It’s true we can never go home again: Home changes, the landscape around it is altered by the sands of time, and most importantly, the people that made it home - including ourselves - morph and mature, move away, or pass on. Every-now-and-then however, we can recapture the flavor of home and provide the mind with enough familiarity and memories to make it content. Such is the case with PBS’ “Ebert Presents at the Movies” that premiered January 21, 2011. It is only fitting that "At The Movies" returns home to PBS where it all started, and continues to provide us with not only an entertaining look at today’s movies, but opinions about them that are well rounded and informative.
For those familiar with the original, “Sneak Previews” that began in 1976 with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, and later became “Siskel and Ebert at the Movies,” it seems like old times as the new show opens with bright lights and music, combined with warmly reminiscent pictures of Roger and Gene in the balcony; cleverly snapped from an animated reel of film. When the end credits roll, a brief clip of them from 1975’s “Opening Soon at a Theater near You” which was locally aired in the Chicago area, leaves us wanting more and seems apropos as it wraps up a show presented by new and youthful hosts, Christy Lemire and Inatiy Vishnevetsky.
For variety, the show even ventures outside the balcony to hear from correspondents and a film technical expert. Even the master himself, Roger Ebert, makes a brief Hitchcockian appearance in his own show; content to leave the new hosts to their work as he introduces them and others involved with the new program.
Lemire and Vishnevetsky are apt hosts and fit nicely in the balcony setting as they, like their predecessors, narrate clips on the big screen before them, then discuss each film good-naturedly but not always agreeably. One might not take to such youthful hosts speaking to what is most likely a largely mature audience; however there is no mistaking their professionalism and ability to communicate the good and bad points about each film, and do so pleasantly.
Make no mistake; this is not some re-imagining, remake, sequel, or even a prequel that didn’t need to be made. “Ebert Presents at the Movies” is familiar yet fresh and it serves a purpose, particularly in today's economy where movie goers need the ability to spend their entertainment dollars wisely. There have been many movie review programs on television, including several incarnations with Ebert, but this program is a direct descendant of the real McCoy and rightly deserves to wear its name.
There are literally hundreds of channels and thousands of programs on television but few make us really not want to miss them each week. Television and movie fans ultimately make their own choices on what to watch on TV or what movies to see at the theater, but “Ebert Presents at the Movies” is well worth watching or at least a reminder on the cable box or DVR, and a weekly trip home to PBS before turning off the TV to go out to the movies.
