Siskel & Ebert (TV Series)

Courage Under Fire/Walking and Talking/Trainspotting/Harriet the Spy (1996)

Roger Ebert: Self - Host

Quotes 

• Roger Ebert - Host : If you watch our program regularly, you know how Gene and I feel about the weekly announcements of the so-called box office "winners". We think it's a mistake to treat the movies as if they're some kind of sport, with the top-grossing picture as the week's "champion". But, the lists march on, and this week, we all heard about how "Independence Day" beat the record set three years ago by "Jurassic Park", by grossing more than $100 million in just six days. What made it so special? "Independence Day" was essentially a retreat of "War of the Worlds", an H.G. Wells science fiction story that was made into a famous radio broadcast by Orson Welles. In that story, as in this one, Earth is attacked by hostile aliens, and fights back with a virus they're not familiar with.

• Roger Ebert - Host : Gene and I both voted thumbs down for "Independence Day", but we didn't HATE it, we just didn't think it was very good. It was kind of a goofy, silly, clunky 1950s flying saucer movie, attached to a high tech and truly brilliant advertising and promotional campaign. TV stations actually sent news crews to interview the people standing in line, talk about a non-event, and so even MORE people turned up, and it DID become an event. Now Gene, I was reminded of the opening day of "Star Wars" in 1977...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Right.

  Roger Ebert - Host : ...When people stood in line, and that surprised the theaters, they weren't expecting them to stand in line.

  Gene Siskel - Host : So then it WAS a news event.

  Roger Ebert - Host : And after the movie was over, people came out and liked it so much, they got back at the end of the line. The difference is, I don't think, after seeing "Independence Day" once, very many people are going back to stand in a line.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Yes, though we ARE saying this is a second look for "Independence Day", neither of us went back to see it a second time, did you?

  Roger Ebert - Host : Oh, I'd rather NOT see it a second time, I think one time was enough for both of us.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Here's the problem, because I felt there wasn't enough pay-off. Of course I like seeing the big ship come across the planet...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yeah. There are some good shots in the movie.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Shots! Not a SINGLE character...

  Roger Ebert - Host : No.

  Gene Siskel - Host : They're all laughable, and and- not laughable, I wasn't getting the joke many of the times. And then the pay-off with the aliens: Here's where I felt disappointed. I invest two h- it's a two hour and twenty minute movie. I invest a couple of hours, I wanna get to know the aliens, I wanna see what they can do.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Those aliens were...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Boring.

  Roger Ebert - Host : ...Right off the shelf, those...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Boring.

  Roger Ebert - Host : ...Aliens were recycled from other movies. Octopus Man- The Octopus Man...

  Gene Siskel - Host : That's what got me.

  Roger Ebert - Host : How about some imagination?

  Gene Siskel - Host : That's what got me angry. That's when I said, "No, you haven't- I've given YOU two hours of my life, give me some time in a screenplay and some imagination and some characters to make it all worthwhile."