It's all in the genes. Look who the fathers are.

Mank probably grew up in a household that explored foreign films, small indies and offbeat flicks in addition to the avalanche of Hollywood efforts. If you've seen him on TCM you know he's a pretty astute guy with a solid film background. He's no Ebert, but who is?

Lyons, on the other hand, is the son of a hack quotewhore. I admit that part of my issue is that he looks like he's eleven years old, but he hasn't had anything come out of his mouth that would snap me back to reality. And yes, part of it is that his tatse in movies is superficial and juvenile - even when he likes something he cannot explain why. When he dislikes something, it's often for the reasons that make the film special.

I like Ben Lyons because he makes my TMJ feel less painful.

I can tell you they are probably not raking in some young viewers. Me and my brother are younger and we definitely miss the classic discussions Ebert plus Roeper held (did not get to see much of Siskel and Ebert except on Archives unfortunately). Ebert helped me fall in love with talking about movies.

When Richard Roeper walked out, and then Ebert a week after him (maybe it was the other way around), there was some stink made about a new venture for Roeper and reviews. I always assumed that meant a new TV gig. But I've not seen him do anything new TV wise. Did I miss something?

I agree with you about the new shows. I wish Richard Roeper would go ahead and start his new show. Also, I heard this week where Shootout will no longer be on AMC. If anyone knows where Shootout is going please post the answer on this site.

I have been watching the show since it was Sneak Previews in Chicago. So, it's pretty hard to break a 35 year old habit. I still tear up when I think about losing Gene. The rotating host, filling in for Roger, was tough, but Richard was still a decent anchor. I totally agree with beeniebag12 that they must thing they're bringing in a younger audience with Lyons, but that's not who is going to watch the show! Here, it's on at 5:30am on Saturday! I want intelligent discourse. I don't watch some shill who doesn't even use proper grammar or know anything about movie history (I end up stopping the DVR and screaming, at least once a week). They didn't even mention his statement, in that article, about "No one makes better gangster movies than Guy Ritchie!" *blink* WHAT????? I watch, but it hurts. I don't even enjoy feeling superior to them. And poor "Mank" probably looks constipated, because he's got to sit across from the kid. I think he's getting tired of playing nice, too. He seems to be more cranky lately. It IS hurting his credibility. With the loss of my beloved At the Movies and John Leonard from CBS Sunday Morning, I'm lost. It's so depressing.

The Daily Show had a farcical movie critic for a while - I think his name was Frank DeFario? - and eversince I wondered why a full-fledged half hour movie critique show with a light-but-substantive tone wasn't available. I'm trustworthy of most of the reviews I read on Cinematical at my leisure; however, the absence of another team of critics on TV's just another of those bygones I guess viewers have to take in stride. There really are no substitutes or viable update contenders for the Siskel & Ebert of yesteryear.

The segment I dislike most on At The Movies now involves parceling out the criticism of one movie in particular to a 3-critic panel that usually comes in the middle of the show; the one where the founder(?)/blogger from Rotten Tomatoes and a couple other, albeit learned, talking heads participate. As if the two Ben's styles aren't enough to try to adjust to, suddenly their respective workloads are too heavy?

Hey, for a fraction of their salaries, I volunteer to take a stab at hosting.

So glad tohear that it's not just me! When I turn this show on, I always think, where did they get these two boring guys. I have no interest in their comments - where is Richard Roper?

This guy should be a movie critic for teenagers. He was supposed to be hip and cool and it turned out to be lame and insipid.

After watching an episode, I thought a good name would be "At The Movies with Dumbass and Douchebag." (I like Mankiewicz well enough on TCM, but he seems very hard to please when it comes to modern movies)

I'd still rather watch it than the most insipid movie critic show around, Reel Talk, with Ben Lyon's father. Jeffrey Lyons and the British woman may be better at the skill of critiquing, but that doesn't mean they're not still nonsensical and ridiculous.