Siskel & Ebert - If We Picked The Winners (1996) 

Siskel and Ebert’s love for the movies is infectious. I miss them.

Man, I really miss these guys. I loved their show, and they were always great on letterman.

As someone who absolutely loved (and still loves) "Babe," I'm really touched by Siskel's deep love for the film. He seems to tend to go with more esoteric choices, so I loved that. And I agree with him (and think Ebert was unusually cruel about Cromwell's performance -- calling it "not acting" was ridiculous, and I normally love Roger). I also agreed with Gene on "You've Got a Friend in Me." I'm a huge fan of Roger's and of his fantastic writings and reviews, but sometimes I definitely disagreed with him.

I was backing Gene so hard on the best original song category.

Watching thus makes me want to watch these movies again.

I had to blur almost every tiny bit of the clips from "The Bridges Of Madison County" in order for this to get past a copyright block. Chapter jumps: Best Actor - 1:56 Best Supporting Actress - 6:56 Best Supporting Actor - 13:58 Best Original Song - 19:48 Best Art Direction - 27:35 Best Actress - 34:24 Best Picture - 41:46 Worst Nomination - 48:20

15:58 James Cromwell’s silent jig is magical

Special Praise has to go to Roscoe Lee Browne as the narrator He , next to Sir John Gielgud , has the most beautiful, mellifluous voices ever and that voice is a HUGE reason why this movie works as beautifully as it does and I think he deserves every plaudit as to why this movie works so well

It seems to me that this was one of these programs that Ebert really was on the attack for some of Gene's choices And Gene had the perfect response to Roger on his attack for Best Song Personally, I would have said, " Let's here you hum the song to Dead Man Walking" That song sounded way close to Streets of Philadelphia if you want to be critical

Might be biased here but I think 'You Got a Friend In Me' is one of the most recognizable movie songs that has stood the test of time.

I find it funny that Roger claimed that 'You Got a Friend in Me' wasn't very memorable when in hindsight his choice for Best Song has probably become the most forgotten song of the bunch

Thank you so much for uploading these episodes ! I loved and respected Gene and Roger and it’s fantastic to watch these shows again.

It's kinda sweet how much Siskel loved Babe. I adore Babe.

This was definitely the peak of Nicolas Cage's career

Babe winning the snobby NSFC was so camp and so inspired at the same time.

Siskel was so looking forward to the rest of Nicolas Cage's career. Can't imagine what he would think of Cage's career today if he was still around

I still don't get how Ron Howard wasn't nominated for Best Director.

Braveheart is the best movie ever made

i bet all the actors paid more attention to this than the actual academy awards

Roger in February: The one nomination that gave me more pleasure than any other was James Cromwell for "Babe". Roger in March: I'm not even sure that Cromwell's work is an example of acting. At several points, they comment on the uncommon strength of the Best Actress category, and yet each of them looked to it for their Worst Nomination selection. Maybe Emma Thompson was better in "Carrington", but if you can't find a single worse nomination on the entire list for this demented year than Thompson in "Sense and Sensibility", then you just aren't trying very hard. Roger doesn't even bother to explain why he thought her work was unexceptional, but if you read his review he says that he actually "appreciated" Thompson's acting! It would have made more sense had he chosen the screenplay for "The Usual Suspects" or Kevin Spacey. His 1.5 star review of that film is quite scathing, and he obviously disliked it far more than anything Emma Thompson did in 1995. I might choose the absurdly anachronistic costume design in "Braveheart". Which probably doesn't bother anyone who hasn't studied medieval history, but for anyone who has, it's a hoot! It isn't particularly well edited either, with more glaring continuity errors than the other four Best Picture nominees combined. But there have been many sloppier examples nominated for Best Film Editing before and since, it hardly seems fair to single out Steven Rosenblum's work, and the mistakes don't detract from my enjoyment of the film.

I highly recommend Nixon: a forgotten masterpiece

Despite the hilariously numerous historical inaccuracies and the ick factor of Mel Gibson, I still love the hell out of Braveheart

I still remember Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey’s performances. They would have had my votes.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: SATURDAY MARCH 23, 1996.

