Siskel & Ebert - Best of 1985 

I would have to agree with you, Because I wish those two were still alive, I would've loved watching them Review Present Day Movies, Like, 1. Snow Day. 2. The Tigger Movie. 3. An American Tail the Treasure of Manhattan Island. 4. An Extremely Goofy Movie. 5. The Road to El Dorado. 6. Geppetto. 7. Ready to Rumble. 8. Angels in the Infield. 9. The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. 10. Gladiator. 11. I Dreamed of Africa. 12. Dinosaur. 13. Titan A.E. 14. Chicken Run. 15. Me, Myself, & Irene. 16. The Patriot. 17. The Adventures of Rocky and BOWINKLE. 18. The Kid. 19. Pokémon 3 the movie Spell of the Unknown. Anime Movie. 20. X-men. - 2000. 21. Sugar and Spice. 22. Valentine. 23. Recess School's Out. Animated. 24. Metropolis. Anime Movie. 25. See Spot Run. 26. Spy Kids. 27. Josie and the Pussycats. 28. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. 29. A Knight's Tale. 30. Angel Eyes. - 2001. Etc. Etc.

​@@kellymiller1891 He did review some of those (ebert)

You are right about To Live and Die in L.A. ...........I kinda wanted to see The Breakfast Club on one of the lists or at least get some recognition, but I can understand why it didn't. I am glad that Witness was recognized.

@@ianmillerdevilsfan1223The 1980s has been considered by many film critics and historians as the worst decade for American cinema and these guys seem to agree. In the 90s, they embraced the indie boom and their thumbs up reviews have gradually increased. And a few years after Gene’s death, Roger has given more thumbs up reviews to a wide variety of movies right up until his death in 2013. Beginning with the 90s indie boom, movies have gradually aligned to Siskel and Ebert’s taste.

Siskel gave BTTF his highest recommendation when he reviewed it.

@@philipcohen7192 Yes he did, but it doesn’t typify his opinion on the 80s as a whole.

Just to let you know, I think Flaccidus Minimus has a huge ego. We debated about Ghostbusters and he blocked me, mainly because he misunderstood everything and choose not to listen to people who are trying to explain things to him.

I admit good choices except #10 because it wasn't good movie to me.

@@Jbaxter85 My Top Ten Movies of 1985 is, 10. Heaven Help Us. (TriStar Pictures). 9. Witness. (Paramount Pictures). 8. The Breakfast Club. (Universal Pictures). 7. Mask. (Universal Pictures). 6. The Care Bears Movie. (The Samuel Goldwyn Company). Animated Movie. 5. Police Academy 2 their first assignment. (Warner Bros). 4. Cat's Eye. (MGM/UA). 3. The Goonies. (Warner Bros/Amblin Entertainment). 2. D.A.R.Y.L. (Paramount Pictures). 1. Cocoon. (20th Century Fox). R.I.P Wilford Brimley - 2020. Here's my Honorable Mentions. 1. Return to Oz. (Walt Disney Pictures). 2. St. Elmo's Fire. (Columbia Pictures). 3. Back to the Future. (Universal Pictures). 4. Red Sonja. (MGM/UA). 5. Explorers. (Paramount Pictures). 6. The Black Cauldron. (Walt Disney Pictures). Animated Movie. 7. Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird. (Warner Bros/Sesame Workshop/The Jim Henson Company). 8. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. (Warner Bros). 9. The Journey of Natty Gann. (Walt Disney Pictures). 10. Once Bitten. (The Samuel Goldwyn Company). 11. Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. (Warner Bros). Animated Movie. 12. One Magic Christmas. (Walt Disney Pictures). Animated Movie. 13. Ewoks: Battle for Endor. (Lucasfilm). 14. Rocky 4. (MGM/UA). 15. The Jewel of the Nile. (20th Century Fox). 16. A Chorus Line. (Columbia Pictures). 17. Clue. (Paramount Pictures). Tim Curry a National Treasure, Living Legend, the roles that he's been in is memorable and amazing. 18. Legend. (Universal Pictures). 19. The Color Purple. (Warner Bros). Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, National Treasures and Living Legends, and The Roles that They've been in Respectively is Memorable and Amazing. 20. Joey. (New World Pictures).

Its funny the film was not well received when it came out but over the years it has been re assesed as a classic.

I remember seeing it twice with my parents in the theater. They really knew how to pick good movies.👍

Yea it's interesting how their perspective changed 4 years later in the end of 1989 when they ended up making their best of the decade lists. For example, they both ended up putting Raging Bull as the best movie of 1980s and yet Ebert didn't even put it number 1 for it's release year 1980(he had The Black Stallion at number 1).

I guess he felt it grew in significance over the years and aged well. It didn't leave his mind so easily as time was passing.

Great list. Emerald Forest was a great one, too.

