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Red Letter Media Reviews (Plinkett & Half in the Bag)


Henry B

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18 hours ago, crumbs said:

Plinkett responds to fanboy comments in the YouTube comments section:

 

 

 

 

He kind of just undermined anyones opinion and didn't answer any point with a relevant argument. He ignored any of the very damaging comments about his opinion, because he knew he'd be made to look idiotic if he tried to answer them. 

 

This video actually makes it look like he purposefully ignored the comments that proved him as a hypocrite, in order to save face.

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3 hours ago, leeallen01 said:

 

 

He kind of just undermined anyones opinion and didn't answer any point with a relevant argument. He ignored any of the very damaging comments about his opinion, because he knew he'd be made to look idiotic if he tried to answer them. 

 

This video actually makes it look like he purposefully ignored the comments that proved him as a hypocrite, in order to save face.

 

You're just being argumentative if you think he didn't answer with relevant arguments. He succinctly elaborated on all the points in his previous video for the fanboys who refuse to accept some basic rules of film-making: we need to give a shit about the characters to become invested in the story, otherwise the "drama" falls flat. Doesn't matter how much "icing" (fan service & action) you slather on top of that cake, if the cake itself (characters & story) doesn't have flour and eggs in the mixture, it's not a great cake.

 

If anything, he had to "dumb down" his arguments so they could understand the point he was getting at (all of which I understood from the first video). Nonetheless, you still had fools who actually thought he was literally saying that characters "need to have funny dialogue during action scenes." The only questionable argument was the box office screenshot of TFA, but he was just succinctly showing it must have done something right to become the second highest grossing film ever.

 

It's hardly surprising from Edwards. These were the exact same issues with Godzilla: completely uninteresting, underdeveloped, generic characters. Rogue One repeats the exact same protagonist narrative as the lead in Godzilla. Film starts with a prologue featuring a young child (Johnson/Jones) losing their mother to a horrible incident (reactor meltdown/killed by the Empire). We time jump forward and see they have become distant from their dads. The father characters (Cranston/Mikkelsen) are far more compelling with their backstories, but both get killed halfway through the narrative and we switch focus to their thoroughly uninteresting children for the rest of the story.

 

Note to Edwards: just having characters lose both their parents does not constitute as "character development." You actually need to give them a personality, a purpose, an arc, for us to care about their plight. I'll just leave this example of how you can establish empathy with a character, reaffirm their strong but vulnerable personality, and introduce a character arc that comes full circle by the climax, all in under two minutes:

 

 

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I've basically given up attempting to compare Plinkett's views to my own. I often disagree, but I find the videos absolutely hilarious, and that's all that matters to me.

 

I don't think we're meant to take Plinkett completely seriously. For example, he kind of has to be super negative or it's not funny. I don't mean to discredit his opinions, though. They often are quite logical.

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12 hours ago, crumbs said:

It's hardly surprising from Edwards. These were the exact same issues with Godzilla: completely uninteresting, underdeveloped, generic characters. Rogue One repeats the exact same protagonist narrative as the lead in Godzilla. Film starts with a prologue featuring a young child (Johnson/Jones) losing their mother to a horrible incident (reactor meltdown/killed by the Empire). We time jump forward and see they have become distant from their dads. The father characters (Cranston/Mikkelsen) are far more compelling with their backstories, but both get killed halfway through the narrative and we switch focus to their thoroughly uninteresting children for the rest of the story.

How much influence on the story does a director have, I wonder?

The story itself is written by the script writer(s). I imagine the director can provide suggestions, but is not the one to actually come up with the story.

Especially with Star Wars, I imagine the external "story department" and/or producers have quite a bit to say about how the story goes.

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9 minutes ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

How much influence on the story does a director have, I wonder?

The story itself is written by the script writer(s). I imagine the director can provide suggestions, but is not the one to actually come up with the story.

Especially with Star Wars, I imagine the external "story department" and/or producers have quite a bit to say about how the story goes.

 

Well, in some cases the director of course is actually the screenwriter or co-screenwriter (for instance, Lucas in the prequels, and Abrams for TFA). 

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27 minutes ago, Will said:

 

Well, in some cases the director of course is actually the screenwriter or co-screenwriter (for instance, Lucas in the prequels, and Abrams for TFA). 

True. They'd get a separate story credit then though, right?

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2 hours ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

True. They'd get a separate story credit then though, right?

 

Yes, they got credited separately from their directing credit. In the prequels Lucas got "Written and directed by" (except for AOTC, where it was "Directed" and a separate co-screenplay credit). And with TFA Abrams got a co-written credit with Kasdan, in addition to his director credit. 

