I agree completely with Roger Ebert's perspective that the movie wasn't about Selena's murder, it was about Selena's life. Her killer was a jealous, unstable older female employee who kept stealing from her, and after Selena forgave her, kept stealing from her until Selena fired her and she murdered Selena out of revenge. She deserves no recognition or fame for that, even indirectly, and should be forgotten in the prison she was sentenced to. This film was a celebration about this young woman's life, who succeeded as an entertainer and who became a role model for young Hispanic girls who also had dreams. The filmmakers took the correct path in that regard.
I actually think that The Graduate holds up very well today. The theme of a college graduate having no idea of what to do with his life and who is still living with his parents, is something that should resonate very strongly with millennials and zoomers today. It's something that definitely resonates with me.
I agree. I just rewatched it for the first time in about 15 years or so. I don’t absolutely love the movie as much as I did when I saw it the first time but I still feel it does indeed have a lot of relevance and your point is completely valid. It’s getting close to 60 years old so some of the backgrounds and things of course will be dated but the symbolism is timeless and relatable.
I think Roger hit the nail on the head when he said Crash is porn without sex. It shows the absurdity of our obsession with sex by replacing the sexual content with something non-erotic. People say stuff just as ridiculous as the performance artist's speech when they're being dramatic and philosophical about sex, and people think it's deep because they're lost in the eroticism. It's a movie about how lust can shut off your brain and make dangerous, stupid behavior seem attractive. Why would anyone want to crash a car? Well, why would anyone want to cheat on their spouse? Both are self-destructive but people don't walk out of movies about the latter, because they find it titillating. Roger's also right that most people probably didn't understand the movie.
Any Cronenberg supporter was ready for the weirdness. Crash is a unique film. Even with some flaws, it has a non-judgmental tone and deals with sexual fetish themes like other Cronenberg works.
you know what's a movie like that, The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch, it's like admittedly it's an action where all the action is a man holding a case walking to a new location, and then he sits down and has an esoteric conversation and then the thing comes to a conclusion. But structurally it's John Wick it's an 'action movie' but experimentally there's no exciting action but its tense. This is a tangential mention but exactly taking a specific genre and formula and replacing certain scenes arbitrarily with something antithetical to create a poetic commentary on the medium and human condition.
I actually think every time they give two thumbs down to a movie I love, their critical commentary sums up even though they didn't like it exactly what I did like about it and their review still gives me the feeling like I should see it like once I abandoned feeling offended by their dismissal of fun exploitation sometimes, I realize they still are smart intelligent movie lovers who still nailed the movie and sum it up better than I can. These guys were a treasure.
Over 20 years into their partnership, and their arguments are still genuine and spontaneous. Everybody knows by 1997 that the bickering is what makes Siskel and Ebert special, but they never seem to force it. They're just both so passionate about the movies that when they disagree they often let it all out fighting about it. I think Roger won the argument about Selena, not just because of the sick burn he gets in about how to get a #1 hit (which cracked me up) but because he has examples to contradict Gene's points about how the movie supposedly doesn't offer much except J-Lo's performance. I never saw this movie, but now I know I want to watch it.
Gene was the one of the two that had to absolutely pick apart a film, Ebert focused more on how the film made him feel as a whole. This is especially true when they reviewed animated family movies. Siskel had much higher standards for children’s films than Ebert, who could at least acknowledge how kids can be entertained.
I really enjoy watching music drama Selena The Movie a lot my favorite song in this flim was "Baila Esta Cumbia". Selena The Movie was my number 1 favorite and best flim of the year 1997.
I disagree with them about the outtakes of Liar, Liar. I think they included them because they were so funny. Gene and Roger were probably just eager to get out of the movie theater in the midst of a full house on an early screening. I know that feeling, believe me.
I can empathize but I found him to be utterly moronic and unlikeable. It could work if the film were a cutting satire of the entire social structure of the 60's and the self-indulgent dream land white people were allowed to wallow in, but it was more of a generation gap story with Ben as the clear sympathetic lens to view it from, even though the ending did show him and Elaine's realization of their own stupidity
@@LeoSkyro The satire was there and I think you failed to pick up on it. The social class here is not being venerated and Dustin Hoffman is no more moronic and selfish than most young men his age who doesn't quite know where is going or what he'll do for a living.
