Siskel & Ebert (1987) - Wall Street, Throw Momma from the Train, Broadcast News, Empire of the Sun

[@guidosanchez5695]

What a great week for the movies. I liked all of these films. I think that they all can be considered classics now.

[@oldnerdreviews]

"Throw Mama From The Train" was brilliant! One of my favorite comedies.

[@broncobilly4029]

You lied to me, always gets me. :)

[@oldnerdreviews]

@@broncobilly4029 Me too. Funny as hell!

[@anthonyscully2998]

Wall Street and broadcast news. A good week for cinema

[@DestinyPifer]

Throw Momma from the Train was one of my favorite movies!

[@acmelka]

I remember watching this when it broadcast... Thanks

[@Lori-lp6uc]

I miss them so much. I loved this show

[@reneedennis2011]

Wall Street and Empire of the Sun are good movies.

[@richardenglish2195]

I honestly think Empire of the Sun is Spielberg's best movie.

[@derkcast620]

Oh man! What a great episode!! Every movie in this ep. was a huge impact on me growing up. Thanks for posting this!!

[@KRhetor]

Christian Bale gave one of the best performances ever by a child actor. You wouldn't know it from their review or even the sampled clips, but everyone who went to see it back then realized they were watching a future great actor in the making.

[@reneedennis2011]

R.I.P. William Hurt.

[@mykal.7424]

Wall Street is my favorite Oliver Stone film . Michael Douglas gives one the best performances ever and well deserving of his Oscar. But i liked Charlie Sheen's performance it's one of his very best. You can see the transformation of the Bud Fox getting slowly corrupted and ultimately paying the price. It's a great film .

[@mtwhatley3253]

Time has proved these two wrong soooo many times.

[@markcorl2022]

On Throw Mamma from the Train - Anyone notice the first couple of scenes of the film are out of order? I’ve looked everywhere and it seems like nobody notices, but the ‘opening scenes’ where Larry watches Oprah on TV and then the scene where Owen poisons mamma’s Pepsi should have been between the laundromat scene and Larry calling Beth late at night…. It’s crazy nobody notices this.

[@eamon2please]

Huh?

[@bucksdiaryfan]

Ebert was absolutely dead on -- Michael Douglas was outstanding and Charlie Sheen was just kind of holding on with his performance

[@kdohertygizbur]

1987 is probably the weakest year in Oscar Nominees of the 80's He was good, but I agree with Siskel, he has played the same role in so many movies Honestly, Danny Devito had a better speech in Other people's money I

[@cherylhulting1301]

Nah. Ebert was right about Sheen but wrong about Douglas. Gene was right - the successful barracudas have Gekko's ego but are much smoother and cooler in their approach. Gekko would have been far more seductive to the Sheen character had he played it a bit closer to the vest. It sets Gekko up to seem one dimensional in the comparison to Martin Sheen's saintly father, who is drawn broadly too, though Sheen Sr. invests him with dignity. Douglas did give a weirdly flamboyant performance.

[@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729]

saw every movie at the cinema..liked "Wall Street" the most...

[@kali3665]

Watch out, guys: the kid from Empire of the Sun grew up to be BATMAN!! 🤣🤣

[@reneedennis2011]

Yup.

[@quentinparhiala9415]

yes

[@vintageretro83]

& he became an American Psycho 😬

[@JeffTheGent]

@@vintageretro83 Absolutely. And going crackhead got him an Oscar.🏆😄

[@bobscanlon5212]

And Patrick friggin bateman

[@randalljamison5359]

Wall Street is an outstanding movie."If you need a friend get a dog."

[@edreid7872]

Where's Papa.. Now there is an underrated gem..

[@kdohertygizbur]

Yes it is...LUNCH , YOU GET NO LUNCH

[@randalljamison5359]

Hey, you!You want lunch!You shake your a**!What about MuthaF***a in the park.

[@kdohertygizbur]

@@randalljamison5359 Paul Sorvino was Great

[@kmetcalfe]

What an incredible week for films. I was away in college, so never saw this episode before, and wondered how much I'd be arguing with them over their low opinions of Empire, and maybe not quite getting the genius of the others.

[@jharvable]

Empire of the Sun review they never mention the young boys name. He goes on to play Batman

[@ericnelson9100]

Holly Hunter, newcomer, WTF??????? Wait, wasn't she in Raising Arizona?

