When I wrote yesterday about my love of streaming video on the web, it was really just part one of my blog entry. I didn't have time to talk about the newest and most welcome web video treasure trove: The The Balcony Archives debuted online Thursday. All of the movie reviews to have ever appeared on Siskel and Ebert's and now on Ebert and Roeper's movie review shows are online and searchable.
I grew up in Wisconsin. With my rabbit ear antennae on my little TV, I could just barely pick up the distant and flickering images of the Chicago public TV station where Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did their first program, and I followed them to commercial TV when their show became "Sneak Previews", then "At the Movies," and then "Siskel and Ebert."
I still have a VHS copy of the tribute show Roger did for Gene Siskel after Gene passed away. They were unique as critics in that their exchanges were often more entertaining than the movies they reviewed.
After Gene's death, the show carried on with guest hosts until settling on Richard Roeper who has now grown comfortable with Roger, and I in time grew comfortable with him. As Roger recovers from his own health crisis, Richard has done a fine job of holding down the fort.
Incidentially, when Roger made his first public appearance again after his surgury, I put some video of him and his wife on the site:
Now the great news is that every single review that Roger, Gene and Richard have ever done can be accessed on their website. Just do a quick search and the review pops right up. My confession here...the first movie I searched for was "Battlefield Earth." I wanted to cozy up to some good old fashion thumbs down action.
But to see Gene again, I chose next their classic disagreement over "Blue Velvet." Gene never let Roger forget that he gave David Lynch's film a thumbs down. I love seeing them spar once again.
Some day I may tell you of the time I met Roger and Gene, or even better, the time I was told "Don't let Mike Tyson walk through that door."
Til then, the balcony is closed.
