Nick Digilio survives movie criticism with '40 Films'

Longtime radio host and film critic Nick Digilio has written a book about reviewing movies for 40 years.

- 

CHICAGO: Before the internet changed the world, it was easy to find a movie critic. They were in the magazines and newspapers, on TV and radio. You might even sit next to one at a tavern, stumble over one on your way to the bus stop.

In 1990, let's say, that crowd was dominated by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, the critics for the Sun-Times and Tribune, respectively, but looming huge thanks to being the creators and stars of the thumbs-up, thumbs-down syndicated television show "At the Movies" that made them, as I have claimed in print before, the most powerful movie critics in history.

They were part of a local pack that also included Marty Lennartz on WXRT, Sherman Kaplan on WBBM, Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Reader, Dave Kehr at the Tribune and others. Still standing, and thriving, he will tell you, is Nick Digilio, who has been at this movie critic game for more than four decades, with all its twists and turns, highs and lows. He hosts two podcasts and is a frequent guest on other programs. He hosts movie screenings and other events. And now he's written a book, "40 Years, 40 Films," published by that increasingly energetic and local-focused company named Eckhartz Press.