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Red Letter Media - The Star Wars Awakens Review

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Should've cut half an hour of dissing other critics but the critique was on point. If you wanna see the review, skip the first hour.



How sexist to think that a woman is owned by a man if she chooses to be romantically involved /s

I could see that though. It's like writers haven't figure out how to have a female protagonist in a relationship with a man without falling back onto sexist tropes so they just decide to avoid it entirely.
 
I could see that though. It's like writers haven't figure out how to have a female protagonist in a relationship with a man without falling back onto sexist tropes so they just decide to avoid it entirely.

Why does she need to be in a relationship though? There are growing pains with respect to that, but I think you need to be able to specifically explain what exactly makes this a good example of that.
 
I'm down to have a discussion about it if you want to post more than one word.

It's way to optimistic to think that. And even if it is their intention , it's just a weak point to make anyway. Woman can be strong and independent in a relationship as well.

But I honestly think it's rather because they don't want interracial lovemaking in their movie, or at least their focus groups didn't want to.
 
You talking about Spock and Uhura? Come on, man. You know the reverse is gonna cause way more of an outcry.
I'm not defending Hollywood in general, as it for sure has an issue with any kind of interracial relationships. I'm just saying nothing about this production seems to suggest they were iffy about doing that, especially with Abrams at the helm. He has a track record of being involved with projects that have no issue portraying these kind of relationships and, as he said in many interviews, the script was pretty much how he and Kasden wrote it, with minimal company tampering.

It's way to optimistic to think that. And even if it is their intention , it's just a weak point to make anyway. Woman can be strong and independent in a relationship as well.

But I honestly think it's rather because they don't want interracial lovemaking in their movie, or at least their focus groups didn't want to.
Sort of addressed this above, but I'm just talking about this project. I totally agree that you can have a strong independent female lead who's romantically involved with someone, but this movie really seemed to push that Rey didn't need anyone's help, for better or worse (Don't hold my hand, etc.).
 
Why does she need to be in a relationship though? There are growing pains with respect to that, but I think you need to be able to specifically explain what exactly makes this a good example of that.

Because most human beings are? Then again, yeah, if Rey is supposed to be an echo of Luke than she should end up as a monk without a partner.
 
Their quality has gone down hill since their Episode 1 review. These guys know their audience, and their audience members are in grade 8. Can't stand their humour, and their "insights" are pedantic at best.

A hard fucking thumbs down.

This is the most disappointing post since my son.
 
Because most human beings are? Then again, yeah, if Rey is supposed to be an echo of Luke than she should end up as a monk without a partner.

Unless Rey is having sex with ugly Simon Pegg, why is it normal for a loner on a ball of sand to be in a relationship? She's even more so isolated than Luke was, since he actually seemed to have friends with whom he hung out at Tosche Station.
 
Part of me wishes that Mike didn't feel the need to do a Star Wars review.

Hell he should have taken a look at Star Trek Voyager or maybe looked at something that most people seemed to dislike.
 
How could he miss all the sexual advances by Finn to Rey? It's not exactly subtle.

Felt like the entire sex section was the weakest part of the review.
 
Prepare to be disappointed.
Yeah, t'was tame. Was expecting more of a look into what made or didn't make the movie work.
Force Awakens is up there with Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith as top 3 Star Wars films. Anyone calling it bland or soulless maybe needs to get some taste?

Force Awakens was also the 2nd best film of 2016 (just behind Mad Max: Fury Road). People try (and fail) so hard to tear it apart. Can't wait for Rogue One to flop so people can turn their attention to dragging it and leave Force Awakens alone.
LMAO.

No.
 
That's the thing, he talked about them specifically, he just ignored them after that lol
It seems like a weird thing to bring out after praising the film for its diversity too. It was pretty obvious that Rey was written in a way to subvert the idea of the damsel in distress.


Edit: And of course it ends in the most crass way possible lol
 
It seems like a weird thing to bring out after praising the film for its diversity too. It was pretty obvious that Rey was written in a way to subvert the idea of the damsel in distress.

It almost seemed like, given that he had these complaints, that he didn't really care that much about the diversity and actually found it annoying. It reminded me about how he said that the level of diversity was better than a "forced diversity" ad, but then implied that it wasn't when he said it looked like a university ad.
 
After thinking about it I feel like a large percentage of the criticism in this review could apply to the review itself.


Starting your review by hating on people's lists of silly things they liked just to end on "this movie needed kissies" unironically is just ... off to me.


On that note how is throwing cheap romantic shipping into a movie not pandering as well? So pandering to people who want fluff romance is good, but toys, references and diversity are bad? (or in diversity's case, I don't even know what mike's point was? it's unnecessary cause I said so?)
 
It almost seemed like, given that he had these complaints, that he didn't really care that much about the diversity and actually found it annoying. It reminded me about how he said that the level of diversity was better than a "forced diversity" ad, but then implied that it wasn't when he said it looked like a university ad.
It makes sense that Plinkett would be an #AllLivesMatter/#NotAllMen kind of person, to be fair.
 
Both Mad MAx and Creed were better films than it.

Well, that's settled then.

All of these 3 great movies are great but clearly 2 of these great movies are greater than this other great one and you better not think that one is greater than the other 2 great movies, no sir.
 
Well, that's settled then.

All of these 3 great movies are great but clearly 2 of these great movies are greater than this other great one and you better not think that one is greater than the other 2 great movies, no sir.

