Siskel & Ebert Classics - Best of 1988
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Gene and Roger's annual 10 Best list.
As a reminder, if you're looking for the latest home video reviews -- from Blu-Rays of classic catalog titles to the latest releases -- be sure to check out my own review site at www.andyfilm.com
these two are hilarious. what great chemistry. "well, my list doesn't have any hidden agendas, Roger..." 😂
what a stuck up asshole! That was my reaction.
The passive aggression between them is HILARIOUS.
Passive ?
Agreed. These two kind of define the term "frenemies". They were friends, and admitted as much many times and would even defend each other on occasion, but also took nearly constant pot shots at each other. It's part of what made their partnership legendary. They were like an old married couple, lol. God, I miss these guys. Whenever I see these episodes I'm 15 again.
Gene was kind of a dick, but also had a heart. I worked for someone just like him.
@@ricardocantoral7672 In this particular episode - yes. ;)
They're both old fashioned big city newspaper men,
harsh banter is the water they swam in back at their respective offices
(I imagine they it softened considerably for their TV show)
I watched their show religiously when it was on, I LOVE them both.... SO sad that they are gone 😪 , may they rest in Peace
I loved Who Framed Roger Rabbit. 33 years later it’s still good.
It is still good but it’s not lost on me that one of the reasons it was so highly praised when it came out was because it was such a groundbreaking film from a technical standpoint.
It's DEFINITELY one of my favorite movies!
👍
What I loved about it when I first saw it was the crossovers of the cartoon worlds. Disney and Warner Bros. characters sharing the screen?! It was delightful. And you could really believe in Roger and get involved in his plight. It wasn't silly or outrageous.
@@sonnyblack0870 It also has a fantastic screenplay and great performances and music score.
Renting in a video store. Those were good times.
Midnight Run is an exceptional film. See it if you haven't.
The natural, colorful way they share their feelings and likes and dislikes about these great movies is just wonderful
On Gene's runners-up list for 1988 were "Talk Radio," "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam," "Rain Man," "Mississippi Burning," (which topped Roger's list) "Au Revoir Les Enfants," "A World Apart," "Wings of Desire," (#7 on Roger's list) "A Fish Called Wanda," (#6 on Roger's list) "Clean & Sober," "Running on Empty," "Salaam Bombay," (#5 on Roger's list) "Things Change," "A Cry in the Dark" and "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!".
Gene recalled that 1988 was an "out-of-focus" year for Hollywood, which made it hard to find trends that distinguished it from any other year. The big story, he noted, surrounded the controversy of Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ"; he repeated the statement that anyone who thought it was "blasphemous" probably didn't see the film. He noted that the female-centric films "Working Girl", "The Accused" and "A Cry in the Dark" were popular among critics but not quite as hot with audiences. [Please observe that Gene was reading early reports of the box office totals for the film "Working Girl" at the time that the top-10 list for 1988 was compiled. That film, in its first weeks, wasn't a big hit, probably because its subject matter was and is a turn-off to Christmastime audiences; only in February of 1989 did that film begin to turn a profit.]
Gene felt that it was a year in which "important directors had varied success", with Woody Allen's "Another Woman" making Gene concerned about the director-actor's growing isolation from the audience, Jonathan Demme's "Married to the Mob" plunging him straight into the commercial market, Mike Nichols coming back with "Working Girl" after bombing with "Biloxi Blues" (which he and Roger panned), and Martin Scorsese making "a vigorous comeback" with "The Last Temptation of Christ" after making the decidedly more commercial "Color of Money" two years before.
Gene also noted that 1988 was the year home video profits superseded theatrical revenue for the first time, and had become economically pioneering with the $19.98 post-rebate pricing of the long-awaited video arrival of "E.T." (MCA Home Video #77021); he also noted that, with "the proper promotional push", Laserdiscs (which he and Roger championed) may become equally as popular as VHS.
(SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, December 25, 1988)
Working Girl was a Big Hit Commercially
@@kdohertygizbur . . . or at least would be in the long run. Business for the film was rather slow in its first few weeks; it grossed only $4,718,485 when Gene's list was published and compiled. It would only begin to make back its budget on its fourth weekend, in mid-January 1989.
