Originally Posted By DAR Well I will say this I do like Ben Mankiewicz. He's very good on Turner Classic Movies and knows his stuff. The problem is he's going to have to carry Ben Lyons and that's a tall task. Lyons is downright embarrassing to watch. He added nothing during his reviews. I think this pairing might not last long.
Originally Posted By Ursula I really like that Ben fellow. I'll give the other guy a few chances before I totally give up, but I, too, have enjoyed watching Ben on TCM and On Demand. Wow, we agree on something!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA We watched the first episode, and have to say, absolutely hated it. Who ever is in charge of 'At the Movies' has completely missed the boat here. It's not the two critics -- I don't know either of them, but they both seem capable enough. The problem is that the producers don't seem to trust the tried and true formula. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert had it right -- you have two guys sit in a theater and talk about movies. They give the 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' -- and that's it. It was a winning formula for 30+ years. In this new format -- it's like a combination of 'Entertainment Tonight' 'Showbiz Tonight' 'The Insider' 'E! News' and all the rest of the 'entertainment' junk out there. That sequence when the one critic is standing behind the counter, and the other critic is standing in front, and they talk to critics from all around the country -- blecch! -- who cares? -- that's when this first episode jumped the shark for me. I don't see myself tuning in again.
Originally Posted By JeffG The show pretty much felt to me like a cable access show starring the movie critics recruited from the local high school. Ben Lyons, in particular, comes off very much like a teenager trying to sophisticated. I'm not really talking about his very youthful appearance as much as the extremely shallow nature of the comments and the kind of smirking delivery. Mankiewicz is somewhat better and his comments do seem to come off sounding a bit more sophisticated, but his delivery still seemed to be kind of off. For one thing, he talked overly fast and seemed to have an over-excited demeanor that wasn't really moderated to what he was discussing. He kind of reminded me of the fairly irritating style used by Michael Medved when he was on "Sneak Previews". I don't really see the show lasting long in this format. I've heard that Ebert and Roeper are looking for a new distributor for their own show. I don't know how much luck they will have with Ebert no longer able to actually appear on the show (reportedly, he was still pretty involved behind the scenes the last couple years), but I do hope they can find someone willing to take the show. -Jeff
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I looked at the show online at their website, and it seems for the most part that it is the same as it ever was: Two guys talking about movies. Ben Lyons sounds exactly like his dad, Jeffrey Lyons. So much so that when you hear his voice and then the camera cuts to him, it makes you wonder "Where'd Jeffrey Lyons go?" I think both hosts did a credible job from what i've seen thus far. The opening sequence has definitely been jazzed up into the super-slick, over the top Entertainment Tonight/Extra style of CGI Gone Wild. I wouldn't mind them toning that waaaaay down, but to be honest, I still miss the much simpler "Sneak Previews" opening from PBS years ago, when Gene and Roger's names appeared on boxes of familiar movie theater candy. There was something comforting and charmingly low key about that, plus it said "MOVIES" right away. The new opening could work just as well as the opening to a TV awards show or a ReMAX Realty ad. Even the bit at the counter is oddly contemporary-generic. Is that supposed to be a box office? A snack bar counter? The teller window at a local Citibank branch?
