Red Letter Media

Favorite recurring character? (Select 4)

  • Jack / AIDSMobdy

    Votes: 225 23.7%
  • Josh / the Wizard

    Votes: 66 7.0%
  • Colin (Canadian #1)

    Votes: 416 43.8%
  • Jim (Canadian #2)

    Votes: 204 21.5%
  • Tim

    Votes: 354 37.3%
  • Len Kabasinski

    Votes: 190 20.0%
  • Freddie Williams

    Votes: 245 25.8%
  • Patton Oswalt

    Votes: 22 2.3%
  • Macaulay Culkin

    Votes: 474 49.9%
  • Max Landis

    Votes: 52 5.5%

  • Total voters
    949
Also note that the children of the Silents (who did go to Vietnam) were Gen X. For example, "The Rooster" is a song by Alice in Chains about Jerry Cantrell's father, who was a sniper in Vietnam. Cantrell was born in 1966 - that makes him Gen X. If his dad was old enough to serve in Vietnam in the 1960s, that makes him a Silent. Roughly, the generations go:

.................Silent -----------> Gen X. -------------> Gen Z
WW2 --------->Boomer ----------> Millennial -----------> Trooned-out 5-year-olds
 
The boys falling for a meta con is annoying but expected. They always do. "Getting" that kind of thing is part of their self-image. Maybe a Gen X trait, as above. I'm one of those geezers, and as a kid I loved that smug shit. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't "get" it, though. It's always the same. Even OGs of self-reflexive irony like Letterman and Gilbert Sorrentino seem lame now, not for stupid David Foster Wallace reasons, but because it's been repeated so many times it's retrospectively become shtick.

The weird thing was how much Mike admires the first Matrix movie. He kinda got angry about it. Alcoholic dementia! Jay was scared to say that he preferred eXistenZ.
 
That is one of the worst takes I have heard RLM ever say.

Edit : I finished watching the review and they indulge in the only thing I really hate about RLM.

"It was meta and that excuses it from it's flaws." The entire first act was the worst part of the movie, it was mega in the most shallow, meaningless way possible.

"They are remaking it, and are going to just talk out of their asses about all the things people liked about the first movie, in the most heavy handed, jaded, sanitized, stereotypical way possible."

and RLM gives it a pass because "META GUYS."
Last I checked the medium-fat one was proclaiming some faggy Netflix show the greatest thing he'd ever seen, then there was Gay Blows Men's hot take that Mortal Kombat 95 is pure trash that is only liked because of nostalgia.

Wisconsin is full of homo gaylords with terrible taste in movies.
 
Best of the Worst is about the only thing worth watching anymore. Kind of hope they do a scavenger hunt again soon

I disagree. Best of the Worst has been slipping just as bad the past few years. The only difference is that it isn't as offputting because it's just a show meant to have some fun.
 
I disagree. Best of the Worst has been slipping just as bad the past few years. The only difference is that it isn't as offputting because it's just a show meant to have some fun.
Also, those movies were always shit. Speaking of, one shitty B movie I recommend is Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death. Bill Mahar is the most based anti-feminist and a giant incompetent idiot at the same time. He's hired by a moderate feminist who is officially assigned by the US government to negotiate the Piranha Women to move to a reservation in Florida so that the US has access to the avocado jungle of San Bernadino.

I recommend it as it's classified as a comedy that functions as a comedy.
 
Take for example the last BoTW - they had to preface the Hulk Hogan stuff with all that Nigger bullshit. They couldn't have just shut the fuck up about it, they had to make a deal out of it. Fuck 'em.
Hey, hey, hey!

ALLEGEDLY

Seriously, it’s a show where a couple of drunk Milwaukee natives talk about movies and make Star Trek references. Don’t take things so seriously, you’ll be a lot happier if you just relax a bit.
 
They also threw shade on No Way Home too. While I do think that movie also indulges in memberberries, that does not excuse Matrix for doing the same damn thing. At least people want No Way Home, which can't be said of Matrix Retcon.
Accusing NWH of "memberberries" is unfair.

The secret to good improv and comedy is the principle of "Yes and..." where the participants take an idea and keep building upon it.

GOOD sequels follow this same principle. "Yes [the first movie] and... [new stuff]" Even more importantly to this is legacy ideas. The aged legend passing his heroics to a new generation MUST build on this say "Yes and..." idea.

