The balcony is closed

Roger Ebert is gone from "At the Movies," but he's an increasingly influential figure in the new dominant realm of film criticism: the Web.

Ebert last week announced he was leaving the long-televised show he began with Gene Siskel -- by its earliest incarnation -- in 1975. The 66-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning critic hadn't been on the show since 2006, sidelined, if only to a certain extent, by a battle with cancer that has left him unable to speak.

But he's continued to write reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times and this year began blogging on the newspaper's Web site: blogs.sun times.com/ebert. His online musings, labeled a "journal," should be bookmarked by all film buffs.

In an entry last week titled "The Balcony Is Closed," Ebert reminisced about "At the Movies." Most remarkable are his heartfelt memories of working with Siskel, who died of a brain tumor in 1999.

Evidenced by YouTube clips, Ebert explains their both contentious and loving relationship: "Did Gene and I hate each other? Yes. Did we love each other? Yes."

-- Jake Coyle, On The 'Net