In reviewing Roger Ebert’s new book Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert for the online magazine Blogcritics, blogger Nick Dirga poses the question, “can you be America’s most well-known movie critic, a television star and household name, and still be kind of underrated? If you’re Roger Ebert,” Dirga contends, “quite possibly.”
Though Roger Ebert is one of America’s most popular movie critics, Dirga’s review points out that Ebert’s fame often overshadows his important critical contributions to American cinema. According to Dirga, “Awake In The Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert, serves as a fine way to remind us that Ebert is [more than just a popular TV personality,] but “first and foremost, a gifted writer.” Dirga continues: “Some of the strongest writing in Awake In The Dark is a look inside Ebert's thoughts on the nature of film. ‘A movie is not about what it is about,’ [Ebert] writes. ‘It is about how it is about it.’ His celebrity may overshadow what a fine teacher he is.”
Awake in the Dark is a treasure trove not just for fans of this seminal critic, but for anyone desiring a fascinating and intelligent critical discussion of contemporary American cinema.