My Top Ten Movies of 1985 are, 10. The Breakfast Club. 9. Mask. 8. The Care Bears Movie. Animated. 7. Police Academy 2 their First Assignment. 6. D.A.R.Y.L. 5. Cocoon. 4. Return to Oz. 3. Explorers. 2. The Black Cauldron. Animated. 1. Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird. Here's my Honorable Mentions. 1. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. 2. The Journey of Natty Gann. 3. Rainbow BRITE and the Star Stealer. Animated. 4. EWOKS: Battle for ENDOR. 5. Rocky 4. 6. The Jewel of the Nile. 7. Clue. 8. Legend. 9. A Chorus Line.

@@kellymiller1891where’s Back to the Future?

yep, it is, Every scene, every second, every word, every camera shot. Typical Spielberg.

​@@marcmarc1967..as channeled thru Zemeckis 🙂

Would’ve been better if Marty went full-Oedipal. Just sayin’.

I count 27 worth seeing once, (including the top-10 in box office receipts with two that I haven't seen). You'd probably also include the 7 Siskel and Ebert mentioned as best of the year, none of those I had seen, making a total of 34, so a pretty good year. I've been looking at 1987-1990 previously and they all have 25+ movies worth seeing at least once. In 1985, I count 5 worth seeing more than once.

@@sandal_thong8631 Which five do you rate highest?

@@distinguishedflyer Sorry to leave that out of this one: _Back to Future, Brazil, The Breakfast Club, Fletch, Pee-wee's Big Adventure,_ with _Spies Like Us_ and _Cocoon_ being maybes.

@@sandal_thong8631 I liked the first three of those a lot (though my favorite Back to the Future film is actually the third one).

Totally agree...I'd put Young Sherlock Holmes, Breakfast Club and Explorers on the list as well but they don't fit the profile for most snobby critics...

That's certainly one worth watching more than once. They totally missed "The Breakfast Club" which is one of John Hughes' greatest hits. Also, Siskel hated _Pee-wee's Big Adventure_ which was Tim Burton's and Danny Elfman's first big hit.

Of course.I would put Goonies as well.

Absolutely. I loved witness too

Frankly, the Color Purple was nicer, too. 💜💜💜💜💜

Good list!

@@reneedennis2011 Thanks

@@Jbaxter85 You're welcome ☺️!

Good list. All great films. My choice for best of '85: Witness.

@@ronaldboyker9781 Good 4 U

That's one case where his website mistakenly reports the original rating, and it isn't the only example. I have several of his annually published yearbooks from the 1980s, as well as the CD-ROM Cinemania '97 (which features all of his reviews up to 1996). His review of Prizzi's Honor is logged as 4 stars in all of those sources. However there are at least a couple of titles on his 1981 list that were 3 1/2 stars and bumped off titles that were rated 4 stars from the same year.

No typo, Ebert's original review was given 3 and a half stars in the Chicago Sun Times...not every movie on theirs lists were 4 star ratings, it's normal..

I also tilted my head at that pick, though I will say while not being a very good movie, it at least wasn’t bad.

It was the least of the 3 trilogy

In 1985, it was amazing. In retrospect, it may seem a bit sillier, but at the time, it was just a blast.

@@redadamearth yeah, i was a teenager in 1985 but i still didn't like it. i LOVED Road Warrior and Thundrdome seemed silly and ridiculous compared to that film.

Looking at the list of 1985 movies, I see _Brazil, The Breakfast Club, Cocoon, Fletch, Pee-wee's Big Adventure_ and _Spies Like Us_ as being better and worth seeing more than once, though I'm not sure if/when I saw _Cocoon_ for the second time? One of the villains from _The Road Warrior_ appeared in _Weird Science_ which came out that year.

Ebert gave a glowing 4-star review. Probably just missed his Top 10. Great movie.

Roger often wrote in his later years that Gene was, in hindsight, the best friend of his life and that he truly loved him. I don't know if Gene felt the same about him, but I have doubts.

I don`t think they liked each other earlier in their careers (early to mid-80`s) I remember hearing them on a radio show they didn`t..if you watch one of the behind the scenes youtube videos...they are really mean spirited to each other..but I think they grew closer over the years....they were at first competitors but they ended up so famous both newspapers benefited

@@flaccidusminimus2170 I just finished the compilation of Siskel and Ebert's appearances on David Letterman and they said in one of his last appearances that Gene didn't do anything for Ebert's birthday who was expecting to be taken to a Laker's game or something. Very low class not to have a friendship or consideration at least for the partner that took your names national.

@@sandal_thong8631 I'm pretty sure they were both joking in that segment. Male coworkers don't commonly buy each other birthday gifts, and these two didn't have that kind of outward affection for each other. Mind you, at Roger's wedding in 1992, Gene's family played a prominent role and his daughters were the flower girls.

You made it seem like a good year for movies after all. One great movie a month (back when movies stayed in the theaters for a while) is nothing to sneeze at.

Nice list. 1, 2 and 4 would definitely be in my top 5.

@@ac9559 Thanks. What two other films would fill out your top 5?

