History Awesome / SiskelAndEbert

* Any time an episode had movies that all received two thumbs up, such as the episode where they reviewed ''Film/{{Armistad}}'', ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', ''Film/Titanic1997'', and ''The Apostle''.

* Any time an episode had movies that all received two thumbs up, such as the episode where they reviewed ''Amistad'', ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', ''Film/Titanic1997'', and ''The Apostle''.

--> '''Ebert''': If you were to name the top three people responsible for violence in movies today, as far as the box office is concerned, Creator/OliverStone wouldn't be anywhere on that list. The three top names would be [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Schwarzenegger]], [[Creator/SylvesterStallone Stallone]], and [[Creator/BruceWillis Bruce Willis]]. And what do those three names have in common? Conservative Republicans who donate a lot of money to the party, and so somehow, Dole doesn't mention those. In fact, he recommends the Schwarzenegger picture, ''Film/TrueLies'', says he likes it, even though he hasn't seen that ''either'', yet he says he doesn't like "loveless sex" in the movies. If he had ''seen'' "True Lies", he would've seen a scene in which a woman stripteases for a man she doesn't know is her own husband! I bet he really would've considered that to be "love in marriage". He doesn't seem to be able to make the connection between real things that make a difference in our society, and the shadows of those things, which are the movies. He approves of guns in the streets, but he doesn't approve of guns on the screen. So it seems to me that by making this speech, based on movies he hasn't seen, hasn't thought about, he's basically revealing himself as somebody who only wants to cater to what he thinks is his constituency, doesn't want to make a serious contribution to the national debate.

* Any time an episode had movies that all revived two thumbs up, such as the episode where they reviewed ''Armistad'', ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', ''Film/Titanic1997'', and ''The Apostle''.

-->'''Ebert''': Now, what do I know about Nintendo? Very little. But I know ''this''. I once got to the ''second level'' of ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''. And so in this movie, when they talk about "Hey, I got to the third level!", and they show the screen, even dummy like ''me'', I know enough that [[PacManFever they only got to the]] ''[[PacManFever first]]'' [[PacManFever level!]]

* Ebert proves his wisdom on film criticism (such as comparing/contrasting similar movies instead of comparing apples and oranges) when the duo reviewed ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'':

* Siskel and Ebert devoted an entire segment in a 1995 episode to calling out Bob Dole's ignorant MoralGuardian comments on recent movies, including criticizing his ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch and PraisingShowsYouDontWatch.

* After Siskel gives a thumbs up review to ''Film/BrokenArrow'', Ebert's thumbs down review is so well-argued that Siskel actually changes his vote, the ''only'' time that happened to either of them in the entire series.

--> '''Ebert''': Y'know, Gene, I was talking to Barbara Kopple, who won two Academy Awards. And she said, "This committee is in love with talking heads and stock footage." And that's exactly what they are. These old-fashioned television-oriented films, with battleships bombing the beaches of Normandy while some deep voice says how many troops went ashore. They are not interested in living, breathing documentaries, and there's another problem, and that is: The committee that picks these documentaries is volunteers, mostly retired people, not most of them documentarians at all. But, they have four hours free, two nights a week, for eleven weeks, to see 64 documentaries, almost 100 hours of documentaries. So they go night after night, and they get to know each other, and they chat, and they arrive, and they leave. And until this year, they had a chairman. This year, the woman who was the chairman stepped aside for the year because she had a film that was in the running, and what do you know? They nominated it. It's the Stockholm Syndrome. They're so friendly, that of course they wanted to do her a favor. And every year, if you go back year after year and look at the nominees, you'll find one or two nominees that are
''fishy'', because the people that manipulate the committee are trying to get their pictures nominated. This situation stinks, it's rotten, and until the Academy reforms it, they have shame on their name.

--> '''Ebert''': If you were to name the top three people responsible for violence in movies today, as far as the box office is concerned, Creator/OliverStone wouldn't be anywhere on that list. The three top names would be [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Schwarzenegger]], [[Creator/SylvesterStallone Stallone]], and [[Creator/Bruce Willis Bruce Willis]]. And what do those three names have in common? Conservative Republicans who donate a lot of money to the party, and so somehow, Dole doesn't mention those. In fact, he recommends the Schwarzenegger picture, ''Film/TrueLies'', says he likes it, even though he hasn't seen that ''either'', yet he says he doesn't like "loveless sex" in the movies. If he had ''seen'' "True Lies", he would've seen a scene in which a woman stripteases for a man she doesn't know is her own husband! I bet he really would've considered that to be "love in marriage". He doesn't seem to be able to make the connection between real things that make a difference in our society, and the shadows of those things, which are the movies. He approves of guns in the streets, but he doesn't approve of guns on the screen. So it seems to me that by making this speech, based on movies he hasn't seen, hasn't thought about, he's basically revealing himself as somebody who only wants to cater to what he thinks is his constituency, doesn't want to make a serious contribution to the national debate.

* Siskel continued to do reviews from his hospital bed, communicating through a phone despite his illness. That's dedication.

** Siskel then points out a similar but more blatant way of knowing they lied: he managed to catch a glimpse of the lower left-hand corner of the screen and saw that the score had jumped from 300 to 500, meaning the game had ''just started''.

-->'''Ebert''': Now, what do I know about Nintendo? Very little. But I know ''this''. I once got to the ''second level'' of ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''. And so in this movie, when they talk about "Hey, I got to the third level!", and they show the screen, even dummy like ''me'', I know enough that [[PacManFever they only got to the]] ''[[PacManFever first]]'' [[PacManFever level!]]

* Ebert's epic rant against ProductPlacement and Creator/BillCosby selling out during their review of ''Film/LeonardPart6''.

* The episode "Hollywood's Outdated Ratings System", a pre-NC-17 episode that both called out hypocrisy among the MPAA and championed for an adults only rating that isn't porn.

'''Ebert''': ...To listen to what we say instead of looking at the dumb thumbs and the dumb stars, because there are gradations and ''contexts'' that go on.