Roger's main complaint with the first one is that there was too much violent slapstick at the end of the film. It seems like that's all the third one is
It’s not so much his opinion but the consistency is what I find strange. I personally don’t mind Home Alone 3. It’s fine for what it is, but I also liked the first two. Ebert didn’t like the first two and loved the third one for all the same reasons he hated the original even though the first objectively has more heart and better writing. Siskel was at least consistent in that he didn’t like any of those movies
@@stonegasman3866 Home Alone 2 is much more rewatchable than #1 even though it's obviously derivative because it doesn't make you slog through so much overwrought concerned mother stuff every time. Also, Tim Curry.
0:25 Benji the Hunted 3:10 Home Alone 3 5:44 Eddie Murphy's Raw 10:28 Dirty Dancing 13:47 Brain Candy 17:15 Curly Sue 21:03 Alaska 24:41 Starship Troopers 27:29 Silence of the Lambs 31:42 Blue Velvet 36:50 Bram Stoker's Dracula
Their debate over David Cronenberg's Crash is a good one, too. And Full Metal Jacket, which takes place right before Benji the Hunted. When Ebert gave a thumbs-down to FMJ and a thumbs-up to Benji, Siskel looked like he was about to leap out of his chair and strangle him.
That particular episode they got really, really angry with each other- at one point during the Benji the Hunted episode Ebert snapped at Siskel and told him that he should be ashamed of himself!
Yeah, that was one of those rare times when Roger got it really wrong. I've seen *Starship Troopers* at least 7 times and I fucking love that film. Absolutely love it. Roger was definitely wrong there, almost as wrong as he was about *The Usual Suspects* although at least he eventually admitted that he was probably wrong about it after everyone basically tore him to shreds over it. I loved and still love Roger Ebert, but he was way off there on those two films and on several others.
I’m usually a Roger guy, but damn I agreed with almost everything Siskel said here. Roger had a real blind spot for children’s movies. The only one Siskel got wrong was Silence of the Lambs - that’s a classic.
Roger was more consistent overall, which is part of what makes his gaffs far more entertaining. His gripes tended to be predicated on one specific, neurotic thing, whereas Gene's pans of good movies were often just "I didn't buy it." Way less to pick on there.
"And by the rude and annoying off-screen noises you've been emitting I take it you do not agree." God, I love it when these two go at each other. And Gene's broad grin when we cut to him at this moment is just priceless.
Does anyone remember the animated series The Critic with movie critic Jay Sherman (a cross between Siskel and Ebert: fat AND bald)? In one episode Siskel and Ebert actually appeared (providing their own voices) and got into a fist fight.
I posted an idea for a skit elsewhere in the comments (only 30+ comments so far shouldn't be to hard to find it), I'll expound a little more here: Just a therapist assisting these two argue their points better, the therapist being a third wheel on camera. He would forget his role, and start arguing except he's a terrible film critic, only in his own mind he's a pro. Maybe S&E have two big thumbs down for Biodome, but the extra guy starts praising it like it's as good as One Flew Over The C.N. Yes, the 3rd wheel is the main focus. But I've got other ideas that are more centric to them, as long as you pay homage to their memory without making them too ridiculous. The therapist can be a real d ick though. It's funnier if you think up an alternative skit with S&E, since most trust their own sense of humor over others.
The thing I love about the production of this show in itself is when either Gene or Roger offer their take on the movie at first, you tend to forget the other one is still sitting there...that is, until the camera swoops in as they begin to offer their counterpoint and the bickering between the two begins 😂
I'm curious where you found these high quality clips? Every S&E video I've ever seen come from compressed VHS rips. Some of these are clearly from a better source.
Yep, and like an old married couple they may have had some intense arguments but at the end of the day they still loved and respected each other (and no doubt one was crushed when the other one died).
Great compilation! I love the irony that clips that were fine for Saturday afternoon broadcast TV 30 years ago will now threaten to demonetize a TH-cam video.
@@jimmuzzi1072 Siskel left us largely ahead, and Roger left with too little head and face saved! Siskel and Ebert tastes are not to my liking, but Siskel reasons better, despite Ebert's apparent erudition and his many Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. Ebert believed that movies could inspire empathy and help people understand others' hopes, dreams, and fears. This bias automatically leaves the cold-hearted Siskel in front. :)
Gene's facial expressions during the Home Alone 3 review are hilarious. That said, I actually liked Home Alone 3 when I was a kid, but haven't seen it in many many years.
5:00 I remember a guy at work said, he disliked children shows for this exact reason. They made, the parents look incompetent and empowers kids to think they know best.
At 23:02 Ebert decides that he can no longer abide Siskel's divergent tone and appears ready to do whatever it takes - including engage in physical combat if need be - to uphold the honor of a children's adventure film that inexplicably seems to have triggered his most protective human instincts.The smile is off, the gloves are on.
Interestingly that children’s adventure film (Alaska) was directed by Charlton Heston’s son, and Charlton Heston himself plays the father. While the two kids are played by Vincent Kartheiser (who would play Pete Campbell on Mad Men) and Thora Birch (who became an indie darling several years later for American Beauty and Ghost World among other films). Quite a cast for a random kiddie adventure flick.
