Great Movies
To our RogerEbert.com readers,
We are excited to welcome you to our newly redesigned site. I co-founded the original site in 2002 with my late husband, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic, Roger Ebert, and since his passing in 2013, I have vowed to maintain RogerEbert.com as a preeminent destination for movie criticism, commentary and community. As the site’s publisher, I’ve guided its current redesign in conjunction with celebrated web developer Table XI, IT consultant Myrin New, Ebert Company executive Sonia Evans and Managing Editor Brian Tallerico to ensure that Roger's passion for movies, decades of essential reviews, and ability to connect with readers serve as the site's foundation.
Our team of professional editors (Brian Tallerico, Matt Zoller Seitz, Nick Allen, Matt Fagerholm and Nell Minow) continues to maintain Roger’s high standards for providing timeless insights in cinematic discourse, while exploring the latest releases with coverage penned by a diverse array of esteemed writers. Even during the current pandemic, we are continuing to provide comprehensive coverage of new film and television releases available for streaming at your home. In a companion piece with today's announcement we are publishing a hand-picked selection of excellent articles and movie reviews from our editors and regular writers (click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2). And you can sign up to receive our newsletter of fresh reviews every Friday.
In this new and improved iteration of RogerEbert.com, you will find more user-friendly features, faster loading with improved search engine optimization, cleaner more aesthetically pleasing graphics, an intuitive menu for precise movie reviews and responsive design for desktop and mobile devices. You can also find where each film is streaming on platforms such as HBO, DirectTV, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and others, thanks to the Just Watch widget placed at the end of each review. Our Collections section provides an addictive portal for discovering new titles by grouping them into useful categories not limited solely to genre. Interviews with noted filmmakers will be enhanced by more video and print features, as well as features paying tribute to events in the world of cinema, and even life itself.
Throughout the fall, new and enticing offerings will be introduced for those who subscribe to Ebert Prime, the newly enhanced version of our Ebert Club. It provides an ad-free experience and easier access to the site's content, as well as a newsletter of curated content that will soon include exclusive video clips from the Ebert archives. In order to continue providing two-way communication between us and our readers, we are bringing back, by popular demand, our “Letters to the Editors” column. It was a highlight of Roger’s experience with the site and we are eager to embrace it. You may contact us at editor@ebertdigital.com.
Roger was an innovator in so many ways. From democratizing movie criticism and bringing it to a more mainstream audience, to publishing his reviews on CompuServe at the dawn of the Internet, Roger was always pushing the envelope. It was a great challenge to develop a product that would meet his exacting standards, but he loved the site when he last saw it (as he expresses on camera to Josh Golden of Table XI in the Steve James documentary “Life Itself”), and it is our goal to continue developing a platform that would merit his upturned thumb.
We would love to hear your feedback on our site redesign, so we invite you to sit back, grab your popcorn and join in the conversation!
Sincerely,
Chaz
Chaz is the CEO of several Ebert enterprises, including the President of The Ebert Company Ltd, and of Ebert Digital LLC, Publisher of RogerEbert.com, President of Ebert Productions and Chairman of the Board of The Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation, and Co-Founder and Producer of Ebertfest, the film festival now in its 24th year.
