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Red Letter Media |OT| of Movies, Murderers, and Pizza Rolls

Veelk

Banned
I think that he really softballed that issue. There was a lot of handwaving, and I would have liked to see him tackle some of his films (like "The Aviator", which I enjoyed quite a bit) instead of just saying "He's only good when he's retarded!". This review, while highly enjoyable, had a few instances of this kind of weakish argument.

His wierdest one was how he praised Rose as having more depth to her character for some reason.

One of the reasons he cited for her depth was liking Picasso's art, when he said disliking it was used to stereotype the high class people into being dumb. But the only way we can side with her argument is because we know who Picasso is and that he's famous so that means he's good. She doesn't give much of a reason for why his art is good, no more than why the fiance gives for why it's bad. Both are equally vapid opinions, but Rose is praised by him for being artsy while the fiance is a stereotype. I'm no art critic, but I'm sure that there are people who have perfectly good reasons to dislike Picasso and there are people who like Picasso based on weak reasoning. But since we never go into either's opinion, why does Rose liking it give her depth while disliking it makes the fiance a stereotype?

Honestly, I just watched the movie as a prelude to the review and while I generally agree with most of his sentiments, I don't see why he doesn't view Rose a teenage girl that is unhappy with high society life and irresponsibly runs off with Jack for an escapist romantic fantasy.
 

FStop7

Banned
Last night I watched Plinkett's review of Titanic followed by his deconstructions of the Star Wars prequels. I hadn't watched those in a while and I didn't give them my full attention.

I came away with a better understanding of storytelling. The Phantom Menace analysis in particular. I understand the importance of the human element in storytelling, but hearing it so succinctly explained... I found new connections and better understand -why- I disliked TPM so much.

More importantly I think I have a better comprehension of why Telltale's The Walking Dead is winning awards and why Mass Effect 1 resonates so strongly with fans vs. its sequels.
 

nick nacc

Banned
Last night I watched Plinkett's review of Titanic followed by his deconstructions of the Star Wars prequels. I hadn't watched those in a while and I didn't give them my full attention.

I came away with a better understanding of storytelling. The Phantom Menace analysis in particular. I understand the importance of the human element in storytelling, but hearing it so succinctly explained... I found new connections and better understand -why- I disliked TPM so much.

More importantly I think I have a better comprehension of why Telltale's The Walking Dead is winning awards and why Mass Effect 1 resonates so strongly with fans vs. its sequels.


The is why I fell in love with rlm as well. I can better explain as to why movies felt "off"
 

Eidan

Member
Though I wish they tore into the film more, I think they treated the movie fairly. It's not the worst movie out there, but god I can't stand it. The characters, that dialogue...it's unbearable for me.
 
Last night I watched Plinkett's review of Titanic followed by his deconstructions of the Star Wars prequels. I hadn't watched those in a while and I didn't give them my full attention.

I came away with a better understanding of storytelling. The Phantom Menace analysis in particular. I understand the importance of the human element in storytelling, but hearing it so succinctly explained... I found new connections and better understand -why- I disliked TPM so much.

More importantly I think I have a better comprehension of why Telltale's The Walking Dead is winning awards and why Mass Effect 1 resonates so strongly with fans vs. its sequels.

Yeah, for as ridiculous as the reviews can be, they superbly break down what is wrong with the prequels...even the shitty shot composition.

"Walk around hallway talking
Stop
Angle/reverse angle conversation"
 

Endo Punk

Member
The Titanic episode had me in stitches. Never cared for the movie and I wasn't going to watch because of that but I'm glad I did. I think Plinkett can even make movies I hate enjoyable to watch with his commentary.

I really want him to do the Matrix Trilogy, another favourite of the masses and I honestly don't see the appeal, I have never cringed more by the acting and dialogue delivery of a movie than the Matrix films and I watch a lot of schlock. Nice effects sure but the hand to hand action was so uncompelling, even Yuen Woo-ping couldn't save it.
 
Though I wish they tore into the film more, I think they treated the movie fairly. It's not the worst movie out there, but god I can't stand it. The characters, that dialogue...it's unbearable for me.

