7. “The Realities of Time” | Gene and Roger

Broken Arrow 1996

The John Travolta action movie Gene half-endorsed until Roger talked him out of it, the one time in 20 years Gene flipped his own thumb on air.

Cop and a Half 1993

The Burt Reynolds comedy Roger wanted Gene to recant on camera; Gene refused, saying he saw things in it he admired.

Saturday Night Fever 1977

Gene auctioned off Travolta's white suit in the mid-90s, joking he'd use the proceeds toward his kids' college.

Lost in Space 1998

Fodder for a Letterman bit where Gene kept steering back to the movie and Roger kept insisting Leonardo DiCaprio was hunky.

Independence Day 1996

Both critics had thumbed it down; its creators' next film got even.

Godzilla 1998

Gene's comeback title after brain surgery: he watched a screener in the hospital and phoned in his review over a still photo. The film mocked the pair with a heavyset, bald 'Mayor Ebert.'

The Truman Show 1998

Gene watched it twice while recovering and called it a watershed, a return to films of ideas.

Bulworth 1998

Cited alongside The Truman Show as proof the movies were getting back to ideas.

The Thin Red Line 1998

One of the films Gene loved in his final year of reviewing.

There's Something About Mary 1998

Babe: Pig in the City 1998

Gene's No. 1 movie of 1998.