@@ricardocantoral7672 the satire itself was pretty weak, like suburbia is not perfect and sex, whopdie do. not the type of satire I was talking about, I guess ironically you failed to pick that up from my really simple comment. and wow, a young person that is unsure about the future, shocking. I get that it might have been unheard of in puritany america back in the 70s but it's nothing to write home about. very little substance pulled real thing
They never reviewed it because it was a direct to video film. They occasionally did review those Return to Jafar was one but neither of them liked Honey I Shrunk the Kids or Honey I Blew Up the Kid so they probably passed on the third video installment for that reason. Honey I Blew Up the Kid is only passable for me at best so I’m not as disappointed in their thumbs down review of that one but I still don’t get how they gave the original Shrunk the Kids thumbs down. That movie defined my childhood.
@@spencerhensley5495 The second was actually my favorite of the three as a kid. Objectively the first one is the best though and I'm nostalgic for the third one too. Also yeah, I suspect that they would've disliked the third one too had they reviewed it.
not really man. its pretty boring. the dude turns in to a stalker.. but i love the ending.. its like a dog casing a car. they dont know what to do if they catch one...once they get on that bus..reality hits and they go..now what? i love it. the movie is still pretty good but ya alot of it dont hold up
@@DannyCosmosthat's the point I guess, young people right out of college don't exactly know what to do and are prone to make mistakes like that But that does'nt mean you have to not take the next step at all, sometimes you have to jump hoping it would work out coz you would never know if you just curl up in your parent's house
I am with Ebert all the way on Selena. Gene clearly didn’t understand as a 2 hour and ten minute movie that they couldn’t put every detail in. It’s a great movie that still holds up over 25 years later. It wasn’t supposed to be about Selena’s death and murder. You wanted only to see a little bit of that because you hated Yolanda at the end. That was the whole point. It was supposed to be an overall uplifting biography. And the mother was in it enough Ebert was right. Gene was right a few times over Roger, with Ghost, Mu Cousin Vinny, Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society, A Few Good Men Dirty Dancing and Die Hard being examples. But unfortunately I think this demonstrates an Example of Ebert being the stronger critic.
The GRADUATE is a classic, period. Ud never see such an epic made these days. What I love about movies, pictures like this. I cant believe what EBERT is saying here
@@LeoSkyro well the movie is and will always be permanently stuck in 1967. I think its what makes it a great movie in that it perfectly incapacitated a time and a place. The style, the dialog, the acting, the set pieces. It couldn't that if say it was filmed in 1975.
@@LeoSkyro epic was a bad word shouldn't of used it. My point was I dnt think a movie like this could be a cultural milestone in 2020. Where as this was a hit, I feel like movies with lots of publicity are now just cgi filled comic book blockbusters, or cgi filled prequels or sequels. Originality is gone. At least from big movie studios it ia
LIAR LIAR - HILARIOUS & VERY ENTERTAINING, BETTER THAN CABLE GUY 👍🌟🌟🌟 THE GRADUATE - CLASSIC 👍 🌟🌟🌟 I agree with siskel on SELENA, despite I enjoy J.LO performance but doesn't explain her no# 1 hit & how she made her first album.
Crash is like the result if you told an advanced AI to make an erotic movie with sex and violence. "Here's your sex and violence but in a really bizarre form."
@@GREVIEWS02 It's pretty fair. People bring up that she was crossing over into English music when she died but Thalia and Paulina (who were much bigger stars) did that too and didn't really make much of an impression.
@@JDoe-gf5oz The difference is that Selena was U.S. born/raised (she initially learned her Spanish songs phonetically) and was being groomed to be the Latina equivalent of Whitney Houston or Mariah Carrey. In fact, her untimely death in 1995, subsequent murder trial, and posthumous English-language album all received so much media attention that it sparked the Latin Explosion of the late '90s and paved the way for the likes of Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Mark Anthony, Shakira, etc. to cross over to the U.S. mainstream to varying degrees of success.
Being from Texas and hispanic I have to side with Gene on his review for Selena. It's one boring music video with cliched performances. And the Graduate is vastly overrated.
Gene's right about Selena. It was hammy (corny at times), and the ending was weird. If you didn't know anything about Selena you'd be perplexed at the end.
Crash is trash (nobody gets turned on by car crashes, and if those people exist, they're nutbags that aren't interesting). Liar Liar is funny. Selena is exactly what Gene said it was. The Graduate....I saw it, it didn't impress me. I haven't seen the others. The balcony is closed.
Throwing stale buttered popcorn at your review. After the fetishes I'm seeing in society nowadays, Furies, anyone? Cronenberg and Ballad captured elements of sex, sexuality and the human mind in a way that was ahead of the curve on levels.
