Siskel & Ebert: The Future of the Movies

Despite "The Future of the Movies" being a distant past now, it holds a certain relevance now just to see how visionary Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas were about their fears and expectations about their careers and how movies would be seen in the no longer futuristic 1990's. It was expected that Lucas would look at the first episodes of Star Wars (only in 1999 the first part would see the light of day); Spielberg was uncertain if he would ever "grow up" as serious director and prefer not to disclose any future projects but that was the decade he gave us "Jurassic Park", "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan", all the awards he deserved; Scorsese was the most firm and certain when asked about what kind of genre he would like to work and that he never had done: a romantic piece. He said he was working on something but didn't say what was. Now we know "The Age of Innocence", a work in progress since the 1980's.

Although the interviews conducted by film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert have some good insights about the technological advances that could be a threat to the movie-going experience, yet technologies that would help preserve the old classics with new restorations - and all three directors were part of this enterprise - and plenty of other good topics, it's not so exciting to see. Sometimes the talk goes way too long almost losing its purpose, specially with Spielberg trying to be diplomatic about the fact he'll never stop being a kid or being the amazing entertainer he is but his views are better presented than the ones from Lucas. Marty is the greatest here. It's fascinating to see him admitting he wouldn't be capable of making the same movies Spielberg did back then (visual effects, box-office records, prestige and awards, something destined to all audiences), barely imagining that one day he would approach the master with "Hugo". In the end, they weren't far from the truth and the 1990's proved to be pretty good for all of them. Nostalgic show. The low rating is getting here is insignificant, they don't know what they've missed. 8/10

Siskel & Ebert: The Future of the Movies (1990)

George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese are interviewed in this special episode of Siskel & Ebert that talks about their past films as well as the future of their movies and movies in general.

I always loved watching this television show and watching this episode twenty-seven years after it was first shown was quite interesting. Of course, both Siskel and Ebert have passed away but the three directors are still with us and the topics they discuss are quite interesting. This includes them talking about their favorite shot from one of their films and there's a very interesting discussion about where their futures are going to go in the 90s.

Scorsese talks about him not being able to make a film like Spielberg would. One of the most interesting moments has Siskel somewhat grilling Spielberg about growing up and maybe taking on more adult pictures. Of course, this was a few years away from his first Oscar win for a very serious drama. Lucas also talks about the type of computer work that he is doing and discusses the possibility of more STAR WARS films.

There's even some discussion about film preservation and it's interesting to hear them talk about things that have came true as well as a few things that still haven't happened. If your'e a film buff you should really enjoy these interviews and especially seeing where things are today.

Episode: A