Quotes from Roger Ebert

It is not enough for a movie to be righteous. It must also be watchable.

The Academy is paranoid about its image.

You can't just tell actors, especially young ones, to 'act happy' and expect them to do it. They must in some essential way be happy.

I begin to feel like I was in the last generation of Americans who took a civics class.

It is quite possible for the vulgar to be funny, but to succeed, it must rise to a certain genius.

If a movie isn't a hit right out of the gate, they drop it. Which means that the whole mainstream Hollywood product has been skewed toward violence and vulgar teen comedy.

Why are some people bullied? Because they are different. How? It doesn't matter.

Sometimes it's all about the casting.

I think we have to get beyond the idea that we have to categorize people.

Catholic theology believes that God gave man free will, and you can't give somebody free will and then send in a play from the sidelines.

Never marry anyone you could not sit next to during a three-day bus trip.

The moment a man stops dreaming is the moment he petrifies inside.

When we're discussing who to invite to a dinner party, my wife Chaz and I sometimes use the shorthand, 'good value for money,' which indicates guests expected to be entertaining.

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.

No matter what they're charging to get in, it's worth more to get out.

In the world of bad movies, 'Death to Smoochy' is a towering achievement.

In thinking about 'depressing movies, ' many people don't realize that all bad movies are depressing, and no good movies are.

Why is it that English, drama and music teachers are most often recalled as our mentors and inspirations? Maybe because artists are rarely members of the popular crowd.

The movie cheerfully offends all civilized notions of taste, decorum, manners and hygiene... The movie is vulgar? Vulgarity is when we don't laugh. When we laugh, it's merely human nature.

Here's a notion: Peace in the Middle East would come about more easily if the region were governed by women.

Nobody looks perfect. We have to find peace with the way we look and get on with life.

Fight Club is a thrill ride masquerading as philosophy - the kind of ride where some people puke and others can't wait to get on again.

It's a good question, because a movie isn't good or bad based on its politics. It's usually good or bad for other reasons, though you might agree or disagree with its politics.