I agree completely with Roger Ebert's perspective that the movie wasn't about Selena's murder, it was about Selena's life. Her killer was a jealous, unstable older female employee who kept stealing from her, and after Selena forgave her, kept stealing from her until Selena fired her and she murdered Selena out of revenge. She deserves no recognition or fame for that, even indirectly, and should be forgotten in the prison she was sentenced to. This film was a celebration about this young woman's life, who succeeded as an entertainer and who became a role model for young Hispanic girls who also had dreams. The filmmakers took the correct path in that regard.
I agree.
Well made Biopic
I actually think that The Graduate holds up very well today. The theme of a college graduate having no idea of what to do with his life and who is still living with his parents, is something that should resonate very strongly with millennials and zoomers today. It's something that definitely resonates with me.
I agree. I just rewatched it for the first time in about 15 years or so. I don’t absolutely love the movie as much as I did when I saw it the first time but I still feel it does indeed have a lot of relevance and your point is completely valid. It’s getting close to 60 years old so some of the backgrounds and things of course will be dated but the symbolism is timeless and relatable.
I think Roger hit the nail on the head when he said Crash is porn without sex. It shows the absurdity of our obsession with sex by replacing the sexual content with something non-erotic. People say stuff just as ridiculous as the performance artist's speech when they're being dramatic and philosophical about sex, and people think it's deep because they're lost in the eroticism. It's a movie about how lust can shut off your brain and make dangerous, stupid behavior seem attractive. Why would anyone want to crash a car? Well, why would anyone want to cheat on their spouse? Both are self-destructive but people don't walk out of movies about the latter, because they find it titillating. Roger's also right that most people probably didn't understand the movie.
I found it too weird and unlikeable....
Took me forever to read Ballard's novel
Any Cronenberg supporter was ready for the weirdness. Crash is a unique film. Even with some flaws, it has a non-judgmental tone and deals with sexual fetish themes like other Cronenberg works.
you know what's a movie like that, The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch, it's like admittedly it's an action where all the action is a man holding a case walking to a new location, and then he sits down and has an esoteric conversation and then the thing comes to a conclusion. But structurally it's John Wick it's an 'action movie' but experimentally there's no exciting action but its tense. This is a tangential mention but exactly taking a specific genre and formula and replacing certain scenes arbitrarily with something antithetical to create a poetic commentary on the medium and human condition.
I actually think every time they give two thumbs down to a movie I love, their critical commentary sums up even though they didn't like it exactly what I did like about it and their review still gives me the feeling like I should see it like once I abandoned feeling offended by their dismissal of fun exploitation sometimes, I realize they still are smart intelligent movie lovers who still nailed the movie and sum it up better than I can. These guys were a treasure.
LMFAO I love the heated arguments 😂
Over 20 years into their partnership, and their arguments are still genuine and spontaneous. Everybody knows by 1997 that the bickering is what makes Siskel and Ebert special, but they never seem to force it. They're just both so passionate about the movies that when they disagree they often let it all out fighting about it.
I think Roger won the argument about Selena, not just because of the sick burn he gets in about how to get a #1 hit (which cracked me up) but because he has examples to contradict Gene's points about how the movie supposedly doesn't offer much except J-Lo's performance. I never saw this movie, but now I know I want to watch it.
It's a good movie.
amazing movie that WILL make you cry
Gene was the one of the two that had to absolutely pick apart a film, Ebert focused more on how the film made him feel as a whole.
This is especially true when they reviewed animated family movies. Siskel had much higher standards for children’s films than Ebert, who could at least acknowledge how kids can be entertained.
I really enjoy watching music drama Selena The Movie a lot my favorite song in this flim was "Baila Esta Cumbia". Selena The Movie was my number 1 favorite and best flim of the year 1997.
Roger gained million of Mexican fans from this. I'm speculating but I know Mexican Americans are passionate fans of Selena (1997)
i love these minds they make me laugh somuch wow if we talked as friends on earth like tis this wewoul \d be perfect
I preferred The Cable Guy, though I didn't think that movie totally worked, either.
Crash is brilliant
I want the new Criterion Blu-ray 📀
Stands out amongst less skilled indie fare then.
I love the movie Selena
I disagree with them about the outtakes of Liar, Liar. I think they included them because they were so funny. Gene and Roger were probably just eager to get out of the movie theater in the midst of a full house on an early screening. I know that feeling, believe me.
Outtakes are overkill.
yeah..those Marvel movies drive me crazy..I really really have to go the bathroom but don`t want to miss it..
I still remember the many times as a child, watching Liar Liar on a worn down VHS tape, and the bloopers were always an highlight for me.
