This week on Cisco and Ebert, Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins battle to survive the wilderness in the edge.
Vanessa Williams, Vivica Fox and Neil Long star in the comic drama Soul Food.
George Clooney and Nicole Kidman race to retrieve a stolen nuclear warhead in the Peacemaker.
I'm not afraid of the man who wants ten nuclear weapons, Colonel. I'm terrified of the man who only wants one.
Nuclear weapons have been stolen and it's up to a White House aide, Nicole Kidman and a Special Forces Colonel, George Clooney, to get them back again in the Peacemaker.
One of five new movies we'll be reviewing this week on Cisco and Ebert. I'm Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times.
And I'm Gene Cisco of the Chicago Tribune. Now the story of the Peacemaker might sound generic, a hunt for terrorists with nuclear warheads,
but the direction of this movie is exciting and I enjoyed looking at familiar situations through a new set of eyes.
In the Peacemaker, Nicole Kidman proves to be a credible, brainy presence in an action picture,
a high-ranking nuclear physicist in charge of tracking smuggled nuclear weapons.
Here we have the satellite imagery. This is the two trains approaching and here's the collision itself.
Now check out the field of regards. These two shots are at the same height because they occurred at the same time.
Look at the blast. It's two degrees higher after the satellites passed over.
Elapsed time between shots?
Between the train wreck and the detonation, four and a half minutes. Somebody set that nuclear weapon off. This was a terrorist act.
Kidman's partner in tracking the missiles and the terrorists is a military man played by George Clooney.
I thought he was really stiff in his last two pictures, one fine day in Batman and Robin,
but here he comes alive playing a character with guts and a very practical mind.
Where's the other warhead?
Please bring me up.
Listen to me very carefully. You are going to die unless you tell me where the other warhead is.
I don't know. He took it. He's gone.
Who?
I don't know his name.
And here's an example of solid direction by Mimi Leder in her feature filmmaking debut.
They've tracked the terrorist to the streets of New York where he is carrying the missing nuclear weapon in his backpack.
This is four. Target acquired 300 meters. Not clean. Too many friendlies.
Four, this is Leder. Take the shot.
It's a child, a family.
Acknowledge. Take the shot.
Come on.
Four, this is Leder. I repeat. Take the shot.
Take the shot.
I don't know how else to say it, but the Peacemaker is exciting.
The major performances are first rate and the story, though familiar, rushes by, I thought, with uncommon energy.
I was entertained, so thumbs up from me on the Peacemaker.
Thumbs down from me. I'm not sure how smart she is since George Clooney walks into her briefing,
corrects her, interrupts her, and interprets the material in a totally different way.
I mean, at one point she says, give me a man who knows how to take orders, and then she takes orders from him for the rest of the movie.
She can't do it alone.
Another thing, you use the word familiar two or three times in generic ones, and I think you're putting your finger on something.
This movie is not original. This is the first production of DreamWorks.
It seems to me they could have tried a little harder to give us a third act that was original instead of once more the countdown,
running against the clock, the ticking red digital readout.
We have seen that already this summer in four other movies, and we know exactly what's going to happen.
Did you like any of those four?
I did like some of them better than this one. Yes, I did.
However, I also gave thumbs down to Air Force One, you may recall.
But my point in asking that question is, there's an extra edge in your review because you don't,
it doesn't mean that because it has a ticking clock that it's necessarily bad, although I sighed when I saw that, too.
The point is, and I've seen it with other reviews of this picture, frankly, this DreamWorks, the Spielberg, Geffen, Katzenberg trio,
that everyone has high hopes for or whatever, or is envious of whatever.
Well, I couldn't have more regard for the three of them. I couldn't possibly.
I am finding that there's an extra edge in these reviews.
Okay, well, I'll give you the edge. They should have come up with a better movie than a routine formula summer thriller.
It is not routine because it is so well directed.
This woman in that chase scene on the streets of New York and in the hijacking sequence of the nuclear weapons really shows her stuff.
And she gets a real good performance out of George Clooney when no one else could have done it before on the big screen.
Okay, next movie, and our next movie is Soul Food, a warm-hearted story about a big African-American family in Chicago
and the competition between three sisters and the way traditions get passed down through the years.
The movie stars Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, and Nia Long as three daughters of a matriarch,
played wonderfully by Irma P. Hall, who presides every Sunday over a soul food dinner
at which family issues get discussed and sometimes argued over.
Now, I'm going to tell you something. One finger pointing to blame don't make no impact,
but you ball up all them fingers into a mighty fist and you can strike a mighty blow.
Now, this family got to be that fist.