Gene Siskel 👎 • Benji: The Hunted • Home Alone 3 • Beverly Hills Cop II • Curly Sue • Alaska • Silence of the Lambs (Siskel makes some compelling comments) • Bram Stoker’s Dracula Roger Ebert 👎 • Starship Troopers • Eddie Murphy: Raw • Dirty Dancing • Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy • Career Opportunities • Blue Velvet Roger Ebert barely recommended Silence of the Lambs - so the shock of Gene Siskel trashing the film doesn’t land as strongly as it would have if Ebert fully endorsed the film. Using just the examples in this video, I have to give the edge to Gene Siskel having the better taste and judgement in his criticism. Roger Ebert shits the bed too many times to be declared the victor.
If I recall, Ebert admitted before that he was more lenient to films than Siskel who was more strict and especially when it came to family films, held them to high regard. Ebert often tried to judge things from an audience perspective rather a critic’s. That said I do disagree with Siskel on Silence of the Lambs and Dracula, meanwhile I disagree with Ebert on Starship Troopers. The other films I haven’t seen so can’t make an opinion
Oh I agree, never seen the film myself but Ebert’s response was pretty bad. Then again he has said before he’s not into the “icky” stuff, it’s a reason he was against movies like The Thing for example
@@themagnificentmrmcgee I remember Ebert saying Aliens was too much, a rough roller coaster ride and he felt exhausted in a bad way afterward. The really good stuff, imo, they tend to soften their views over enough time, generally.
i still after seeing Nostalgia Critic years back wanan find the fill review of The Lost World: JP. The clip on his video is amazing, where Siskel asks why the dinosaur cant be friendly, and Ebert counters that they are prehistoric animals, they arent friendly, and Siskel says "well, I have 3 kids and I have decided I wont get them a dinosaur as a pet" and Ebert just stares at him for 8 seconds blankly trying to comprehend the insanity of this statement.
Ebert’s reaction to Blue Velvet is actually somewhat infamous, because he gave the film 0 out of 4 stars in his initial review of it and accused Lynch of being downright exploitative of Rossellini as an actress in the scene where she shows up nude. I believe he later retracted this opinion when he spoke with Lynch at length about it, and learned that he did not film the nude sequences lightly, ironically, or disrespectfully - like learning that Lynch encountered a grown woman naked in public in Philidelphia when he was a child, and that it was an unforgettable experience for him.
This is why Siskel & Ebert were in a class of their own. They had no problems fightning each other verbally and still respect each other all the time, moving from one review to the next. They were always ready to go into the unscripted battles with each their armour of arguments. There's no wrong or right no matter what each of us thinks, but you are allowed to stand up for your opinion!
Well....Gene has later admitted in interviews that actually they could go for weeks without talking to each other if they had a really bad argument over a film. Roger has said on (Charlie Rose?) that sometime you DO take it personal when someone clashes with your intellectual judgement on an artform. It's human.
Winners of arguments(based on clips and movies I’ve seen): Benji The Hunted - Gene 👎 Home Alone 3 - Gene 👎 Eddie Murphy Raw - Gene 👍 Dirty Dancing - Roger 👎 Brain Candy - Roger 👎 Curly Sue - Gene 👎 (“WHAT?”😂) Alaska - Roger 👍 Starship Troopers- Roger 👎 (but it is better than Home Alone 3…ROGER 🙄 ) Silence of the Lambs - Roger 👍 Blue Velvet - Gene 👍 Bram Stoker’s Dracula - Roger 👍
I’d also like to add that they mildly disagree on the Back To The Future sequels. One of them prefers Part 2 for its darker elements and future setting while one preferred the Western genre of Part 3.
Based on the clips provided here, I'm more in agreement with Siskel than Ebert. Siskel got Silence of the Lambs wrong to be sure though. I have never forgotten after nearly 40 years how Ebert's review of The Golden Child, reprinted in the NY Post, was so glowing he gave it 4 out of 4 stars. Even better than Beverly Hills Cop. And like a dope, I looked for ward to seeing that movie only to be completely blindsided. Even upon recent viewings, there's nothing there to quantify that kind of review. I'm not saying Siskel was never full of it, but Evert definitely was more so than Siskel.
I always thought of Siskel as the cinema snob, but he was pretty much right on the money with the films in this video. Ebert was way off with most of these.
I just remember a huge tiff they had once where siskel laid into every about how wrong he was about a movie and Roger’s only response was “ Thanks for that tip.” Wow!!!!! Awkward. And I user fat in current arguments I have with people!!!
"Home Alone" didn't need a squeal. Why? It was hilarious because the thugs in the first movie had no idea they were up against a child. After that, it's adults against a child, and THAT is wrong.
A lot of these are classics. Hard to believe that Silence of the Lambs, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Starship Troopers, Dirty Dancing & Blue Velvet could be rated negatively by a critic.
I do have to say I appreciate roger ebert sticking up for women and their protrayal of them (in movies and in stand up comedy routines) ....back then it wasn't popular for a man to do that and I very much appreciate that and give him a lot of credit. It's very apparent he had a lot of respect for women ❤
“Kids in the Hall:Brain Candy” is hit or miss, some bits are funny, other moments make you scratch your head. The famous disagreement of “Blue Velvet” is a classic. Siskel was easily angry at Roger for hating it, even telling him that it’s not a slasher movie (and with the exception of “Halloween”, we all know how much they hated slasher movies).
I think Roger actually makes some good points on Murphy, even though I’d come down on Gene’s side overall. These guys are schooling all of us how to have an argument.
I'll admit i saw Home Alone 3 WAY too much back in the day on VHS but in general I loved all 3 as a kid. Now i love the first 2, even the second one i enjoy watching on the holidays
Back in 1993, the greatest arguments between Siskel and Ebert were for 'Cop and a Half' where Siskel despised that film yet Ebert recommended it, and for 'Carnosaur' where Siskel recommended that film but Ebert despised it!