[@SaintMartins]

I disagree. "Throw Momma" is a great Dark Comedy. One of my favorite comedy film's of all time. Inspired by Hitchcock's "Strangers On A Train" . Wall Street is a legit 100% classic. Stone's 2nd best film after Platoon.

[@edreid7872]

Throw Mama borrows too much from the Hitchcock film, and the underrated Where's Papa..just updated.. I enjoyed it when it came out, but I find myself going back to the films that inspired it...

[@kdohertygizbur]

I would rank Wall Street on the low end of Oliver Stone's filmography myself, I definitely disagree with it being called "A Classic"

[@barryosullivan7763]

Ebert should have been Gordan Geeko's defence attorney🤣

[@terrygracy8345]

Totally wrong on Throw Momma from the Train. It’s subtle, dark and funny.

[@gspendlove]

Throw Momma from the Train was Billy Crystal's best movie. None of the others come close. Danny made good use of Billy's talent, and he got a great performance out of Anne Ramsey.

[@jeanpaulmichell7243]

I agree. And Devito (while he borrows liberally from various sources, including Hitchcock) never quite got the recognition for how well he directed this and the handful of other films he's done. And I've always found this to be Crystal's most memorable (to me) role.

[@tomgcooktown5019]

I never care whether I agree with Roger or Gene or neither .. Their passion is a joy to watch .. I liked Throw Mamma just fine.. Holy Hunter is one of the great underrated actresses of our time .. TgT

[@kdohertygizbur]

I definitely disagree with you describing Holly Hunter as Underrated She Did win the Oscar and nominated 3 other times, she won 2 Emmy's and other accolades She made Many Great Films, so I'm not sure why you describe her as Underrated Cameron Diaz I would consider underrated as an example, in my opinion

[@richardenglish2195]

@@kdohertygizbur Critical praise isn't the same thing as popular acclaim. If you asked people in the street to name a Holly Hunter movie I suspect they'd probably struggle, whereas if you asked cinephiles or people in the industry it would be a different story.

[@kdohertygizbur]

@@richardenglish2195 I'm pretty sure 10 out of 10 people are able to name a Holly Hunter movie

[@richardenglish2195]

@@kdohertygizbur Batman v Superman doesn't count.

[@oldsilverdrew2471]

Both of them trashing Throw Momma from the Train says a lot about them- snobs.

[@quentinparhiala9415]

RIP William hurt

[@ricardocantoral7672]

Wall Street really is just Oliver's Stone dry lecture on Corporate America but Michael Douglas gave one hell of a performance.

[@cherylhulting1301]

Interesting that they liked "Broadcast News" so much. It's a favorite movie of mine and the performances are spot on (Gene's on the money about Holly stealing the movie). But even I see a few more issues with it than they mention, and James L. Brooks himself later felt he had written himself into a hole with the love triangle. His resolution of that situation is a bit weak. But hopefully he heard Roger's insightful point about all three characters being so focused on their busy careers that they let other aspects of their lives slide by. That's a thoughtful perspective and is better than the ending Brooks came up with.

[@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729]

yes, the end was a little too pat and sappy...

[@promeitheus]

Hey now Throw Mama is worth watching. Anne Ramsey’s performance by itself is reason enough for a 👍 regardless of Billy Crystal

[@kdohertygizbur]

She was GREAT

[@kristinschermann6581]

I LOVED James Spader (SO hot!!) but why does he always play a total jerk? It would be nice to see him as a good guy for once! (ok, so was sort of nice in White Palace) Anyone else agree?

[@thomasballard1753]

Wrong on throw mamma! This is why I stopped trusting "authorities". ;-) Of course in 2022, we're up against an entirely different story-telling ecosystem. Nevertheless... both of my thumbs are up regardless of what these masters had to say... between commercials. 🙂

[@danorthsidemang3834]

Empire of the Sun....like what a totally needless film for the 1980s.

[@doddsino]

Man... Gene's brain tumor was really acting up in this episode. 3 down thumbs for 3 iconic movies.

[@kdohertygizbur]

Iconic, please explain how any film or performance is ICONIC

[@nathanfitzgerald6651]

While I often disagreed with Ebert, he was clearly the better reviewer than Gene Siskel. I thought Ebert was more perceptive and had a better sense of humor than Siskel.