I felt they spent too long talking about it's positives, which, i'm sure most people already knew. I.e. Cameron spent ages getting everything in the sets to look immaculate and melded sfx and practical effects very well.

It was everything else (i.e. the characters and historical people) that suffered.
 

Eidan

Member
I felt they spent too long talking about it's positives, which, i'm sure most people already knew. I.e. Cameron spent ages getting everything in the sets to look immaculate and melded sfx and practical effects very well.

It was everything else (i.e. the characters and historical people) that suffered.

They do praise it for quite a while. Which makes his turn into what was bad about the movie hilarious.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I never saw all of Titanic. Only the second half (back when there were still VHS movies and you had the switch tapes). Coming from my perspective, I never really saw any of the romantic parts, just the high-action parts with the ship going down. It's nice to have more perspective on the first half without needing to watch the movie..
Dude. The titties were on the first tape. They split it right as the iceberg hit. Right after the love scenes. Titties. Titties!
 

greycolumbus

The success of others absolutely infuriates me.
Never seen Titanic but I kind of want to after the review. I hope there's another Cop Dog-type after this.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Back then my parents didn't want me to see any of romantic parts, which is why they let me watch the second half and not the first. Always trying to protect my innocence.

To this day I have not seen any of the "revealing" scenes and I probably never will. At this point in my adult life I've seen my share of nakedness in movies and television shows.

It's really funny how the gruesome parts of Titanic's second tape (like people falling to their deaths) are somehow more acceptable for a 10-year old than seeing a woman's breast.
 
When I was a kid, we would just watch the second VHS because that was the "cool" half, with all of the action and violence. Then as I entered puberty, the ending of the first tape became more interesting.
 
I love his captive women schtik. Its pretty creepy but its almost cute. "I captured myself a navi. Heres some carbon dioxide like you have on your planet."
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
To this day I have not seen any of the "revealing" scenes and I probably never will. At this point in my adult life I've seen my share of nakedness in movies and television shows.
Just Google the one good two seconds and be done with it. That and the last half are all you need to see of Titanic.
 

Cheerilee

Member
His wierdest one was how he praised Rose as having more depth to her character for some reason.

One of the reasons he cited for her depth was liking Picasso's art, when he said disliking it was used to stereotype the high class people into being dumb. But the only way we can side with her argument is because we know who Picasso is and that he's famous so that means he's good. She doesn't give much of a reason for why his art is good, no more than why the fiance gives for why it's bad. Both are equally vapid opinions, but Rose is praised by him for being artsy while the fiance is a stereotype. I'm no art critic, but I'm sure that there are people who have perfectly good reasons to dislike Picasso and there are people who like Picasso based on weak reasoning. But since we never go into either's opinion, why does Rose liking it give her depth while disliking it makes the fiance a stereotype?

I don't think he was saying that Rose had more depth/intelligence than other characters because she knew about Picasso/Freud, I think he was saying that she had depth because she apparently had hobbies and interests (like art and reading).


The Picasso/Freud stuff was groanworthy on a different level though, because it's low-brow pandering to the Mongoloid audience, because even they have heard of Picasso and Freud, so this makes the audience feel superior to the characters that haven't. It's also mocking the "ignorance" of people in the past, when that kind of "ignorance" was the product of the world they lived in and the modern ignorant don't have the same excuses.

The fiance was an evil stereotype because they lumped him in with the ignorant past, and Rose was a good stereotype because they lumped her in with the enlightened future.

Honestly, I just watched the movie as a prelude to the review and while I generally agree with most of his sentiments, I don't see why he doesn't view Rose a teenage girl that is unhappy with high society life and irresponsibly runs off with Jack for an escapist romantic fantasy.
I think he did. But that's still a more interesting character than her mustache-twirling villain-fiance. And I think we'd be more able to view Rose as irresponsible if the movie didn't go as far to show that the abusive husband being forced on her by her mother was so plainly wrong.
 

Won

Member
Dammit, I watched Double Team 3 times to be properly prepared for the review and they give us this?!

Review is spot on, as so often. Young me straight up hated it, mostly because my sister liked it. But with the years I grew to like the sinking ship bit. Who doesn't like watching a ship sink and people freeze to death?
But man do I hate the characters. So incredible bad.