@@jessecoffey4737 which would render his comment nonsensical
@@kdohertygizbur No it wouldn't; that was simply an early report on its totals he gave in December 1988. "Working Girl" was released during the Christmas season, and not many people are in an immediate rush to see a film of its subject matter during the holidays, which is why it waited until February 1989 to make back its budget.
Thanks!
Running on Empty was the greatest; I'm glad that Roger made mention of it.
Man, "Rain Man" won Best Picture that year and was on neither critic's top 10 list.
But it was the highest-grossing movie of 1988!
What I love about these "top ten" lists is the number of films still shown today and the number you have never heard of. Films that were "all the rage" at the time (Accidental Tourist for example).
It's interesting how some movies become more popular with time and others become less. Accidental Tourist has become somewhat forgotten which is too bad because it's a really good movie.
My Top 10 of 1988
1. Dead Ringers (Canada)
2. Running On Empty
3. Frantic (US/France)
4. Die Hard
5. Beetlejuice
6. The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
7. Colors
8. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
9. Coming To America
10. The Vanishing (Netherlands/ France)
Special mention: #11 Rain Man
Though it won the oscar for best picture, Rain man is such an Underrated film. I love everything about that Movie! It's in my top 5.
Good list. I agree with a lot of your selections. Dead Ringers has my favorite Jeremy Irons performance and one of Howard Shore's best soundtracks. The ending to that film is both shocking and heartbreaking. Coming to America is one of my favorite Eddie Murphy comedies. Die Hard is a great action thriller and that first film remains the best of the five films in its series. Colors was praised for its unflinching realism back in the day and while its overall impact may have faded a bit in recent years, the performances given by Duvall and Penn are still powerful. And, Running on Empty is a touching film with fine performances by Christine Lahti, Martha Plimpton and River Phoenix.
I like your pick of Frantic. Very good film.
Good list. I would have a the Vanishing higher.
not bad:)
I watched Mississippi Burning for the first time just now based on Roger’s enthusiastic review. I was surprised at how routine and “Hollywood” it was. Not unwatchable but so very pedestrian. And read the racial and historical criticisms leveled at the film at the time of its release…they are all valid critiques. Just baffling that Roger liked it as much as he did.
he married a black woman so he had to name it #1
I'm told they figured out the suspects just with normal police work, and the Black FBI man scene was purely Hollywood dramatization.
@@rossdawgsbrokenspirit9038 Yes, he sensed he would met a black women 3 years later and put MB at number 1. Great analysis there.
Who framed Roger rabbit
Die hard
Beetlejuice
Big
The last temptation of Christ
The naked gun: from the files of police squad!
Cinema Paradiso (the ending scene alone is worth it)
Seen _Die Hard, Beetlejuice,_ and _The Naked Gun_ multiple times, as well as _Coming to America_ and _A Fish Called Wanda._ Maybe saw _Big_ a couple of times as well as _Crocodile Dundee II_ and _Bull Durham. Punchline_ starring Tom Hanks and Sally Fields is one of my favorites. Several movies were good to see once, like _Scrooged_ but do I really want to see them again, like _The Accused?_ The one about Prague I may have missed with its _Unbearable_ title. I count 34 movies worth seeing at least once on home video, compared to 27, I think in 1989.
My take on some of the films reviewed in this episode:
Shy People - A forgotten film that is finally getting rediscovered thanks to streaming services. I caught up with it on Tubi this past weekend. My big takeaway is the atmosphere of the film. You really feel that swamp setting seep into your pores as you watch it. Also, the story is incredibly touching if familiar, a country mouse meets up with a city mouse and they each learn valuable lessons from each other that save their families from disaster. A great film.
Bull Durham - I love the writing in this film and the sharp way in which all of these characters speak. Susan Sarandon should have won the Oscar that year for her performance.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit - I adored it as a kid, but found myself irritated by Roger when revisiting it as an adult. The blending of live action and animation still goes unmatched by anything else I've seen, and Bob Hoskins grounds the experience with his cynical eye.
