Did anyone see the Siskel and Ebert special over the weekend?

The tall one said that nominating Kate Winslet was the worst mistake the Academy made this year. He also seemed to be consumed by the fact that Leonardo Decaprio was not nominated. Personally, I thought that Billy Zane's portrayal of Cal was worthy enough to at least be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I enjoyed his performance much more that Leo's.

In discussing Kate,the tall one said that her character was too bland and that any actress could have played that role. As an example of how bland she was, he showed two clips from the film: 1) where Cal gives her the diamond necklace and 2) where Jack tells her how he feels about her in the gymnasium. Unless I am mistaken, she was supposed to have been somewhat subdued in those scenes. Why not show some of her very emotional scenes?

The fat one did not think she should win the Oscar, but at least he thought she should have been nominated. When the fat one said that "My Heart Will Go On" should win the award for Best Song and that "Titanic" should win for Best Set Design, I thought the tall one was going to have a stroke right there on the set.

Although she will not win, I'll be rooting for Kate!

-- WEP (WEP@carol.net), March 23, 1998

Answers

Response to Siskel and Ebert

I'll see that show soon. The tall guy is Gene Siskel, the heavy guy is Roger Ebert. I'll say up front that I think Kate deserves the Oscar, especially for showing such versatility. I could name many scenes supporting my opinion, but the best one is on the driftwood, uttering final words with/to Jack, and wailing for the boat to come back. POWERFUL. I'm sure most viewers were equally stirred. I'm really ticked off with Siskel! I think she played those moments you mentioned just right. With regard to the first scene, she had just attempted suicide, so of course she will be subdued. What was she supposed to do, jump up with joy? Kate also put in the proper mixed emotions for the other scene; her heart told her one thing while her economic future told another.

-- Bob Gregorio (nohave@sorry.com), March 23, 1998.

Response to Siskel and Ebert

I haven't seen the special, but I have to say that the first time I saw Titanic, those two scenes that you say they mention did strike me as not particularly good acting and it disrupted the flow of the movie. In the scene with the necklace, the way she says "good gracious" sounds very rehearsed. In the scene in the gym, one line is particularly poorly executed: "no, jack, no". Titanic is an amazing movie, definitely my all-time favourite. But I think objectively, especially in those two scenes, Winslet's acting was not Oscar calibre. If you go see the movie again, I hope you notice these parts so that you can at least see where critics are coming from even ifyou don't agree.

-- Mariana Silva (msilva@igs.net), March 23, 1998.

Response to Siskel and Ebert

"the tall one.." *LOL* : ) I can never figure out which one's which either. I say screw 'em! these guys obviously have no idea what they're talking about.

-- Cara (sammons@mint.net), March 23, 1998.

Response to Siskel and Ebert

WEP, I was laughing at your descriptions too! "The tall one.." I, too, was not sure who was who until Bob straightened it out. You're right, they do sometimes look like they are about to strangle each other. What a great job they have, though!

-- Jen Alexander (jmalexande@mofo.com), March 24, 1998.