RED LETTER MEDIA's Mike Stoklasa, interviewed by THE SYNDICATE

[BaubleRob]

Gotta love a guy who can destroy a movie you like and you're actually glad.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

I love it when some Star Wars fanboy tries to point out "flaws" in the original trilogy to try to justify his liking all six of them.

[ComicBookSyndicate]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer "Empire Strikes Back has flaws too!"

Yes, and the Great Pyramid of Giza wasn't built cable-ready. STFU!

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer And there's just liking something....but we can't all be as cool as you...or fucking tools who nod their heads when other people dump on something. Oh, and the original films have flaws, such as bad writing, plot holes, stupid humor, flat acting & everything else you can name. But...I just like 'em. 

[ledawg1138]

@amaxamon That's cute.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon The prequels would be ridiculous flops if the OT hadn't come before them because they don't stand well at all on their own without a good understanding of the SW universe, unless of course you're a kid who likes lightsabers and explosions too much to care. It's impossible to like the characters in the prequels unless you force yourself to because they're unrelatable, it's next to impossible to say that they have a consistent plot, and frankly no one wants politics in a SW movie.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer TPM is the 4th most profitable American film ever made. It just made a killing at the box office. So apparently you're wrong. But go on spouting bullshit and mouthing RLM's words, it's way funnier than watching you try to be honest.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon No, I'm not. You know as well as I do that it made all of that cash (which is actually a much smaller amount when you account for inflation) because of the massive hype when it came out. Go look at how much AotC made and you'll notice a shocking difference. Hell, it only made it up to 4th place at the box office when it was re-released in 3D, pretty shameful for a Star Wars film.

Not that I expect you to. All you feel like doing is hurling insults so I'm wasting my time.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer And RotS made more than either. What's your point? Millions of people worldwide just slapped down $15.00 a pop to see TPM on the big screen. So it obviously has a following. A thirteen year old film raking in about $75 million is not shameful. Many hyped films (see: Green Lantern) do not make over $400 million. People saw it more than once because they liked it. Try reality sometime, it's very refreshing...

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon No it didn't. RotS made less than TPM but more than AotC. The tickets to see a 3D movie are twice as expensive as they are for 2D films, and inflation is still ridiculously high. Throw in little kids, do the math, and then try to talk about reality.

There are many reasons why fans saw TPM multiple times when it came out. I was 8 when TPM came out and liked it, yet it lost all its flavor by the time I turned 15. Yeah, the films are "for kids" and ONLY "for kids", it seems.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer When was the last time you made anything that earned over $70 million?? Seriously, that would be a success for a brand new film. As for your tastes today: congratulations! But it doesn't make anyone's opinion into fact. The film remains popular and it's a brilliant film on many levels. I still appreciate it. This guy's one claim to fame is "reviewing" another person's film, I think that's pathetic. When he makes something original and good, let me know.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon Why are you pretending that I'm an unsuccessful film director criticizing a more successful one?

The characters being flat, the plot being virtually nonexistent, these things aren't opinion. I'm surprised you don't see the irony in criticizing me for criticizing a successful film director like George Lucas while at the same time criticizing Mike Stoklasa for his very popular review when you haven't made anything like that either. Actually, on second thought, no I'm not.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer I dub thee "King Of The Canned Responses". Apparently millions of people disagree with you, since they just went out and paid real money to see this film: please explain that to me. Obviously many people disagree with you & Stoklasa. These same criticisms have been lobbed against many other filmmakers: I think they're irrelevant. The reason he didn't actually analyze the film is that he can't, he has a few jokes & some stale fabnoy whinges.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon Obviously many people disagree with you too especially since you, like Lucas, are unwilling to take any other points of view seriously. Either you haven't seen the review or you just rolled your eyes the entire time without paying attention and are just phoning this all in. Since you're not willing to have a serious discussion about it I'm through trying to break through your fanboy mind shield and get you to do any sort of critical thinking.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer I understand that there are many who don't like the film & I'm sure that some have valid points of view and aren't simply having a knee jerk reaction. It's not for everyone. As for Stok., I don't think he approached the film on its own terms at all: approached like that, there are thousands are wonderful films that are automatically "bad". Nor do I think he makes any important observations. This makes it another [worthless] opinion piece on the 'net.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon So none of the comparisons to the OT are legitimate? The points made about little to no character development, bad pacing, over-reliance on special effects and appealing to a younger audience rather than a general audience, none of that was fair to the prequels or George Lucas? Is it somehow wrong for the vast majority of Star Wars fans to have expected the new films to be stylistically similar to the original trilogy?

