Editing Roger Ebert (section)

===Contrarian reviews===
[[Metacritic]] later noted that Ebert tended to give more lenient ratings than most critics. His average film rating was 71%, if translated into a percentage, compared to 59% for the site as a whole. Of his reviews, 75% were positive and 75% of his ratings were better than his colleagues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/feature/remembering-roger-ebert |website=[[Metacritic]] |title=Remembering Roger Ebert: His reviews |access-date=October 20, 2017 |archive-date=November 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123140724/http://www.metacritic.com/feature/remembering-roger-ebert |url-status=dead }}</ref> Ebert had acknowledged in 2008 that he gave higher ratings on average than other critics, though he said this was in part because he considered a rating of 3 out of 4 stars to be the general threshold for a film to get a "thumbs up."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many-stars |title=You give out too many stars |first=Roger |last=Ebert |website=www.rogerebert.com/ |date=December 14, 2012 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816125632/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many-stars |url-status=live }}</ref>

Writing in ''[[Random House of Canada|Hazlitt]]'' about Ebert's reviews, Will Sloan argued that "[t]here were inevitably movies where he veered from consensus, but he was not provocative or idiosyncratic by nature."<ref name="sloan-hazlitt">{{cite web |url=https://hazlitt.net/feature/roger-eberts-zero-star-movies |title=Roger Ebert's Zero-Star Movies |website=[[Random House of Canada|Hazlitt]] |last=Sloan |first=Will |date=February 21, 2017 |access-date=March 10, 2019 |archive-date=September 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904192043/https://hazlitt.net/feature/roger-eberts-zero-star-movies |url-status=live }}</ref> Examples of Ebert dissenting from other critics include his negative reviews of such celebrated films as [[Blue Velvet (film)|''Blue Velvet'']] ("marred by sophomoric satire and cheap shots"),<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Blue Velvet |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blue-velvet-1986 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |access-date=January 2, 2021 |date=September 19, 1986 |via=[[RogerEbert.com]] |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427124003/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blue-velvet-1986 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' ("a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an [[Orwellian]] warning"),<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-clockwork-orange-1972 |title=A Clockwork Orange |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=February 2, 1972 |access-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701195957/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-clockwork-orange-1972 |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' ("To the degree that I do understand, I don't care").<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-usual-suspects-1995 |title=The Usual Suspects |newspaper=[[The Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=August 18, 1995 |access-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426171724/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-usual-suspects-1995 |url-status=live }}</ref> He gave only two out of four stars to the widely acclaimed ''[[Brazil (1985 film)|Brazil]]'', calling it "very hard to follow"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/brazil-1986 | title=Brazil movie review & film summary (1986) &#124; Roger Ebert | access-date=July 28, 2023 | archive-date=February 13, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213230759/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/brazil-1986 | url-status=live }}</ref> and is the only critic on [[RottenTomatoes]] to not like it.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003033-brazil | title=Brazil - Rotten Tomatoes | website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] | access-date=July 28, 2023 | archive-date=November 7, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107110259/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003033-brazil | url-status=live }}</ref>

He gave a one-star review to the critically acclaimed [[Abbas Kiarostami]] film ''[[Taste of Cherry]]'', which won the ''[[Palme d'Or]]'' at the [[1997 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Taste of Cherry |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=February 27, 1998 |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taste-of-cherry-1998 |access-date=July 31, 2017 |via=[[RogerEbert.com]] |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427124019/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taste-of-cherry-1998 |url-status=live }}</ref> Ebert later added the film to a list of his most-hated movies of all time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/eberts-most-hated |work=[[RogerEbert.com]] |title=Ebert's Most Hated |access-date=July 31, 2017 |archive-date=August 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802044414/http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/eberts-most-hated |url-status=live }}</ref> He was dismissive of the 1988 [[Bruce Willis]] action film ''[[Die Hard]]'', stating that "inappropriate and wrongheaded interruptions reveal the fragile nature of the plot".<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Die Hard |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19880715/REVIEWS/807150301/1023 |access-date=September 4, 2009 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=July 15, 1988 |archive-date=March 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302012747/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19880715/REVIEWS/807150301/1023 |url-status=dead |via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref> His positive 3 out of 4 stars review of 1997's ''[[Speed 2: Cruise Control]]'', "Movies like this embrace goofiness with an almost sensual pleasure"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title=Speed 2: Cruise Control movie review (1997) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/speed-2-cruise-control-1997 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=February 14, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=July 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723055317/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/speed-2-cruise-control-1997 |url-status=live }}</ref> is one of only three positive reviews accounting for that film's 4% approval rating on the reviewer aggregator website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], one of the two others having been written by his ''At the Movies'' co-star Gene Siskel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Speed 2 - Cruise Control (1997) |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/speed_2_cruise_control/ |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=March 3, 2019 |archive-date=April 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430074753/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/speed_2_cruise_control |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ebert reflected on his ''Speed 2'' review in 2013, and wrote that it was "Frequently cited as an example of what a lousy critic I am," but defended his opinion, and noted, "I'm grateful to movies that show me what I haven't seen before, and ''Speed 2'' had a cruise ship plowing right up the main street of a Caribbean village."<ref name="speed3">{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title="Speed 3"--Winner of my 1999 contest {{!}} Roger Ebert {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/speed-3-winner-of-my-1999-contest |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |date=February 11, 2013 |access-date=February 14, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=February 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214211237/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/speed-3-winner-of-my-1999-contest |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1999, Ebert held a contest for [[University of Colorado Boulder]] students to create short films with a ''Speed 3'' theme about an object that could not stop moving.<ref name="speed3"/> The winning entrant was set on a roller coaster and was screened at Ebertfest that year.<ref name="speed3"/>