Editing Roger Ebert (section)

===Genres and content===
Ebert was often critical of the [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system]] (MPAA). His main arguments were that they were too strict on sex and profanity, too lenient on violence, secretive with their guidelines, inconsistent in applying them and not willing to consider the wider context and meaning of the film.<ref name="uglyreality">{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/ugly-reality-in-movie-ratings |title=Ugly reality in movie ratings |publisher=[[RogerEbert.com]] |date=September 24, 2000 |access-date=May 1, 2018 |archive-date=May 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501225754/https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/ugly-reality-in-movie-ratings |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703766704576009343432436296 |title=Getting Real About Movie Ratings |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=December 11, 2010 |access-date=April 5, 2013 |archive-date=July 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706203750/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703766704576009343432436296 |url-status=live }}</ref> He advocated replacing the [[NC-17]] rating with separate ratings for pornographic and nonpornographic adult films.<ref name="uglyreality"/> He praised ''[[This Film Is Not Yet Rated|This Film is Not Yet Rated]]'', a documentary critiquing the MPAA, adding that their rules are "[[Franz Kafka|Kafkaesque]]."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=September 14, 2006 |title=How do the ratings rate? |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/this-film-is-not-yet-rated-2006 |access-date=April 19, 2023 |archive-date=April 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419192140/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/this-film-is-not-yet-rated-2006 |url-status=live }}</ref> He signed off on his review of ''[[Almost Famous]]'' by asking, "Why did they give an R rating to a movie so perfect for teenagers?"<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=September 15, 2000 |title=Almost Famous |work=[[Chicago Sun Times]] |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/almost-famous-2000 |access-date=February 7, 2023 |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224142345/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/almost-famous-2000 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ebert also frequently lamented that cinemas outside major cities are "booked by computer from Hollywood with no regard for local tastes," making high-quality independent and foreign films virtually unavailable to most American moviegoers.<ref>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=http://www.suntimes.com/output/oscars/ebert27.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040604184449/http://www.suntimes.com/output/oscars/ebert27.html |archive-date=June 4, 2004 |date=June 4, 2004 |title=They got it right |website=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]}}</ref>

He wrote that "I've always preferred generic approach to film criticism; I ask myself how good a movie is of its type."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=December 26, 1973 |title=The Exorcist |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-exorcist-1973 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |archive-date=November 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102153840/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-exorcist-1973 |url-status=live }}</ref> 
He gave ''[[Halloween (1978 film)|Halloween]]'' four stars: "Seeing it, I was reminded of the favorable review I gave a few years ago to ''Last House on the Left'', another really terrifying thriller. Readers wrote to ask how I could possibly support such a movie. But I wasn't supporting it so much as describing it: You don't want to be scared? Don't see it. Credit must be paid to directors who want to really frighten us, to make a good thriller when quite possibly a bad one would have made as much money. Hitchcock is acknowledged as a master of suspense; it's hypocrisy to disapprove of other directors in the same genre who want to scare us too."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=October 31, 1978 |title=Halloween |work=[[Chicago Sun Times]]}}</ref>

Ebert did not believe in grading children's movies on a curve, as he thought children were smarter than given credit for and deserved quality entertainment. He began his review of ''[[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory]]'': "Kids are not stupid. They are among the sharpest, cleverest, most eagle-eyed creatures on God's green Earth, and very little escapes their notice. You may not have observed that your neighbor is still using his snow-tires in mid-July, but every four-year-old on the block has, and kids pay the same attention when they go to the movies. They don't miss a thing, and have an instinctive contempt for shoddy and shabby work. I make this observation because nine out of ten kids' movies are stupid, witless and display contempt for their audiences. Is that all parents want from kids' movies? That they not have anything bad in them? Shouldn't they have something good in them — some life, imagination, fantasy, inventiveness, something to tickle the imagination? If a movie isn't going to do your kids any good, why let them watch it? Just to kill a Saturday afternoon? That shows a subtle contempt for a child's mind, I think." He went on to say he thought ''Willy Wonka'' was the best movie of its kind since ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=1971 |title=Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory-1971 |access-date=April 22, 2023 |archive-date=September 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930233251/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory-1971 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ebert tried not to judge a film on its ideology. Reviewing ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', he writes: "I am not particularly interested in the 'ideas' in Coppola's film...Like all great works of art about war, ''Apocalypse Now'' essentially contains only one idea or message, the not-especially-enlightening observation that war is hell. We do not go to see Coppola's movie for that insight — something Coppola, but not some of his critics, knows well. Coppola also well knows (and demonstrated in ''The Godfather'' films) that movies aren't especially good at dealing with abstract ideas — for those you'd be better off turning to the written word — but they are superb for presenting moods and feelings, the look of a battle, the expression on a face, the mood of a country. ''Apocalypse Now'' achieves greatness not by analyzing our 'experience in Vietnam,' but by re-creating, in characters and images, something of that experience."<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=June 1, 1979| title=Apocalypse Now| work=Chicago Sun-Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/apocalypse-now-1979| access-date=April 27, 2024| archive-date=November 14, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114145551/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/apocalypse-now-1979| url-status=live}}</ref> Ebert commented on films using his [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] upbringing as a point of reference,<ref name=ChicagoMag>{{cite magazine |first=Carol |last=Felsenthal |date=December 2005 |url=http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2005/A-Life-in-the-Movies/index.php?cp=1&si=0 |title=A Life In The Movies |magazine=[[Chicago Magazine]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823172045/http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2005/A-Life-in-the-Movies/index.php?cp=1&si=0 |archive-date=August 23, 2011 |access-date=April 6, 2013}}</ref> and was critical of films he believed were grossly ignorant of or insulting to Catholicism, such as ''[[Stigmata (film)|Stigmata]]'' (1999)<ref>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/stigmata-1999 |title=Stigmata |date=January 1, 1999 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |via=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-date=June 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609203034/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/stigmata-1999 |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[Priest (1994 film)|Priest]]'' (1994).<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950407/REVIEWS/504070308/1023 |title=Priest |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=April 7, 1995 |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-date=November 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126181317/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950407/REVIEWS/504070308/1023 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He also gave favorable reviews of controversial films relating to [[Jesus Christ]] or Catholicism, including ''[[The Last Temptation of Christ (film)|The Last Temptation of Christ]]'' (1988),<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=August 12, 1988| title=The Last Temptation of Christ| work=Chicago Sun-Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-last-temptation-of-christ-1998| access-date=May 3, 2024| archive-date=February 23, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223153806/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-last-temptation-of-christ-1998| url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' (2004), and [[Kevin Smith]]'s religious satire ''[[Dogma (film)|Dogma]]'' (1999).<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dogma-1999 |title=Dogma |date=November 12, 1999 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |via=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423230809/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dogma-1999 |url-status=live }}</ref> He defended [[Spike Lee]]'s ''[[Do the Right Thing]]'': "Some of the advance articles about this movie have suggested that it is an incitement to racial violence. Those articles say more about their authors than about the movie. I believe that any good-hearted person, white or black, will come out of this movie with sympathy for all of the characters. Lee does not ask us to forgive them, or even to understand everything they do, but he wants us to identify with their fears and frustrations. ''Do the Right Thing'' doesn't ask its audiences to choose sides; it is scrupulously fair to both sides, in a story where it is our society itself that is not fair."<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=June 30, 1989| title=Do the Right Thing| work=Chicago Sun-Times}}</ref>