@@encycl07pedia- They were pretty unique. Had a real sense of movies and explanations of why they were worth seeing or not (the genesis of the thumb up or down.) They were also particularly wonderful when the movies were bad, as you can see here.
Fact: when I was working at Staples in San Diego in 2006, Roger Ebert came into my store and asked my associate where to find the red gel ink pens. My head turned the second I heard his voice. It was absolutely him. He then checked out and walked out to a cab. I then went to the cashier and asked if she recognized him. I was like “that was Roger Ebert!” And she was like “who?” I was so disappointed I was the only one who knew who he was in my entire store.
@Nelson Robert Willis I think he's joking because it's a pretty bland story of simply seeing a famous person. It was just weird seeing him at my work in a random neighborhood in San Diego.
So true about the unlikely premise of Cocktail. If I were ever in a bar, and some guy was just dancing around twirling the bottle, I'd shout, "Hey, Nancy Boy! Quit dancing and pour me a fuckin' drink!"
I had a funny reply but it apparently made the censors sad, even though it said nothing offensive. Unless... you're a scientologist. Oh. Okay. Now I get it. Sorry, yt censors. And please tell L.Ron I said "Sorry" too!
Funny thing in 1988 I was out every Fri, Sat, Sun night and some weekday nights on the island of St. Thomas in the USVI when it was a real party town. Cocktail is a joke.
My ex mother-in-law gave me Stealing Home as a gift for Christmas because I loved baseball. It made me hate baseball. I wonder if she was aware of this review 🤔
Fun Fact: The club scenes in Cocktail were filmed in the annex of the then recently decommissioned Don Jail in Toronto which had been the site of the last two hangings carried out in canada 25 years before.
Fun Fact: if you slow down the movie at the 56:49 mark, you can see Xenu's face reflected in a shot glass. The Book of Mark, verse 56 chapter 49 says "I beheld a pale horse with a rider, the name of the rider was Death, and but can you move out of the frame, I can only fit one of you in the shot."
One thing that I really admire about this pair is that in their heyday, they could make or break a film with a single review. So far as I know, they never abused that power.
Yeah they did - Silent Night, Deadly Night is a good example. They hated slasher movies and didn't seem to think people shouldeven be allowed to watch them.
@@sisterdoublehappiness9714 At any rate, no matter how horrible I think a film is - I'd never try to interfere in your right to watch it. Because I'm not an absolute bastard, like these two were. For the record, these two even shat on otherwise critically acclaimed horror films, because they were unable to see past their own prejudices. In terms of film critics, they're literally barely a step up from Armond White or maybe lesser Nostalgia Critic.
@@TheLokiBiz You're angry because I don't like the kind of movies that you like? And you don't even know what kinds of films I like, but you're certain that I have bad taste? Actually, I like sci fi, horror and fantasy. But I'd never accuse you of bad taste because you like something different.
I know the critics didn't like the movie 'Punchline' back in the day, but I still think it was a pretty good movie. Tom Hanks was very entertaining and believable as the struggling but, very talented and some what emotionally tortured stand-up comic and the chemistry between him and Sally Field came across as very real and sincere. John Goodman was really good too as the devoted husband of Sally Field who struggles to hold their family together while his wife tries to find her own voice in the realm of stand-up.
From what I understand, critics were burned out on fantasy films by 1988, so that probably contributed to them viewing the two films in a harsher light than they might otherwise have.
Punchline is a really, really fun bad film to watch with friends. There's this scene where Tom Hanks has a complete meltdown on stage where Hanks kills it as an actor, but tonally it's so out of place that it's unintentionally one of my favorite scenes of all time.
And Burglecut! And holy shit, let's not forget Joanne Walley Kilmer, who was SO GORGEOUS. I've also rarely ever seen love portrayed so convincingly as that between Willow, his wife and their children. Fuck Siskel and Ebert on this one! And Scrooged was brilliant too!
I can remember watching these shows and movies when they were new, crisp, and clear. Now they’re degraded. What even weirder is what’s recorded now will stay crisp forever
Funny, they didn't mention that the two-headed dragon in "Willow" (Eborsisk) was named after them. Perhaps Sisbert would've made it just that more obvious.
Some of it was good…Tom Hanks actually studied with a real comedian and wrote some proper stand-up material. I liked the “Table Man! He solves crimes at dinner for four!” joke. Plus they did cast some actual comics, like Barry Sobel and Max Alexander
Was really hoping to see Mac And Me on this list, though I think that one might be too awful for these guys to even have reviewed it in the first place.
Someone on Rotten Tomatoes commented, "Quite possibly one of the worst movies of the past 453 years" to which someone replied, "What was so bad 436 years ago?" hehehehe.
'Mac and Me' was so bad that it didn't rate nor qualify for a review. 'Mac said Me' is a special kind of terrible. I was 9 when I rented the VHS and even knew back then it was bad and I was disappointed in it.
Willow is good! Maybe not great but definitely not bad. Lead character goes on a heroes journey, recruits allies and escapes his enemies who underestimate him while learning new skills and eventually saving the day. Formulaic sure, but almost none of the set pieces are, and Mad Martigan is awesome!
Just because they're movie critics doesn't mean they're always right. As a matter of fact, there are lots of movies that critics love that audiences hate and vice-versa. Hail, Caesar! was the worst movie I'd ever seen (the parts I was awake for) and it got good reviews.
encycl07pedia “ Just because they’re movie critics doesn’t mean they’re always right.” Well, I don’t think anybody was arguing that. 😛 I think these two get a lot of things wrong when it came to films, but I still love hearing their opinions even when I don’t agree with them. 🙂
@@sha11235 Also, it's a b-movie and they tend to only have Hollywood releases on their worst list. Every year could just be awful B-movies, but they have no budgets unlike the films that make their lists.