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@mrbellamy

 

Glad you mentioned that. I can absolutely confirm most of what you're saying. The art of book list many examples of how Edwards guided the creation of concept art. For instance, he was the one to suggest that the final act be on a bright, tropical planet. While he wasn't there when the very original treatment by Knoll was submitted, the story changed a ton since then and most of that seems to have been in cooperation with Edwards, IIRC. 

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okay satire of the people who really do give vapid reviews (ColliderVideos etc.).

 

but my fucking God just take a look at that comment section to see the people coming out of the woodwork finally validated by their favourite review site (oh look, it's almost as if it RLM fanboys can be as equally worse and hypocritical as Star Wars fanboys) and hyperbolically proclaiming that Rogue One is the worst thing ever. I saw multiple people saying it was worse than The Clone Wars movie which is unfathomable to me.

 

this pretty much cements the fact that the Internet is ruining my enjoyment of movies - in particular the discussion part of them - because a lot of people aren't thinking for themselves. did you not like Rogue One? great! are your reasons for not liking it linked to the commonality of not being able to connect to the characters and thus invalidating the whole movie? also fine, characters are the most critical parts of a movie.

 

but here's the part that people can't distinguish from. 

 

is your personal opinion that you couldn't connect to the characters an objective truth that everyone must share or else they're deluding themselves? fuck no. I'm no shmuck when it comes to movies and I'm pretty aware of what constitutes an engaging character to myself. I don't believe that a character can be objectively good or bad however. I know people that don't care about Han or Leia or Luke, and hell some people like Jar Jar Binks. Jyn was the most confusing to me in terms of motivations but literally all the others are pretty vivid in my mind to the point I had a big emotional response to the final act of the film. and no, I didn't give a standing ovation to every reference as if acknowledging Star Wars exists is reason for praise - they were the icing on what was to me a delicious cake, as Plinkett put it.

 

for Episode 8 I'm going to shut myself off completely from the Internet hype machine, the speculation and horribly pointless nitpicks of small moments in trailers that don't end up meaning anything in the end. I'll even ignore all discussion for a year until I've made up my own mind and it'll have sunk in enough for everyone else in order for them not to hyperbolically declare it the best or worst thing ever. I'm only going to watch the Teaser trailer as I believe that's the most modest view of the film that'll allow me to keep my expectations in check like with the Force Awakens teaser. additionally, I probably would've enjoyed Rogue One a hell of a lot more seeing those amazing shots and moments for the first time that were spoiled in the trailer all for the sake of generating hype at the detriment of your enjoyment of the actual film.

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I think it's just the pendulum swinging back violently in the other direction, away from all the idiotic fanboy commentary like OMGZZ THAT FILM WAS AMAZAZZZINGGG DID YOU SEE VADDDEERR?! THAT WAS SOOOO BADASS HOW HE CUT DOWN THOSE REBELS!!!!! BEST STAR WARZ FILM EVA!!!!!!!!

 

Personally, I didn't dislike the film anywhere near as much as RLM did, but they are pointing out the film's serious flaws and the complacency of Lucasfilm with the property. So far we've had an Episode film and a direct prequel to Episode IV. 2 of the next 3 films are Episode films and the other is an origin story about Han Solo and Lando! The other planned film was a Boba Fett origin story!

 

Can we please start expanding the universe beyond the confines of things we've already seen? Does every throwaway line from the existing films need to be expanded into an entire movie? How long until we get the Dexter Jettster origin story? I can already picture the prologue: a horrific kitchen accident kills his mum while cooking dinner, thus setting him on a path of destiny to start his own diner.

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LOL! :P

 

Indeed some more originality and risk-taking would not go amiss. And I imagine eventually we will indeed be getting some of that.

But I haven't the foggiest when "eventually" is going to be. Clearly Disney wants to "play it safe" while they still have only just acquired the rights.

After all, they need to rebuild the fan-base before starting to throw things out of whack.

 

I'm actually a little bit surprised they went for Han's death in TFA (though I would have been even more surprised if they didn't).

Killing off every main character in Rogue One is also a bigger risk than I would have expected them to go for.

But on the other hand, it does also make sense. So in a way, they are already trying some measure of risky moves.

 

They're still very much into playing it safe for now, though eventually they won't have any choice but to come up with truly new stuff.

After all, right now the "fanboys" are still "eating up" the fanservice, but that isn't going to last.

