Red Letter Media

Favorite recurring character? (Select 4)

  • Jack / AIDSMobdy

    Votes: 256 23.9%
  • Josh / the Wizard

    Votes: 77 7.2%
  • Colin (Canadian #1)

    Votes: 459 42.8%
  • Jim (Canadian #2)

    Votes: 229 21.4%
  • Tim

    Votes: 385 35.9%
  • Len Kabasinski

    Votes: 208 19.4%
  • Freddie Williams

    Votes: 274 25.6%
  • Patton Oswalt

    Votes: 27 2.5%
  • Macaulay Culkin

    Votes: 541 50.5%
  • Max Landis

    Votes: 64 6.0%

  • Total voters
    1,072
Not a big fan of the "vent was an on-purpose weakness created by a double agent" wrinkle either in disney or original EU because ANH felt like it went to a good length in that briefing scene indicating this vent is something mechanically necessary for the station to function, which the designers had carefully considered and built fortifications around - but at least I'm pretty sure the EU had some handwave in there about "well of course our double agent had to make it believable to his superiors, he wouldn't survive very long if he delivered plainly faulty designs." Been a while since I watched it, did Rogue One not include that handwave?
Basic car logic dictates that anything that generates heat needs to expel it in some way. Therefore, if something obstructs it, the engine overheats and explodes. It just so happens this particular one is a straight vent instead of using L and U pipes in it.
 
The Death Star exhaust vent vulnerability always made sense to me as a simple design oversight on the part of the Empire. Thematically it made sense to portray the Empire as blinded by hubris
Yes, that is most likely the point of it. It's probably an intentional callback to fun old war movies where scrappy heroes in occupied countries are able to beat the enemy due to the cunning of our heroes and the oversight of an arrogant overextended eagle. Think the Norwegian heavy water sabotage for a historical example. - You saw this cliché in the good Indiana Jones movies too, both Spielberg and Lucas grew up with those films so it makes sense why they put that element in their own stories. - These movies are largely dead now and have been mostly replaced with misery porn, so I get why people don't understand the cultural context if you never watched "Where Eagles Dare" for example.
 
I watched the first 20 minutes and it was them being assblasted that people dare say the Prequels had merits, then I jumped forward and it them comparing the prequels to the Acolyte but saying that the Acolyte was good(?) and raised some good points(?!), even if it was in jest it's still an absolutely retarded comparison to make considering no one even remembers The Acolyte, and how its plot was retarded.

I'd argue that the Acolyte is remembered, in an infamous way. It's that weird as fuck Star Wars show.

It tried to take a risk. People on one hand will bitch about 'capeshit' or 'slop' but the minute anything tries to do or be something different it is shit on.

I did not like the Acolyte, partly because of the outrage marketing shit the one actress was doing with it, partly because I'm tired of Disney pillaging EU for spare parts. You can respect someone for trying to do something different, even if the end result is shit and (potentially) death by committee (I'd argue it probably would've been worse if the director/writer had carte blanche to do whatever. Also, it's funny Mike is extolling the virtues of an auteur director when he shit on Lucas for being that in the prequel reviews. I mean, he's right that filmmaking is a collaborative effort, but it's still amusing and I guess proof of he doesn't know what the fuck he wants out of Star Wars.)

The Prequels tried to do something different -- more Buck Rogers/1950s 'futuristic' aesthetic, bright colors, a plank of wood as one of your lead actors, etc. It didn't work, but at the very least you could argue that the prequels were done by folks who knew their craft inside and out. They also aren't particularly good, but there are at least moments, lines, scenes, etc. that stick with you.

It's not an original thing to say, but they have Prequel Derangement Syndrome, where they got so much clout from bashing it that they legitimately can't fathom that Millenials have nostalgic feelings about it, and that it had a lot of merits that makes people remember it more than the 10+ shows Disney shat out in the last half decade.

The thing is, they have all taken shit that they remember fondly when they were younger, like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street, and acknowledge that they're utter shit. They aren't talking about how Freddy Kreuger is queer coded because his burns and sassy nature make him flaming. (I mean, yeah, they did it with that one Nightmare Film, but that was more talking about the public perception of that one film and they weren't trying to seriously analyze it.)
 
I get that it's a low bar, but: What makes it the "best"? Like - when you watch it, what do you enjoy about it?
It's a decent space adventure story that doesn't shit on existing characters unlike every other sequel.
Plus it's got Ben Mendelsohn in a cape.
 
It tried to take a risk. People on one hand will bitch about 'capeshit' or 'slop' but the minute anything tries to do or be something different it is shit on.
Unless I missed something when I heard people talking about it, it really didn't fo anything risky. Moral ambiguity nowadays is the least edgy things possible. Saying stuff like "demons are evil" is legitimately considered a hateful comment in current year.

