Red Letter Media on KotCS

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
I haven't watched this, but I've always found these online eviscerations to be obnoxious, and they end up prompting me to come to the film's defense because they tend to focus on the wrong things. The problems that Crystal Skull has are rarely the ones brought up on forums and snarky Youtube videos.

There's an endlessly parroted laundry list of damning "flaws" that gets rattled off: CGI, Shia, aliens, flying fridges, prairie dogs. But the movie's real problems aren't those things.
 

Toht's Arm

Active member
Udvarnoky said:
I haven't watched this, but I've always found these online eviscerations to be obnoxious, and they end up prompting me to come to the film's defense because they tend to focus on the wrong things. The problems that Crystal Skull has are rarely the ones brought up on forums and snarky Youtube videos.

There's an endlessly parroted laundry list of damning "flaws" that gets rattled off: CGI, Shia, aliens, flying fridges, prairie dogs. But the movie's real problems aren't those things.

If you watch the video, I think you'll find that it DOES focus on the real problems. Red Letter Media's got a pretty good track record on that count, IMHO - its dissection of the Star Wars prequels was spot-on - though you might find the delivery a little obnoxious.
 

kongisking

Active member
Toht's Arm said:
If you watch the video, I think you'll find that it DOES focus on the real problems. Red Letter Media's got a pretty good track record on that count, IMHO - its dissection of the Star Wars prequels was spot-on - though you might find the delivery a little obnoxious.

Nah, Udvarnoky is right on this. I've gotten completely fed up with RLM's reviews precisely because they are the most obnoxious form of "Accentuate the Negative". That, and their completely blatant condescension and sometimes outright mocking of people that appreciate the good things in the prequels. To paraphrase a nice line, "we're either with them, or we're their enemy." They're the epitome of smug, pompous snob hater culture, so I'm done with them.

Any good points they have (and I fully admit, they DID have some absolutely true points to make) are drowned in a sea of arrogance and snide contempt.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
The Star Wars prequels are a meaningless frame of reference to me. I saw Phantom Menace in the theater, thought it was okay, and never went to see the others, although I'm sure I've cumulatively watched Episodes 2 and 3 by now from piecemeal TV viewings.

I'm apathetic towards Star Wars. I liked them as a kid, but I didn't grow up to have super strong feelings about them one way or another. When it came to Lucasfilm, I always was more of an Indiana Jones guy, myself. I don't really have any interest in the new Star Wars films, and that's coming from someone expecting them to be good.

I'd probably be more excited if they revived Willow, believe it or not. Not that the first movie was great, but that's a world with more justification for further installments to me, plus, I want more Warwick Davis.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
kongisking said:
Nah, Udvarnoky is right on this. I've gotten completely fed up with RLM's reviews precisely because they are the most obnoxious form of "Accentuate the Negative". That, and their completely blatant condescension and sometimes outright mocking of people that appreciate the good things in the prequels. To paraphrase a nice line, "we're either with them, or we're their enemy." They're the epitome of smug, pompous snob hater culture, so I'm done with them.

Any good points they have (and I fully admit, they DID have some absolutely true points to make) are drowned in a sea of arrogance and snide contempt.

The only issues I have are the deeply disgusting and misogynistic humor that is inserted for no reason. The KOTCS one thankfully doesn't have actual shots of captured women, but it has the most disgusting, needless visual joke that I've seen.

That said, I've never gotten the snobbery you're describing here. In fact, in just about every case (prequels aside), they go to lengths to talk about the things they DID like.

In the KOTCS one, he defends the Mutt character, talks about his fondness for the diner scene and motorcycle chase and spends a good five minutes talking about what he thinks of as the movie's few good points.

Aside from the awful humor, I always found the tone cheerful and inclusive and from the perspective of a fan - someone who truly WANTS to like these movies but can't.
 

kongisking

Active member
Lance Quazar said:
The only issues I have are the deeply disgusting and misogynistic humor that is inserted for no reason. The KOTCS one thankfully doesn't have actual shots of captured women, but it has the most disgusting, needless visual joke that I've seen.

That said, I've never gotten the snobbery you're describing here. In fact, in just about every case (prequels aside), they go to lengths to talk about the things they DID like.

In the KOTCS one, he defends the Mutt character, talks about his fondness for the diner scene and motorcycle chase and spends a good five minutes talking about what he thinks of as the movie's few good points.

Aside from the awful humor, I always found the tone cheerful and inclusive and from the perspective of a fan - someone who truly WANTS to like these movies but can't.

I will give them credit for the KOTCS one, that was more fair and not so much "urggh, this is total crap" but more "dang it, it could have been so much more." I find snobbery and condescension in their remarks from the prequel reviews where they mock people that like some aspects of them, and act like the movies are totally iredeemable garbage. And in their Half in the Bag videos, there's a heavy implication that they just don't take movies seriously, acting like they're just fodder for their snide sense of humor. This devolves into them nitpicking beyond belief. It's the weird combo of pretentiousness AND lazy lack of respect for the medium that angers me.
 

Gabeed

New member
kongisking said:
I will give them credit for the KOTCS one, that was more fair and not so much "urggh, this is total crap" but more "dang it, it could have been so much more." I find snobbery and condescension in their remarks from the prequel reviews where they mock people that like some aspects of them, and act like the movies are totally iredeemable garbage. And in their Half in the Bag videos, there's a heavy implication that they just don't take movies seriously, acting like they're just fodder for their snide sense of humor. This devolves into them nitpicking beyond belief. It's the weird combo of pretentiousness AND lazy lack of respect for the medium that angers me.

You're merely sounding like a butthurt Star Wars prequel fan. There's enough self-deprecation in these videos to choke a dinosaur, and your accusations that they "have no respect for the medium" is baffling to me. But as you said, they are polarizing, particularly with the Star Wars prequels. I'm with Udvarnoky in that I was always more of an Indiana Jones fan than a Star Wars fan, and experienced apathy when seeing the prequel movies in theater rather than the "personal betrayal" that many fans felt. But I can definitely appreciate the Plinkett reviews nevertheless.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
While I in the past used RLM's videos to help me sleep, I think they nitpick films way too much. The Prequels aren't good films, merely guilty pleasures, but they're not the worst films ever, either. And that's RLM's problem. Anything they don't like they nitpick to death and make it seem like the worst film ever. KOTCS wasn't as good as the original films but it was a hell of a lot better than the prequels. I'd watch KOTCS over any Mummy, Lara Croft or National Treasure film.
 

IAdventurer01

Well-known member
Given how much we've picked apart the movie ourselves, I found the review pretty typical of just reading through numerous threads here!

The most interesting point I had not previously heard was his take on the opening scene. Like most here, I felt that at least up until the fridge the opening scene was terrific and unassailable. I now agree that it likely did give us a little bit too close a look at the rest of the movie. We got too much information up front so there was less to discover later.

Personally I hadn't considered that too little was revealed later on, things just felt a bit off. Reconsidering his point here, I think he's spot-on.
 
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