There's a side story involving each of the sisters. Williams plays the most successful member of the family,
a lawyer married to another lawyer played by Michael Beach.
But his heart isn't in the law. He'd rather pursue his music career.
You work for a great firm with a great reputation.
You could make twice the amount of money if you spent more time on your job and quit this music crap.
If I want to take $5,000 of my money out of the bank, I'll do it.
Only $31,132 are yours.
The sister played by Nia Long runs a beauty shop and is newly married to a man with a criminal record
played here by Mackay Pfeiffer.
So now the only thing is I got to find a way to explain this to Bird.
What?
She's out of maintenance. I don't want to make it seem like I'm living off of her.
No, no, no. You don't want to tell it, man.
Why not?
Because you ain't got a job.
You don't want to tell a woman, especially a black woman, you ain't got a J-O-B.
Nia Long shares with the middle sister, played by Vivica A. Fox, how much she admires her.
Shoot, all I got is a husband and some kids.
Mama always said that you were the strongest one in the family.
I just want to say thank you for always supporting me.
You're my sister, girl.
The acting is strong by all the members of the ensemble, but I'd like to put in a special word for Irma P. Hall,
who in several movies recently, including A Family Thing and Nothing to Lose,
has emerged with a strong personality and real-screen charisma.
Soul Food is a comedy with some serious undertones and a lot of heart, and I liked it.
I liked it, too, and I hope this comes across as a compliment.
This show is almost how easy it is to make a good movie.
You know what I'm saying? It's not that complicated.
These roles are written well, they relate to reality.
You know my old test of would it be more interesting to have people talk at lunch or do the script?
In this case, probably roughly the same, because they're both about life as lived.
Look at this simple little picture.
Yeah, because the plot points are things that could come up in an ordinary life.
There could be a woman who is more successful and has kind of drifted away from the family.
There always is.
There could be everybody with an unhappy marriage.
There always is.
There could be the cousin who comes back from California and owes everybody money,
and that's enough. You don't have to then put in some kind of a mystery or some kind of an artificial construction.
You don't have to have a comic car crash or whatever they feel they have to jack up a movie with.
This is a good motion picture.
Okay, coming up later, Kevin Kleinis and Gordney Weaver in The Ice Storm.
You know, I think Elena might suspect something.
And coming up next, Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin are stranded and being tracked by a very determined bear in The Edge.
No!
American Express Small Business Services, how can I help you?
How can I help you?
Right, we only work with small businesses.
Why don't we start with your cash flow?
And our equipment financing plan will help spread out the payments.
That'll definitely give you more flexibility.
How about setting up a line of credit?
We can do that.
Then I'll put you in touch with one of our CPAs so you can start getting ready for tax time.
We can always make adjustments when your situation changes.
Call 1-800-SUCCESS to find out how American Express Small Business Services can help you do more.
The plan is nuts!
Deluxe makes nuts.
Actually, Koochie, perhaps we shouldn't. We have to watch what we eat.
Ah!
All this good stuff and no cholesterol?
I got the cashews, Koochie!
Fresh roasted taste, naturally delicious.
Planters, relax, go nuts!
K-N-C-R-V, K-N-C-R-V, number one in motor homes, K-N-C-R-V.
And right now, K-N-C-R-V is having a super sale with the largest selection and best prices in Colorado on all motor homes, trailers and fifth wheels.
Come out and see what's new in American Coach, Fleetwood, Winnebago, Georgia Boy, Coachman, Airbus, King of the Road and more.
Only at K-N-C-R-V, just 35 miles north of Denver on I-25.
All-star MVP Mike Piazza spends nine innings destroying his hair and 90 seconds bringing it back.
With Pert Plus, more than a shampoo, it conditions too. How?
As you shampoo, the conditioner stays suspended. Then as you rinse, the conditioners go to work, giving you great hair simply.
Perfect for Mike, because he wants great hair, but he'd rather be living in it than working on it. Wouldn't you?
Pert Plus. Simply great hair. Simply.
Run!
Billionaire executive Anthony Hopkins there ventures out into the Alaskan wilderness with two threats at his throat, a wild bear and a photographer played by Alec Baldwin who has designs on Hopkins' wife in the edge, a thriller that ends up being less profound, I think, than it would like to be.
Because it didn't matter to me how it ended. As the film begins, it's brains versus beauty, sort of, as the brainy Hopkins, married to a fashion model played by model Elvin Pearson,
goes on a camping trip with handsome Alec Baldwin who is in the wilderness to photograph Hopkins' wife.
Here are the plane carrying Hopkins, Baldwin and his assistant to a remote location that just crashed.
