Roger Ebert & The Movies: 10-31-99

Note: Aired on Halloween and yet it's a "Thumbs Up" episode! Only disagreement for me with these two are their recommendation on "Music of the Heart". I'll explain below.

Roger Ebert and Guest Critic, Harry Knowles from "Ain't it Cool News" reviews "The Insider" (A Remarkable Drama about one man who works for the Tobacco Industry telling the inside story on National Television. From Michael Mann. Starring: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer.); "Princess Mononoke" (Hayao Miyazaki's Incredible Action Fantasy about a young warrior and a wolf princess! Starring: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thorton, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gillian Anderson and Keith David.); "Being John Malkovich" (A Bizarre but Brilliant Comedy/Drama on the discovery of an Actor's Head through a small strange portal at an office from Writer/Director, Spike Jonze. Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener and of course, John Malkovich himself. Also stars Charlie Sheen.); "Music of the Heart" (I hated it! It's an overly sentimental formulaic soap-opera drama that has "TV Movie of the Week" with Great Actors about a Music Teacher helping all the students from struggling. We seen that so many times before and to make matters worse, an awful title song featuring *shudder* N'Sync with Gloria Estefan who one of the stars of the film and a very talented Cuban singer stuck doing a duet with this horrible boy band! Of course, it's directed by not other than legendary horror director, Wes Craven. Who like Sam Raimi did with "For the Love of the Game" with Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston that same year, should stick to horror and suspense thrillers and not soapy dramas! Strongly disagree with both of them completely. Starring: Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Aidan Quinn and Gloria Estefan.) and "Man of the Century".

Video Spotlight: Ebert's pick is Walt Disney's Wonderful Animated Classic, "Pinocchio" (1940) on VHS and DVD (Luckily, the Blu-ray/DVD Combo I have has Bells and Whistles which is more Special Features). And a recap of Today's Program.

Recorded on KATU ABC 2 in Portland, Oregon with Commercials intact.