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 Eberts reviews that communicate the essence of a film simply and elegantly. This is how he closed his review of La Dolce Vita: And 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 Keatons 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, Today 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 critics Top 10 Movies of the 80s list. A singular achievement by director Martin Scorsese Raging Bull is the most painful and heartrending portrait of jealousy in the cinemaan 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 star child does not hold water with Ebert. The genius is not in how much Stanley Kubrick does in 2001: A Space Odyssey," Ebert writes, but 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.