Shy People is a superb movie. But I disagree with lots of their choices and they actually have a favorite film from 1988 on their worst films list! (Betrayed).
@@SimuLord what about The Natural or Eight Men Out?
@@jonnybirchyboy1560 - Eight Men Out might be the best baseball movie ever made.
The Natural is a great baseball movie too but came out in 1984.
You might find yourself coming back round to Roger eventually, that was also the pattern with me.
I miss them , their arguing and this theme song.
Roger Ebert, for me, was perhaps the best film critic, with sweet, spiritual and spirited writing. But he could sometimes praise a film not simply because it was good, but because it reflected his political values, or his appreciation of new directors, or it was a film by a young acolyte or friend. Hence, Siskel's barb: ''My list doesn't have any hidden agendas, Roger...''
Great lists and great number 1 movies. Willem Dafoe is one of the best actors around and the mid to late 80s featured some of his finest work.
So agreed with Willem Dafoe. He takes such chances and his choices are very interesting. Characters we never quite know where they're going. Like Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Nicholas Cage, etc. Yes, they make some box office boring, big paycheck movies, they're human, but I adore their ''small' movies.
I don't feel old (52), but this makes me feel old. Or nostalgic. I remember watching Siskel and Ebert most weeks in the mid to late 80s as an adolescent. Them and the newspaper (or an alternative weekly once i got to college.)
Doesn't seem that long ago, but wow are our lives so much different. (And not because we're not adolescents any more.)
And Midnight Run is still one of my favorites to this day. (All plans get put on hold when I see Midnight Run is on!)
Oh my God... the static at the beginning of this video alone was nostalgic... and the tracking, oh my God...
In retrospect, Rain Man and Grave of the Fireflies were my favorite films of the year. Rain Man has not aged well; Grave of the Fireflies is exponentially more popular now than it was in 1988.
I was 18 in 1988, my two favorite road trip movies: Rain Main and Midnight Run!
Midnight Run was my favorite as well!!!
Yeah,
Midnight Run really surprised me with how much more I enjoyed it than I was expecting
(I thought it was gonna be ok, turns out it was fantastic)
Siskel was brilliant and my fave and I had no idea his review and emotional response to his top film shows how profound a thinker and feeler he is. He “got” that film and it is one of the greatest of all time.
I'm surprised that they didn't choose Police Academy 5 as the best film of the year.
it was number 11 on both their lists Lol😀
@@SimuLord The entire Police Academy series are more or less aimed at younger audience. It's kind of like a live action cartoon in sensibility. I rewatched the first one and liked it a lot, but realized that none of the childhood memories stood up nowadays because back then I was simply clueless and stupid. Now I just notice more of Kim Cattrall's outfit lol.
Me too. An absolute masterpiece and subtle celebration of the craftsmanship of filmmaking.
The Accused, a hard watch but brilliant story.
And it's based on a true story.
@@reneedennis2011 No Sh**! You mean white women were raped in America? Why am I just learning of this now? (SARCASM)
Geena Davis won the oscar for her role in The Accidental Tourist
Yup.
I love what Siskel said about Last Temptation, he was clearly very moved by it.
he is with Jesus now
The last temptation is trying to make God=Lord Jesus Christ flawed as a sinner like us all which He isn't. God=Lord Jesus Christ never sinned not even once. The proof is in the Holy Bible scripture.
maybe u could not understand it
I know it wasn't reviewed well and objectively wasn't a great western, but as a 13 year old I loved Young Guns and watched it several times in the theatre that summer
Hell yeah!
Young guns,was the shit! And so was part 2.
These best of episodes are showing movies I never heard of. Interesting.
Year 2021 checking in: The best movie from both their lists is....Midnight Run. Now officially a beloved classic. RIP Charles Grodin and Yaphet Koto. But, they completely overlooked Die Hard. Wow.
_Die Hard_ got a three-star rating from Gene, so it did not qualify (films that did usually had a three-and-a-half or four-star rating in print).
"Bull Durham," "A Fish Called Wanda" and "Midnight Run" in the same year. And Siskel has two of them on his list, with "Last Temptation of Christ" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" in his top positions. Great calls, Gene.
