Siskel & Ebert (1996): Before & After, Rumble in the Bronx, Mary Reilly, Unforgettable & Mr. Wrong

[@jwyh4162]

Gotta love how Gene enjoyed the bad English dubbing in Rumble in the Bronx.

[@DannyCosmos]

im so glad they gave rumble in the bronx thumbs up. they understood what it was and didnt get all artsy fartsy and snobby and asked for more plot or story. they understood and enjoyed it for what it was.

[@Jbaxter85]

Rumble in the Bronx 👍🌟🌟🌟

[@DannyCosmos]

im so glad they understood the point and they didnt act all snoby wanting more plot or story. they took it for what it was.

[@steveb7932]

love siskel calling jack chan the cagney of martial arts

[@reneedennis2011]

I like A Rumble in the Bronx.

[@goldentaco4970]

I had never heard of that Before and After. But after seeing the scenes they show, I want to see it. If the rest of the movie is like that, I think I would really enjoy. "You don't know what the movie is about." Well, maybe ole Gene and Roger were never as perceptive as we thought.

[@middleagenerd]

It's a shit movie. they explained why it is trash.

[@vigilante8374]

You'll likely be disappointed. I think I can tell you what the movie is "about" that S&E didn't quite nail down, but it wasn't interesting or satisfying at all. It's actually the worst family melodrama I've ever seen, Lifetime Original Movies included. I'll avoid spoilers, but really I'd advise against wasting your time on it. It's about the dad trying to save his son and the wife/mother (and maybe also to a lesser extent the daughter, but I forget) having this REALLY naive, just kindergarten-level attitude towards the importance of telling the truth to the cops, just 100% honesty, and just because it's the right thing to do. The whole movie feels like an attempt at a "doing the right thing" vs. self-interest theme... which is often a good theme but this movie's execution of it was abysmal. It's alternately boring, annoying and downright unbelievable. I've never met a single adult in real life who behaves or thinks quite like the mother does, even the superlatively honest ones. At best, her performance was confusing and at worst it was nails-on-a-chalkboard, pseudo-moralizing blather that is *not* vindicated by the end of the movie... and yet the tone of the movie feels like it wants us to think she's vindicated. If that makes any sense. Basically, if the story of 'what really happened' we're eventually told is true (it's eventually shown in a flashback, and we're given no real reason to doubt it), then justice is *not* really served by the end of the movie and the mother's attitude didn't serve any purpose whatsoever. And yet, despite this, it really feels like the movie *wants* us to sympathize and agree with her. I think this is where S&E came from by questioning what the movie is even about: the apparent moral of the story is so weak and illogically duct-taped together (and the mother is such an uninteresting parody of what an actual honesty-obsessed person would sound like) that I can see how it could feel like nothing was being said at all. And there's nothing else in the movie to care about: The characters are all unsympathetic (except the father) and boring, the legal showdown angle ultimately feels like a pointless waste of time and "what really happened" turns out to be pretty damn uninteresting. This is all based on some 25+ year old memories, mind you. (I probably would've forgotten about it entirely if it hadn't been so damn odd and annoyingly laid out.)

[@kevinmcdonald6477]

​@@vigilante8374I agree with your assessment of this film. But, Boy are you overly expensive in your view. The movie was a drab, boring suckfest. No more, no less.

[@vigilante8374]

@@kevinmcdonald6477 I've actually been tinkering with the concept of starting a movie review channel where I give everything detailed negative reviews. But this was special; it's something much worse than a boring suckfest. Ebert hinted at this in his print review: what is the point of the movie, the message or moral? Ebert was confused and concerned it might have been pro-lying but I think that would've been a big improvement over what we got. It's not just boring, it's downright confused about what real moral dilemmas look like. [spoilers] The dad is impetuous and becase the mom chooses to act like a moral toddler--because of what she chooses to do--people get punished for years over what was ostensibly an accident... which was (IIRC) instigated by the girl assaulting John Conner. And then the movie ends. What was the point of all that? What is the message? And how is that justice? Simply being extremely dull would be an improvement over that car wreck of an ending. Having someone cave Streep's forehead in with a Louisville Slugger would've been an improvement. Etc. (Oh yeah, and on top of all that the legal stuff isn't realistic, either. People don't get out in a couple years after a teenage girl is killed, not if there is lying and covering up involved. Where were the parents of the girl with venom in their eyes, screaming that they didn't believe the boy and that they wanted justice?)

[@KevinVSmith-hr9py]

Mary Reilly is an underrated masterpiece.

[@Harkness78]

I like how Malkovich looks and sounds exactly the same as Jekyll and Hyde, his hair just turns dark and grows long I guess.....

[@jamesmitchell8922]

Rumble in the Bronx is obviously the best film of the week.

[@ryangettig274]

Give Godspeed Ray Liotta:)Unforgettable is really good-John Dahl who did Red Rock West & The Last Seduction did it,Check It Out:)Ray was also great in Killing Them Softly & Turbulence:)

[@kevinmcdonald6477]

Liotta is almost always great in his roles. Turbulence was a really bad film though. I loved him in an underseen No Escape and Narc with Jason Patric was gritty and well acted. Of course Goodfellas would always be difficult to top. What I loved about Ray was that he was versatile. He could play serious, psychotic or funny equally well. R.I.P.

[@jimmckee771]

Julia Roberts' accent in those clips is laughable. Was that supposed to be an Irish accent?

[@blastbeatindustries3191]

Julia Roberts is terrible.

[@kevinmcdonald6477]

The most overrated, over lauded, unattractive and annoying actresses of recent or distant memory. Did you hear her supposed brogue in "Michael Collins"? It was the female equivalent of Tom Cruise's alleged Irish accent in "Far and Away". Why is it so rare to find American actors who are capable of doing a credible foreign accent yet there have been many European and Australlian actors who pull off an American accent seemlessly?

[@vigilante8374]

@@kevinmcdonald6477 The ability of foreign actors to "seemlessly" pull off American accents is usually grossly overstated. Hugh Laurie, for instance, has an over the top exaggerated American accent (and doesn't even maintain it consistently) yet is usually praised for it.

[@Hellraiser0601]

I'm not questioning their ethics, but I wonder what was the *real* motivation behind the thumbs up for "Mary Reilly"... That movie is a turd.

[@DannyCosmos]

they have surprised us before.

[@Patrick19833]

@@DannyCosmos Yeah like Speed 2!

[@CR055FIRE]

Incredible review of Rumble in the Bronx, a movie I didn't even like.

[@crakatoot5480]

Mary Riley is a Truly Awful film.

[@DannyCosmos]

i was about to watch it based on this review... i should trust you more than siskel and ebert?

[@crakatoot5480]

@@DannyCosmos Mary Riley, at the end of the day, is quite boring. The whole movie is so slow and plodding. Roberts is horribly miscast. Malcovich gives a very underwhelming performance. And the story really goes nowhere.

[@DannyCosmos]

@@crakatoot5480 ok you convinced me. I hate boring movies

[@crakatoot5480]

@@DannyCosmos good call

[@jamesmitchell8922]

Mary Reilly is bad