Steve James—the director of Hoop Dreams, one of Roger Ebert's favorite films ever—made this documentary that begins in the writer's youth, quickly moves to his years at the Chicago Sun-Times, making sure to stop and look at that time he wrote the screenplay for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and (unrelated) won a Pulitzer. He also hosted a series of television programs with fellow Chicago critic Gene Siskel, and the movie makes no bones about how the two rivals initially despised each other, before becoming good friends years later. Presumably, Life Itself was intended as an overview of Ebert's life (itself), but his death overshadows the rest of the film. Still, the film is a celebration of a complicated, heroic man, and as such, it's well worth seeing. I bet Ebert would agree. NED LANNAMANN