LINK: Unforgiven - Analysing The Greatest Western Ever Made
I don't have the ability to break down one of my favorite movies as he did here, but I have felt for years, exactly what he said, in my heart.
Posted on 06/12/2026 7:48:06 PM PDT by Rummyfan
He reviewed books and films on the morning program for four decades: "'The Silence of the Lambs' may be all wool, and a yard wide, but it makes a terrific yarn."
Gene Shalit, the fun-loving film critic on the Today show known for his oversized mustache, out-of-control mop of black hair and lively use of puns in his movie reviews, died Friday. He was 100.
Shalit, a mainstay on the NBC morning show for four decades until his retirement in November 2010, “passed away peacefully today after 100 years of an amazing life,” his family said in a statement to NBC News.
Shalit started as a book reviewer on Today in 1970 and went on to replace Joe Garagiola on the desk three years later. Working alongside the likes of Hugh Downs, Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters, Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley, Matt Lauer and Katie Couric, Shalit proved to be a spirited counterbalance to the heavier news of the day, entertaining audiences with celebrity interviews and insights into moviegoing choices during his “Critic’s Corner” segment.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Siskel detested Ebert, too.
Apparently he was a pompous jerk. But what pompous jerks were in the 70s and 80s. Not what the Democrats *reveal* to us now.
(They were always the same - tbey just manifest more now.)
The Drinker is my go-to for reviews these days.
steynonline.com,
Chronicles journal, and
The Spectator
all have excellent movie reviews and reviewers.
Early on, folks thought Siskel was too stiff and intellectual. Ebert more the relaxed Everyman. But while Siskel never changed and folks came to appreciate his point of view after a while, Ebert sank into being just another creature of the media who couldn’t keep his misinformed Leftist opinions out of his reviews.
He had a magnificent J fro
And besides being right most of the time (in my personal opinion) and being anti-woke, he is highly entertaining, too.
But the thing that really nailed him for me on the first try, was when I watched the animated feature “Puss in Boots”.
I did not have high expectations for the feature, or any expectations to speak of. My wife wanted to watch it, and since our tastes in movies diverge to a large degree these days after many years of marriage, whenever she asks, I usually comply unless I know for certain it is something woke I won’t like.
So, I watched the movie, and...with no expectations, I loved it. Thought it was great-very little to no wokeness, fun, good and interesting animation, and it included some themes I perceived as definitely conservative.
But it was such a frivolous movie, I wondered if it was just me-I was curious to see if anyone else saw the movie the same way I did.
And I stumbled across The Critical Drinker (had never heard of him) and he had a review of the movie. I was gratified to see that he saw it nearly exactly the same way I did. So, I began checking out his reviews, and I noticed that he liked and hated many of the same things in movies that I did. Not 100%...but I would say 80-90% of the time, I agree with his assessments of movies.
Now, when I wonder if I should watch a movie, I always go to his website first to see if he has a review...to save me time...:)
And I love his trademark: “That’s all I’ve got for today. Go away now.”
Gene Shalit’s segments were almost always about the time the school bus would arrive.
To me, that was the fringe of the forbidden word of late morning television.
I saw puss in boots with my younger teens back in 2011.
I have never seen Shrek and did not know it was the backstory to that film.
I went on the recommendation of the film critics for WORLD magazine. They always had good film reviews. Not the usual dreck.
I always liked Gene Shalit. His humor was sharp and provide a few minutes of escapism for millions of us.
Critical drinker sounds lovely. However he is a video guy. Video is too slow for me for information gathering. .... I prefer the written word.
Sounds like he has a cool edge though.
LINK: Unforgiven - Analysing The Greatest Western Ever Made
I don't have the ability to break down one of my favorite movies as he did here, but I have felt for years, exactly what he said, in my heart.
My gosh. I had no idea. Time sure does pass very quickly. Very quickly.
If you had asked me, I would have said the movie came out in 2019 or so. Made me feel very mortal in that compression of time. Life flies by.
I will say, it is his Scottish accent that really fills the space in his video reviews and makes it entertaining for me...and his weird schtick of splicing together pieces of video he has used hundreds of times before (such as Will Farrell, an actor I don’t care much for, saying “Well, that escalated quickly!) and mixes those in with the same pieces of footage from the actual movie he is reviewing.
Many years ago, I used to go to two or three movies a week, I loved movies. Now, I go to a theater once every few years.
My next must see movie will be on July 3rd, when “Young Washington” comes out.
I also like Critical Drinker a great deal. Sometimes he gathers with other influencers online and they have a pretty free-ranging panel discussion.
I’m glad he’s tightened up his segments to about 10-minutes each. Most influencers just want to put their long-winded opinions out there and editing their content is low on their list of priorities.
Dave Cullen is an Irish(?) influencer who is more into Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Doctor Who. But he is aligned with Critical Drinker on pointing out/disparaging all things woke in popular media. I like his channel, too.
Thanks for that-I will check out more of those videos...thank you.
Hugh Downs days? Joe Garagiola? Barbara Waters? Long before Gumbel and Kouric ruined it
Hugh Downs days? Joe Garagiola? Barbara Waters? Long before Gumbel and Kouric ruined it
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