Some critics get enthusiastic over big Hollywood blockbusters. Others go for artsy, independent features. Readers can take the prejudices of each type into account. Ebert doesn't fit into either category. He might say that he can appreciate both sorts of film. It looks to me more like he's scared of looking bad to both groups, afraid of alienating the aesthetes and of losing his access with the big Hollywood crowd. Many's the time we've seen "Two Thumbs" up from Roger and his spineless clone on a video and rented some worthless, big box office trash. Ebert's too afraid to go out on a limb and call garbage garbage, so long as it's popular garbage.