Siskel & Ebert Classics - 8/15/89 - The Abyss, Uncle Buck 

Yeah it always made you wonder if these two were watching different films Uncle Buck was incredibly funny and very successful but these two got it so wrong again

The best.

Not really

I think they overthought it

Meh-hee-hee-hee-hee!! 😂😂

Candy and Culkin are both great but the movie isn't

Candy was a great actor n person

I'm Uncle Buck and I'm here to f...

uncle buck was a great movie, i can watch it year after year. More than the great outdoors.

He's one of the most likable actors ever, someone that a viewer is always glad to see, no matter the size of his role. Home Alone is so much fun; it certainly doesn't _need_ John Candy, but it would be a lesser movie without him.

I also miss them

I'm 30 years old and I was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and I grew up watching them as often as I could. Same with Ebert and Roeper and also At the Movies after Roger passed.

exactly

The main inspiration for the film was cut... and it special edition restored it.

And it's STILL never seen a Blu-ray release, to say nothing of 4K. Maybe now that Disney owns it, they'll do something with it.

@@LoveStallion Yeah, like put out a lousy 4k transfer.

The Abyss is an amazing movie. Saw it in the theater the first week it came out and loved it, saw it years later at home and loved it, saw the special edition and loved it. I mean what the hell do people want it’s one of the great suspense action films of all time

😂😂😄

I love when he goes into the grade school bathroom with a lit cigar and all the stalls are occupied so has to use the little urinal.

Uncle Buck is the movie that made me a John Candy fan.

YES!!!

I'd hate to know your favorite...

@@randycunningham7318 Grease

I think it was on at an odd time like midnight or noon on Sunday or something.

Yeah they got it dead ass wrong. Uncle Buck is a certified classic these days.

@VanishedPNW they got it wrong on quite a few movies that turned out to be classics. If you watch some of their other episodes from the 80s you will see.

@@Aaron_Scissorhands agreed. And I’ve said the same on those RU-vid videos too lol.

Agreed! Critics were after Hughes at the time,extra odd that Ebert panned UB when he one of the few major critics to praise Weird Science

​@@Islanders83 He must have had the hots 🔥🔥 for Kelly LeBrock who didn't ❤️🔥😘🥰😋🍑

I seen this when I was a kid and this movie wrecked me to this day. 😭

@@MrBoyYankee How old were you?

Casualties and Abyss are 2 of the greatest films of all time, imo.

I missed it and some other Vietnam War movies, like _Born on the Fourth of July (1989)._

​@@dfcintron How could they not like the Alien part on The Abyss? That was fantastic as were the special effects Man they were hard to please

And the others around him?

I can watch it every couple years or so. Same with _Planes, Trains and Automobiles._ However, _The Great Outdoors (1988)_ doesn't quite do it for me.

Uncle Buck is a great sleep classic

This is up there with Cool Runnings and Whose Harry Crumb as Candy's best films 👍🏻 again these two got it wrong but hey the film was successful so proved them wrong anyway

@@sandal_thong8631 What's wrong with the latter?

I think so too. It's a solid thumbs up from me.

One might even say its a war crime of under-ration.

I know what you mean. I am constantly reminded that they and those times are gone forever. I miss them as much as I miss any celebrities who have died.

i am grateful to have had those experiences long gone, i don't wish for them again. I look forward to the uncertain tomorrow.

They had a gazillion sequels, and the 1980s is known for being weaker for Hollywood movies compared to the 1970s. But I agree with you, it definitely beats now

It is, John actually appeared in 3 consecutive Sean Penn movies at the time. Casualties of War, We're No Angels, and State of Grace.

Paul Thomas Anderson said that was the movie that made him want to cast Reilly in everything he'd make.

I'd give Abyss 3 stars. It is very suspenseful and cool and the underwater technology is great but the ending where Ed Harris tells everyone that big ecological speech was kind of corny.

Not only did it improve the blending of scifi with gritty underwater thriller, it also made me care more about the characters because more time was given to being with them.

