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Last night I saw Life Itself. What a sad, touching, uplifting documentary about Roger Ebert's life and then the cancer that did him in. Steve James did a fine job. The battle for Ebert's life is right out front and nothing seems to be held back. Ebert's first appearance in his last physical state made me feel a little uneasy and a bit stunned. As it went on I noticed his appearance less and less because the story of his life became so captivating. I will not spoil it with details for those who will see this.

I know there are those who don't feel strongly about his film criticism, but for me he was my introduction into the art form of film criticism and helped me to understand, appreciate and crave cinema that I was not familiar with. One of the topics that James focuses on and does well is to point out that Ebert was challenged by other critics who thought his TV program was not true film criticism. James has clips and comments from Rosenbaum, Corliss, Sarris and Kael. I recommend this whether a fan of Roger Ebert or not.

I wouldn't be surpised if this gets strong Academy Award recognition.

The Battered Bastards of Baseball is a wonderful use of 80 minutes of your time in case anyone wondered. My one complaint would be that it is a bit too short, and would have liked to have gotten more of a feel for the kind of people who were on and followed the team.