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer These are different films, they have different objectives & the artist has changed over time; I wasn't expecting them to be the same. They are consistent with the strengths/weaknesses of Lucas's other films, so it would be hypocritical of me to accept them in some and reject them in others. The vast majority of SW fans like the prequels: TPM has 965 5 star reviews to 437 1 star reviews on Amazon. But if you really want to discuss it, I'll PM you.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon That's funny then, that George Lucas claims they're all meant to be one 6-part story. It's hardly hypocritical to applaud one trilogy for clearly better acting, character development, and story and point out that the new trilogy is completely inferior in all of those aspects.

Seriously, Amazon ratings? I could just as easily point to part 1 of the Phantom Menace review having 18,911 likes and 1,534 dislikes and say that the vast majority of Star Wars fans agree with Mike Stoklasa.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer Uh-huh, talk about "fanboy mind shield". What makes you think the people frequenting RLM are SW fans? I do have reason to believe that people buying the video are fans. Anyway, your arguments are as weak & selective as RLM's. I offered you a chance to discuss it seriously, you decline, oh well. I'm sure RLM will tell you what else you're allowed to like & why. Have fun!

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon The only ones who would be interested in a review of the prequels are those who have seen the prequels and didn't like them. I figured that was pretty obvious, but apparently not to everyone. I tried discussing it with you seriously but all you did was call Mike "pathetic" and apparently things like lack of character development, no plot, messy pacing are all "weak and selective". So if you're not willing to discuss film elements seriously, aka what makes films work, see you later.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer Ha ha ha ha ha!!! You're such a tool!!! Classic. I said: if you want to discuss it let's do it for real, in PM's. Instead, you just run away. Yeah, see ya round echo-chamber.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon All you've got left is insults, I see. If you won't discuss it "for real" here, I don't see why you'd discuss it any differently in PMs. That's why I'm refusing.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer There's no room with a 500 character limit, that's why I suggested PM's. What's your excuse?

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon I had plenty of room to write down enough points that you were never able to even contest. You just keep going after myself and Stoklasa. That's all.

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer I just told you: not enough room to reply. Do you want to discuss it in PM's or not? It's a yes or no question. Sorry if I seem to be "going after you" I was just making a point that echoing someone else's opinion is weak shit and nothing to be proud of.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon I'm not really in the mood to keep this going. There's a difference between echoing someone else's opinion and agreeing with them. If I prefaced every argument with "Well, Plinkett said..." and tried to copy word-for-word something that was said in the review then I'd be a tool. (Sadly there are a few other Phantom Menace reviews that do exactly that on YouTube.)

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer Ha ha ha, okay man, you're not in the mood now. And you have been merely echoing his review. But I'll let you go. I'm sure you'll get it one day when you find yourself appreciating something that violates all your sacred aesthetic rules. Cheers.

[RevengeOfTheKaizer]

@amaxamon Say what you want, if it makes you feel better about having a movie that you like trashed. Just remember that Star Wars fans only go from liking TPM to hating it if they didn't already and never the other way around, that's just not how it works.

But anyway since you're still a child, I'll let you get in the last word since it'll make you feel like you "won".

[amaxamon]

@RevengeOfTheKaizer Well, just tell me "how it works" -- for all works of art, across the board, with no exceptions. 500 characters should be enough. If you're in the mood.