Raw was the only movie I got pushback from my parents about watching. They relented a few hours later but with all the stuff they let me watch it’s weird that that was the only one they thought twice about,made me wanna watch it even more of course. I was either 7 or 8(the 80s were a different time man)
I was agreeing with Siskel on all of these up until Silence of the Lambs, but I do agree that it isn't a masterpiece and it just had an amazing book to work with, similar as To Kill a Mockingbird.
The funnest dig Ebert made against Siskel was on the Letterman show after Ebert lost weight. "I can lose as much weight as I want. Gene will always be bald."
When that goofy actor made the awful "Brown Bunny" movie and Ebert hated it, the guy said that Ebert was nothing but a fat loser. Ebert said "I am fat, but one day I will be thin. You, on the other hand, will always be the man who made "The Brown Bunny".
Agree with Siskel on 10 out of 11 films (I like Bram Stoker's Dracula), and yes even agree with Gene on Silence of The Lambs (Manhunter is much better) ... Ebert not only liked Curly Sue, but ranked it in the same league as Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That in itself is mystifying to me.
Every commenter says Roger lost nearly every argument but I have to say I thought the clips they showed from Curly Sue were quite funny. The little girl seemed to have some comedy chops.
Damn, very impressive take on Silence of The Lambs from Siskel. He was less easily seduced by that Hollywood cinema of quality tradition that Ebert loved. Absolutely right to note Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer as the better film
MAD Magazine doing a memorable spoof on DIRTY DANCING. This feature divided into 35 panels and each has a trope underneath that demonstrates why this movie is so pedestrian.
I think that with the passing of the years, Silence of the Lambs has been a bit forgotten. Here both Siskel and Ebert has some reservations about it. Specially about the ending of the film. I don't know maybe this movie is not the masterpiece that was heavily advertised during the 90's. The same has happened with other movies like Philadelphia.
Silence of the Lambs is a rare time where Gene Siskel was absolutely up his own ass and DEAD WRONG about a movie! He makes it sound like it's a shitty slasher movie!
Yeah, I just watched that review. Gene thought Henry Portrait of Serial Killer was a superior movie. It was too real in a counterproductive way to be actually entertaining. His point seemed very ironic.
Heh, that's nothing... you should see what both Siskel and Ebert said about The Hitcher (an absolutely criminally underrated film. I seriously wouldn't hesitate to rank it ahead of Silence of the Lambs. The original Hitcher, not the remake, obviously.) It was the most utterly unhinged rant I've ever heard out of either of them, and Ebert doubled down on it in his print review. They exaggerate the gore to a ridiculous extent (even for the 80s it was pretty tame stuff, and nowadays could easily be shown uneditted on network TV), they both say that stuff is shown on-screen when it obviously wasn't shown at all, they start ranting about the whole thing being code for S&M gay sex and/or AIDS (?!) apparently on the basis of nothing but a one-off scene where the killer pretends to be gay for a few seconds just to get past some cops, and Ebert has a baseless and demented notion that the ending of the film was meant to imply that someone was turned evil in order to take over the killer's role, when in reality there were no such hints given at all (it was ultimately a coming of age story that highlighted the importance of overcoming one's fears and fighting evil... how Roger managed to twist that into "to fight evil is to become evil" is completely beyond me.)
I didn't care for Curly Sue but if it worked for him, it worked. I at least get it. The Home Alone 3 thumbs-up (when he thumbs-downed the first two) I TOTALLY am baffled by. At least Gene was consistent on that series.
@@Tom-V he admitted after the Oscars gave so many to that film, he went back to watch silence again, but still couldn't bring himself to like it. Sometimes people are weird.
Blue Velvet had greater artistic merit which I think Siskel maybe thought justified the depravity on screen. Whereas SOTL is shock for the sake of shock. It’s a well made thriller, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t transcend beyond being just a solid genre flick. I rewatched it recently and realized that had this movie been released today, instead of 30 years ago, and had a different actor played Hannibal, I think audiences would just sort of shrug at it.
Ebert was wrong on every Lynch film imo. I think Siskel had an overall worse track record, but for some reason he got it when it came to edgier or darker films. Siskel was wrong on classics like Scarface, Terminator, etc but Ebert would recommend trash more often like Home Alone 3 or Anaconda. Wtf Ebert??
@@24601jvj Which is weird, in my opinion because that's the only Lynch movie I didn't care for. But I think he gave the straight story a good review too. Love that one.
@@radicalstanza3614 Straight Story or Mulholland Drive? I like many parts of 'Drive but I didn't care for the lesbo aspect and the way the story fizzles out. I mean if that's your thing have at it but it doesn't do anything for me. Don't see why a cerebral thriller needs the lesbo undertone. Free country I guess. Lynch is still my favorite director and I appreciate sometimes he has an inclination to explore something for the sake of interesting art. And as a hetero guy of course I've been titilated by attractive women going at it just thought it was unnecessary.
Roger was ridiculous on Raw. It isn't as good as Delirious, which wouldn't even be allowed to be made now, and is rarely shown anywhere for one particular reason, but Raw is still funny. It is interesting to go back through the S&E reviews and see one of them be way off the mark for a stupid, unjustified reason, and then the other one be off the mark for the same stupid, unjustified reason. Here, Roger is driving the "waa-mbulance" about the "he hates women" nonsense but in other cases it is reversed. The same thing happens on other subject matter. Gene is dead on right with simply explaining, "He's telling a joke." Roger needed to put on his big girl panties for that one.
