A good critic/reviewer can do both. A good critic can be offended by a movie and point that out in the review but also able to understand why someone might like it. Ebert could not. That shortsightedness also effected him when it came to the "games as art" discussion. He could only see things one way, his way. As an art major I will never respect a man who dismisses anyone's creative work, be it video games or a crappy painting on a fridge that a little kid drew.
He actually made a pretty good argument as to why games aren't art. (Which I can say that I'm that side too. ) The problem with it, is that he was giving an opinion to a field that wasn't specific to him, and everyone got insanely defensive. Suddenly it was so important to everyone that he didn't think of games as art.
I mean, to this day it still needs to be argued within the sheer mention of Ebert's name.
Log in to comment