The Prequels tried to do something different -- more Buck Rogers/1950s 'futuristic' aesthetic, bright colors, a plank of wood as one of your lead actors, etc. It didn't work, but at the very least you could argue that the prequels were done by folks who knew their craft inside and out. They also aren't particularly good, but there are at least moments, lines, scenes, etc. that stick with you.
The prequels has a more system oriented storytelling that gives them applicability in the modern world, they don't need to show Jedis killing a dark side sect as a non-comment "mayne the genocidal hedonists are just as good as the jedi"
 
The new Plinkett video was meandering bullshit and Mike is delusional if he thinks his critiques of all the things he's complained about over the years are any more intelligent than the content creators he makes fun of in the video.
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Mike Stolas is the Gen-X Linkara without his tranny porn being leaked online. He even used the same argument about kids starving in Africa to defend Disney-era Star Wars, just as Linkara defends a dying American comic book industry. If anyone from red letter media will go full on lulzcow. It’s probably Mike Stolas. He’s the one causing all the drama from the channel and having a midlife crisis.
 
Mike Stolas is the Gen-X Linkara without his tranny porn being leaked online.
Can you give me a tl;dr on Iron Liz? Is that person a 100% confirmed tranny? Last time I saw him/her was about a decade ago and I remember thinking "there's no way this is a woman." That was a few years before trannies became the controversial topic they are today.
 
So I just finished watching the latest plinkett review. I kind of understand the comparison between the prequels and the acolyte. Except, I'm sure some of the shot and story beats were designed to align with the prequels so the similarity isn't surprising.

Mike clearly doesn't care about cohesiveness of the story universe which I think bothers most people who are deeply attached to Star Wars. If, like scientist man supposes, Disney were trying to create high end products for that crowd they are clearly failing. He also seems to excuse all of the badness that he criticised in the prequels, like incoherent story, plot holes, etc. I don't understand why he is so soft on it.

Overall, it's disappointing in how bland his critique is. He touches on some diversity non-sense but then completely ignores any of the culture war stuff like how all the white men in the show are useless, etc. I kind of get trying to avoid touching that electrified rail, but then its only ever going to make your critique mid at best, since you are missing much of the subtext, and failing to understand why it failed and will continue to fail.

Its weird, in 2016 they correctly called out Ghostbusters 2016 for attacking its audience, and yet here Mike refuses to.
 
When someone (let's call him Mike) presents an argument of whatever kind including movie criticism/analysis it does not have mirror or even be consistent with the listeners' understanding/opinions/views. That's confirmation bias territory and that's bad m'kay. It does however have to hold up to the listener as coherent in the sense of I don't agree with you but I can at least understand how you got to what you say and appreciate that's a tenable view to hold. In inherently subjective areas such as "what's a good movie" there's a really wide range of views that will reach that standard and even when it doesn't there's wiggle room such as so bad it's good or the guilty pleasure or even it's a matter of taste.

If Mike can't reach that standard he can expect (more) pushback, criticism and, in youtubeland, the loss of engagement as listeners conclude that they've just wasted their time listening to an old man waving his fist at the clouds. He's lost the connection with and no longer understands the general audience.

That's a bad situation but what is so much worse is when Mike realises he has the disconnect but rather than engaging in a little self reflection or a coherent further argument addressing the issues behind the disconnect, opts to use logical fallacies or other cheap debating tricks to convince his audience that he was right all along. Hypocrisy tends to be a noticeable incident of this. That can work with the limited subset of the audience for a limited time but it's short term crises management at the cost of greater long term damage as even the people Mike fooled eventually realise that they were fooled and how. It's gaslighting and that's what Mike did to a remarkable extreme with his "why do people complain about Disney Star Wars when people are starving in Africa?". Or stop asking questions, just consume Mike's opinions.

TLDR - Mike has lost his basic understanding of what people in general like and dislike. He is aware of that but not aware enough to know that gaslighting is not a winning remedy for the situation. (It might get him a job in Hollywood though where it's pretty much the standard MO.)
 
I mean in the phantom menace plinkett review he asked people to describe the characters from Star Wars, without describing how they look, their clothes, etc. People could do it for original trilogy characters but not sequel characters. Try doing that for characters from Acolyte. Seriously, its like Mike has brain damage from drinking.
 
Can you give me a tl;dr on Iron Liz? Is that person a 100% confirmed tranny?
Yes. Iron Liz even confirm Linkara knew of him having a penis and made fun of Linkara for a being a closeted nigga.
Mike has lost his basic understanding of what people in general like and dislike.
Try doing that for characters from Acolyte. Seriously, its like Mike has brain damage from drinking.
Mike knows and doesn’t like the role he played in causing Disney Star Wars to happen. He really hates that millennials and Zoomers not only came around to liking the prequel movies, but also that the popularity of the prequels surpasses the original online among millennials and Zoomers who grew up with the prequels. Especially seeing how bad the sequel Star Wars is. At least with Rich Evans, he admits he only defends Disney Star Wars and especially *Acolyte* because of his far-left political views. Heck Disney admit to investor they chased male audiences for Star Wars and marvel. By promising investor they will try to win over zoomer men to Disney. That alone kills Red letter media narrative leftist woke politics didn’t play a role in killing Star Wars.
 
