Favorite Anime

[Spark Of Spirit]

He would have given it a halfhearted thumbs up at 2.5/4. But he probably would have later revised it lower.

And let's not forget that the only S&E review of a Die Hard movie that had two thumbs up was Die Hard 2.

[Lord Dalek]

Thumbs were on the tv shows. His newspaper reviews were always starred.

In this case, 2 stars is not a recommendation (probably because he watched the shorter international version which was even worse than the original).

[gunswordfist]

He would have given it a halfhearted thumbs up at 2.5/4. But he probably would have later revised it lower.

And let's not forget that the only S&E review of a Die Hard movie that had two thumbs up was Die Hard 2.

I was legit waiting for you to bring up Die Hard.

Thumbs were on the tv shows. His newspaper reviews were always starred.

In this case, 2 stars is not a recommendation (probably because he watched the shorter international version which was even worse than the original).

To be fair, I did watch the Steamboy review on TV. Hell, he may have even given it a thumbs up. *back to google for me!*

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

He would have given it a halfhearted thumbs up at 2.5/4. But he probably would have later revised it lower.

And let's not forget that the only S&E review of a Die Hard movie that had two thumbs up was Die Hard 2.

To be fair, Siskel gave the first Die Hard Thumbs Up. Ebert was the holdout who didn't like a classic that most people loved. To be fair to Ebert, though, he taught the important lesson that you don't need to automatically love anything just because most other people do, and vice versa when it comes to genuinely liking a film that most people hate. I respected his ability to think for himself and give people his concise thoughts on why he felt that a movie was good or bad, regardless of its status.

In fact, one of my favorite reviews of his is on To Kill a Mockingbird. I love that book and film. He, however, gave it only 2 1/2 stars and criticized a few big aspects of it which he felt that most viewers overlooked. Still, he wrote his review in such a way that still showed respect to the material and its supporters (something that most modern critics REALLY need to learn how to do), yet his points were still valid and fair. They didn't change my mind about the film, but rather got me to understand and respect his viewpoint on the movie, as well as that of anyone else who might dislike it for similar reasons.

[Foggle]

Still, he wrote his review in such a way that still showed respect to the material and its supporters (something that most modern critics REALLY need to learn how to do), yet his points were still valid and fair. They didn't change my mind about the film, but rather got me to understand and respect his viewpoint on the movie, as well as that of anyone else who might dislike it for similar reasons.

This is why Ebert was the best. If only today's critics were more like him...

[Lord Dalek]

IIRC Ebert didn't like Die Hard 1 for pretty stupid reasons all stemming to Paul Gleason's police chief character being a bureaucratic moron (which ironically makes him the best character in the movie, go figure). But yeah Roger was always a fan (of sorts) of what little anime came out in American theaters. Case in point, the infamous split thumb on Metropolis where Roger desperately tried to defend the art style over Richard Roeper's (then in his shallow asshat hipster phase) complaints about big eyes.

[gunswordfist]

Ebert does seem to give anime a fair shake. We all know how much he liked Spirited Away.

[Avaitor]

He did put Spirited Away and Totoro in his Great Movies list.

And of course, those are still my favorite Miyazaki films.

[Foggle]

Because I know it's the favorite of many here, Funimation is about to lose the rights to Baccano!

Now I'm hearing rumors that they're going to lose Full Metal Alchemist too.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Aniplex doesn't seem to like how FUNimation treats their customers with respect by charging reasonably affordable prices for anime DVD sets, in addition to usually putting forth a good amount of effort into their English dubs.

I can't wait to see them re-release their properties with subtitles only and for five times the price.

[VLordGTZ]

I guess I now need to buy Baccano, FMA, and FMA: Brotherhood on DVD/Blu-ray.  I have no intention of paying for one of Aniplex's ridiculously priced sets.

[Lord Dalek]

So how long before they lose Fairy Tail? 

[VLordGTZ]

Despite being animated by A-1 Pictures, Fairy Tail isn't actually produced by Aniplex.   

[VLordGTZ]

It's official, Funimation is losing the rights to FMA: Brotherhood on March 31st.  This also probably means that the August 31st expiration date listed on Hulu for the original FMA anime is also true.   

[Spark Of Spirit]

Wow, Aniplex going for the jugular.