http://chud.com/nextraimages/ebert.jpgRoger Ebert hoped to be back on his feet and reviewing movies by now, and so had we. But it turns out that the cancer in his salivary gland requires more treatment. “[T]he surgeons tell me they will have to take a staged, multi-phased approach to getting me back in shape,” Ebert says in a New Years message on his website. “To borrow from the Chicago Bears, we tried for the long pass, but now we’re going for a series of shorter passes until we score a touchdown.”

He’s pushing ahead, though. He’s got his Overlooked Film Festival in April, he’ll be making his picks for Oscar winners, he’ll be running his “Outguess Ebert” contest in the Chicago Sun-Times, and he’s got a new book percolating, a sequel to I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie called Your Movie Sucks. Which sort of sounds like a book we should be publishing.

While Ebert remains on sick leave, dumbshit Richard Roeper will continue to rule the balcony on their TV show, with more rotating guest “critics” giving their insipid and uninformed opinions on movies. This is probably the biggest national platform for film criticism (or really reviewing), and while it was never ideal, Roeper and his rotating cast of people who might get viewers have driven the thing to an all-new low. Honestly, Ebert should consider scuttling the show and starting a new one if he feels up to it.