Roger Ebert officially steps down from At the Movies

by John P. Meyer

I rarely post items about non-local film-related events, but this one will strike a chord with many movie fans regardless of their locality.

Roger Ebert has announced he's officially stepping down from At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper.

His announcement - made on Monday, July 21 - follows by a day a similar revelation made by Richard Roeper, a fellow Chicago Sun-Times movie critic who's co-hosted the popular opinion show with Mr. Ebert since Gene Siskel's untimely death in 1999. (Mr. Ebert has been sidelined from the show for a couple of years due to his own medical issues.)

Filling the seats of the departing veterans will be new blood in the form of a pair if Bens: Ben Lyons (son of film critic Jeffrey Lyons) and Ben Mankiewicz (of the Mankiewicz filmmaking family, including grandfather Herman and great-uncle Joseph). The new helmers will kick off the fall season of At the Movies when it premieres on Sept. 6.

On a personal note, there's no overestimating the impact that Siskel and Ebert have had on my own enjoyment of the movies, and I'm sure I'm far from alone in this regard. The (official) exit of Ebert from At the Movies - regardless of how fabulous these new chaps turn out to be - marks a momentous - and melancholy - cultural shift on the popular film front.