I want to talk a little about opinions, anger, respect, and intelligent conversation.

A comment was made recently on an opinion post I wrote that the commenter had lost respect for the site because of my opinion. I love all of our readers and we are thankful for your support. I’m not upset about the comment, for I realize that we will get this sort of thing all the time. But as MovieByte is young, I do want to talk just a bit about how we should approach our conversation and our respect for one another. I want to lay out a bit of what we are looking for because I do want to have a great…

Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert died at age 70 in Chicago on Thursday, just one day after posting an update about his health scare and career plans online.

The Chicago Sun-Times, the publication for which Ebert wrote his movie reviews, posted news of his death and a detailed obituary. Ebert had been battling thyroid and salivary gland cancers in recent years and, in 2006, lost some of his jaw and consequently his speaking abilities. He penned one more piece — titled “My Leave of Presence” — on April 3.

This is sad news. This week’s theme seems to be about death for me…

Typically, I write over 200 reviews a year for the Sun-Times that are carried by Universal Press Syndicate in some 200 newspapers. Last year, I wrote the most of my career, including 306 movie reviews, a blog post or two a week, and assorted other articles. I must slow down now, which is why I’m taking what I like to call “a leave of presence.”

What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What’s more, I’ll be able at…

Very sad news: today we learned that British actor Richard Griffiths, best known for his roles in Harry Potter and History Boys, has passed away.

The Independent and various other news outlets are reporting that Griffiths, 65, died yesterday of complications following heart surgery.

Harry Potter fans will probably remember this seasoned actor best as Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies; Richard Griffiths was able to bring the nasty character to life in such a believable way that it was a shock to turn and watch him in The History Boys, where he played the flawed but beloved teacher…

As much as my inner dictator would like to slip into every home, Santa Claus-style, and adjust the settings on people’s TV sets, they have the right to watch things however they like. In hotels across America right now, people are watching stretchy analog signals on HD sets and even cable outlets are broadcasting old TV shows like Seinfeld at 16:9, lest they field complaints about the dreaded black bars that would frame the show as it was actually photographed. It’s not just that people are watching TV wrong—it’s that they’re being encouraged to watch TV wrong. Funhouse distortion has…

I hope enough time has passed that you feel comfortable talking about Spider-Man 4, which was in preproduction and began casting but fell apart before shooting began. What happened there?
It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn’t get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn’t get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, “I don’t…

After months of delay, the “Copyright Alert System,” (also known as “six strikes”) is ready for its “implementation phase.” Participating ISPs will be rolling out the system “over the course of the next several days.”

As we’ve reported previously, six strikes was conceived of by Center for Copyright Information (CCI)—an umbrella group representing major ISPs across the US and representatives from the recording and film industries. The group agreed in 2011 to come up with a six-stage warning scheme that would progressively warn—and eventually penalize—alleged online copyright…

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Let it be said here and now that this film brought me to tears on more than one occasion — not because I cared about the stars of this film (such as Adolf Hitler), but because of the shear senselessness and moral depravity that could move men to do what the Nazis did. A particular scene involving the murder of children was perhaps the most difficult for me.

It is not a film I will ever see again for I have no desire to see it again. Yet it must be highly rated, praised even, for that which it accomplishes in its viewing. It is a film that everyone should see I think. For this film…

Stuart Freeborn, the British pioneering movie makeup artist behind creatures such as Yoda and Chewbacca in the Star Wars films, has died. He was 98.

LucasFilm confirmed Wednesday that Freeborn had died, “leaving a legacy of unforgettable contributions”.

Star Wars director George Lucas said in a statement that Freeborn was “already a makeup legend” when he started working on the space epic.

“He brought with him not only decades of experience but boundless creative energy,” Lucas said. “His artistry and craftsmanship will live on forever in the characters he created. His Star Wars…