What is up with the blurring of Dirty Dancing? Regardless, that one being on this list doesn't even make sense. Gene announced a "marginal thumbs up." It wasn't like he was calling it Casablanca. Anyway... Gene is right again. It IS hokey, but this is one of those movies that has a certain look, feel, and charm to it that surpasses the nuts and bolts aspects of movie critiques.
Although it wasn't fully on display here, Ebert was usually WAAYYY better at compartmentalizing and just "relax and enjoy the movie" for what it is than Siskel was . Siskel was usually a lot more nitpicky. If it was a lighthearted comedy (or a clear KIDS movie like Benji The Hunted), Ebert would usually evaluate it on THOSE terms. That's why I always loved him. He just seemed to have an unquenchable thirst for cinema, and he was never "too good" for any movie. If it was produced and released, he was willing to give it a shot. Just go on Rotten Tomatoes and search out any obscure "B" movie, and if there was only one "top critic" that reviewed it, it was usually Roger. Hell, he even gave UHF two hours of his time (Of course he panned it, but at least he was willing to sit through it.)
It's nice to see that some people love and appreciate Ebert 😃 He was brilliant at analysis and writing. I revisit his reviews not just for the analysis but for the quality of his writing. People flip out at film critics way too much. Their takes are here for us to consider... or not. That's it!
17:40 The timing of Siskel's "WHAT!?" was gold😂
Not as great as Gene's classic "WWOOWWW" after Rog finished singing the praises of Norman D. Golden III and Cop and a Half.
How in the hell do you like home alone 3 better than the first? Yikes.
Roger's main complaint with the first one is that there was too much violent slapstick at the end of the film. It seems like that's all the third one is
It’s not so much his opinion but the consistency is what I find strange. I personally don’t mind Home Alone 3. It’s fine for what it is, but I also liked the first two. Ebert didn’t like the first two and loved the third one for all the same reasons he hated the original even though the first objectively has more heart and better writing. Siskel was at least consistent in that he didn’t like any of those movies
They're all terrible.
"Generic mop-top" was as hilarious as it was accurate. Home alone 3....what a stinker.
@@stonegasman3866 Home Alone 2 is much more rewatchable than #1 even though it's obviously derivative because it doesn't make you slog through so much overwrought concerned mother stuff every time. Also, Tim Curry.
0:25 Benji the Hunted
3:10 Home Alone 3
5:44 Eddie Murphy's Raw
10:28 Dirty Dancing
13:47 Brain Candy
17:15 Curly Sue
21:03 Alaska
24:41 Starship Troopers
27:29 Silence of the Lambs
31:42 Blue Velvet
36:50 Bram Stoker's Dracula
Their debate over David Cronenberg's Crash is a good one, too. And Full Metal Jacket, which takes place right before Benji the Hunted. When Ebert gave a thumbs-down to FMJ and a thumbs-up to Benji, Siskel looked like he was about to leap out of his chair and strangle him.
That particular episode they got really, really angry with each other- at one point during the Benji the Hunted episode Ebert snapped at Siskel and told him that he should be ashamed of himself!
The look on Gene’s faces when Roger is praising Home Alone 3 is one of the best moments from the show.
Siskel was right on Starship Troopers!
no, starship troopers was disturbing and dull
Yeah, that was one of those rare times when Roger got it really wrong. I've seen *Starship Troopers* at least 7 times and I fucking love that film. Absolutely love it. Roger was definitely wrong there, almost as wrong as he was about *The Usual Suspects* although at least he eventually admitted that he was probably wrong about it after everyone basically tore him to shreds over it. I loved and still love Roger Ebert, but he was way off there on those two films and on several others.
@@bobthebear1246 they both loved Popeye! Popeye! One of the worst movies ever made.
Siskel was so wrong on Silence Of the lambs!
@jameswilliams-zr8co you probably also though full metal jacket was equally "dull"
I’m usually a Roger guy, but damn I agreed with almost everything Siskel said here. Roger had a real blind spot for children’s movies. The only one Siskel got wrong was Silence of the Lambs - that’s a classic.
You didn’t like “Alaska?”
Roger was more consistent overall, which is part of what makes his gaffs far more entertaining. His gripes tended to be predicated on one specific, neurotic thing, whereas Gene's pans of good movies were often just "I didn't buy it." Way less to pick on there.
I thought SotL was lame.
Wow really? Why? @@darwinblinks
Childhood is agreeing with Roger most of the time but adulthood is realizing Gene was the real critic.
"And by the rude and annoying off-screen noises you've been emitting I take it you do not agree."
God, I love it when these two go at each other. And Gene's broad grin when we cut to him at this moment is just priceless.
Gene's expression when Roger said the kid in Home Alone 3 was better than Culkin was priceless. Was Roger high on that episode??
Watching Home Alone, I noticed that Culkin is a bad actor. He is really wooden at delivering his lines!
“Boredom! Boredom!…with Benji running”.
💀 😂
Does anyone remember the animated series The Critic with movie critic Jay Sherman (a cross between Siskel and Ebert: fat AND bald)? In one episode Siskel and Ebert actually appeared (providing their own voices) and got into a fist fight.
yes.