@@LeoSkyro yeah, they should have put it in Jim Carrey’s contract that every comedy he did would have an outtake reel.
@@smoothALOE I might have some nostalgia goggles on, but he was so funny back then. loved everything he was in
Please tell me someone has found the episode after this.
I thought they will review Paul Haggis' Crash. Stupid me because Gene wasn't alive when that came out.
Haggis's Crash aka Liberal Guilt: The Movie. That film winning best picture is was an act of fellatio.
Funny thing, Paul Haggis' movie was listed as Ebert's favorite movie of 2005.
3:30 the only acceptable bloopers are animated films.
I don't care how old you are or where you are from, anyone can identify with Dustin Hoffman in the graduate.
I still feel The Graduate holds up i first saw it around 2008 when i was 22 years old
They were sure right about a star making performance from jlo
I can empathize but I found him to be utterly moronic and unlikeable.
It could work if the film were a cutting satire of the entire social structure of the 60's and the self-indulgent dream land white people were allowed to wallow in, but it was more of a generation gap story with Ben as the clear sympathetic lens to view it from, even though the ending did show him and Elaine's realization of their own stupidity
@@LeoSkyro The satire was there and I think you failed to pick up on it. The social class here is not being venerated and Dustin Hoffman is no more moronic and selfish than most young men his age who doesn't quite know where is going or what he'll do for a living.
@@ricardocantoral7672 the satire itself was pretty weak, like suburbia is not perfect and sex, whopdie do. not the type of satire I was talking about, I guess ironically you failed to pick that up from my really simple comment.
and wow, a young person that is unsure about the future, shocking.
I get that it might have been unheard of in puritany america back in the 70s but it's nothing to write home about.
very little substance pulled real thing
Gene being brutal to Roger @ 15:05 - "I'm gonna review the movie, then I will review your review."
@18:33 - Basquiat Video Pick of the Week
This could've been one of two weeks they reviewed Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves since it came out on 3/18 of this year.
They never reviewed it because it was a direct to video film. They occasionally did review those Return to Jafar was one but neither of them liked Honey I Shrunk the Kids or Honey I Blew Up the Kid so they probably passed on the third video installment for that reason. Honey I Blew Up the Kid is only passable for me at best so I’m not as disappointed in their thumbs down review of that one but I still don’t get how they gave the original Shrunk the Kids thumbs down. That movie defined my childhood.
@@spencerhensley5495 The second was actually my favorite of the three as a kid. Objectively the first one is the best though and I'm nostalgic for the third one too. Also yeah, I suspect that they would've disliked the third one too had they reviewed it.
Haggis’ film was very good, but this “Crash” is better.
I dont agree with Roger i think The Graduate still holds up very well Its timeless.
not really man. its pretty boring. the dude turns in to a stalker.. but i love the ending.. its like a dog casing a car. they dont know what to do if they catch one...once they get on that bus..reality hits and they go..now what? i love it. the movie is still pretty good but ya alot of it dont hold up
@@DannyCosmosthat's the point I guess, young people right out of college don't exactly know what to do and are prone to make mistakes like that
But that does'nt mean you have to not take the next step at all, sometimes you have to jump hoping it would work out coz you would never know if you just curl up in your parent's house
Interesting that Siskel didn't like the movie Crash and then Martin Scorcese would go on to put it in his list of top 10 best movies of the 90s
Friend's dad loved The Graduate. Personally I thought the film was disgusting.
I am with Ebert all the way on Selena. Gene clearly didn’t understand as a 2 hour and ten minute movie that they couldn’t put every detail in. It’s a great movie that still holds up over 25 years later. It wasn’t supposed to be about Selena’s death and murder. You wanted only to see a little bit of that because you hated Yolanda at the end. That was the whole point. It was supposed to be an overall uplifting biography. And the mother was in it enough Ebert was right. Gene was right a few times over Roger, with Ghost, Mu Cousin Vinny, Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society, A Few Good Men Dirty Dancing and Die Hard being examples. But unfortunately I think this demonstrates an Example of Ebert being the stronger critic.
The GRADUATE is a classic, period. Ud never see such an epic made these days. What I love about movies, pictures like this. I cant believe what EBERT is saying here
Hardly an "epic" but a fine film.
You see plenty of epics, now about their quality...
It was definitely a cultural touchstone but I agree that it did not age well at all
@@ricardocantoral7672 ur 100% right. Its not an epic by any stretch
@@LeoSkyro well the movie is and will always be permanently stuck in 1967. I think its what makes it a great movie in that it perfectly incapacitated a time and a place. The style, the dialog, the acting, the set pieces. It couldn't that if say it was filmed in 1975.