I once read an interesting book. It said that most people lost in the wilds, they die of shame.
What?
Yeah. See, they die of shame. What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this? And so they sit there and they die.
Because they didn't do the one thing which would have saved their lives. And what is that, Charles?
Thinking.
The script of The Edge was written by David Mamet and his dialogue is the best thing in the picture, the dialogue between two strong-willed men. It's refreshingly direct.
Why would I want to kill you, Charles? Why would I want to do that?
For my wife.
For Mickey?
Yeah.
That's a bizarre way the meat goes.
But once the battle between the men is joined, The Edge loses its edge. Plot contrivance is abound and here's where it simply didn't matter to me who emerged from this mano a mano victorious or this mano a claw as the bear attacks.
Come on! No! No!
Hopkins' performance is buttoned up and solid. Baldwin's character, however, meant nothing to me. All that mattered was the occasional smart line of dialogue from David Mamet's script.
But I'm afraid it's in service of a story that is a little more than a coin flip between life and death.
Well, of course, a coin flip would be an image that Mamet would be very familiar with. And I'm surprised that you don't think he should have written this material because you said it isn't very profound. It's not supposed to be profound.
This is a very low-key witty satire in which what Mamet is doing with this dialogue, he starts right out at the beginning by telling you something where Hopkins says to Baldwin,
the reason people die in the wilderness is out of shame, embarrassment, because they don't want to admit how stupid they are. And the smartest man will survive.
Now, the whole movie is about who is smarter and that's interesting because in killing the bear, for example, they use intelligence. They don't have a gun. They can't shoot the bear.
And so throughout the movie, it's just like almost like the mirror image of the usual wilderness.
I would just say just the opposite of you in the sense that Mamet can't help but write profound dialogue. Roger, he's that smart. And the sentence that you gave is profound.
And so the story that I'm watching is anything but that. It's kind of cornball, I think.
Two people and a bear in the wilderness. Now, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with that if the people are interesting and if the bear is interesting?
The bear wasn't interesting, number one. Oh, I was interested in the bear. Especially when it was chasing them.
It's a toss up. Oh, good. As opposed to hibernating. It's a real toss up between who's more interesting, Baldwin or the bear.
Oh, that's just a cheap one. It isn't. It's intended to be cheap because he is boring.
OK, well, it was cheap, so you succeeded. When we come back, a tragicomic look at life in suburban Connecticut starring Kevin Klein and Sigourney Weaver.
I have a husband.
I hope bonuses are good this year. I hope Shane makes the Fokker team.
I hope they have that new mountain bike I read about. I hope they take our offer on the house.
You have so much hope. Why not spread it around? Give to Mile High United Way. Hope starts here.
White lies. I ran out of gas. You losing a little weight? We tell them every day. Grown ups need to lie. But what if for 24 hours.
I couldn't tell a lie. You know why I pulled you over? They change lanes without signaling while running a red light. It's eating!
Liar Liar starring Jim Carrey is coming to home video September 30th. My teacher tells me real beauty is on the inside.
That's just something ugly people say. Liar Liar. It's a million laughs. Honest.
You ain't heard me like before. And now you're coming back for more. I hear you knocking. Coffee creamer hard to open. But you can't come in.
Try International Delight with our new flavor fresh pour spout. It's easier to open, less messy, and just a twist seals in the freshness.
So now, enjoying International Delight is as easy as this. Instead of this.
Try our two delicious new flavors. Cafe de Mexico and Southern Butter Pecan.
Thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday. And for all the material possessions that we have and enjoy.
And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands and stuff ourselves like pigs even though we're children of Asia or we may be home.
Enough. Enough. All right. Anger and discontent simmer under the surface as a suburban Connecticut family gathers for Thanksgiving dinner in 1973 in The Ice Storm.
The new movie by Ang Lee based on the novel by Rick Moody. And of course Ang Lee made Sense and Sensibility and The Wedding Banquet.
The parents there are played by Kevin Klein and Joan Allen whose marriage is on the rocks.
And the children are Toby Maguire just back from boarding school and wishes he wasn't there at all.
And Christina Rishi whose alienation has been channeled into sexual experimentation.
On the sex information front, the kids and their parents are completely out of touch as this heart to heart talk between Klein and Maguire illustrates.
Anyway, if you're worried about anything at all, just feel free to ask and we'll look it up.
Allen probably suspects that her husband is having an affair and she's right. He gets together the next afternoon with his neighbor Sigourney Weaver.
The guy talks nonstop throughout the entirety of the miserable 18 holes on topics that are the supposed domain of my department.
Ben. Yeah? You're boring me.
