Roger Ebert or Gene Siskel?
Which Chicago film critic did you agree with more?
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MovieChat Forums > Roger Ebert Discussion > Roger Ebert or Gene Siskel?
Ebert was always alot more open to things being unique, creative, or unconventional. Siskel was always very snobby and quick to roll his eyes at anything unusual, mostly in horror or science fiction. Like with Tremors, for example, Ebert is able to recognize the writing, directing, fun characters, etc, while Siskel goes “A movie about giant man-eating worm monsters?! Preposterous!”
Ebert all the way. Rest in peace to both of them though
Ebert. He always seemed more down to earth. Both were fun when they would argue like an old married couple though.
shareI agreed with Roger more often in the early days when they were starting out and independent, but over time he became a pretentious a-hole that would plug anything from Hollywood. I liked the team of both of them early on, and then had not much use for Roger later.
The thing I will always remember Sneak Previews for was it was the time when they turned me on and exposed me to a lot of foreign movies and what we now call Inde movies. Now I cannot stand the mainstream junk ... but Ebert would plug it anyway. I remember him saying how great Pirates of the Carribean was ... it made me want to puke.
I remember him saying how great Pirates of the Carribean was ... it made me want to puke.
Naw, he only gave it 3/4 Stars, which is a mild thumbs up on his scale. His lukewarm opening statement rightly points out, "There's a nice little 90-minute B movie trapped inside the 143 minutes of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,' a movie that charms the audience and then outstays its welcome": https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pirates-of-the-caribbean-the-curse-of-the-black-pearl-2003 share
Ebert was the only critic I've read more than once but not because I agreed with him, it was because he understood the purpose of a critic is not to tell me if the movie is good or if he likes it but to tell me if I will like it.
shareBefore Ebert died he wrote a lot about his relationship with Siskel, he admitted he missed him terribly. I remember one of his articles had some links to YouTube clips of him and Siskel arguing and some stupid exec at Buena Vista had the video taken down..Ebert was absolutely crushed and this was when he had had his jaw removed towards the end of his life, it was so petty on Disney's part it was almost inhumane.
Anyway, Ebert summed up their criticism like this: Sometimes Gene was right, sometimes I was wrong..but we almost always got the big ones right.
I was an Ebert man.
Siskel had his moments though. One of the few critics to give The Thing '82 a positive review, for example.