At some point even they most vocal fanboy is going to get tired of the "same-old, same-old" approach.

 

So I'm confident there will be more creative thought put into the Star Wars films at some point.

But it'll probably be a while, since, in a way, they are still trying to get their footing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

lol. I'm kind of glad to see them go after this trend of film hype and speculation (really guys, analysing the fucking color of the logo, have you people no patience?!) in hopes that it'll make people self-aware to how ridiculous it really is and thus help keep realistic expectations about a movie, even one as big as Star Wars. 

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50 minutes ago, DarthDementous said:

lol. I'm kind of glad to see them go after this trend of film hype and speculation (really guys, analysing the fucking color of the logo, have you people no patience?!) in hopes that it'll make people self-aware to how ridiculous it really is and thus help keep realistic expectations about a movie, even one as big as Star Wars. 

 

This has been going on since TFN was at the height of its SW internet cult dominance in the early 2000s. The fanboy search for meaning and significance in every pixel and creative choice has parallels with theologians who read into scriptures and come up with some outlandish interpretations.

 

The modern trend in doing this in film has become commercialised with the rise of YouTube and the hunger for clicks and views, which need to be demonstrated to media agencies in exchange for advertising dollars.

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14 hours ago, Daniel Clamp said:

 

This has been going on since TFN was at the height of its SW internet cult dominance in the early 2000s. The fanboy search for meaning and significance in every pixel and creative choice has parallels with theologians who read into scriptures and come up with some outlandish interpretations.

 

The modern trend in doing this in film has become commercialised with the rise of YouTube and the hunger for clicks and views, which need to be demonstrated to media agencies in exchange for advertising dollars.

yeah its the commercialisation that I find off-putting, and the horribly obnoxious videos with red arrows and circles with "THEORY CONFIRMED!11!" in big large lettering. the thing is, in the end I feel that it actually lessens enjoyment of the movie. by coming up with ridiculously detailed theories and constantly adding to them with every tiny detail that's revealed of the upcoming release you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.

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On 3.1.2017 at 4:22 PM, Will said:

Have people seen this one? (it's old)

 

 

They just read out Wookiepedia articles (I think). It's absolutely hilarious and shows just how nerdy SW fandom can get. 

That was hilarious in so many ways. I love how Vader's suit was so crappy due to budget cuts introduced by Palpatine! :lol:

 

Though no less nerdy than Star Trek fans coming up with the schematics and working mechanics of holodeck or Enterprise. :P

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Why the hell would Palpatine have budget cuts anyway?? He's the frikkin' Emperor!

 

I love the narrative that he just used "budget cuts" as an excuse while secretly irritating Vader on purpose. :lol:

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4 hours ago, Incanus said:

 

Though no less nerdy than Star Trek fans coming up with the schematics and working mechanics of holodeck or Enterprise. :P

 

There's no point in coming up with those. The schematics of the various Enterprises and its sections have all been released in licensed works like the Tech Manuals.

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6 hours ago, Incanus said:

That was hilarious in so many ways. I love how Vader's suit was so crappy due to budget cuts introduced by Palpatine! :lol:

 

Though no less nerdy than Star Trek fans coming up with the schematics and working mechanics of holodeck or Enterprise. :P

 

Except now none of it's canon! 

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On 1/27/2017 at 11:59 PM, Not Mr. Big said:

Here's the full episode two.  

 

I haven't even watched the whole thing, but 2:15 or so and on for the next 30 seconds is so hilarious.

 

"I would expect such behavior from Paramount, but not Sony." 

 

:lol:

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17 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 

There's no point in coming up with those. The schematics of the various Enterprises and its sections have all been released in licensed works like the Tech Manuals.

Which some nerdy fan wrote.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Plinketto board is back!  ....with poor results.

 

A pretty dud episode overall but I enjoyed this little 'tribute' to James Horner, after they realised one of their low-budget schlock films was scored by him!

 

 

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  • 6 months later...

The new Plinkett review is up (for real this time!)

 

A solid return to form in the second half, after the mediocre TFA review.

 

Doesn't even get into the whole sexism controversy; just dissects the movie's failings, the corporate mess that is Sony's studio wing and how Paul Feig lost control of his own movie.

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2 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

A solid return to form in the second half, after the mediocre TFA review.

 

I get the feeling his TFA review was more like a general discussion on the positive and negative and the renaissance TFA has inspired in the Star Wars franchise. Also Mike Stoklasa liked the film and said as much in the Half in the Bag episode. TFA didn't seem like a film I thought he would Plinkettize at all.

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