Roger is a person who appreciates fine acting, which is what Star Wars lacks, but Roger fails to understand that this is intentional. Lucas wanted them to act this way because if you ever watch the old Flash Gorden serials, the acting was horrendous compared to Casablanca or Gone With The Wind.
But Roger is a fan of the OT...
"The series is essentially human mythology, set in space, but not occupying it. If Stanley Kubrick gave us man humbled by the universe, Lucas gives us the universe domesticated by man."
-from the Star Wars Celebration II guide.
It's funny how some people truly hate Roger Ebert like he's the devil. I can understand not liking him, but as a side note....he is no longer fat...i think he lost a ton of weight after he had cancer I think or some sort of surgery...he's actually sort of on the thin side now....not that that matters...
but also yes roger ebert likes good acting, I would hope any good critic would...And I don't think Star Wars has intentionally bad "acting". You've missed the point. If you wanted intentionally bad acting, you've got to be quite the twit. Point is supposed to be that the dialogue from the OT was "campy"...it wasn't realistic, it was corny, but in a good way. A classic, quotable way. Now can you really quote any lines from the new ones? The new ones have some terribly bad dialouge....such as Anakin's line about sand and Padme in Attack of the Clones. Because the dialouge tries to take itself too seriously, it comes out ridicioulous. Just like Padme dies of a "broken heart". Give me a break....