Monthly Archives: April 2013

Roger Ebert RIP

It was ironic but delightful that when Roger Ebert lost his voice, he gained another.

Ebert, the longtime Chicago Sun-Times movie reviewer, who died today at 70 after a long battle with cancer, was – as was former partner Gene Siskel – one of the most familiar faces and voices in film criticism for decades beginning in the 1970s.

After operations for cancer of the thyroid, salivary glands and chin in the past decade, Ebert lost much of his lower jaw as well as his ability to eat solid foods and speak.

But coincidentally to those losses, Ebert – who had written thousands of movie reviews during his career and several books – became a frequent blogger and even more frequent Twitter user. Hundreds of thousands of people – including me – followed him on Twitter, and I would venture a guess that most of us enjoyed his pithy comments on not only movies but politics and art and life.

The best thing that can be said about Ebert is that he was always fun to read, educational and entertaining. The other best thing is that, thanks to his drive and his embracing of social media, he was always relevant.

The balcony is closed.

Marvel Phase 2 concept art: ‘Cap,’ ‘Guardians’

Yes, it doesn’t take much more than a couple of cool paintings to make us happy.

The Internets were downright jovial today with the release – maybe officially, maybe unofficially, maybe associated with the big box set of Marvel Phase 1 films on disc – of some concept art from Marvel Phase 2.

Above is a very cool piece of art for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The title indicates the movie will likely follow the comics storyline in which Cap’s friend and former sidekick, Bucky Barnes, comes back after decades presumed dead and appears as the Winter Soldier, a Russian agent.

And here’s some concept art for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which follows the Cap sequel into theaters by several months in 2014.

Looks like the gang’s all here, or at least the recognizable ones, including Groot the living tree thingy and Rocket Raccoon … the talkin’, scrappin’ space raccoon.

Okay, yes, it sounds odd. But I think it’s supposed to.

Anyway, enjoy.

TV crush: Jessica Walter

Looking back at the women who made TV viewing a very special thing for me as a young man has reinforced to me just how old we’re all getting.

Example: Jessica Walter, the focus of this installment of TV Crush, is best known in recent years for her role as the matriarch of the Bluth family on the beloved sitcom “Arrested Development.” But in looking Walter up online, I’m startled to see that she’s 71 years young.

When Walter was considerably younger – and so was I – she was one of the actresses I loved seeing on TV. She had the cool beauty and grace of an Audrey Hepburn and a steely demeanor like few other actresses of the time.

Walter first came on my radar in the title role of “Amy Prentiss,” a short-lived 1974 spin-off of the NBC hit “Ironside.” Prentiss was the first female chief of police for San Francisco and as such battled preconceived ideas about a woman on the police force – not to mention in charge of it.

By that time, Walter was known for her edgy roles. In the 1971 Clint Eastwood classic “Play Misty for Me,” she had played a young woman who called Eastwood’s disc jockey character with the title request. In this early take on obsessive fans and doomed affairs, Eastwood gets more than he bargained for when he dallies with Walter.

It’s fun to see Walter enjoying the kind of popular career revitalization all too many actresses don’t get. But to me, she’ll always be tough cop Amy Prentiss.