[MrProdigalKnight]

still, the man just puts all other internet reviewers to shame

[MrProdigalKnight]

seeing him try to act normal feels off when you're used him being awkward and weird

[WelcomeGhostsIV]

Guy's a genius!

[MrJoebuck74]

Mike let me tell you: You did open eyes of a lot of goats that quoted good the prequels of Star Wars, you're a genius and Lucas is a jerk.

[biffen89]

Wow, Mike seems really nervous.

[forman1200]

love this guy

[TheAle89515]

... this guy's seen Attack of the Clones a hundred times? I'm not sure you understand that the movie was the "worst thing ever made by a human" if you see it a hundred times...

[ComicBookSyndicate]

@TheAle89515 I think Attack of the Clones is one of the worst movies ever made, and I can safely say that *because* I've seen it over a hundred times. The details of those viewings are not for the public record though :)

-Mike

[TheAle89515]

@ComicBookSyndicate In honor of your sacrifice, I have made a burnt offering. Specifically, I burned my copy of the film.

[ChiefTroll302]

Star trek: Generations  was the best review ever made.

[hawaiidispenser]

Mike is the best... he's bringing intelligent film connoisseurship to the young masses.

[Fibr3Optix]

RLM will always be known for the star wars reviews however half in the bag is awesome.

[MrHEC381991]

plinkett:...Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the stupidest movie ever made.

[LukeGeoDude]

Mike is all kinds of awesome.

[gaozhi2007]

Mike, why are you actually trying in these interviews. Fuck that. Go back to the asshole who doesn't care about being a poser in front of the camera. You sounded really awkward this whole interview.

[gary1076]

Is Mike on Twitter?

[MrLaggan]

Very talented man

[cpjackson79]

My favorite part of the "Star Trek: the Star Trek" review was when he played the scene where try transport Kirk back to the Enterprise while he's falling to the surface of Vulcan: Very exciting scene, then he cuts to Obi Wan and QuiGon drinking tea together.

[SequentiallyCompact]

The Cop Dog review is probably the one that had me in stitches the most. They're all hilarious though.

[TURBODORK2]

was Mr.plinkett based on a real person

[SethHesio]

Mike is fucking hilarious.

[guitarreilly]

hes a legend round these part

[slytown]

Love the Plinkett and the half-bag stuff. Mike's an instant legend.

[Mrhellsy]

George became what he most hated.....wag wag

[ShotDownInFlames2]

Great interview. Red Letter's prequel reviews are truly awesome, and far more entertaining than the actual movies.

Since George Lucas was involved with the three best movies of all time and the three worst movies of all time, maybe we can call him a mediocre filmmaker.

[ComicBookSyndicate]

@ShotDownInFlames2 Star Wars & Empire Strikes Back are (in my opinion) the 2nd and 3rd best epic/adventure movies ever made. The prequels certainly rank among the most confusing, incompetent, rushed, and disappointing movies in history.

George Lucas is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, with a CGI moustache painted on his damn face.

[WastedPo]

@ComicBookSyndicate, I've come to learn that Lucas had a lot less to do with the awesome original trilogy (besides writing the checks and approving of others' output) than people have been lead to believe. (Even A New Hope probably only was entertaining because so many others intervened.) However, he was probably the main contributer for the mediocre prequels. So taking that into account, his career isn't enigmatic; he's as bad a storyteller as he's always been.

[ComicBookSyndicate]

@WastedPo Agreed. The many (many, MANY) collaborators involved with A New Hope receive no recognition (Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz aren't even listed as co-writers) and the general public forgets that Empire was written by Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Irv Kershner. Lucas just wrote a basic plot, then

supervised.

[anonamatron]

@ComicBookSyndicate Which is what he should have done with the new ones.

[CptSpauIding]

@WastedPo No, it's hard to believe but lucas did have a lot of talent and brains at the time. Just watch THX1138.

[Diakron79]

@CptSpauIding Yes, I saw that. It was an intriguing dystopian classic. I also saw the body of his short film work & they all had a 'new wave' edge to them. I missed that creative aspect of him, but it appears that digital technology has suppressed his aspect.