I have a husband. I don't particularly feel the need for another.
The sexual revolution is in full swing in the early 70s as these suburbanites learn about a new fad, a key party.
The men put their car keys in a bowl and at the end of the evening the women line up and fish them out and whoever they've got they go home with.
The ice storm is like a high wire act which balances all at the same time tragedy, comedy and satire.
It seems completely realistic at times and at other times it slips in wicked dialogue that exposes its characters as shallow, preoccupied and overwhelmed by the latest mantras of political correctness.
Yes, human hearts and feelings beat beneath their bourgeois superficiality and by the end of the film we care very deeply about what's happened in its writing and direction and in the way the cast handles the tricky nuances of this material and the direction changes.
The ice storm is one of the year's best movies.
I thought so too Roger and I want to focus on the word you use properly, nuances.
We don't see too many movies that have nuances like this that have subtext and I felt a real sadness at the end of this picture in this way.
Because I saw the human condition of a lot of people put on the screen.
The kids and the parents are out of touch. The father comes home and he says I'm back. The son says were you away?
He doesn't know that his father's been away on a business trip. The parents are using sex as a substitution for communication.
The kids see it and they try to use sex too but they don't know what they're doing.
Usually in these pictures it's either the parents who are the right and the kids are wrong or the reverse, right?
But they're all stuck.
They're all.
This is a wonderful film. I hope that this is an Academy Award nominee. I think it deserves to be.
You know what? It's going to need a lot of push because the title and the subject matter, the sophistication of it don't recommend themselves to a 30 second ad.
Yeah.
They don't. And that's another compliment to the picture.
I hope people find it.
The Queen stars in a dual role as the world's most dangerous terrorist and the Navy officer who agrees to impersonate him in the assignment coming up next.
I bet he was a cute kid.
Cute? I was adorable.
And I'll bet your mother made you popcorn on a stove with real melted butter.
She knew what I liked.
Like that Pop Secret made with real butter.
I love my mother.
Didn't your mother teach you how to share?
Pop Secret with real butter is the only microwave popcorn made with real Land O' Lakes butter.
By the way, I'm still cute.
Not that cute.
Pop Secret popcorn. So good it's one secret no one wants to share.
Give me the popcorn.
Hey, stranger. Where you been?
I don't smoke anymore.
Sorry. I mean, it's great. How'd you do it?
Nicoderm CQ.
CQ? Isn't that the patch with the three steps?
I'm doing the steps.
While Nicotrol has only one step, CQ has three. So you gradually step down your dose the way doctors and pharmacists prefer.
Steps, Dad. The way to go.
Nicoderm CQ. The power to calm, the power to comfort, the power to quit successfully.
Our next film is a thriller about the attempted capture of the international terrorist known as the Jackal, who was the object of a real worldwide manhunt in the 1970s.
A high ranking CIA officer played by Donald Sutherland has a plan.
He wants to train a look-alike Jackal played by Aidan Quinn to pretend to be the real Jackal and thus place the pseudo Jackal in a compromising position.
The governments of most of the countries in the free world have been trying to get Carlos for the past ten years.
And they have come up with absolutely nothing.
Because there's really only one way to get him, which is to say there is exactly only one person in the whole world who can get him.
Here's an example of the psychological warfare that Sutherland uses on his supposed ally, Quinn.
How do you think it's going to look in your jacket? Your country came to you requesting help and you turned it down?
Not exactly promotion material. You know what I mean?
The plot becomes more complicated when pretending to be the cold-hearted Jackal affects the way Quinn behaves at home with his wife, Claudia Ferry.
People are chilling out there. And I'm one of them.
I've murdered people. Not clean and surgical firing a missile from some sub, but close with a gun so that their brains splattered on me.
Well again, in my opinion, as I felt with the Edge, it really didn't matter to me how the assignment ended.
Here's another screenplay I think lacking a real soul. It's just mindless action and therefore a disappointment for me.
And by the way, does anybody really think the assignment is a good title for an action picture?
Well Gene, I cared a lot how it ended. And as a matter of fact, this movie has a third act.
And it continues to develop mystery and intrigue and character stuff right up to the end.
This is the smartest of the three thrillers on this show. And it's the best of the three thrillers on this show.
And if you didn't care how this ended or the Edge ended, why did you care how the Peacemaker ended since you knew how it was going to end?
Since the odds are that Manhattan isn't going to be destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
Because again, the direction. Here I thought that yes, they are trying something. You're correct in this one.
It's a really, really well directed film. How about just the opening titles? They were astonishing by this director from Montreal.
You mentioned the last act and that's where I thought it was confused actually.