It was good for its time I enjoyed it
Episode 4
I posted an idea for a skit elsewhere in the comments (only 30+ comments so far shouldn't be to hard to find it), I'll expound a little more here: Just a therapist assisting these two argue their points better, the therapist being a third wheel on camera. He would forget his role, and start arguing except he's a terrible film critic, only in his own mind he's a pro. Maybe S&E have two big thumbs down for Biodome, but the extra guy starts praising it like it's as good as One Flew Over The C.N. Yes, the 3rd wheel is the main focus. But I've got other ideas that are more centric to them, as long as you pay homage to their memory without making them too ridiculous. The therapist can be a real d ick though.
It's funnier if you think up an alternative skit with S&E, since most trust their own sense of humor over others.
@PelvisPresley420 I love your handle! Elvis would be proud.
I love they can argue their points without being disrespectful
having class in hollywood has become a lost art.
@@PopRockRevival technically they were never in Hollywood. Chicago.
The fact that you have to put a “ cop and a half note” on the intro card is absolutely hilarious
The thing I love about the production of this show in itself is when either Gene or Roger offer their take on the movie at first, you tend to forget the other one is still sitting there...that is, until the camera swoops in as they begin to offer their counterpoint and the bickering between the two begins 😂
I'm curious where you found these high quality clips? Every S&E video I've ever seen come from compressed VHS rips. Some of these are clearly from a better source.
Love this! Thanks for compiling
Gene was crazy wrong on silence of the lambs... he was right on almost every other argument.
He wasn’t “wrong” it was his opinion.
22:50 - I gotta remember that line! 🤣
I love how stunned Ebert looks when Siskel says it. lol
Like an old married couple.
Yeah. It's hilarious.
Yep, and like an old married couple they may have had some intense arguments but at the end of the day they still loved and respected each other (and no doubt one was crushed when the other one died).
@PelvisPresley420 Totally agree! (Nice screen name, btw!).
Great compilation! I love the irony that clips that were fine for Saturday afternoon broadcast TV 30 years ago will now threaten to demonetize a TH-cam video.
It's not because of the content, it's a copyright thing.
@@JA-pm4pu Maybe both? Maybe both is happening at the same time?
Thank you so much for uploading this!!!!
I wish I saw these in 80s and 90s when they first came out.
I think Siskel was largely ahead of Ebert on a lot of these takes. He was taken from the earth too soon :(
I can't believe you mentioned Siskel being "largely ahead" when the man died from a brain tumor.
Roger left too soon, too.
Would have loved to have seen Gene take Roger to town over his Phantom Menace phrase.
They were both taken too soon. I would watch their show every week. I miss them very much.
@@jimmuzzi1072 Siskel left us largely ahead, and Roger left with too little head and face saved! Siskel and Ebert tastes are not to my liking, but Siskel reasons better, despite Ebert's apparent erudition and his many Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. Ebert believed that movies could inspire empathy and help people understand others' hopes, dreams, and fears. This bias automatically leaves the cold-hearted Siskel in front. :)
Gene's facial expressions during the Home Alone 3 review are hilarious. That said, I actually liked Home Alone 3 when I was a kid, but haven't seen it in many many years.
5:00 I remember a guy at work said, he disliked children shows for this exact reason. They made, the parents look incompetent and empowers kids to think they know best.
I’ll say it again, the theme song is a banger!
I like the sax solos in so many 80s shows. Bravo to Mike Post!
When Siskel asked Ebert are you okay lol.
At 23:02 Ebert decides that he can no longer abide Siskel's divergent tone and appears ready to do whatever it takes - including engage in physical combat if need be - to uphold the honor of a children's adventure film that inexplicably seems to have triggered his most protective human instincts.The smile is off, the gloves are on.
Interestingly that children’s adventure film (Alaska) was directed by Charlton Heston’s son, and Charlton Heston himself plays the father. While the two kids are played by Vincent Kartheiser (who would play Pete Campbell on Mad Men) and Thora Birch (who became an indie darling several years later for American Beauty and Ghost World among other films). Quite a cast for a random kiddie adventure flick.
Gene Siskel 👎
• Benji: The Hunted
• Home Alone 3
• Beverly Hills Cop II
• Curly Sue
• Alaska
• Silence of the Lambs (Siskel makes some compelling comments)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Roger Ebert 👎
• Starship Troopers
• Eddie Murphy: Raw
• Dirty Dancing
• Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy
• Career Opportunities
• Blue Velvet
Roger Ebert barely recommended Silence of the Lambs - so the shock of Gene Siskel trashing the film doesn’t land as strongly as it would have if Ebert fully endorsed the film.
Using just the examples in this video, I have to give the edge to Gene Siskel having the better taste and judgement in his criticism. Roger Ebert shits the bed too many times to be declared the victor.
If I recall, Ebert admitted before that he was more lenient to films than Siskel who was more strict and especially when it came to family films, held them to high regard. Ebert often tried to judge things from an audience perspective rather a critic’s. That said I do disagree with Siskel on Silence of the Lambs and Dracula, meanwhile I disagree with Ebert on Starship Troopers. The other films I haven’t seen so can’t make an opinion
@@themagnificentmrmcgee Ebert's pearl clutching with Blue Velvet was a pretty significant bad take.
Oh I agree, never seen the film myself but Ebert’s response was pretty bad. Then again he has said before he’s not into the “icky” stuff, it’s a reason he was against movies like The Thing for example
Gene Siskel gave a 👎 to The Big Lebowski. Ebert gave a 👍.
I think they were fucking with us.
@@themagnificentmrmcgee I remember Ebert saying Aliens was too much, a rough roller coaster ride and he felt exhausted in a bad way afterward. The really good stuff, imo, they tend to soften their views over enough time, generally.