Don't forget "The Naked Gun." It joins the ranks of the 4 best comedies of 1988 you mentioned.
@@linkbiff1054my grandma laughed so hard w Naked Gun
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was a movie that I and everyone I knew loved back then. I thought it was an instant classic. But it seems to be forgotten now, I doubt many young people have even heard of it.
Where's Rain Man?
Definitely my favorite of the year
Both called it an honourable mention when their newspapers got published.
Yeah the film that asks, wouldn’t it be fun to abuse a developmentally disabled person for fun and profit?
@@Blortoblorto Hmm I got something much different from this film.
Who was doing the abuse for Fun and Profit?
Of course you remember having seen this film, that the main character Charlie Babbitt did have some realizations and character growth by the end of the film.
Saw _Rain Man_ once, but haven't been that interested in seeing it again until lately.
I lived in Oklahoma during 1988-1989 and the state did not allow The Last Temptation of Christ to be sold or rented when it was release d on VHS.
"So. Good year. Good list." Well said sir.
No Frantic or Rain Man?
I really like Frantic, even tho the director sucks
I adore the film Running on Empty!
Shy People - on my list now.
“This was so recently, the cars are still on the road.” Great observation.
Mississippi Burning is a good movie, and so is Salaam Bombay.
Yes. MB may not be true to what really happened, but a good film with solid performances.
@@viralbuthow000 Yup.
It’s amazing to imagine that from the beginning Daniel Day Lewis has always been praised for his acting.
Accidental Tourist is a great movie. Especially meaningful because 1988 was the year I moved to that city, Baltimore.
im so sorry
It's my favorite all-time movie. Not sure why but the characters just click with me.
I hope you don't live in that trash state in 2023.
Shy People is literally one of the best dramas I've ever seen. Powerful.
I have seen it six times and it is superb!
I saw it as a teen when it came out and I felt like I had stumbled into a world that no one else had entered, due in large part to Barbara Hershey's performance - glad to see Ebert noticed it!
Barbara Hershey was wonderful in that film!
One of my college lecturers worked animation on Who framed. Great flick.
I count 34 movies worth seeing at least once in the theater or on home video, with 7 worth seeing multiple times _(Die Hard, Beetlejuice, Coming to America, The Naked Gun, A Fish Called Wanda, The Dead Pool,_ and _Punchline)._ Not sure whether _Big_ was worth seeing multiple times.
Die Hard should be on both their top 10 lists!
Working Girl!! Midnighr Run!! Roger Rabbit! Running on Empty! Salaam Bombay!
My personal Top 10 from 1988, plus 10 more:
1) Paperhouse (1988)
2) My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
3) The Bear (1988)
4) Die Hard (1988)
5) Big (1988)
6) The Vanishing (1988)
7) Cinema Paradiso (1988)
8) Beetlejuice (1988)
9) Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
10) Landscape in the Mist (1988)
------------------------------------
11) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
12) Willow (1988)
13) Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
14) Akira (1988)
15) Ariel (1988)
16) Rain Man (1988)
17) A Short Film About Love (1988)
18) The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
19) Time of the Gypsies (1988)
20) Midnight Run (1988)
Beetlejuice was great. It started a trend of weird fantasy/horror comedies about weird people in weird situations and weird worlds. Meet the Hollowheads, Nothing But Trouble, Meet the Applegates, etc., and it paved the way for Batman and all those noir adventure films with dark heroes that came after Batman.
@@gspendlove I thought beetlejuice was good but not great. Michael Keaton was hardly in it, he only got a few scenes.
@@lw3646 Keaton got the best scenes, the best lines. And when he's not on screen, they're always talking about him. He's the most important character in this movie, which is why the filmmakers named it after him instead of going with some other title like _House Ghosts_ or _Scared Sheetless_ (which were actual, honest-to-god titles considered for the film).
I loved The Bear!
The Land Before Time was my number 1 best flim of the year 1988
It was really good
I've never seen Mississippi Burning, but I remember that my 6th grade History teacher hated it. She went on a little rant to the class about it. She didn't normally talk about movies and I don't recall her talking about any other movie, but that one really pissed her off.
