Life Itself introduces Rogert Ebert to a new generation and plays a role in ensuring that his legacy will never ever be forgotten.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 23, 2024

Look it's really no question that Life Itself is a great movie; even setting aside personal bias as a film lover, we can respect this documentary as something more than just about movies...

| Original Score: A | Aug 19, 2024

Unlike many of the films Mr. Ebert reviewed in his latter years, I never once felt manipulated.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 15, 2022

...it leaves you with a lump in your throat and an even greater appreciation for a man who meant so much to movies and the art of film criticism.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 23, 2022

A moving epitaph of Ebert’s career and a sharp, but affectionate, examination of the man.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2022

Two thumbs up.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 14, 2021

Never shies away from the difficult parts of the story. Moments of frustration and pain are included but ultimately the doc is a wake for the late film critic. Stories are shared, secrets are told and a life is celebrated.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 1, 2021

Life Itself is a reminder, I suppose, that when the human spirit lives on we never really lose our voice.

| Original Score: 4.0/4.0 | Sep 14, 2020

A heartfelt exploration of a man who opened film up for the world.

| Original Score: A | Jul 20, 2020

Life Itself is not a film of mourning, it is a film of celebration. It is not a lionization, it is an exploration. But most importantly I think it is a film that Roger would be proud of.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 5, 2019

I loved this movie... partly because I loved Roger.

| Jun 28, 2019

[Roger Ebert's] determination is heart-wrenching... The great difficulty for James is in reconciling these powerful sequences with the more traditional elements of a narrative documentary.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 3, 2019

ife Itself left me inspired, as I'm sure it did every single person in the theater.

| Nov 8, 2018

My only complaint about the expansive, emotional documentary "Life Itself," about legendary film critic Roger Ebert, is that you really can't complain about it.

| Aug 22, 2018

A celebration of the life of the most important film critic of the past 50 years, a man of the people as well as a film connoisseur.

| May 15, 2018

...a revelation, an approach to the life of a fascinating man we only knew through his work. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 30, 2018

While Life Itself falls more into the category of "posthumous celebration" than "in-depth documentary," it does an excellent job of painting a visual portrait of a man who was often polarizing, yet almost universally admired.

| Nov 28, 2017

In [Steve] James' affectionate telling, Ebert's life, itself, was bountiful indeed.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 12, 2017

Life Itself is the kind of film that reminds you why you love the movies.

| Aug 14, 2017

This is an extraordinary biopic not just because it is about an extraordinary life but because it advocates living - and dying - with candor and grace.

| Aug 4, 2017