I agree with Ebert on Kiss of Death. I worked in a video store and this one guy I worked with wouldn't shut up about that movie. I was pretty bored when I finally saw it and found it pretty laughable.
It's not a bad picture the screenplay was subpar & Caruso was miscast. Nothing against him but he was too layed back as what Roger Ebert said, But i enjoyed Cage's performance so i gave it a moderate thumbs 👍 2 & a half stars out of 4
@@flaccidusminimus2170 Very unlikely. Critics back then were expected to have a good knowledge of film history before being hired; nowadays, they hire any youngster who thinks the history of cinema began in 1977.
@@KRhetor Everything about that comment is mistaken. Pre-requisites for obtaining a journalism job were much lower for the baby boomer generation than they are today. Neither Roger or Gene had any special knowledge of film history to distinguish them from the average theatregoer when their careers began. They each obtained film critic jobs because their predecessors retired and they got lucky with these openings. No other reason. Newspapers have much higher standards today for their hiring processes and greater competition for openings. Academic film classes are widespread now whereas they barely existed in the 1960s outside of major cities. Furthermore, prior to the advent of home video, no one had "a good knowledge of film history" like people do today. If you didn't see a film when it came out, chances are, you'd never see it again unless you were lucky enough to catch it at a repertory screening. Most film history books written prior to the 1980s were quite bad and full of mistakes because the authors didn't have any reference points other than memory. Gene and Roger were too young to have seen Kiss of Death in 1947. Home video availability for classics was scattered and unreliable in 1995. Neither one of them were big home video fanatics. Gene was reluctant to embrace it for a long time, but adapted for the sake of his kids. Roger collected his favorites, and in 1997 he began a weekly Great Movies column where he revisited a classic from the past, but even then he was very particular about what he watched. Given the nature of their careers, neither one of them spent a lot of time watching movies at home. It also doesn't follow from a logical standpoint that just because someone may not have seen the original Kiss of Death by 1995 that they *didn't* have "a good knowledge of film history".
Don Bluth showed promise with a couple films then his career went south. The Dragon's Lair games are his finest works because he totally inept when it comes to creating compelling stories and characters.
Dragon's Lair? Those games don't come close to the quality of Secret of Nimh. Whatever you feel of the rest of his career, I think it's Bluth's best work.
Jury Duty wasn't really a hit though; it (apparently/somehow) cost over $20million. Also it was given a very wide release for the time, unlike Stuart which was on way less than 1,000 screens.
I somehow didn’t even know they made a Stuart movie?? Like Roger said, I didn’t think the sketch would make for a good full length movie. I’ll definitely have to check it out
I haven't watched the film "Basketball Diaries" in about 20 years, so I do not remember the conclusion. Jim Carroll became a musician in the 1970s, his song "People Who Die" is being played during that rainy basketball scene, so I think he is going on stage to play a show at the end. Like I said before, I don't remember the end at all. As for my take, there are some memorable scenes from that film. "Basketball Diaries" is sort of the DiCaprio's big break in films. The film isn't a must see, but if you like DiCaprio or Mark Wahlberg, and haven't seen this film, then I would advise for you to watch.
I’m sorry why are we supposed to trust the review of a guy who can’t even remember the end of the movie? Very interesting take by the way that basketball diaries was Leonardo DiCaprio’s big break considering he was nominated for an Oscar for what’s eating Gilbert grape two years before. I guess you just didn’t remember that the same way you didn’t remember the ending to this movie you claim is very memorable.
@@evilsWa You need to explain what part of my comment is not trustworthy. If it about Jim Carroll's life post-high school, then I am correct. Also, my comment about DiCaprio's "big break". This is a timeline error. Did I know about "Gilbert Grape"? Of course I did. Did I know if "Basketball Diaries" or "Gilbert Grape" was first? No, but I was also around 10 years old when these films came out. I saw the film "Basketball Diaries", which was the first time I saw a film with DiCaprio, in the theaters. I saw "Gilbert Grape", probably on HBO shortly after. It isn't too odd of an error to get DiCaprio's timeline mixed up.
Now as much as I agree with them about Pauly Shore, I _completely_ disagree with them about _Basketball Diaries_ which I found to be a powerful film. Not quite as hard hitting as _Requiem For A Dream_ but it comes very close at times. And DiCaprio’s performance was one of his best from early on in his career.