Also yes please to Star Trek V. Wanted that for a while now. Seems to make so much sense to do. Bad movie + Trek. Just perfect.
 

Grinchy

Banned
I had no idea the fleshlight didn't have batteries. How the fuck does it work? I thought it was a mechanical device with moving parts.

Awesome review. I was kind of worried that after all this time, the new review might feel forced or out of place. It wasn't at all. It was damn near perfect.
 

GavinGT

Banned
I had no idea the fleshlight didn't have batteries. How the fuck does it work? I thought it was a mechanical device with moving parts.

Awesome review. I was kind of worried that after all this time, the new review might feel forced or out of place. It wasn't at all. It was damn near perfect.

I'm pretty sure it's just a rubber hole with flaps and whatnot to emulate the anatomy. You stick your member in it and you move it up and down.
 

weepy

Member
I say it all the time. He looks like a swolen rat and his 'acting' looks like constipation.

Why the hate? Dicaprio is a good actor. Not my favorite but after seeing Gilbert Grape and The Basketball Diaries I know he can act. Maybe a tad overrated though.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
I once bought a Fleshlight for a Bachelor Party for a mate, under the guise of "you're not getting any now that she's locked you in, so you might as well help yourself." It is indeed just some silicon with a hole in a flashlight-like case. Why anyone would use it is beyond me.

Really, funny reply-guy, think about it for a second, if I bought it for myself why would I be posting this here?
 

Grinchy

Banned
How can they charge so much for fleshlights if that's all they are? Well that settles it. I'm not going to buy 10 of them now.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Well to be fair most of the reviews that were on the webstores were pretty positive in saying it simulated the real thing fairly well.

Not sure if the reviews were legit or not though as they were on the stores themselves, but hey, take it for what you will.
 

twofold

Member
Three minutes in and I can already tell this review is not gonna sit well with GAF. lulz

Really?

I think they've been onpoint with what they're saying. The stop start nature, the lack of a connection to the characters, the constant deus ex machina, the inconsistent tone - these were all issues I had with the film and they picked up on them too.

There are spoilers for the second and third movie in the review, btw.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
They said that they liked the movie, but that it had disappointing elements to it.

How accurate was their description of the 48fps experience?
 
Yeah, for as ridiculous as the reviews can be, they superbly break down what is wrong with the prequels...even the shitty shot composition.

"Walk around hallway talking
Stop
Angle/reverse angle conversation"

I watched the Clones and Revenge reviews for the first time last weekend, and already not liking the prequels and seeing them numerous times just to make sure how much I disliked them... Now I'm more fascinated by the prequels as a study in ineptitude.
 

Eidan

Member
The review seems perfectly fair. My favorite part is that they hint at something a lot of people disagree with or ignore: that Tolkein is a sub-par story teller, and Jackson has improved on the works.
 

twofold

Member
The review seems perfectly fair. My favorite part is that they hint at something a lot of people disagree with or ignore: that Tolkein is a sub-par story teller, and Jackson has improved on the works.

I disagree.

I think The Hobbit, due to it being a children's book, can get away with its weird fantastical elements and over use of deus ex machina. As a kid, I LOVED it when Gandalf appeared out of nowhere to save the day. Hell, even as an adult reading The Hobbit, I thought it was pretty badass.

Watching the film, though, I found myself rolling my eyes constantly. I think I would have been fine with the deus ex machina had the film had the same light-hearted, whimsical tone as the book.. But it didn't. The shoehorning of LOTR elements and other stuff made the film feel much darker than it should have been.

I think the story telling in the LOTR books is fine, too. I did skip some things (mainly the descriptions of family trees), but it was mostly fine and I enjoyed reading it.
 
That was indeed the case.

Though they apparently had really shitty seats at the HFR screening. I wonder how even a detail as small as that possibly affected their opinion.

I was in pretty bad seats when I saw it in HFR and I actually liked it. Infinitely better than being super close the the screen with a normal 24fps movie.
 
Mike hit my main view within the first few minutes. Jackson tried to make "The Hobbit" be a great, sweeping epic that LOTR was and it simply does not work due to the very nature of "The Hobbit" story.
 
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