Siskel and Ebert on the 1989 Batman Movie

As I think back there were two things I had that talked seriously about art when I was growing up. Rolling Stone magazine and Siskel and Ebert. I can directly attribute my love of Was (Not Was) to a review from Rolling Stone.

I was first attracted to Siskle and Ebert because of their supposed arguing, and they did argue. But to me they were a revelation, They were my first example of two adults discuss seriously the merits of a piece of art. I bet their show created a billion new little critics and here we are clogging the intertubes with our shit.

I just found their review of the 1989 Batman movie and I find myself agreeing with both of them in a way. That is another aspect of their show that I loved, they could completely disagree on a movie but both would have a valid reason why they felt that way. That was a revelation to me. Often when that happened they would compromise like they do at the end of this review, showing that compromise isn't a weakness but a strength.