I can understand not liking the film-you can tell it was directed by someone who had previously only done music videos-but you're right, DiCaprio was absolutely superb.
I sort of agree with them on The Basketball Diaries. I loved it when I was younger, but I think it was more to do with my own fascination with drugs back then and how I related to the DeCaprio character in the film. Looking back on it, Leo's performance was only OK. It wasn't a great performance by any means, and Mark Wahlberg was actually the actor who stole every scene he was in. Mark was fantastic in that film, and I believe it was his breakout role.
The recommendation should've been "Leave Her to Heaven". Gene Tierney outdid herself playing Ellen. Sadly, she lost the Oscar to Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce".
I gave Kiss of Death a moderate thumbs 👍 i enjoyed Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson & Stanley Tucci's performance, but i felt David Caruso was miscast. Of course Jury Duty is very bad thumbs way 👎👎👎👎The Basketball Diaries i give a moderate thumbs 👍 also despite the story being too routine, but enjoyed DiCaprio's performance.
Always love it to see Siskel and Ebert shit on Pauly Shore once in a while, good god that guy is the most annoying comedian IMO, if you want proof, watch the Nostalgia Critic's review of Bio-Dome and you'll see what I mean. P.S. never saw any of Shore's films, btw.
Regarding Leave to Her Heaven, I think Ellen Berent is probably the best written villain in cinema history. Why ? The film illustrates evil as an external force that corrupts instead of it being something that stems from a person. With each kill, Ellen slowly drives herself to a point when her own death seem attractive. She doesn't gain, she loses because she is driven by evil and a loneliness eating away at her soul.
It definitely gave the underrated Gene Tierny her best role. Because of her beauty she was too often cast in lightweight roles or simple decoration. She had a tragic life and should have had a better career.
I can’t believe Siskel gave such a glowing review for “Kiss of Death” - especially Cage. It was a terrible movie... and Cage gave one of his weird overacting performances.
Great job Roger on pointing out the racist undertones of how the bad guys in cartoons are always drawn dark or brown, while the good guys are always drawn white. This is around the 17 minute mark
The "light vs dark" paradigm is as old as time. It has far more to do with day time and night time than any 19th or 20th century "racist" notion or view. We make a primal association with "evil" and "darkness" because humans--and all their early predecessors--have traditionally feared the dark; it was that time we were at our highest risk to be susceptible to our natural predators. This sort of outdated mechanism can still be found in who else, but children. Hence, the obvious reason to convey the themes and message to them in their entertainment. Not everything has to do with systemically oppressing minorities, but if some people look hard enough, they will find that shit in their breakfast cereals if it so pleases them.
@@hamupinhere wow you really just dismissed all of racism based on light versus dark paradigm… I guess based on your own logic you can dismiss it if you just try hard enough as well… by the way you’re kind of full of it… Because see filmmakers use light and dark in their lighting all the time. They use dark to show scary parts and they use light to show not scary parts. Because that’s the dynamic you’re talking about. Which has nothing to do with casting dark people as the villains and white people as the heroes… You know how I know? Because in other countries that’s not what they do… Notice how in India it’s not white people in the good people roles and Black people in the bad people roles. Because your stupid paradigm Is just that: stupid.
My reviews: out of 5 1 " Kiss of Death " 2.5 out of 5 👎 2 " Jury Duty " 1 out of 5 👎 3 " Stuart Saves His Family ". 2 out of 5 👎 4 " The Basketball Diaries " 2.5 out of 5 👎 5 " The Pebble and the Penguin " 2 out of 5 👎
I'm watching this on my TV but had to come here to say WTF to them about Basketball Diaries!! Leo in that movie is one of the most Transcendent performances I have ever seen and as a movie lover,I rewatch it to see true acting and emotional carnage at some points. I wish they both had the chance to rewatch it and give it time. Nobody else was delivering performances like this back then.NO ONE.
They're often way off with their reviews. That Stuart Smalley movie is absolute junk with almost no redeeming qualities. I can only assume they were friendly with Franken and were doing him a personal favour by recommending this garbage.
Stuart was an awful, boring movie. Tommy Boy, ironically, is a bonafide 90’s buddy movie classic. Both Siskel & Ebert were often wrong, and yes they were wrong, but that’s what made them special. It was always their opinions that made ‘em popular, they never felt they sold out to the studios.
