That was great until he started thinking it was funny to pretend he was a serial killer who kidnaps girls, ties them up in his basement, and then hacks them apart in the bathtub. Uh, ha ha?
-Tom
Djscman
5763
Serial killing is really the common denominator with people who are all, “Fuck Star Wars.” Am I right?
Mordrak
5764
Wait, you guys didn’t laugh at American Psycho*? Heh, I’m watching it now and it’s a little interesting B plot to the review using the camera to illustrate the reviewer’s priorities. I’m only starting part 3 right now.
*Though, to be fair, American Psycho was illustrating that Patrick Bateman had to latch onto something as superficial as mainstream pop reviews to hide the total emptiness of his humanity. So, granted, it’s not quite as deft as American Psycho.
Yeah, there’s nothing like a bloodied tied up girl in the background whimpering “please let me go” to punch up the funny when you’re making fun of Star Wars. Hey, are you guys going to see that Lovely Bones comedy this weekend? I bet it’s a laugh riot!
-Tom
Mordrak
5766
The comedy is partly in how he totally ignores the bones and her as he tries to find examples of shitty toys in his basement (which may or may not be from his grandkids). It’s like having Henry Lee Lucas hosting “At the Movies.”
It’s a legitimate criticism that the humor somewhat switches tone as it goes on, but the picture of his son and the bathroom presumably where his son hung himself, should have been pretty big clues where this was going (as well as his voice).
Anyway, if you don’t like it because of that, tis cool… I just personally wasn’t taken aback by it. I felt it was a pretty over the top concept and you could argue an hour long review needs something to keep it interesting. Heh.
The Creepy SciFi Nerd Who is Secretly An Axe Murderer theme is a bit overdone, compared to his previous Star Trek reviews, but if it offends your delicate sensibilities, you can probaby keep watching as after that scene it’s toned down to an occasional passing comment about his exwife, etc.
WHO WANTS PIZZA ROLLS!?
“Offends my delicate sensibilities”? Please. There’s a difference between being offended and not thinking something is funny. Jerry Lewis, Dane Cook, Star Wars reviews featuring kidnapped women, and Schindler’s List are in the latter category.
-Tom
Well, like I said, it was overdone, but personally I wasn’t as offended by it.
Mordrak
5770
Yeah, he seems to abandon it mostly by part 5 (which is where I’m at). He makes some great observations, but others he’s trying to hard to find flaws to complain about. Still, overall, his comments are solid.
Edit: There’s nothing wrong with finding it unfunny or being offended for that matter even if Tom wasn’t. I partly mistook Tom’s post too. Sorry about that.
kerzain
5771
Bam, the discussion about this Star Wars review has officially been Godwinned.
Nellie
5772
I know that agreeing with Tom is cause for immediate dismissal but that really took me out of the whole comedic piss take of star wars shenanigans.
The quick quips about pick the blue raid cans to shut up the hooker in the crawl space/mother in law/wife jokes I didn’t mind but the basement sequence I found quite disturbing. It was just out of place, un-necessary and not at all funny and if anything I find myself wondering everytime the next quip about killing hookers/in-laws or women in general crops up whether I’m going to have to deal with it again.
I’m British, I get mother-in-law/wife jokes. The tied up, bleeding, whimpering woman in the basement was overkill. The bones was going a little too far in my opinion.
That said, I’m still watching, while he may not have gone back and edited, he at least hasn’t repeated that mistake. [edit] Oh I lie, the end of part 7
Rimbo
5773
What surprises me the most about this discussion is that people found the first part of the review entertaining enough to watch beyond that point. Even now, I kinda want to see what people are talking about, but there’s no way I’m sitting through more of his droning monotone to get to it.
Mordrak
5774
That’s too bad, he has some good insights. He dissects the Phantom Menace as an example of what not to do when making a fantasy action adventure movie on almost every conceivable level. That’s why it’s seven parts. He also interweaves some of the special features footage throughout demonstrating how worthless the production process basically became because Lucas had complete control and no one challenged him. That’s pretty obvious (something I noticed way back when the DVDs were initially released), but he does a good job using clips to emphasize the point.
He also mentions some stuff that I’m not sure is true, but sounds downright batty. Luke was originally supposed to be a 65 year old man with a robot head? Han Solo a frog man?
I’m going through the Star Trek ones as well which are equally as good (and so far no graphic depictions of kidnapped women in his basement). Though he uses an offscreen rape as analogy in his Star Trek (2009) review. Our thread here mirrors his own reaction pretty well.
It’s brilliant. Anyone who was disgusted with I-III should watch it. As Mordrak said, it’s as much about how to succeed in the genre as how I-III fail. It has interesting things to say about IV-VI, and it is very funny. He’s paid more care and attention to I-III than Lucas ever did.
Rimbo
5776
Sounds wonderful. It’s a shame I can’t get over my monotone drone prejudice enough to watch more of it.
Hugin
5777
Yeah, he gets into some nice stuff about various things the original movies got right structurally and thematically (while still being straightforward mass entertainment) that the newer movies just don’t. One simple bit he goes over is the difference between the way Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace handle the notion of a person fighting while enraged or distraught.
That might be the funniest post I’ve ever read on this forum. Well done.
I probably should have mentioned that bit in my glowing praise.
It was bizarre and offensive and not in the least bit funny. I have to admit I overlooked it because I liked the review parts. :(
[EDIT]
They just posted the last part and once again the guy makes a ton of awesome points, but then at the end it devolves into the bizarre once more and has some odd Adaptation-style action movie shootout or something. It’s awful.
Anyway, either this guy spent 45 minutes talking eloquently about how a movie should be made and then utterly fails to make that kind of movie himself, or else he’s parodying The Phantom Menace by throwing in horrible and cringeworthy side stories in the review.
I’m guessing he just didn’t realize he was making the exact same mistakes in his review that Lucas makes whenever he makes films.
I’m right there with you. There was the quick line about the cheerleaders agreeing to say whatever he wants if he’d let them go and I thought “That’s what Tom’s upset about? Eh,” and then whoa, ok, basement scene. What’s going on? Why is this even here?
From the parts I saw, I agree the guy does a great job of breaking down the movies, offering simple but solid deconstruction of what makes good movies good and bad movies bad, but I just wish he didn’t have to wrap it in that weird schtick.
