I'd go so far as to say he was completely off base more often than not, at least on TV, but that was part of his charm.

You either have an issue with your memory or with your attention.

No, he's right.

Even now it's still not all that uncommon to find people who unironically defend the prequels.

"The prequels are bad" is, in the larger picture, an internet meme... even if we agree that it's true. Entertainment criticism is something Joe Blow doesn't give a fuck about and, by extension, doesn't give a fuck about any of the metrics by which people judge art. Even a lot of people who pay attention to these things and hold the opinion that "X is bad because [reasons]" only think that because they heard someone say it and agreed after the fact.

All forms of entertainment have been going through increased scrutiny because the internet is a new-ish platform where anybody can broadcast their ideas to an audience that normally would have zero exposure to that level of criticism. A movie for most people is still just a thing they watch so they can forget about their shitty lives for a couple hours. Learning how the sausage is made and what differentiates a good sausage from a bad one is antithetical to why they do it in the first place.

They don't think of it as art.

@Monkey Napoleon. When we're talking about these big blockbuster films, they're less films and more roller-coasters. But anyone can still tell a shitty boring technically deficient roller coaster from an exciting well crafted one.

When I saw the phantom menace I was fairly young, was not interested in film, had none of the tools or inclination to critique a film. I just dutifully / gormlessly went to see the big blockbusters in the cinema like a good consumer. When I went to see phantom menace I just remember watching it and feeling kinda bad / bored.
Compare that to the Matrix for example, I consciously had an issue with using people for power (doesnt fucking make sense! thermodynamics!!!) but I felt excitied, enthused, omg that is soo fuckin' coool!! I was completely caught up and engrossed in it while it was playing and even after leaving the cinema I was still buzzing and discussing it with my fam who I went to see it with.
It was only years later, after getting into film (went out with a girl who was mad into films and I caught the bug) and watching the Plinkett reviews that I realised *why* I had felt bad when watching them, they are just completely deficient in many of the basic elements of cinema.

Yeah, I get that. I never really liked the sequels either.

I also never really got what the big deal about the original movies was.

But for some people explosions, starfighting/podracing, lightsaber fights, and a familiar setting are enough... and it's a lot of people.

The third one prequel still made a bajillion dollars in theaters. Think about that for a second. People sat through the 2nd (handily the weakest of the 3) and still paid money for the third.

Nope, I remember nobody over the age of 10 liking these.

I liked Phantom Menace when it came out.

I was 13.

At 31, not too big of a fan.

Yeah I was born just after the whole original trilogy wrapped up, and by the time I had my own likes and dislikes, Star Wars was pretty much "over." Like, TIE Fighter was totally my favorite video game, but I never bothered with the movies because the VHSes (for rental purposes anyway) were worn to un-watchable and the scifi genre was getting darker with Aliens and Predator anyway. But I was excited about the possibility of a new one with actual CGI effects, and was equally excited to see the theatrical re-releases a few years before Phantom Menace. THIS was the Star Wars that everyone wished they had in the 70s, haha.. It really wasn't until 2003 or so when I got some Star Wars megatorrent with all the Laserdisc rips that I understood why haters were gonna hate.

@MN

Episode 2 was great! How can you forget such great lines like "I don't like sand" or "I wish I could just wish away my feelings."

Darth Emo aside, episode 2 was enjoyable.

It's this weird thing these days; where the visual effects of modern movies are so good, and the structures and plots have been identified with repeatable formulas; you end up with films that FEEL like good movies when you first see them, and then later on you think about them a little and realize they were kinda shitty.

I know so many people who liked, for example, Jurassic World or Dark Knight Rises when they first came out. Now those movies seem to be losing their audiences as people start to realize they weren't as good as they'd thought. It's like the long term "cult movie finds a following" thing but in reverse.

No one liked Phantom Menace. Ever. There was never a point in human history where a plurality of people collectively said "Yes, I know what the plot to that movie was."

Hmm I get Jurassic World but I disagree with 'Rises.' It's not as good as the second one but all 3 of those films are unbelievably solid, and probably the best trilogy as a whole I can think of, except for the "Before Sunrise" trilogy or "Infernal Affairs" trilogy, but the latter was condensed down to one neat and tidy (and better) single Scorcese film and the former is really just a more fictional version of Linklater's own 'Boyhood', having been filmed over the course of 20+ years. I don't even like Batman or superhero movies in general but I think maybe a better example is the continuation of the Die Hard Trilogy (six-ology now?)

See also: Avatar

There it is.

I thought about The Matrix Reloaded last night while watching John Wick 2, a karate vengeance movie with 119 onscreen deaths, almost exactly 3x what Reloaded had to offer.

Computer Jesus and the Search for the Missing Plot.

the prequel Rifftrax (Rifftraxes?) are good, and probably the only way I could ever watch these again

I LIKE THE WATER

They need to re-make batman but where The Wayne's just keep getting shot- They're not dead, but they can't walk either.

True.

They aren't getting better, movies are just getting worse.

How much notice do girlfriends normally give before leaving you? Is it like quitting a job?