No commersials, it, s great!

As Roger and Gene basically stated, its so sad that these were the Best Picture nominees to work with that year. All of these nominees - all of them - are inferior to Heat, Casino, Before Sunrise, Se7en, and possibly more. Also, Gene's pick for Sharon Stone as worst nominee was cringe af.

I’m surprised for best song Gene didn’t just write in the song Hoggett sings to Babe.

Apollo 13 made me think if they've made a movie about the Challenger space shuttle explosion. I haven't seen one to the best of my recollection.

Itake it back, there were commersivals.

Babe

best picture, braveheart ,best actor, anthony hopkins, nixon,best actress meryl streep, the bridges of madison county, best supporting actor ed harris apollo 13, best supporting actress joan allen,nixon, best song ,moonlight ,sabrina,worse nomination nicholas cage, leaving las vegas

What the hell is going on with that popcorn commercial? (First ad break, second ad)

Best Picture: Braveheart Best Director: Tim Robbins Best Original Screenplay: Toy Story Best Adapted Screenplay: The Postman (Il Postino) Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins Best Actress: Susan Sarandon Best Supporting Actor: James Cromwell Best Supporting Actress: Kathleen Quinlan (Joan Allen was great too) Best Art Direction: A Little Princess Best Costume Design: Restoration Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Braveheart Best Cinematography: A Little Princess Best Editing: Braveheart Best Sound Editing: Braveheart Best Sound Mixing: Apollo 13 Best Visual Effects: Babe Best Original Score: Braveheart Best Original Song: "You've Got A Friend In Me"

Where is Babe set?

It's sad that that's not The Postman from the 1990s that everyone remembers. "We're watching a great career mid-career." Fortunately, Gene died 7 years before the Wicker Man remake.

A shame that the producers didn't allow them to go over technical categories.

Nicolas cage as great and BAbe was great!

I wonder if Siskel were still alive if he’d feel the same about Nicolas Cage’s career.

I hadn't forgotten that Nick Cage used to be a good actor

6:45 Hmm, I wonder what Siskel would think of Cage nowadays lol.

Hey where’s wally

15:19 🥹🥹🥹🥹

You’ve got a friend in me is great by a very imaginative Randy Newman.?

Brad pitt getting the oscar with Bruce Willis not even being nominated for his superiror performance in 12 Monkeys is still the most offensive thing to me.

Nobody screamed at Ebert for giving away what happens to Cage's character in Leaving Las Vegas Whole Crying Game outing reference

My picks: Best Supporting Actress: Joan Allen, Nixon Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects and Seven (in an ideal world) Best Adapted Screenplay: Mike Figgis, Leaving Las Vegas Best Original Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects Best Foreign Language Film: Antonia's Line (The Netherlands) Best Documentary Feature: The Battle Over Citizen Kane Best Art Direction: Apollo 13 Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, A Little Princess Best Film Editing: Seven Best Costume Design: Restoration Best Original Song: "You've Got A Friend In Me," Toy Story Best Original Score, Comedy or Musical Film: Randy Newman, Toy Story Best Original Score, Drama Film: James Horner, Braveheart Best Leading Actress: Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas Best Leading Actor: Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas Best Directing: Chris Noonan, Babe Best Film of 1995: Babe

Bryan Adams Have You ever really loved a woman is the only truly great and timeless song. Time and the charts proved it :)

@6:36 a rare audience shot of a neutral audience

Weak to standard nominations that year. Get Shorty, Se7en, Dolores Claiborne, Clueless, and Clockers were all worthy of nominations if not wins that year.

Susan Sarandon & Sean Penn got ripped off. 🙂

Siskel was so wrong on Babe. Babe has been forgotten, I remember even in 1995 people thought it was just ok, nothing special. Braveheart is an iconic 90s movie, happy it won. Apollo 13 is also great.

Couldn’t have been more wrong… “Driving Miss Daisy” is still “thought of in 30(+) years” while their ideas of what would be “Field of Dreams” (icky underdeveloped sap) and “War of the Roses” are not.

I thought Babe was New Zealand