Jesus. If I were going on this video alone, I'd think Ebert was this worst critic ever.
I think my favourite part is right at the end when they even argue over their 👍 👎 system. 😅
I love Roger acting indignant about Gene liking Starship Troopers, as if it's on the same level of liking Home Alone 3
i still after seeing Nostalgia Critic years back wanan find the fill review of The Lost World: JP. The clip on his video is amazing, where Siskel asks why the dinosaur cant be friendly, and Ebert counters that they are prehistoric animals, they arent friendly, and Siskel says "well, I have 3 kids and I have decided I wont get them a dinosaur as a pet" and Ebert just stares at him for 8 seconds blankly trying to comprehend the insanity of this statement.
Love these guys, but i cant imagine using "you liked Starship Troopers" as a rebuttal against why i liked Home Alone 3.
Rogers ‘better than you the day you liked starship troopers’ is embarrassing. One is a good film, the other is home alone 3.
Ebert’s reaction to Blue Velvet is actually somewhat infamous, because he gave the film 0 out of 4 stars in his initial review of it and accused Lynch of being downright exploitative of Rossellini as an actress in the scene where she shows up nude.
I believe he later retracted this opinion when he spoke with Lynch at length about it, and learned that he did not film the nude sequences lightly, ironically, or disrespectfully - like learning that Lynch encountered a grown woman naked in public in Philidelphia when he was a child, and that it was an unforgettable experience for him.
I’m pretty sure he gave it 1 out of 4 🤔
Still low though
This is why Siskel & Ebert were in a class of their own. They had no problems fightning each other verbally and still respect each other all the time, moving from one review to the next. They were always ready to go into the unscripted battles with each their armour of arguments. There's no wrong or right no matter what each of us thinks, but you are allowed to stand up for your opinion!
Well....Gene has later admitted in interviews that actually they could go for weeks without talking to each other if they had a really bad argument over a film. Roger has said on (Charlie Rose?) that sometime you DO take it personal when someone clashes with your intellectual judgement on an artform. It's human.
Watching these two helps my anxiety.
The lines at the end of the arguments when they are going to the next movie😂😂😂😂
I can’t believe Siskel gave a thumbs down to Silence of the Lambs. 😂. Wow. Didn’t that win best picture?
I can believe it! I rewatched Silence of the Lambs recently!
It isn’t frightening at all. Not to an adult.
Maybe teenagers think it is scary.
Winners of arguments(based on clips and movies I’ve seen):
Benji The Hunted - Gene 👎
Home Alone 3 - Gene 👎
Eddie Murphy Raw - Gene 👍
Dirty Dancing - Roger 👎
Brain Candy - Roger 👎
Curly Sue - Gene 👎 (“WHAT?”😂)
Alaska - Roger 👍
Starship Troopers- Roger 👎 (but it is better than Home Alone 3…ROGER 🙄 )
Silence of the Lambs - Roger 👍
Blue Velvet - Gene 👍
Bram Stoker’s Dracula - Roger 👍
Hell no, Starship Troopers is absolutely great and ages like fine wine, Gene was on point.
I’d also like to add that they mildly disagree on the Back To The Future sequels. One of them prefers Part 2 for its darker elements and future setting while one preferred the Western genre of Part 3.
For some reason I remembered them giving Home Alone 3 two thumbs up saying it was "better than the first 2." Mandela Effect.
Based on the clips provided here, I'm more in agreement with Siskel than Ebert. Siskel got Silence of the Lambs wrong to be sure though.
I have never forgotten after nearly 40 years how Ebert's review of The Golden Child, reprinted in the NY Post, was so glowing he gave it 4 out of 4 stars. Even better than Beverly Hills Cop. And like a dope, I looked for ward to seeing that movie only to be completely blindsided. Even upon recent viewings, there's nothing there to quantify that kind of review. I'm not saying Siskel was never full of it, but Evert definitely was more so than Siskel.
I always thought of Siskel as the cinema snob, but he was pretty much right on the money with the films in this video. Ebert was way off with most of these.
“until they get big enough to eat him”. 😅ebert. ur a funny guy
I just remember a huge tiff they had once where siskel laid into every about how wrong he was about a movie and Roger’s only response was “
Thanks for that tip.” Wow!!!!! Awkward. And I user fat in current arguments I have with people!!!
"Home Alone" didn't need a squeal. Why? It was hilarious because the thugs in the first movie had no idea they were up against a child.
After that, it's adults against a child, and THAT is wrong.
4:54; is Ebert trolling?
A lot of these are classics. Hard to believe that Silence of the Lambs, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Starship Troopers, Dirty Dancing & Blue Velvet could be rated negatively by a critic.
I do have to say I appreciate roger ebert sticking up for women and their protrayal of them (in movies and in stand up comedy routines) ....back then it wasn't popular for a man to do that and I very much appreciate that and give him a lot of credit. It's very apparent he had a lot of respect for women ❤
Those were the days. Always great opinions
“Kids in the Hall:Brain Candy” is hit or miss, some bits are funny, other moments make you scratch your head. The famous disagreement of “Blue Velvet” is a classic. Siskel was easily angry at Roger for hating it, even telling him that it’s not a slasher movie (and with the exception of “Halloween”, we all know how much they hated slasher movies).
Completely agree with Gene Siskel on Eddie Murphy Raw, and he wasn’t wrong. It has gone down as one of the best stand ups of all time.
roger was against the sexism. sexism was the death of rap.
