Roger Ebert Long Quotations

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.

I'm told we movie critics praise movies that are long and boring.

You can have a movie with hardly any cuts, or very few cuts, that is fascinating, you can't take your eyes away from it... Look at some of the long takes in Citizen Kane.

We must try to contribute joy to the world. I didn't always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

Battlefield Earth is like taking a bus trip with someone who has needed a bath for a long time. It's not merely bad; it's unpleasant in a hostile way.

If you plan to miss this movie, better miss it quickly; I doubt if it'll be around to miss for long.

I was instructed long ago by a wise editor, "If you understand something you can explain it so that almost anyone can understand it. If you don't, you won't be able to understand your own explanation." That is why 90% of academic film theory is bullshit. Jargon is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

I've been told that I am evil. I've been told that I am behind the persecution of millions of Americans. That I have encouraged hate toward gays. I've received both very brief and obscene messages, and very long and literate messages that tell me a vote for Crash was vote for homophobia.

A lot of first novels are written long before they're actually put down on paper.