I think the strongest contrast is with something like Star Wars TFA. That movie has memberries because you'll notice it has nothing else. It never goes "Yes, remember those other movies? AND here's what happened next..." it's just that first sentence over and over.

Conversely NWH very much operates on this "Yes [remember] and...[here's more]." principle with several characters having arcs that only make sense building from the previous movies.

Hell if you want to accuse the film of memberries, the whole thing is a memberry of One More Day and THAT is the most hated story in Spider-Man's history. Yet the movie is beloved by fans.

It's a difference between doing somethingnew with the same ingredients vs just repeating said ingredients.
 
Accusing NWH of "memberberries" is unfair.

The secret to good improv and comedy is the principle of "Yes and..." where the participants take an idea and keep building upon it.

GOOD sequels follow this same principle. "Yes [the first movie] and... [new stuff]" Even more importantly to this is legacy ideas. The aged legend passing his heroics to a new generation MUST build on this say "Yes and..." idea.

I think the strongest contrast is with something like Star Wars TFA. That movie has memberries because you'll notice it has nothing else. It never goes "Yes, remember those other movies? AND here's what happened next..." it's just that first sentence over and over.

Conversely NWH very much operates on this "Yes [remember] and...[here's more]." principle with several characters having arcs that only make sense building from the previous movies.

Hell if you want to accuse the film of memberries, the whole thing is a memberry of One More Day and THAT is the most hated story in Spider-Man's history. Yet the movie is beloved by fans.

It's a difference between doing somethingnew with the same ingredients vs just repeating said ingredients.
Also remember that TFA was initially a very well reviewed movie at first by everyone, even RLM. Neither movie has a qualitative difference. People were interested in what those TFA characters were going to do and how to explain why the old characters ended up the way they did. That spell got broken by TLJ, but that's a separate movie altogether.
 
Also remember that TFA was initially a very well reviewed movie at first by everyone, even RLM. Neither movie has a qualitative difference. People were interested in what those TFA characters were going to do and how to explain why the old characters ended up the way they did. That spell got broken by TLJ, but that's a separate movie altogether.
I said it at the time and I'll say it again, TFA was decent until the superweapon showed up. That's the moment the movie goes off the rails from "comfort food" to straight up memberberries.

The problem with TFA is exactly the same as with TPM: the movie reaches a point where the story tells you that the entire first act was completely pointless.
TpM- "we're going to send Jedi to investigate!" "We must get our report to the government!" Oh wait, once back at the government nobody will listen to our investigation or report.

TFA- "we need to find Luke!" "Giant space laser goes PEW PEW PEW" "well fuck Luke, let's blow that up."

At no point does NWH ever do this. There are a few smoothing over points of "this thing from previous we're going to set aside because we only have 2 hrs here" but otherwise everything from previous movies and in the movie itself all matters.
 
That spell got broken by TLJ, but that's a separate movie altogether.

It wasn't entirely The Last Jedi that did that, though. I remember people coming down from the hype 6 months after TFA, basically accusing it of just being a rehash of ANH. I think Rich even pointed this out in a later review (TLJ?) and something I identified with as most of my friends and co workers thought I was crazy for thinking TFA was "just okay" and for pointing out it was derivative of ANH. The Last Jedi didn't do it any favors though, that's for sure.

I think No Way Home won't suffer quite the same fate since it's not being derivative, and the fact that despite whatever someone may feel about NWH, the film absolutely did far more with Toby and Andrews iterations of the character than TFA did with Leia, Han Solo or Chewbacca.
 
The boys falling for a meta con is annoying but expected. They always do. "Getting" that kind of thing is part of their self-image. Maybe a Gen X trait, as above. I'm one of those geezers, and as a kid I loved that smug shit. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't "get" it, though. It's always the same. Even OGs of self-reflexive irony like Letterman and Gilbert Sorrentino seem lame now, not for stupid David Foster Wallace reasons, but because it's been repeated so many times it's retrospectively become shtick.

The weird thing was how much Mike admires the first Matrix movie. He kinda got angry about it. Alcoholic dementia! Jay was scared to say that he preferred eXistenZ.
There is nothing inherently wrong with meta concepts in a movie. The problem with the new Matrix film is that it doesn't do it right and as you pointed out is nothing more than a con to justify its existence. If it I had to sum up the new Half in the Bag review, it is "Yeah, the movie is a soulless cash grab. But it recognizes it is guys!"
 
