They're Overlooked Movies, Not Bad Movies - April 21, 2010

Around the world every year, thousands of films are produced. Some are hits and some are flops, but there are literally hundreds and hundreds of pictures that annually get ignored, forgotten, or just plain overlooked. That's where Roger Ebert comes in. Since 1999, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ebert (arguably the country's most influential film critic) has used the respect he's gained over decades of newspaper and television film reviews to take over a small theatre in Champaign, Illinois for a long weekend, and show overflow audiences the movies they missed. The definition of "overlooked" might be somewhat strained for Ebertfest. For instance, the Academy Award-winning Patton, La Dolce Vita, and 2001: A Space Odyssey have all been screened at the festival. In addition to those classics, though, filmgoers have also feasted on such rarities as the 1929 silent version of Sadie Thompson, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (with a screenplay by a then-unknown scriptwriter named... Roger Ebert), and Kenneth Branagh's four-hour version of Hamlet. This year, audiences will have a choice of such delicacies as the 1929 Russian classic Man with a Movie Camera, Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway in the Charles Bukowski-written Barfly, and Song Sung Blue, a documentary about a real-life husband-and-wife team who perform a tribute act to Neil Diamond and Patsy Cline. Though Ebert's health has not been the best in recent years, he's on the mend and will attend tonight's opening-night screening of Pink Floyd: The Wall (as well as the rest of the films on the schedule) as he does every year -- if only seated in the audience. So for Ebert and his movie feast, we give a hearty "two thumbs up." Suggested Sites... Ebertfest - official site for the festival that shows Tron, Singin' in the Rain, and everything in between. Roger Ebert.com - archive of reviews and columns from Ebert. Roger Ebert's Journal - daily blog from the critic. Virginia Theatre - home to Ebertfest, with news and schedules for upcoming programs. Life Itself - official site of the biographical documentary about Ebert's life, work, and legacy.