Who said TFA was great?
 
So many better movies they could review, and they waste it on this boring ass movie.

There is very little to say about it, was competently made, and kinda boring.
At least with Titanic, there was a lot of interesting stuff around how the movie was made.
This is just w/e.

The stuff about Disney making a million star wars movies until the end of time could have been a different video.

Though, I do like their idea of what TFA should have been though, with the giant weapon being stolen and setting off all of the events. That would have been a lot more interesting then what we got.
 
Wasn't that entertaining. Doesn't help that TFA wasn't complete shit like the prequels though. There wasn't much to nitpick I guess.
 
So what's the consensus? Disappointing review?
It feels like a lot of the stuff he complains about (besides it being a soft reboot) will be addressed in the sequels. The main complaints are character stuff that hasn't been given a chance to flesh out. I think this type of review just doesn't work for what is an ongoing product.
 
So many better movies they could review, and they waste it on this boring ass movie.
There is a bit of irony in them doing a safe boring fanservice review about a safe boring fanservice film.

It's not ridiculous
Taste is subjective and yadayadayada so there's no way we'll ever agree. But if you are going to say TFA is #2, then you might as well have some conviction - just go full crazy and say it's better than Mad Max.
 
There is a bit of irony in them doing a safe boring fanservice review about a safe boring fanservice film.


Taste is subjective and yadayadayada so there's no way we'll ever agree. But if you are going to say TFA is #2, then you might as well have some conviction - just go full crazy and say it's better than Mad Max.

That's not how opinions work though, why would someone be dishonest about their opinions?
 
Part of me wishes that Mike didn't feel the need to do a Star Wars review.

Hell he should have taken a look at Star Trek Voyager or maybe looked at something that most people seemed to dislike.

He should definitely do voyager...it is such unrepentent garbage
 
That felt like something Mike felt he HAD to do, both the first half about his own hang ups and the second half about TFA. It wasn't that great, but hopefully he can move on.
 
Good lord, it's like it was that long out of pure obligation. I could see doing about 10 minutes on the modern landscape of blockbusters and other context, but he drags on for 55 minutes about things that end up being completely irrelevant and have nothing to do with what he's trying to say about TFA. Just rambling about YouTube comments and clickbait articles. Couple of unfunny skits about George Lucas and JJ Abrams being repairmen...

And then his actual critique of TFA was mostly nonsense too. Ground that's already been covered (it being a retread of the OT), then a half hour of weird complaining about diversity and lack of sexuality (which I actually found refreshing).

Always amusing to hear a Gen X white dude from the midwest say that nobody actually cares about diversity and representation though.
 
Oh please, do you want me to list off the movies that had a higher or similar RT score last year? Because there are lots.

Inside Out, Selma, Spotlight, Brooklyn, It Follows, Shaun the Sheep, Creed, Carol, Son of Saul, 45 Years, Paddington, Sicario, Spy, Timbuktu, The Martian, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, Ex Machina, blahblahblah.
It's not ridiculous
It is.

At the very least, it's not an opinion I'm going to entertain seriously, because it implies to me that someone has either A) not seen many movies from 2015, or B) has a taste of movies so ridiculously outside of my own that it's not worth my time.
 
That felt like something Mike felt he HAD to do, both the first half about his own hang ups and the second half about TFA. It wasn't that great, but hopefully he can move on.

Plinkett did me a service by making something more disappointing than Danganronpa 3

Oh please, do you want me to list off the movies that had a higher or similar RT score last year? Because there are lots.

Inside Out, Selma, Spotlight, Brooklyn, It Follows, Shaun the Sheep, Creed, Carol, Son of Saul, 45 Years, Paddington, Sicario, Spy, Timbuktu, The Martian, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, Ex Machina, blahblahblah.

Who cares tho? The point is to demonstrate that Force Awakens is among the better movies of that year, and the justification for why it can't be #2. simply doesn't exist.
 
Expanding on the marketing and merchandising in the first half would've fit better than the time spent on theories and lists. Amount of officially branded Star Wars products was absurd.
 
Oh please, do you want me to list off the movies that had a higher or similar RT score last year? Because there are lots.

Inside Out, Selma, Spotlight, Brooklyn, It Follows, Shaun the Sheep, Creed, Carol, Son of Saul, 45 Years, Paddington, Sicario, Spy, Timbuktu, The Martian, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, Ex Machina, blahblahblah.

And why is liking any of those movies over another ridiculous? If someone said any of those movies were their favorite movie of 2015, I would not bat an eye because they're all great movies, so why is it so ridiculous to say TFA was someone's second favorite?
 
And why is liking any of those movies over another ridiculous? If someone said any of those movies were their favorite movie of 2015, I would not bat an eye because they're all great movies, so why is it so ridiculous to say TFA was someone's second favorite?

You don't understand. If you enjoyed TFA a lot, you can't prop yourself as being above al lof the plebs

The numerous accolades and nominations did that, and personal opinion and all that. Your free to disagree

Free to disagree? People are taking the high ground and talking down to someone for liking TFA more than most of the movies of 2015.
 
The numerous accolades and nominations did that, and personal opinion and all that. Your fre ro disagree

Oh, I see, so all of those prove that Creed and Fury Road are great movies but all of TFA's numerous accolades, nominations and personal opinions don't mean anything? Weird how that works.
 
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