Thats weird. What was her rant about?
Rain Man of course I thought was excellent.
Shy People is STILL overlooked! Not even available in HD.
I know. The movie may be here on YT. I know I’ve rewatched it in the past year or two.
Some of my favorite movies of all time are mentioned by one or the other.
Who framed Roger Rabbit, Bull Durham, and the Last Temptation of Christ are three of my favorite films.
4:08-4:25. This is literally my grandma and grandpa arguing at the dinner table.
Frances McDormand gets a special mention in the best movies of 1988. Whenever she appears in a film, she is the best thing about it.
My favorite films of 1988:
1. Hairspray
2. Beetlejuice
3. The Accidental Tourist
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
5. Betrayed
6. Frantic
7. The Naked Gun
8. The Last Temptation of Christ
9. Mississippi Burning
10. Who framed Roger Rabbit
So there.
My list
Wings of Desire
Midnight Run
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
A Fish Called Wanda
Shy People
Running on Empty
The Accidental Tourist
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Mississippi Burning
Salaam Bombay
My Mother loved "Midnight Run" and therefore I loved it. Thank you for reminding me.
Wings Of Desire is a masterpiece and Salaam Bombay is a great film.
The Land Before Time, Die Hard and Who Framed Roger Rabbit are my favorite and best flim of the year 1988
That was a much better year for movies than I'd remembered. I would have put Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers", "Die Hard" and "Coming to America" in there somewhere, though.
Definitely "Dead Ringers", at least, yeah. But there were so many great films that decade and every year that some gems just have to be left out on any top 10. The '70's and '80's were just astonishing in terms of the quality of work being constantly produced.
Mississippi Burning 🔥 powerful film.
no love for Die Hard, Akira, Cinema Paradiso, My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Rain Man or Big
The foreign language films you mentioned did not have release dates in America in 1988.
But it shows how rich the range of great films that year. Just an unbelievably great year😊
No "Rain Man" on either of their lists. It won Best Picture.
Little Dorrit is really good, completely agree.
William Hurt had one of the greatest runs of roles in the 80's,
up there with Bogart in the 40's
I have to agree with both men on their choices for 1988's best. I just recently watched both Mississippi Burning and The Last Temptation of Christ and both are mesmerizing and emotionally charged great performances. Both films also examine the hatred man has for those they refuse to empathize with and the consequences of their actions. Powerful films.
As a Kid Born in 1981, I Thought KathleenTurner was 🌡🔥!
Accidental Tourist was my favorite that year.
Ebert's hand movements are funny.
Neither of them liked Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers? He is amazing in that film.
Great list
That scene with Geena Davis and William Hurt: on the surface, Geena's supposed to be the wacky funny one, but the laughs are all in William's bewildered reaction shots. When the director and the actors know where the laughs are, it's pretty special. As they said, a funny, serious drama.
The best film of 1988 was Frank Henenlotter's "Brain Damage".
I was finally able to catch that movie on Shudder. It's freaking wild! What I loved about it was that they went with John Zacherle as Aylmer's voice. Many lesser films would've given that little monster a grating, high-pitched, nasty voice to match what he looked like on the outside. But no, Zacherle's calm, low, soothing voice adds a sense of verisimilitude to the story. As outlandish as the events are, if an alien parasite needed you for sustenance, it would want to bend you to its will by using the most dulcet and seductive tones possible. It makes Aylmer scarier, instead of annoying.
The Accidental Tourist = Sensational. To this day one of my favorite and most wonderfully structured film. William Hurt, robbed at the Oscar's. I think I love it most for I feel like Macon and don't take interpersonal chances yet for me, at 50, I'm fine with that.
This is very good picture quality for just VHS. I’m wondering if this might have been recorded on one of digital VHS that was around at the time?
Believe it or not, it was just plain VHS in SLP mode too. I transferred it using a Panasonic DVD Recorder which cleaned up the image slightly so it looks really good on here. The VCR we had was a good one, that also made a difference back then too.