_The Abyss_ wasn't in the league of those other alien movies, but it's worth watching once. I wanted to see it again a year or so ago, but had a hard time finding it on cable or streaming.

And it isn't looking good. It was being prepared and then Disney stepped in and bought 20th Century Fox's entire back catalogue. They've since stated that they will not be releasing physical formats of any kind going forward. Only streaming. 😡

@@ronaldh8446 Dude this movie "been due" for a 4K treatment. The blacks & blues of descent to the deep sea would be incredible. Especially for both the theatrical and Cameron cut.

@@MrBoyYankee I really wish it would happen. But... Disney. 😕

@@ronaldh8446 Yeah,thanks to Mickey the rat.

It is now on Amazon Prime

Yea, that was weird.

I disagree. I agree with Ebert. It added another part to the movie and the whole reason for Ed Harris to go down that far was to deactivate the bomb to save the aliens that wouldn't have been sent down there by the crazy seal guy if they weren't there to begin with.

@@evoman1776 I see your point. They are an essential component. The aliens could have been done better in my opinion. The way they were depicted was extremely childish in my opinion. It was like switching tones from Aliens or T2 to Bambi.

@@nebulous6660 I don't think so, especially in the Special Edition. They were threatening the world with tidal waves with their water powers. So they were not as nice and kind as E.T. They were willing to defend themselves with a show of force. They have more in common with the unseen aliens in 2001 than Spielberg's aliens. They want to make contact with humans but they are still observing, studying and judging us. We can't be sure if they will end up as friend or foe. They are neutral on humanity but won over by Bud and Lindsey's love, so that's another example of how the various plotlines are interdependent in the movie. I also think the design of them works. They look like organic beings from the deep ocean and are not something that was designed to be sold as a stuffed animal.

@@jedijones Yea, that doesn't make it sound any less cheesy. Aliens judging humanity & threatening cities with tidal waves is just as childish & stupid.

@@nebulous6660 It sounds awesome to me. It may have been inspired by Watchmen the comic book, released a couple years prior, where Dr. Manhattan destroys a city in order to stop a nuclear holocaust of the whole world. Which of course was an awesome concept for that awesome comic book. I do think this alien encounter is not quite as profound as in 2001 or Close Encounters because the communication between Bud and the aliens is so literal. It doesn't have as much of the mystery there that we expect an encounter with real aliens would. But, ultimately, it's a worthy addition to the "friendly alien" movie genre and if I had to pick between those and the Alien/Predator genre where they're just trying to kill us, I'd go with the friendly ones.

I and the person that attended " Rude Awakening " enjoyed it at the time. I shall have to try to view it again. I liked how S & E were often wrong in their critiques.

Why do you need hope ?

I don't but at the time audiences (producers) did.

@@davidthieroff9452 You don't?

@@ricardocantoral7672 Why not?

Uncle Buck is on TV multiple times every year, neighbors is on once in a while late at night. Uncle buck wins.

If you look at their top ten lists, particularly in the 1980s, they had a lot of the same films on both.

Ebert was a sucker for action and sci fi films that were reminiscent of serials of the 50s, and were generally uplifting. He liked Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He also didn't like movies he felt were "mean-spirited" but he often couldn't seem to tell the difference between a mean-spirited film and dark comedy. Siskel liked dark comedy and gritty films in general a lot more than Ebert.

Roger didn’t hate the movie. He gave it 3 stars, meaning that he liked it but didn’t love it.

Decent dancer too.

No wonder she didn't have much of a career after this. Everyone assumed she was dead or too old for the part when they saw her name on the casting list. To be fair, she starred in a sitcom I never heard of for 6 years.

Jean Louisa Kelly

Hahaha!

Then he goes on to admit that it's realistic for her to act that way, but passes it off as he's looking at it as a movie and not as reality. What a weird thing for a film critic to say. Seemed like he only said that because he couldn't let Ebert be right. Childish moment from him.

She also was good in _The January Man_ in 1989 with Kevin Kline and Alan Rickman.