I completely agree with Roger on this one. Eddie Murphy is no Richard Pryor.
No, it hasn't. It was of its time, and faded away.
I think Roger actually makes some good points on Murphy, even though I’d come down on Gene’s side overall. These guys are schooling all of us how to have an argument.
Actually them disagreeing with each other is the best part of the show.😁
Why lot of clips just blanked from some of these movies?
I'll admit i saw Home Alone 3 WAY too much back in the day on VHS but in general I loved all 3 as a kid. Now i love the first 2, even the second one i enjoy watching on the holidays
I miss them. I loved them both.
My grandfather took me to see Benji The Hunted, he told me after he didn’t like it, he liked movies with talking in them. 😊❤️
How come some clips get blurred while other clips of the same film are not?
Why is some of this stuff blocked out
Copyright. It seems there’s plenty of companies who will block the video for clips used in a review
@@themagnificentmrmcgee they shouldn't , if its a fair use review
@@ganglabeshOh I know but they still do it and TH-cam always sides with them
use a fuckin question mark
?
16:06 has some meme potential to it.
Back in 1993, the greatest arguments between Siskel and Ebert were for 'Cop and a Half' where Siskel despised that film yet Ebert recommended it, and for 'Carnosaur' where Siskel recommended that film but Ebert despised it!
Siskel - "I think the film is flawed and not worth your time." 👎
Ebert - "WHAT!? That cute kid movie? Have a heart, Gene. It's for kids!" 👍
Imagine liking Home Alone 3 over Starship Troopers while that doesn't say everything
Raw was the only movie I got pushback from my parents about watching. They relented a few hours later but with all the stuff they let me watch it’s weird that that was the only one they thought twice about,made me wanna watch it even more of course. I was either 7 or 8(the 80s were a different time man)
In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "I love watching the bald guy argue with the fat tub of lard."
I was agreeing with Siskel on all of these up until Silence of the Lambs, but I do agree that it isn't a masterpiece and it just had an amazing book to work with, similar as To Kill a Mockingbird.
I’m telling my kids this was Bert and Ernie.
The funnest dig Ebert made against Siskel was on the Letterman show after Ebert lost weight. "I can lose as much weight as I want. Gene will always be bald."
When that goofy actor made the awful "Brown Bunny" movie and Ebert hated it, the guy said that Ebert was nothing but a fat loser. Ebert said "I am fat, but one day I will be thin. You, on the other hand, will always be the man who made "The Brown Bunny".
Paraphrasing Churchill
What's with the rectangles blocking the screen at times?
Agree with Siskel on 10 out of 11 films (I like Bram Stoker's Dracula), and yes even agree with Gene on Silence of The Lambs (Manhunter is much better) ... Ebert not only liked Curly Sue, but ranked it in the same league as Planes, Trains and Automobiles. That in itself is mystifying to me.
Every commenter says Roger lost nearly every argument but I have to say I thought the clips they showed from Curly Sue were quite funny. The little girl seemed to have some comedy chops.
Damn, very impressive take on Silence of The Lambs from Siskel. He was less easily seduced by that Hollywood cinema of quality tradition that Ebert loved. Absolutely right to note Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer as the better film
MAD Magazine doing a memorable spoof on DIRTY DANCING. This feature divided into 35 panels and each has a trope underneath that demonstrates why this movie is so pedestrian.
With Dirty Dancing, never forget that a 45 rpm disk holds 20 minutes of music
I think that with the passing of the years, Silence of the Lambs has been a bit forgotten. Here both Siskel and Ebert has some reservations about it. Specially about the ending of the film. I don't know maybe this movie is not the masterpiece that was heavily advertised during the 90's. The same has happened with other movies like Philadelphia.
Ebert had no sense of humor. If you don't laugh at Brain Candy you've lost the plot.
I always liked Ebert more. I felt he was a bit more open minded.
“I was starving for a laugh…”
Why all the filter screens?
They are like a married couple.
Except they had a lot of sex
Roger. Home Alone 3? Seriously? I remember newspaper ads for that film actually showing faux movie reviews
Silence of the Lambs is a rare time where Gene Siskel was absolutely up his own ass and DEAD WRONG about a movie!
He makes it sound like it's a shitty slasher movie!
Yeah, I just watched that review. Gene thought Henry Portrait of Serial Killer was a superior movie. It was too real in a counterproductive way to be actually entertaining. His point seemed very ironic.
Heh, that's nothing... you should see what both Siskel and Ebert said about The Hitcher (an absolutely criminally underrated film. I seriously wouldn't hesitate to rank it ahead of Silence of the Lambs. The original Hitcher, not the remake, obviously.) It was the most utterly unhinged rant I've ever heard out of either of them, and Ebert doubled down on it in his print review.
They exaggerate the gore to a ridiculous extent (even for the 80s it was pretty tame stuff, and nowadays could easily be shown uneditted on network TV), they both say that stuff is shown on-screen when it obviously wasn't shown at all, they start ranting about the whole thing being code for S&M gay sex and/or AIDS (?!) apparently on the basis of nothing but a one-off scene where the killer pretends to be gay for a few seconds just to get past some cops, and Ebert has a baseless and demented notion that the ending of the film was meant to imply that someone was turned evil in order to take over the killer's role, when in reality there were no such hints given at all (it was ultimately a coming of age story that highlighted the importance of overcoming one's fears and fighting evil... how Roger managed to twist that into "to fight evil is to become evil" is completely beyond me.)
I agree with Gene
Lambs is good but overrated.
