Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel and Ebert Changed Movies Forever

In this studious history, film critic Singer (Marvel’s Spider-Man) examines the ingenuity and influence of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s TV show At the Movies and its various iterations. Crediting the duo with originating the adversarial debate format that saturates modern cable news, Singer argues that Siskel and Ebert democratized film criticism by turning “an art form that had previously only existed as a series of monologues into an ongoing dialogue.” The author profiles both critics, presenting Ebert as precocious and a superior writer (he started his own neighborhood newspaper while in grade school) and Siskel as ambitious and competitive (he insisted that his name appear first in the title of their 1982 syndicated show, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert). Anecdotes illuminate the pair’s at times contentious behind-the-scenes dynamic (one volatile exchange ended with Ebert vomiting on set and Siskel quipping, “You really didn’t like that one, did you, Roger?”), and interviews with colleagues and loved ones offer insight into the critics’ psychologies (Siskel & Ebert executive producer Stuart Cleland shares his belief that the death of Siskel’s parents before he was 10 left him “guarded and wary”). This deserves two thumbs up. (Oct.)