Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is an unabashed fan of Scorsese, whom he considers the most gifted director of his generation. To prove it, he's compiled his reviews of every Scorsese film—beginning with I Call First in 1967 to his latest, Shine a Light. Along the way, Ebert pays special tribute to five masterpieces, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Mean Streets, which he calls one of the source points of modern movies. These three films in particular, Ebert argues, reflect Scorsese's ongoing preoccupation with sex and guilt, themes fueled by a Catholic upbringing and his childhood in New York City's Little Italy. Citing the director's strong collaboration with actor Robert De Niro and screenwriter Paul Schrader, Ebert says all three men seem fascinated by the lives of tortured, violent, guilt-ridden characters, usually men who cannot relate to women, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. Of special note are interviews with Scorsese over a 25-year period, in which the director candidly discusses his body of work. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Ebert has been a professional film critic for as long as Martin Scorsese has been a feature-length filmmaker. Icons in their respective fields, they have developed a professional friendship that makes this intimate study all the more fascinating. Both share similar cultural and religious backgrounds, and perhaps this has helped attune Ebert's criticism, be it positive, negative, or respectfully reserved (like his thoughts on Cape Fear and Gangs of New York), to Scorsese's various films. All of Ebert's original reviews are here, along with interviews he has conducted with Scorsese over the years and an occasional reconsideration of such films as Kundun, After Hours, and The Last Temptation of Christ. This book is proof that the greatest criticism is simply careful and educated observation that connects a filmmaker with his subject, his audience, and his time. Ebert is one of the most acclaimed and perceptive critics of his time, and this unique book is an invaluable study in the canon of both film and criticism. Highly recommended for all libraries.--Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Ebert, indisputably America's most prominent film critic, wrote the very first review of a movie by Scorsese, arguably the nation's foremost director, when he praised I Call First (later renamed Who's That Knocking at My Door?) after a 1967 festival screening. As Ebert continued to follow the young director's career, the unlikely affinity of the critic from downstate Illinois for the filmmaker from Manhattan's mean streets became evident. That connection is on display in this volume collecting Ebert's contemporary reviews of all of Scorsese's features as well as a half-dozen recent reconsiderations and 11 interviews conducted over the past four decades. Ebert lavishes expected praise on such acknowledged masterworks as Taxi Driver but evinces less enthusiasm over misfires like Kundun. As demonstrated by the essays in his Great Movies collections, five of which reappear here, Ebert is best writing about works that fully engage him. His enthusiasm and conviction are obvious here; accordingly, this is some of his best stuff.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2008 Booklist

Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

Well-known film critic Roger Ebert uses a series of reviews of Martin Scorsese's work--beginning in 1967 with his first feature film, I Call First (released as Who's That Knocking at My Door), and ending with his 2008 documentary Shine a Light--to provide a unique chronology of this director's extraordinary film career. This approach reveals the growth not only of a filmmaker but also of a film critic who from the first saw in Scorsese the makings of a great American filmmaker. Ebert includes both his original reviews and reevaluations of those reviews, thus providing a 20/20-hindsight perspective that proves both interesting and enlightening. Though the book suffers from some redundancy, because of Ebert's obvious admiration of Scorsese, it serves as a historical document of Scorsese's career. Ebert's insights into recurring themes and elements in Scorsese's oeuvre show the maturation of the filmmaker over a 40-year period. This volume serves as both an invaluable, historical resource for the Scorsese scholar and an entertaining, informative document for the Scorsese fan. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers, all levels. A. F. Winstead Our Lady of the Lake University