@@LeoSkyro epic was a bad word shouldn't of used it. My point was I dnt think a movie like this could be a cultural milestone in 2020. Where as this was a hit, I feel like movies with lots of publicity are now just cgi filled comic book blockbusters, or cgi filled prequels or sequels. Originality is gone. At least from big movie studios it ia
Siskel totally missed the point of selena . It is about her life her cheerfulness
crash is a solid erotic triller. one of the best.
Why Did "Selena" Get a Thumbs Down from Gene?
he only liked jlo performance he said nothing else worked for him. typical siskel L
@@DannyCosmos He was right. Cheesy, cliched movie.
Basquiat was a great movie. FAR better than any thing else they reviewed in this episode.
LIAR LIAR - HILARIOUS & VERY ENTERTAINING, BETTER THAN CABLE GUY 👍🌟🌟🌟
THE GRADUATE - CLASSIC 👍 🌟🌟🌟
I agree with siskel on SELENA, despite I enjoy J.LO performance but doesn't explain her no# 1 hit & how she made her first album.
were you born with three thumbs?
@@AproposOfWetSnow
No😂
15:05 damn Siskel
Liar Liar Thumbs 👍 3 stars out of 4
Selena Thumbs 👍 3 stars out of 4
Crash Thumbs 👍 2 & a half stars out of 4
Crash is like the result if you told an advanced AI to make an erotic movie with sex and violence. "Here's your sex and violence but in a really bizarre form."
I think some car hit Ebert that morning or something to say he liked Crash, one of the worst movies of a director I really love
The Graduate's flaw is that there are no likeable characters, a common trait of the New York/New England illiter-ary establishment.
I don't know about you but I identified with Dustin Hoffman's character. That's unlike Noah Baumbach's films.
I couldnt disagree with you more i think Elaine and Ben are both very likeable.
That's a good observation...maybe that's why I don't like that movie, or Catcher in the Rye
Funny Jennifer Lopez became such a big star after this film She probably a much bigger star than Selena would of become but we will never know 🤔
That's not fair to say. She was gone too soon.
@@GREVIEWS02 It's pretty fair. People bring up that she was crossing over into English music when she died but Thalia and Paulina (who were much bigger stars) did that too and didn't really make much of an impression.
@@JDoe-gf5oz The difference is that Selena was U.S. born/raised (she initially learned her Spanish songs phonetically) and was being groomed to be the Latina equivalent of Whitney Houston or Mariah Carrey. In fact, her untimely death in 1995, subsequent murder trial, and posthumous English-language album all received so much media attention that it sparked the Latin Explosion of the late '90s and paved the way for the likes of Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Mark Anthony, Shakira, etc. to cross over to the U.S. mainstream to varying degrees of success.
@@user-rh2io7gm1l Crediting her with the Latin explosion is really stretching it imo.
Being from Texas and hispanic I have to side with Gene on his review for Selena. It's one boring music video with cliched performances. And the Graduate is vastly overrated.
you voted for trump didnt you? lmao
@@DannyCosmos Childish reply, dude.
It's funny how The Cable Guy has stood the test of time, whereas no-one really talks about Liar Liar anymore.
I disagree the cable guy is awful. Many people still talk about Liar Liar its one of his best movies
ive seen tik toks about liar liar what u mean? your old arnt you?
Yeah Gene is wrong about Selena
It’s his opinion
Gene's right about Selena. It was hammy (corny at times), and the ending was weird. If you didn't know anything about Selena you'd be perplexed at the end.
Selena plays out like a T.V movie. Weak.
Still better than the millionth Biopic on less worth figures. Even Watergate ex wives are getting Biopics.
no way bro. its forumulic but its a true story.
It does. It was cheesy and cliched even at the time. About the only thing it has going for it is it's not nearly as bad as the tv series.
Crash is trash (nobody gets turned on by car crashes, and if those people exist, they're nutbags that aren't interesting). Liar Liar is funny. Selena is exactly what Gene said it was. The Graduate....I saw it, it didn't impress me. I haven't seen the others. The balcony is closed.
Throwing stale buttered popcorn at your review. After the fetishes I'm seeing in society nowadays, Furies, anyone? Cronenberg and Ballad captured elements of sex, sexuality and the human mind in a way that was ahead of the curve on levels.
Siskel takes an L for selena... Roger pulled through with the w. glad i awalsy liked roger more.