Red Letter Media (Plinkett Reviews)

Movies
1

I know I’ve seen a link to their reviews here somewhere, but I can’t find it (apologies for my failed search skills). I’m creating a thread with Plinkett in the title so it’s easy to find, and can be updated when they add new reviews.

Red Letter Media website. The reviews are under “Plinkett Reviews”. YouTube direct links to each below:

Avatar. As I said here, this is much shorter than their Star Wars reviews, but interesting. Very little cutting away from the review for live action stuff, and it was worth it for the answering machine message from the Department of Cultural Guilt.
Part 1
Part 2

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Probably their best. As Tom mentioned in the thread I can’t find, part 2 gets weirder than it needs to be and isn’t as focused as the rest. Overall, this is the most thorough and clinical analysis of The Phantom Menace I’ve seen. TPM being what it is, an analysis of it is unavoidably an analysis of what’s wrong with it. (If I hallucinated the existence of the thread I can’t find - sorry for dragging you into my imaginary world, Tom)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Not as good as their analysis of Episode I, but still good, especially the detailed look at/evisceration of Anakin’s wooing of Padme.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

Star Trek: Generations.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Star Trek: First Contact.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Star Trek: Insurrection.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Star Trek: Nemesis.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

2

If I haven’t seen any of those Star Trek films, and never really saw TNG, will those reviews still be funny?

3

Yes, absolutely. I’ve never seen any of the TNG movies and I thought the reviews were hilarious. I loved the reviews, though I wonder how many times he’s seen each of those movies in order to meticulously tear them apart so successfully.

4

Yeah I just watched all of his Star Trek reviews and they are great. He is spot on with everything.

5

I just cottoned on to these. The analyses of the films themselves are funny enough, but the deeper point - the cynicism of much modern “blockbuster” film-making, the way so much undoubted technical prowess is being used to deliver the most appallingly trite, soulless and hollow entertainment - is actually quite tragic, and rather sobering.

I’ve seen some people being squeamish about the “serial killer” schtick. Personally, I don’t mind it, as it sort of drives home the depressing aspect of what he’s talking about.

One thing though: he still has a bit of reverence for the original trilogy. But wasn’t the original trilogy indeed part of what started the rot (with Speilberg as the other culprit)? Mindless, childish films delivered with technical brilliance - excused as “mythic” entertainment, or as “ironic”?

I guess he might say that the original trilogy at least obeyed the most basic classical rules and got you emotionally involved in the story, whereas the recent trilogy (along with so much of modern Hollywood produce) doesn’t even do that.

Also, it’s slightly uncomfortable to watch these videos, because I feel I’ve been complicit in the tragedy. I myself enjoy mindless blockbusters, to a degree. I myself will often happily sit through a film that’s basically bad, just because it has cool special effects and cool stuff. I was one of those who had my “inner child” awakened by Star Wars back in the 70s. But have I been complicit in my own infantilisation by not holding movies to a stricter standard and simply … not watching, not giving money to, all this shitload of crap that’s been produced?

But, meh, I’m not sure that all those brown movies being made in the 70s before Star Wars were any less prone to their own forms of crapness - the stink of the auteur, intellectual indulgence masquerading as “art”, political pretentiousness, etc., etc.

Maybe, at the end of the day, Vonnegut was right - 90% of everything is crap :) But in my milder moods, I reflect on how bloody hard it is to do anything in this world - even to produce crap that actually sells!

6

Sturgeon, not Vonnegut.

7

He’s back, with Star Trek: The Star Trek review. The elevator comparison in part 2 is money.

8

This guy is awesome. This installment needed more pizza rolls.

9

As morbid as it was, I really liked the black hole joke.

10

I couldn’t believe that the ad before part two was, in fact, for Totino’s Pizza Rolls. Dude’s got sponsorship!

11

I laughed at the space-time-cat-continuum joke.

“Wait… something’s changed!”

12

The other thread has more discussion, but this one is more organized and neat. I like that.

13

It’s more organized because we don’t have a parade of jerks feigning offense at the silly serial killer jokes, here.

14

I just searched for Red Letter and this is what came up first. To be honest, I was surprised it wasn’t full of hand-wringing and angst. That’s pretty much all I remembered of the discussion here. A happy accident, in my opinion.

15

The serial killer jokes are awesome. If you don’t like them, you don’t deserve Plinkett.

16

I liked the serial killer jokes. But I’m not one. Promise.

17

My two favorite things from his reviews:

  1. His ridicule of the battledroids’ effectiveness in the Phantom Menace review, part 4. The cut to Lucas and Spielberg where Lucas is describing them as “useless” followed by Plinkett’s FUCK YOU and a quick cut is absolutely brilliant.

  2. I don’t know which of the Star Trek reviews, but when he does the comparison between Asshole Movie Picard and Nice Guy TV Series Picard. First Contact maybe?

18

He returns! This time he attacks Cop Dog!

I didn’t care for it initially but he attacks the entire dog movies for kids genre and it takes off.

19

I’m not sure if mutilating cats is an improvement over mutilating women. And didn’t Plinkett ever see all those Disney movies with cats as the heroes? That Darn Cat? The Cat From Outer Space? Uh…The Aristocats?

The sick burns on Parker Lewis and Michael Vick were not exactly timely, but they were funny.

20

Worth it for the implication that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Ow My Balls will be the next review.