@@Jim_Wolf Hmm this was tough, I had to lookup all the movies from 1985. I have no pretensions to being a film critic I just go with what I enjoyed and what I continue to watch...so I am going to add Cocoon and Real Genius.......with Lost in American just missing the cut.

@@ac9559 Yes, same with me, I watch what I like. Nostalgia is a big influence. Good choices.

No RAMBO?

@@ricogomez4020 Honourable mention

Totally disagree, you really missed the boat on this movie, it takes the Godfather and twists it and it's also based on a Great Novel William Hickey should have won the Oscar

yea no one talks about it ever. Another overrated film is The Color Purple.

It was wickedly funny...

What are you babbling about? It's a great movie. So is "The Dead". I love that Huston had this big hit before he passed, it's a riot. It's not supposed to be "authentic", it's supposed to be mannered. And I'm an Italian New Yawker! If you want to know John Huston's work, you don't skip "Prizzi's Honor". Ditto Jack Nicholson, ditto Angelica Huston. (or Katharine Turner, for that matter). It's fits right in with "Moonstruck", "Married To The Mob" and "I Love You To Death", all of which are predated by (the superior) "Prizzi's Honor". Nicholson is fantastic in that movie.

@@sleong What's hilarious is that you are under the moronic impression that the quality of a movie is judged by people "talking about it". You poor, conformist thumbsucker! As long as people study John Huston - which they will do as long as movies are screened - or Jack Nicholson for that matter (ditto) - they're going to be watching "Prizzi's Honor", sorry to break the news to you, "Cosplay". (eeeew. I now understand your lack of taste: cosplay, huh? Wow. Still in diapers, huh?)

Difficult to be sure. Before the pandemic, there were more than twice as many films distributed annually in the United States than there were in the 1980s. Far more variety. And films do, on average, receive far better reviews today than they did 35 years ago. Following his first cancer surgeries in 2002-2003, Roger's average rating for movies increased significantly and he began doling out 3.5 and 4 star reviews with abandon. Who can say if Gene would have done the same? In his final years of reviewing, 1997 and 1998, Gene was even more enthusiastic about the current state of movies than his partner.

@@flaccidusminimus2170 I don’t think movies receive better reviews today because they’re better movies tho. The criticism field is very different and there’s definitely lack of critical thought in film Reviews

@@bradleyhayman2682 Flaccidus has so many biases he really can’t seem to get over. For one thing, he really can’t seem to get over his bias of the 80s, half of which I disagree with.

No RAMBO?

I just watched their Worst of 1985 show and Gene Siskel marks it as one of those, while Roger Ebert missed it while on vacation and didn't review it, though he liked the scene that Gene used to show how bad it was, with Pee-wee falling off his bike, "I meant to do that" he says to kids on bikes.

No he actually doesn't and his position is made quite clear. He's upfront with his opinion that it's the year's greatest artistic achievement, but he thinks it's too important to belong on a list with mainstream entertainments. They don't even have a "debate" about this, more of a clarification.

No Back to the Future? It's confirmed, you only like pretentious artsy fartsy movies.

@@patrickshields5251 I'm afraid it isn't possible to draw such a broad conclusion based on a single list of 10 movies. You also don't have any information to reach a conclusion about what I think of "Back to the Future".

@@flaccidusminimus2170 Come on Back to the Future is a classic.

@@patrickshields5251 Agreed!

@@flaccidusminimus2170 In fact, it's really timeless.

No RAMBO?

@@ricogomez4020 on your list, maybe...

​@@ricogomez4020 Mad Max over Ran. Ok 🤡

It’s a tough film to get into, but gets better as it goes on. I also found the fool irritating at first, but he becomes something of a Greek chorus by the end of the film. If nothing else, you have to admit the visuals and the direction of the movie are incredible.

The movie is really boring and slow. But still I did enjoy the battle scenes.

It’s a little too operatic and over the top though it looks gorgeous. Kurosawa did full scale paintings as storyboards iirc and he was going blind at the time

Yesterday was International Holocaust Rememberance Day. It's been just over a year that attacks on schools started with the removal of _Maus_ from the curriculum in a TN school district, with no replacement ready. I haven't seen the film, _Shoah,_ so can't say whether we need this 9-hour film in schools. But we do need civics courses again to teach the importance of voting (and give 16-year-olds the right to vote for school board members as an example). Also, to be aware of threats to democracy like fascist tactics that target or bully minorities and "undesirables" to prevent these things from happening again like in Cambodia (1975-9), Rwanda (1994), and Bosnia (1995).

@@sandal_thong8631 You'll let 16yr olds vote? What if they want firearms? If they can vote or choose their gender or have an abortion then they should be able to have a firearm. PS Maus is a stupid book. It's used to bully children into thinking only one way on a subject. Ilhan Omar has a better book but I can't mention it on this platform.

Guns kill kids.

Yeah. They featured that in _Stranger Things._ But I think they overdid it by having a theater full on the night of the 4th of July. You'd think people would be going to the fireworks and such instead of inside in a movie theater.