Remember those halcyon days when a “Two Thumbs Up!” quote from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel was the kiss of life for a Hollywood studio publicist? The only way it could be better was if the iconic pair threw a “Way” into the middle of the expression.

Well, those days are long gone. When At the Movies rebooted at the beginning of the year under the banner of “Ebert Presents,”  with AP film writer Christy Lemire and newcomer Ignatiy Vishnevetsky sitting in the balcony, a big part of the deal was their ability to use the Ebert-trademarked phrase. But as a sign of both the weak imprint of the new show and the general splintering of film criticism, the expression now carries far less weight than it once did.

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Elvis Mitchell has left the At the Movies building.

In a somewhat cryptic blog post last night on the Chicago Sun-Times website, Roger Ebert makes no mention of Mitchell, previously announced as co-host of this month’s At the Movies PBS reboot alongside LA-based AP reviewer Christy Lemire. Instead, it’s now all about a 24-year-old Russian immigrant:

Born in the Soviet Union, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (pictured) moved to America when he was not quite nine… He is a critic and essayist for MUBI.com, a new multi-national streaming site calling itself an online cinematheque… He is also a contributor to The Chicago Reader. Prior to becoming a film critic, Vishnevetsky, who is multi-lingual, worked as a translator for Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, Russia’s premier literary journal.

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