Willem Dafoe is still as good as they get
Kevin Costner has no personality ,but for this particular baseball character his dryness worked and where appropriate he was a little more emotional.he was here then in field of dreams which I thought was overrated.....
Kevin Costner and Meryl Streep have this annoying habit of spontaneously laughing for no reason in at least one scene in all their movies.
Seems like there was a run on baseball movies, with this and _Eight Men Out._ As well as other movies a year off.
IDK how Bull Durham didn’t make Elbert’s Top Ten list.
1) Talk Radio
2) Coming To America
3) Sporloos
4) They Live
5) Stand & Deliver
6) The Naked Gun
7) Dead Ringers
8) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
9) Eight Men Out
10) The Beast
They were the Adam and Jamie of film reviews
What an amazing year for films.
Actually, I was taken aback at how lackluster it was.
the last temptation of christ was epic
BEST FILMS OF 1988
2:07 SHY PEOPLE
4:30 LITTLE DORRIT
6:12 BULL DURHAM
7:42 THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING
9:55 THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
12:29 WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?
13:58 THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
16:04 MISSISSIPPI BURNING
Thank you so much.
The Accidental tourist was the best movie of that year.
I wonder if Roger was sitting and stewing after Gene called him out on his "hidden agenda," or if Roger was just used to Gene's snarky comments and brushed it off. Many good movies in 1988, my top three from that year are Rain Man, Die Hard and Roger Rabbit. Saw each of those 4-5 times in movie theaters that year.
MY TOP 10 MOVIES OF 1988
1. VICE VERSA
2. HAIRSPRAY
3. CLARA'S HEART
4. THE SEVENTH SIGN
5. BUSTER
6. I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA
7. BIG
8. HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS
9. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER
10. CHILD'S PLAY
Fascinating
I think I was the only person on the planet who didn’t like A Fish Called Wanda.
No, I didn't like it one bit, myself.
You’re both stupid. Now apologize. (If you liked the film, you’d applaud BOTH references. 👏👏👏)
There's something wrong with people who don't like British comedy. You probably both think Nick Swardson's Bucky Larson is the height of humor. You probably also liked Movie 43.
@@gspendlove What, exactly, IS "British humor," and how is it defined? I mean, there is a HUGE difference between BlackAdder and, say, Are You Being Served.
That's like defining something as "American humor." Do you mean "Police Academy" or do you mean "Heathers"?
I didn't think much of it either. Overrated. Not nearly as funny as they think it is, and lots of over acting.
In fact, it's believers in the blank slate that know in their hearts that they're wrong. Every day reality confronts them with this fact, and they have to struggle mightily to pretend things are otherwise.
didthey review dominic and eugene?
I recommend Lightness
Love rain man midnight run and who framed roger rabbit
I'm really surprised that Rain Man didn't even get a mention by either of them and that they BOTH had Roger Rabbit on their lists!
I was thinking the same thing
Never could get into "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"..... "Bull Durham" is an absolute joy!....."I wouldn't watch "The Last Temptation Of Christ" if you paid me a million dollars.
Funny that Last Temptation of Christ isn't in Roger's top 10 but it is the only movie mentioned here that later made it into his Great Movies list. I guess Wings of Desire would have eventually been added if he had lived longer.
Edit: I was wrong because Wings of Desire is in the list.
Roger got more spiritual when cancer took his jaw.
Sometimes it takes a couple years and a re-watch on video for them to like the popular movies.
@@sandal_thong8631certainly. It's true for many I guess.
Roger is correct: Burning is a masterpiece!
My favourites were the accused, Little dorrit, Mississippi Burning, rain man, the last temptation of christ.
Dangerous liaisons and die hard also up there.
Who says you cant time travel
It always bugged me that Siskel & Ebert seem to automatically love any William Hurt movie.
Why not? He was a great actor and made most films he was in.
William Hurt never did anything for me. No charisma whatsoever.
look up their review of Lost in Space.
A bit surprising that dead ringers wasn't on either list. I guess the subject matter was off-putting for their tastes. Jeremy Irons gave such a great performance it seems strange to not mention it.
Where's the Siskel and Ebert vaporware remix?