AndyDursin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:08 pm LOL that's crazy!

I never had any experience with Beta, just heard from you and others that the quality was better. But your experience is matched with that clip where Hendren even mentions "people say VHS is more reliable". For the money associated with Beta as format and Sony's technical expertise it surprises me they had more technical issues with the format they didn't iron out...was it something with the tapes or more the machines themselves?

Went went through two Beta Hi-Fis. The first one was (I believe) a Sanyo -- which we returned within a couple of weeks since it kept mistracking (especially on rental tapes).

We replaced it with a much more expensive Sony deck (which we got at a discount from the same place that had sold us the Sanyo). It worked much better -- but could be temperamental. I had a lot of problems with the player displaying the black screen -- even on tapes recorded by that very same deck! In time I realized that the Sony tapes, ironically, often did not play back properly (i.e. giving me the "black screen of death"). I eventually found that Fuji tapes worked best, and were pretty-much trouble free.

Rental tapes continued to be a hit and miss though. Sometimes a rental tape would play fine from start to finish -- but if I wanted to re-watch the tape it would mistrack.

I dunno -- maybe we got stuck with a couple of lemons. But my gut feeling is Sony and others rushed the Beta HiFi units onto the market before the bugs were fully worked out (in order to be ahead of VHS).

Picture and sound quality was great -- when it worked. Audio especially -- I even used Beta tapes briefly to make back-up audio copies of some out-of-print LPs and CDs I owned.

But that player was a lot like my old VW Golf -- a blast to drive but maddeningly unreliable!

Not sure who's linking to it, but I have 2500 views on this July 1988 show where Siskel & Ebert wax poetic on THE DEAD POOL while delivering a split reaction to a little action movie, reviewed at the very end, named DIE HARD! (And it's not Gene who delivers the Thumbs DOWN verdict )

Free at last

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Video title: "Siskel & Ebert Classics - 6/8/89 - Star Trek V, Dead Poets Society"

- The YouTube Team

When movies were movies -- the best of 1990. Ironically though Siskel says it wasn't that great a year -- can only imagine what he'd have thought of 2020.

No argument on the Best Film of the year either for me!!

I tried watching The Freshman. I fell asleep.

After Dark My Sweet however was an excellent and very underrated movie. Also has one of Maurice Jarre's best electronic scores.

But I can't say I share Siskel's love for The Godfather Part III.

Sorry to go with popular opinion but Dances With Wolves was my favorite of that year!

I thought Ghost was one on of the best of 1990, as was The Hunt For Red October.

Always weird to me when people brush off Die Hard 2 as "the bad one" when -- as Siskel's placement on his top-ten list attests -- it was extremely well-reviewed in the summer of 1990.

Personal preference here but for me, GOODFELLAS is the classic piece of cinema from 1990 that people still watch and respond to.

THE FRESHMAN is funny stuff too...I wasn't ever crazy about it, but it's quite enjoyable...I think mob movies just may not be your bag Paul??!

Always weird to me when people brush off Die Hard 2 as "the bad one" when -- as Siskel's placement on his top-ten list attests -- it was extremely well-reviewed in the summer of 1990.

Internet trolls don't know what they're talking about. DIE HARD 3 blows, nobody felt it was better than 2 when it opened. Like, literally nobody.

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 1:49 pm Internet trolls don't know what they're talking about. DIE HARD 3 blows, nobody felt it was better than 2 when it opened. Like, literally nobody.

People are so far up John McTiernan's ass ("Nobody had a three-movie run like McT in the late 80s...!") that they refuse to acknowledge what a shoddy piece of work With A Vengeance is. The visual effects are TERRIBLE, the shaky-cam action sequences are badly designed and realized (with one exception...the brief shootout in the elevator, a bit cribbed by the second Captain America), the reshot ending a total whiff and the endless Black & White bantering between Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson gets tiresome really quick, like they were trying to cram three racially-charged Lethal Weapon or 48 Hrs.-style buddy-cop movies into one. Live Free Or Die Hard certainly has its flaws (the compromised PG-13 rating, and I could have done without the visit to Kevin Smith's basement "command center"), but, in comparison to the slipshod WAV, it's a far more satisfactory and exciting action movie, very well-directed by Len Wiseman (who, like Die Harder's Renny Harlin, is certainly no "auteur", but is a slick, efficient action filmmaker who was given all the support by an ace production team and generous budget he could have wanted, and responded with admirable finesse). Plus, MEW.

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 1:49 pm Personal preference here but for me, GOODFELLAS is the classic piece of cinema from 1990 that people still watch and respond to.

I do think Goodfellas is a great movie -- I've actually seen it several times. But Dances with Wolves is more "my kind" of movie (plus it has one of John Barry's best scores -- Goodfellas has that noisy song soundtrack!).

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY bucked the usual "February Dumping Grounds" trend and became big hits in 1991 -- this show I recorded off WPIX and has the original ads:



2 weeks later, Gene & Roger were right back to what we'd USUALLY see in January and February during the 80s and early 90s -- an ALL Thumbs Down show with bombs like NOTHING BUT TROUBLE and SCENES FROM A MALL.

Time for some Leonard Maltin reviews!!

One of my favorite Sneak Previews shows -- with Jeffrey Lyons and Neal Gabler -- has them heading on location to a drive-in, where they review a slew of Summer '85 hits (THE GOONIES, ST ELMOS FIRE, PALE RIDER, EMERALD FOREST and COCOON).

Running through the remaining episodes I've yet to upload to Youtube -- mostly from my college years -- this one from November '93 includes RUDY, GETTYSBURG and a long forgotten Richard Gere movie MR JONES. Interestingly the clips of the latter Siskel & Ebert ran all included John Williams' score from THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST tracked underneath.

In the past few weeks I've listened to two different podcasts that both had Siskel & Ebert themed episodes.

One is Battle of the Network Shows, a podcast with two guys who discuss various TV shows from the 70's and 80's. It's a laid back show that doesn't always deal with the most famous or representative episodes for whichever show they talk about. Their latest podcast episode features a discussion of a 1989 episode of Siskel & Ebert in which the critics review Batman, Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Ghostbusters II. I enjoyed what the podcast hosts had to say.

The other podcast is one I can only recommend with reservations. it's called Downlow.d and goes over the history of Ain't it Cool News. There's some interesting info about the rise of nerd culture but the host descends into the far-left cliché of attributing poor behavior on the part of Harry Knowles and other people involved with his website to the fact they are (say it with me) straight, white and male. Sigh. Anyway a recent bonus episode featured an interview with Don Dupree who directed Siskel & Ebert for many years. That episode is worth listening to. Listen to the main feed at your discretion.

Anyway a recent bonus episode featured an interview with Don Dupree who directed Siskel & Ebert for many years.

I'm going to check that out John, thanks!