It's probably an intentional callback to fun old war movies where scrappy heroes in occupied countries are able to beat the enemy due to the cunning of our heroes and the oversight of an arrogant overextended eagle.
The trench run is literally the end of The Dambusters with space ships. They didn't have the balls to name Chewie after the bomber squadron's dog, though.
 
The trench run is literally the end of The Dambusters with space ships. They didn't have the balls to name Chewie after the bomber squadron's dog, though.

To belabour the point, some of the dialogue is identical. Also, if you haven't watched The Dambusters, go and watch it. Its excellent.
 
He is somehow still mad to this day that people made fun of his J.J. Abrams recommendation and how eventually it turned out horrible when it happened, why can't he let go? For some reason it really got under his skin.
 
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Also for shitting on the repetitive “Disney bad” YouTube cottage industry, they seem to forget that RLM was part of a similar industry that sprung up around the prequels. Basically any YouTube review of the prequels before around the time the sequel trilogy popped up just regurgitated the same talking points as the Plinkett reviews. Was RLM making snide comments about that group of YouTubers for their unoriginality and beating of a dead horse?
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RLM have always been a bunch of catty cathys. Which would be fine but they then hide a smug veil of being above it all. I thought the reviews from most if not all of these people pictured suck but how does that make them pricks exactly? And why was it important to say it for their Ghostbusters review? And why did they edit Chris Cuckman's background to red? They engage in a lot of "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" form if internet mud slinging. It's just super cowardly and annoying. They seem extremely allergic to saying anything directly or with sincerity.
 
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RLM have always been a bunch of catty cathys. Which would be fine but they then hide a smug veil of being above it all. I thought the reviews from most if not all of these people pictured suck but how does that make them pricks exactly? And why was it important to say it for their Ghostbusters review? And why did they edit Chris Cuckman's background to red? They engage in a lot of "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" form if internet mud slinging. It's just super cowardly and annoying. They seem extremely allergic to saying anything directly or with sincerity.
If I remember the lore correctly didn’t one of the people in this image (I think Chris Stuckmann?) have like an existential crisis because he worshipped the ground RLM walked on only for them to call him a prick? I swear there ended up being some drama like that caused by this one jab.

I think another reason for these snide remarks is that it allows a degree of “just joking bro” that RLM or their fanbase can pull out if the target counters the accusation, making them look unhinged for taking a “joke” so seriously. RLM is so respected in the YouTube film community that pulling a counter-attack would be basically pointless anyways, even if there is plenty of dumb stuff RLM has done.
 
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If I remember the lore correctly didn’t one of the people in this image (I think Chris Stuckmann?) have like an existential crisis because he worshipped the ground RLM walked on only for them to call him a prick? I swear there ended up being some drama like that caused by this one jab.

I think another reason for these snide remarks is that it allows a degree of “just joking bro” that RLM or their fanbase can pull out if the target counters the accusation, making them look unhinged for taking a “joke” so seriously. RLM is so respected in the YouTube film community that pulling a counter-attack would be basically pointless anyways, even if there is plenty of dumb stuff RLM has done.
Respected among ecelebs or not, Shatner will always hate them.
The idol calling you a little bitch pipeline flows on...
 
He is somehow still mad to this day that people made fun of his J.J. Abrams recommendation and it eventually it turned out horrible when it happened, why can't he let go? For some reason it really got under his skin.
It's a very specific recommendation that points to him and no one else, but let me get at the meta of it. When he made that recommendation, he was using Star Trek 09 as supporting evidence of it. To paraphrase, he argued that it was a good-looking, action oriented movie. Which ignores how even as an action movie, the characters were the shallow stereotypes of what people think Star Trek is. Kirk actually does sleep with the green lady in this movie. The plot itself had pretty massive plotholes like Nero floating around for 20 years for revenge when he traveled back in time.* At its core, 09 was a bad movie that no one talks about. This bad foundation leads to how TFA is also a shallow pastiche of what it references. We've been talking about the Battle of Yavin, so let's look at TFA's version of it. TFA's plan amounts to flying at the target and shooting it. It superficially looks like the original, but all the little details like the score or the chain of command breaking down or Vader's dogged defense are missing, so it doesn't feel like a struggle, nor was it what the movie was building up to in the first place. The Battle of Yavin is more than spaceships shooting at each other, it's a tightly plotted ten minutes of action that builds to the climax of the movie. TFA treats its Starkiller explosion as the B plot and is kind of sloppy in execution too, which is why people remember Kylo Ren over it. At no point do you believe Poe is in danger because there isn't a Vader on his ass. JJ Abrams movies have always been the shitty Kinkos copy of what came before.

For Mike, he'd have to admit his whole analysis of both Kelvin Trek and Star Wars had faulty assumptions from the start. It wasn't just JJ making an oopsie, it's how he operates.


*I don't care about deleted scenes of him ending up in Klingon prison, which was cut because it doesn't make sense for the most powerful ship in the movie to lose to those guys when it easily bodied the Kelvin. It doesn't count.
 
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