Oh no, it isn't confused. It's confusing. That's different. Because what happens at the end is you have two people who both could be the other one.
This is like the ultimate extension of Face Off.
What I'm saying is there should have been a more narrative drive in that final sequence and it wasn't there.
I thought there was. I thought at the end of the movie my intelligence was not insulted.
I walked out of the theater still trying to figure out exactly what the implications of everything were. This is a good movie.
If you were still trying to figure out, I guess I would have liked to see it resolved.
No, no, no. I was happy not to have it resolved in that sense.
I wasn't. When we come back, the story of Selena is out on video and it's Roger's Video Pick of the Week.
Flanders nuts. Deluxe makes nuts.
Actually, Coochie, perhaps we shouldn't. We have to watch what we eat.
You call this good stuff no cholesterol? I got the cashews, Coochie.
Fresh roasted taste. Naturally delicious.
Flanders. Relax. Go nuts.
Parenting is a constant learning process. What you have to do is prioritize.
Back in 88, Earl wanted to retire, spend more time with Tiger.
My dad taught me. I met an American Express financial advisor.
He's a personal friend of mine to this day. We trust each other because we've got a track record.
It's about making smarter decisions. We're a team and that's when dreams can happen.
American Express financial advisors.
Quiet, Shaggy. Let's pretend this is Mile High Stadium. This is all the tailgaters. They're four by fours. You know, hamburgers, brats.
And then you drive in with your date in a tiny hatchback that'll hold nothing more than a big gulp and a couple of ham sandwiches.
Is there any way to impress your date? I mean, you blow it like the Broncos at the Super Bowl.
So what are you gonna do? Go to Rocky's Autos? Precisely. This is Colorado's number one auto dealership.
Rocky's Autos with the largest selection of four by fours. But hurry, they won't last forever.
Now let's get out of here before the boss sees his desk.
Visit Rocky's at 63rd and Federal for Colorado's largest selection of trucks.
Anyone who's lived in Colorado knows that the weather can change in an instant.
That's why Seven News and Peerless Tire have put together these winter driving safety tips to get you through the season.
Now's the time to check your antifreeze and wiper fluid.
It's also a good idea to keep a flashlight, blanket, and ice scraper in your car and check your tires for signs of wear and tear.
You can also stop by any Peerless Tire store and receive a free tire inspection to make sure your car is up to the task of winter driving.
And for coming in, you'll receive a free Seven News ice scraper.
Get ready for winter with Peerless Tire and Seven News.
Siskel and Ebert's Video Pick of the Week is brought to you by Nestle Raisinettes.
At the movies or at home, Raisinettes.
My video pick this week is Selena, the story of a young Mexican-American from Corpus Christi who was just tasting stardom when her life was cut short.
Jennifer Lopez, a rising young star, gives a terrific performance in the movie.
There's a lot of music in the film with Lopez lip syncing recorded hits as in this performance of one of Selena's signature songs.
Selena, my video pick of the week.
Now let's take another look at the movies we reviewed on this show.
A split decision on The Peacemaker with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.
Gene thought it was a very well directed thriller, but I thought the characters were shallow and the ending reworked tired old cliches.
Two thumbs up for the big hearted family drama Soul Food and for its strong ensemble acting.
A split decision on The Edge.
I like the wit and irony of David Mamet's screenplay, but Gene was left cold by the Alec Baldwin character.
Two big thumbs up for The Ice Storm with its comedy, drama and satire.
We both think it's one of the best films of the year and definite Oscar material.
Finally, a split vote on The Assignment starring Aidan Quinn and Donald Sutherland.
I enjoyed it as a smart and absorbing thriller, but Gene was underwhelmed.
Remember, you can check our votes and hear our reviews of recent movies at our website.
The address is Cisco-Ebert.com and that's it for this week.
Next week we'll be back with reviews of more new movies including U-Turn, Oliver Stone's darkly comic thriller,
Also Kiss the Girl with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd on the Trail of a Serial Killer.
That's next week and until then the balcony is closed.
Our Honey Peanut Balanced Nutrition Bar is stirring up a lot of attention these days.
This all-natural snack satisfies hunger for hours in a variety of delicious flavors you won't soon forget.
The Game of Knowledge, the fun and educational game with two levels of questions that challenge kids and parents in six exciting categories.
The Game of Knowledge from University Games.
If you're a homeowner looking to consolidate bills, call First Plus.
You'll get an answer on your loan before you hang up. Call 1-800-510-PLUS.
Now you can lower your cholesterol without drugs with Calestin Dietary Supplement.
The natural way to healthy cholesterol and a healthier you.
If you own your own...