It wasn't entirely The Last Jedi that did that, though. I remember people coming down from the hype 6 months after TFA, basically accusing it of just being a rehash of ANH. I think Rich even pointed this out in a later review (TLJ?) and something I identified with as most of my friends and co workers thought I was crazy for thinking TFA was "just okay" and for pointing out it was derivative of ANH. The Last Jedi didn't do it any favors though, that's for sure.
TFA got a "free pass" because, whether people believe it or not (and I've seen that retarded Bomberguy take that "nobody bashed those movies until Plinkett!" a lot over the last few years), that the prequel series was considered terrible and a new series would have benefitted from, like one of the RLM guys said, "feeling like a Star Wars movie". I don't think anyone knew at the time it was the first of a trilogy of "Nobody knows what the fuck's going on" nor do I believe that anyone really saw The Great Memberberry Harvest stemming from it, either.
 
TFA got a "free pass" because, whether people believe it or not (and I've seen that retarded Bomberguy take that "nobody bashed those movies until Plinkett!" a lot over the last few years), that the prequel series was considered terrible and a new series would have benefitted from, like one of the RLM guys said, "feeling like a Star Wars movie". I don't think anyone knew at the time it was the first of a trilogy of "Nobody knows what the fuck's going on" nor do I believe that anyone really saw The Great Memberberry Harvest stemming from it, either.
It was rather hard to believe that Disney bought Star Wars and made a full trilogy with literally no game plan on what they wanted to do with the story.
 
TFA got a "free pass" because, whether people believe it or not (and I've seen that retarded Bomberguy take that "nobody bashed those movies until Plinkett!" a lot over the last few years), that the prequel series was considered terrible and a new series would have benefitted from, like one of the RLM guys said, "feeling like a Star Wars movie". I don't think anyone knew at the time it was the first of a trilogy of "Nobody knows what the fuck's going on" nor do I believe that anyone really saw The Great Memberberry Harvest stemming from it, either.
It could also be that TFA was a movie that did listen to Plinkett reviews, right down to getting JJ to direct it, so they were validated by Hollywood people. Contrary to what they say about the Hollywood system, they do want validation from them, hence the B and C list celebrities that show up on their show sometimes.
 
I remember people coming down from the hype 6 months after TFA

It took people as long as 6 months!?

(and I've seen that retarded Bomberguy take that "nobody bashed those movies until Plinkett!" a lot over the last few years)

It took people until Plinkett said something!?

Seriously, the déjà vu I felt while watching TFA wasn't just in comparison to ANH. For both TPM and TFA I could feel the sense of disappointment in those two films wash over me while I was still in the theater seat, and they both warded me away from watching the rest of their respective trilogies. I watched bits of AotC and RotS later - or I only remember bits of them - because of the memes and the sperging that RotS is like actually good you guys. Meh.

I tried to think how to say this diplomatically, but fuck it, it's a-log time.

If you tried to fool yourself that TFA and TPM were good, even after walking out of the theater, you're a tard. Like that asshole Jeremy Griggs.
If you think RLM are to blame for the backlash against the prequels, you're a tard.
If you think RLM are to blame for Disneys SW fuckups because they 'made' Daddy George sell his property to them, you're a tard.

You should thank RLM for providing the most entertainment involving Star Wars since the Droids cartoon went off the air.

Contrary to what they say about the Hollywood system, they do want validation from them, hence the B and C list celebrities that show up on their show sometimes.

Macaulay Culkin's appearances were entertaining, but that desperation for any kind of Hollywood connection meta makes them seem just a bit more tragic.
And we all know that meta matters most.
 
I don't think anyone knew at the time it was the first of a trilogy of "Nobody knows what the fuck's going on" nor do I believe that anyone really saw The Great Memberberry Harvest stemming from it, either.
That is really the key to understanding this. People were willing to give it the benefit of the doubt because they were waiting to see where the rest of the trilogy went. If TFA was the start of something good, people would have absolutely loved it at the end of the trilogy.

Seeing where the trilogy went however has forced everyone to reevaluate it.
 
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