He must have been some pissed Oscar night
CURLY SUE? Oh Roger.... I guess no one is perfect.
I didn't care for Curly Sue but if it worked for him, it worked. I at least get it. The Home Alone 3 thumbs-up (when he thumbs-downed the first two) I TOTALLY am baffled by. At least Gene was consistent on that series.
But God Siskell has such a bad take on Silence of the Lambs
Siskel never liked morbid/dark films. He was pretty consistent with that
@@mikeh4818 He liked Halloween
Theres like 3-4 kills in that film and theyre not grpahic @lyndonchastain3181
@@mikeh4818 ...and Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer wasn't dark? Lol-and I hated that film.
@@Tom-V he admitted after the Oscars gave so many to that film, he went back to watch silence again, but still couldn't bring himself to like it. Sometimes people are weird.
❤ Career Opportunities ❤ Great choice, Gene!
Home Alone 3= Ding Ding
Starship Troopers= Dong Dong
Okay, Ebert. That's some great film making expertise ya got there, bro.
I like Gene a lot, but on Silence of the Lambs....well, when you're wrong, you're wrong.
I rewatched Silence of the Lambs. It isn’t scary at all! Not to adults.
To teenagers, it is frightening!
Its weird how Siskel liked Blue Velvet, but not SOTLs....
Blue Velvet had greater artistic merit which I think Siskel maybe thought justified the depravity on screen. Whereas SOTL is shock for the sake of shock. It’s a well made thriller, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t transcend beyond being just a solid genre flick. I rewatched it recently and realized that had this movie been released today, instead of 30 years ago, and had a different actor played Hannibal, I think audiences would just sort of shrug at it.
@@jabrokneetoeknee6448I think this is correct. Blue Velvet is the superior film out of the two.
Where's their biopic?
Siskel calling The Silence of the Lambs "trashy" is insane.
Hearing Ebert throw around liking Starship Troopers as an insult is wild. He really just did not understand what he was watching.
I'm sorry, but your rebuttal against a critical review of Home Alone 3 is Starship Troopers?
Ebert was wrong on every Lynch film imo. I think Siskel had an overall worse track record, but for some reason he got it when it came to edgier or darker films. Siskel was wrong on classics like Scarface, Terminator, etc but Ebert would recommend trash more often like Home Alone 3 or Anaconda. Wtf Ebert??
Ebert redeemed himself by his glowing review of Mulholland Drive.
@@24601jvj Which is weird, in my opinion because that's the only Lynch movie I didn't care for. But I think he gave the straight story a good review too. Love that one.
@@j-555it's by far the best Lynch movie imo. No real objective truth to reviewing movies made with passion and craftiness.
@@radicalstanza3614 Straight Story or Mulholland Drive? I like many parts of 'Drive but I didn't care for the lesbo aspect and the way the story fizzles out. I mean if that's your thing have at it but it doesn't do anything for me. Don't see why a cerebral thriller needs the lesbo undertone. Free country I guess. Lynch is still my favorite director and I appreciate sometimes he has an inclination to explore something for the sake of interesting art. And as a hetero guy of course I've been titilated by attractive women going at it just thought it was unnecessary.
God, I hate lawyers.
?
I always agreed with Siskel more. I see Ebert pretending to be in touch with viewers he’s not.
"It STINKS!" - Jay Sherman, The Critic
Didn't that dummy like anything?
Roger wins again on Silence of the Lambs, of course, as it is an all time great masterpiece.
Roger was ridiculous on Raw. It isn't as good as Delirious, which wouldn't even be allowed to be made now, and is rarely shown anywhere for one particular reason, but Raw is still funny. It is interesting to go back through the S&E reviews and see one of them be way off the mark for a stupid, unjustified reason, and then the other one be off the mark for the same stupid, unjustified reason. Here, Roger is driving the "waa-mbulance" about the "he hates women" nonsense but in other cases it is reversed. The same thing happens on other subject matter. Gene is dead on right with simply explaining, "He's telling a joke." Roger needed to put on his big girl panties for that one.
In all fairness ro Roger, Brain Candy never did become the midnight cult classic film that Gene predicted.
Should have, though.
@@heavysystemsinc. Agree! To say it's DAMN HILARIOUS would be an understatement.
What is up with the blurring of Dirty Dancing?
Regardless, that one being on this list doesn't even make sense. Gene announced a "marginal thumbs up." It wasn't like he was calling it Casablanca. Anyway... Gene is right again. It IS hokey, but this is one of those movies that has a certain look, feel, and charm to it that surpasses the nuts and bolts aspects of movie critiques.
Although it wasn't fully on display here, Ebert was usually WAAYYY better at compartmentalizing and just "relax and enjoy the movie" for what it is than Siskel was . Siskel was usually a lot more nitpicky. If it was a lighthearted comedy (or a clear KIDS movie like Benji The Hunted), Ebert would usually evaluate it on THOSE terms. That's why I always loved him.
He just seemed to have an unquenchable thirst for cinema, and he was never "too good" for any movie. If it was produced and released, he was willing to give it a shot. Just go on Rotten Tomatoes and search out any obscure "B" movie, and if there was only one "top critic" that reviewed it, it was usually Roger. Hell, he even gave UHF two hours of his time (Of course he panned it, but at least he was willing to sit through it.)
It's nice to see that some people love and appreciate Ebert 😃
He was brilliant at analysis and writing. I revisit his reviews not just for the analysis but for the quality of his writing. People flip out at film critics way too much. Their takes are here for us to consider... or not. That's it!