Roger Ebert's 50 Greatest Film Reviews

By James Kirk / May 16, 2013

10. La Dolce Vita (1960) - ˜…˜…˜…˜… Director: Federico Fellini

Ebert was a great admirer of Federico Fellini. The director of 8½ and La Strada was known for his neo-realism and his frequent collaboration with actor Marcello Mastroianni across six films. There are reflections in many of Ebert€™s reviews that communicate the essence of a film simply and elegantly. This is how he closed his review of La Dolce Vita: €œAnd when I saw the movie right after Mastroianni died, I thought that Fellini and Marcello had taken a moment of discovery and made it immortal. There may be no such thing as the sweet life. But it is necessary to find that out for yourself.€

9. The General (1927) - ˜…˜…˜…˜…

Director: Buster Keaton

Generally acknowledged as one of the great films of the silent era, Buster Keaton€™s the General featured solid storytelling and some inspired bits of daring comedy. Ebert acknowledged Keaton among his favorite directors, and of The General he wrote, €œToday I look at Keaton's works more often than any other silent films. They have such a graceful perfection, such a meshing of story, character and episode, that they unfold like music.€

8. Raging Bull (1980) - ˜…˜…˜…˜…

Director: Martin Scorsese

The black and white biopic of boxer Jake LaMatta was on every critic€™s €œTop 10 Movies of the 80€™s€ list. A singular achievement by director Martin Scorsese €œRaging Bull is the most painful and heartrending portrait of jealousy in the cinema€”an Othello for our times. It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women.€

7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - ˜…˜…˜…˜…

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Ebert compares the film to a prayer, a philosophical construction using cinema. The criticism leveled by many against the film €“ no clear plot, the inexplicable star gate ending, after which astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) finds himself in a bedroom growing old, the €œstar child€ €“ does not hold water with Ebert. €œThe genius is not in how much Stanley Kubrick does in 2001: A Space Odyssey," Ebert writes, €œbut in how little. This is the work of an artist so sublimely confident that he doesn't include a single shot simply to keep our attention. He reduces each scene to its essence, and leaves it on screen long enough for us to contemplate it, to inhabit it in our imaginations. Alone among science-fiction movies, 2001 is not concerned with thrilling us, but with inspiring our awe.€