At the Movies

At the Movies: Viewers Resisting the Two Bens
Thompson On Hollywood — ... as a film critic. And Disney-ABC should lose the "critics round-up," which smacks of insecurity. Either we trust these two "authorities" or we don't. The Two Bens will have to earn it, and that's it. The "critics" panel is even less trustworthy than our two new critics, except for IFC's Matt Singer, who could easily take over the a spot on the show, as far as I'm concerned. He has natural authority and charm and knows a lot about movies. Here's the tell-tale video, in case you've missed the new show. And here's Lyons, ...

Skip These Guys
Hollywood Elsewhere — Skip These Guys If you're looking for definitive proof of how our culture (and particularly our film culture) is steadily devolving and dumbing itself down , check out the new Ben Lyons-Ben Mankiewicz version of " At The Movies ", which premiered a few days ago. This is not a TV show about how good or bad the latest movies are. It's a show about the End of Civilization as some of us have known it. If the Eloi of George Pal 's ...

At The Movies: Will There Ever Be Another…Roeper?
SpoutBlog — ... of At The Movies starring Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, I decided I had better watch The Two Bens’ first episode online to see what all the griping is about. It actually starts off rather well: Mankiewicz is totally qualified for this job, although it’s a bit of a wonder he was even hired, what with his ...

Sound Off: Who's Watching the New 'At The Movies'?
Cinematical — ... Truth be told, I sort of skimmed through one episode of the new youth-skewed At The Movies, featuring Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz -- and since there wasn't a segment in which viewers were allowed to throw hard, pointy objects at ...

Give it a New Name
Awards Daily — ... I don’t mind these two; I like what they say about Burn After Reading. Are they film critics? No. But neither are most of the critics on the web. I think ...

Variety's Anne Thompson on 'At the Movies'
The Screening Log — ... older Ben Mankiewicz (of the fabled Hollywood Mankiewicz family) fits into the format and will presumably settle in and lose his awkwardness, younger Ben Lyons (son of critic Jeffrey) seems too wet-behind-the-ears and perky to lend credence as a serious film critic." Apparently, judging by a lot of comments, people have troubles warming up to the new format of the show. Roger Ebert (because of his surgery) and Richard Roeper recently left the show. Here's the link to the video of the show's new format. And read more from Thompson about this right ...

At the Movies: Ben and Ben and... me
MovingPictureBlog — ... This weekend and next on At The Movies, the nationally syndicated film-review show now hosted by Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons, I'll be a member of the "Critics Round-Up," joining the discussion of Religulous and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (both of which, incidentally, I quite liked). Please check your local TV listings, watch or TiVo the program -- and then, of course, e-mail the producers and tell them how wonderful I was. ...

Not-so-instant replay
MovingPictureBlog — If you missed At the Movies this past weekend, don't despair: You can go to the show's website, click on the tab for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and see the "Critics Round-Up" featuring... well, me. (BTW: I'll be back on the show next week, for a discussion of Religulous.)

TV update
MovingPictureBlog — Remember: This weekend on At the Movies, I'll be part of the "Critic's Round-Up" discussion of Religulous.

Not-so-instant replay: The sequel
MovingPictureBlog — Take two: If you missed my second stellar appearance on At the Movies this past weekend, hie thee to the show's website, click on the tab for Religulous, and enjoy.

My quantum of At the Movies
MovingPictureBlog — ... OK, I admit: The first time I did a couple of "Critics Roundup" segments for At the Movies, I felt like I'd charted heretofore unplumbed depths of total suckage. Indeed, I feared that, after the taping, a producer would call me and say something like, "Uh, Joe, that really didn't, er, work out, did it? So, well, we're going to, like, edit you out..." But I guess I didn't stink up the joint as badly as I feared. They asked me back to tape a new segment today with hosts ...

Second chance to see me on TV
MovingPictureBlog — If you missed my fleeting appearance this weekend on At the Movies -- well, you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. Fortunately, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, you can catch the "Critics Roundup" segment by going ...

Ben Mankiewicz: 12 million died in the Holocaust
The Screengrab — ... (To see the clip in all its stupid glory, go to the At The Movies website and click under the "Now Playing" tab. The stupidity - after a little over a minute of plot summary - comes in roughly at about 1:20.) ...

Lyons Pile-On (cont'd)
Hollywood Elsewhere — Lyons Pile-On (cont'd) The reputation of the shameless Ben Lyons , the 27 year-old co-host of At The Movies who's become infamous over the last four months as probably the least knowledgable and perceptive high-profile movie critic of the 21st Century, as well as a passionate practitioner of kneepad love in the service of the Hollywood entertainment machine, has finally stirred the interest of the L.A. Times entertainment section. Chris Lee 's 12.28 piece , called "Critic Ben Lyons Gets Many Thumbs Down" (with a subhead stating that ...

‘At The Movies’ Getting Two New Hosts This Fall
Screen Rant — ... Michael Phillips and A.O Scott will start hosting the show on September 7th, 2009. Quick note: If you want to view almost the entire back catalog of At The Movies reviews, you can visit the official website (warning: addiction may occur). ...

Capone sits down with the sexy new "At the Movies" hosts A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips!!!
Ain't It Cool News - The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. — ... in Chicago here. First of all, watch the video here . As far as I'm concerned (and the gentlemen that are the subject of the promo reel may disagree), this is one of the greatest attack ads in the history of television. Politics has nothing on what this piece is saying about the last year of the decades-old "At the Movies" television series: "Serious reviews from serious journalists." First of all, Amen. Second, this is a show admitting that going after a younger demographic with two hosts who are essentially TV personalities (and I use the word "personality" ...

"At The Movies" about as good as it could be.
IFC.com - Indie Eye — ... We're a long way from Siskel & Ebert, but the new "At The Movies" -- featuring The New York Times' A.O. Scott and The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips -- is on the air. They are, of course, the replacements for the short-lived, universally reviled duo of the Bens (Lyons and Mankiewicz); Mankiewicz himself didn't seem to get people too fired up, but Lyons was such an aggressively stupid guy that ...

First Peek at New, Improved 'At the Movies'
Cinematical — ... The sentiment expressed by At the Movies' official website is clearly, You know those two boneheads we hired to replace Ebert and Roeper? Don't worry, we canned 'em. The site's main page now features a dauntingly somber photo of critics A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips along side a video preview trumpeting "serious reviews, by serious journalists." It's a big ol' slap in the face to Ben and Mank, but it gets the point across -- Buena Vista screwed up by hiring The Legacy and the Chucklehead, and now they desperately hope to repair the damage by ...

‘At the Movies’ reboots
In Contention — ... The new iteration of “At the Movies” debuted this weekend with A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips. The duo tackled Shane Acker’s “9,” the Sandra Bullock comedy “All About Steve,” Guillermo Arriaga’s “The Burning Plain” (with a rather swift and wrong-headed assessment from b0th, I feel) and Mike Judge’s “Extract,” among others. Here’s an online exclusive that I rather enjoyed, the two critics discussing the films that hooked them and made them realize there was more to the ...

You Want Me on That Wall
Awards Daily — ... The snooty duo are going to be doing a Soderbergh retrospective on their site. Unfortunately I missed their review of The Informant! Hopefully it will go online soon. ...