These two are so missed. it's interesting that are asking for original material and that hollywood only do formulas and it's what they are gonna get two years later with the breakout of independant films starting with Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1990.
I did see Scrooged a lot as a kid, and seeing it as an adult, it could be better (Murray admits, and I agree, that the film kind of ran out of comedy steam by the end). That being said, I think it's still an excellent adaption of A Christmas Carol, and it has a lot of heart to go with the dark humor. The Ghost of Christmas Past scene with young Murray and young Allen opening presents is so warm and heartfelt that I don't know how you can't feel all warm and happy inside about it. So, yeah, it's not perfect but it's FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR from the worst of the year.
In the clip of Punchline right at the beginning of the show (after the opening) an interesting thing: David Pumpkins is talking to a real stand up comic-George Wallace (the black guy with the arm in the cast).
@Nelson Robert Willis Great point Nelson. It was a Dramedy, and I remember they advertised it as a comedy, which REALLY confused people. Everyone thought, Tom Hanks = Comedy. NOPE. I still remember my girlfriend at the time was mad at me for taking me to it. Not kidding.
“Artoo-Detoo and STEE-threepio.”? Geez Gene, if you’re going to insult a movie, at least get the names right. Willow is still a favorite of mine. It even has a creature called an ‘Ebersisk’, a definite jab at these two.
I'm surprised that Siskel & Ebert didn't realize that Willow was also ripping off The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I know it wouldn't be made into a movie until 12 years later, but they had to know about the books.
I started watching these 2 when they were on PBS. What I loved about them was, they loved movies. I didn't always agree with them, but I respected their opinions.
Hellraiser 2 was awesome when I saw it in the theater. S&E usually pan Horror movies. They are usually biased when reviewing them, which is fine, but to call it one of the worst is a stretch. They seem to always need to relate with one of the main characters to enjoy a movie.
Hellraiser II was actually decent, up until that atrocious scene where what's her name shows Pinhead a picture of himself when he was an officer in the British Army. I recently re-watched it after years of remembering how great of a follow-up that movie as a whole was; then that part came up and I was repulsed at how bad it became all of a sudden.
3 года назад
@@hamupinhere When this was originally reviewed on the show, Ebert said you could program the scenes in any order like you program songs on a CD player and it wouldn't have made any difference. Totally agree with this assessment!
I grew up working in a video store and my coworkers and I had a general rule of thumb that if Siskel & Ebert hated it, it was probably awesome, and if they gave it 2 thumbs up, it was probably a snooze fest. This video was a perfect example. They slandered Scrooged, Cocktail, Willow, Hellraiser II, and Arthur - all great 80s movies.
Scrooged was good, Willow was passable, and Vibes had enough funny parts that they should not have been on this list. There were many far worse movies with big name stars (mostly comedies) that year.
1. Punch Line 2. Cock tale 3. Stealing home 4. Far north 5. Vibes 6. Last rites 7. Heartbreak hotel 8. Willow Betrayed Hellraiser II Scrooged Arthur 2 on the rocks Hot to trot Rent-a-cop Tiger warsaw
I dont know..While I was working at a video store in 1989 I use to put Heartbreak Hotel all the time..Havent thought about it in a while now but I would consider this a hidden gem..
I personally think that's a damn good reason to have a problem about a movie that glorifies alcoholism... I personally lost my two best friends to drinking, and I can't stand the shit or anybody who indulges in it excessively... I also found cocktail to be completely stupid and an absolute waste of time...go figure, LOL
It’s ironic they complain about the studios using the same formula over and over. They had 3 versions of their own show sneak previews, at the movies with Siskel and Ebert, and at the movies.
It's Not really the same thing now. Having a review show that has different titles under different production companies and/or networks is not really a recycling a formula the way they do in movies. It's no different then a newcaster having different nightly news shows with different titles over the years. The concept of Siskel and Ebert is pretty basic so changing the title isn't really "recycling" the way making multipack movies about a erupting volcanoes and asteroids threwatening to hit the earth is. In their case, they change the title of their shows when they went from PBS to syndication because of rights issues partly and for marketing purposes.
9:35 I was hoping to find a S&E review of “Vibes”! So much potential: good premise with the psychic research institute; a cool cast with Peter Falk, Jeff Goldblum, Cyndi Lauper, Julian Sands, Michael Lerner, and more…yet such a depressing, boring movie.
Not having Siskel & Ebert, or any worthy successor since Ebert & Roper (despite many attempts), has been a severe cultural disadvantage in America for the last couple of decades.
I kinda liked Cocktail. It's funny. I've been to bars just like that. Not sure why they say it was unrealistic in that point. Surprised to see Willow on the list. I can understand not liking it, but one of the worst? I did like Scrooged as well even though the ending was so damn over the top and never stopped.
"Cocktail" was a bad film, but I disagree with Ebert about the "show" that Cruise and Brown were doing behind the bar. Not too much different from Japanese steak houses.
I would like to see what JON TAFFER of BAR RESCUE fame says about COCKTAIL and ROADHOUSE. I've seen BR plenty of times but no mention of these improbable movies.
Know what? From what little I saw of Willow, it didn't seem THAT bad, but the characters were completely recycled from Star Wars. Say what you will about The Force Awakens, at least that film didn't map the original trilogy characters so blatantly.
