. But they didn't, and we have Mr. Ebert to thank for sitting through them so we don't have to. Then again, some of these films are so unbelievably bad your curiosity may be piqued. (We personally do not enjoy horror/slasher films but plan on seeing the aforementioned Chaos at some poin

The title says it all

Roger Ebert, movie critic extraordinaire, is a legend in his own time -- the Dorothy Parker of his age. And, while this isn't his first published collection of reviews, "Your Movie Sucks" certainly has the best title. As the name implies, "Your Movie Sucks" is a collection of reviews that suggests to the actors, directors and the rest of the movie-making lot, "Gee, fellas, this film isn't quite up to par." Of course, it says it much better, with all the barbed wit and truly educated background that Ebert can bring to the fray. Love him or hate him, he knows his stuff. And he doesn't pull punches; when Ebert likes a movie, he is unstinting with his praise, but when he's not impressed, you might want to check your ego at the door. Who knew you could get a Pulitzer Prize for reviews? by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor

Love him or hate him, I must admit that the man can write!

It used to be true that a "thumbs down" review for a particular movie by Siskel and Ebert was enough to make me want to see it. And often enough I would enjoy a movie for the very reasons that Ebert hated it, or it would seem to me that he simply could not think beyond his rigid preconceptions about what made an enjoyable movie. Oddly, though, as I grow older I find myself agreeing more and more often with his assessment of what makes a given movie worthwhile, especially when it comes to the current crop of high concept would-be blockbusters, brain-dead romantic comedies,empty CGI fests and music videos pretending to be feature length films. So am I growing smarter, or is he?? But in any case, one thing was never in doubt - Ebert knows how a write a truly striking review...especially when he thinks a movie sucks. The prose here is to die for - he neatly skewers target after target with epigrammatic precision that would make William F. Buckley or Christopher Hitchens smile in admiration. I kept wanting to call friends up and share especially mordant and snarky passages from YMS with them, but I realized that I soon would exhaust their patience, since I'd be reading practically the entire book, line by line, over the phone. I kept wanting to underline really good quotable passages with a yellow underliner, but I soon saw that the book would soon have more yellow than white. Etc. If you are a fan of movies, and if you enjoy good writing and well thought out critical analysis that might expand your understanding of storytelling, literature and film, get this book. Even if you disagree with his ratings, you'll learn a lot about why you love movies.

I Love Love Love these books

For years I've wondered if Roger Ebert was going to release another collection of reviews of movies he hated hated hated. Along came "Your Movie Sucks". Ebert has always said that he'd rather enjoy a movie than not enjoy it. "Your Movie Sucks" is over 300 pages of reviews of movies that Ebert had to sit through, and didn't enjoy. Good thing for us, because his reviews of bad movies are entertaining to read. If we tend to watch a film based on a positive review, why do we want to rent films that get hysterically-bad reviews that much more? When "The Village" was originally released in theaters, Ebert's review got me looking online for spoilers to the movie's ending because I was so curious as to what he was referring to. I saved that review (among others) into a document on my computer. Now that "Your Movie Sucks" has been released, I have dozens of my favorite writings by Ebert in a book. One curious omission to "Your Movie Sucks" is "Life of David Gale", which became one of Ebert's most famous and controversial reviews, simply because of the film's last shot. One day I'd like a DVD to be released of Ebert's best moments with both Siskel, and Roeper. Until then, here is another book of reviews that will make you laugh laugh laugh!