@@sandal_thong8631 Teenage me developed a crush on her after Scarface.

you are welcome jedijones -- yes, everything I've uploaded on this channel so far are from my own tape recordings. You can probably tell from the look and sound of the transfers, they are all off the same few channels back in the day. A few of these shows I know have not been online before, because about a decade ago I traded many of my tapes with the Siskelebert website guys. They uploaded my recordings there on their own (a few like the Holiday Gift Guides I posted myself), but I did not trade all of the shows so I know there will be some "exclusives" new to people here :) Whether the episode is on that site or not, I'm reupping my own version -- straight off my recordings -- because the picture quality/aspect ratio/etc. is better here, even if some minor edits in terms of clips pop up every now and then that I have to make.

Yeah, some of these aren't even on siskelebert.org. Case in point is this is the first time in years I've seen the Casualties of War review. Thanks very much.

@@orbison YW! I wish I kept all of my tapes -- but I didn't. But I will upload everything I have over time :)

Two thumbs up 👍👍 for uploading these great videos!

I agree. S & E left out how Buck's street-wise humanity and integrity surface, how this reaches the kids so they end up loving and respecting him. Those qualities also wonderfully contrast with the rigid perfectionism of the highschool principle and the kid's parents. I'd much rather have him as a warm, human, relatable parent, endearing goofyness and all! We in the audience are at first put off by his APPARENT unreliability and crude, lower class manner but, unless we are doomed to the attitudes of the parents, are also won over by his greatheartedness, which our society so sorely lacks....

@@chrisdiver6224 I liked how S & E were often wrong in their critiques.

You make a good point on The Abyss. The Director's Cut is often praised far more heavily but it has its own set of issues. Yes it explains what the aliens are doing, but I agree totally that it's so "on the nose" that it becomes preachy and heavy-handed. The theatrical cut doesn't have that problem, and it's more of a love story which the Director's Cut kind of loses focus with, at least when you add in the "disaster movie ending" and political preachiness.

I always thought Ed Harris screaming at his Mary Elizabeth M. for ten minutes in her near drowning scene was cornball overkill..

I agree. The ending is very cornball.

I think it was because they were talking about how the films all had women as main characters plus a female producer, though it still doesn't make sense since Cameron wrote and directed all those films. They also didn't mention that Hurd and Cameron were married.

Speaking of De Palma, I think many critics and audiences blew it on Femme Fatale and Passion. Roger Ebert was one of the few critics that have both films a good review.

Don't judge a book by it's cover. Look up Audie Murphy. He looked less threatening than Michael J. Fox.

1A?

@@martykeaton182 When the US had a draft, draftees were given different classifications. 1A means you were fit for duty.

@@ricardocantoral7672 How would he be unfit?

@@martykeaton182 All sorts of reasons, either physical and physiological.

I agree. It definitely has funny moments, but I agree that they should have decided if Uncle Buck was going to be a big softie or a disturbing hardass. Buck's behavior in the movie is bizarre. Most of the family's problems get solved by him threatening or beating someone up. a) Threatens niece's boyfriend because he doesn't like seeing them making out. Tracks them down later on and spies on them, then takes it upon himself to bring her home. That stupid conversation about how he has an axe in his car. Kidnapping the guy even after finding out he wasn't fucking the niece. Hitting golf balls at him in a park (?!?). b) Threatens the school principal. Makes a horrible remark about her face that's supposed to be funny and empowering, but it comes off as probably the cruelest thing in the film. c) Beats up the birthday party clown. It's a funny scene, but seems tacked on just to show Candy beat up some loudmouth jerk. d) Threatens the sleazy guy at the bowling alley. e) Threatens to embarrass the niece. Threatens to shave her head. I know it's a comedy and all, but Buck is obviously supposed to be seen as a lovable character, not a creep. I'm surprised they didn't add in a scene where he trashes the mean teacher's ("Blasphemer!") car as punishment for yelling at Maisie and maybe give Miles a bully that Buck confronts and threatens.

I'm not someone who gravitates toward popular fare, but I saw Uncle Buck for the first time last year and liked it a lot.

Awful in what way?