This movie is 100% realistic

May 16, 2011 3:00 PM

Building on the popularity of their previous "Harry S Plinkett" movie reviews, Red Letter Media's Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman have been working on a second line of film mockery: Half In The Bag

The statement on their website announces "This is not meant to REPLACE the Plinkett reviews…just something we’re doing IN ADDITION TO them" and extends the conceit of character-based film critique. There are seven episodes so far.

posted by clarknova (15 comments total)

I *really* like the star wars reviews but the skits are getting old and aren't even funny.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:30 PM on May 16, 2011

Well don't I sound like a fucking grouch. Smiles are on me :D
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:54 PM on May 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

These are good, but too long by about half. (Which is weird considering how long Stoklasa's SW critiques were.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:03 PM on May 16, 2011

Whatever my misgivings about the non-review bits of the Plinkett schtick in his Star Wars reviews, I somehow find myself offended by the use of what appears to be a shitty stand-in Plinkett; I'm guessing just by tone of voice that Mike is the real voice of Plinkett, and god damn it that other guy is not hitting it. That entirely aside from the question of whether slapstick Plinkett's House skits even work in their own right.

Issues with the incidental framing material aside, I'm enjoying it. And man it'd be nice to see them do something where I didn't have to qualify my reaction that way.
posted by cortex at 4:07 PM on May 16, 2011

Actually, I think this actor is the original plinkett. The character predates the review series, and the voice-only guy just took over for the reviews.
posted by leviathan3k at 4:36 PM on May 16, 2011

I like the way these guys talk about movies. They have a sensibility and a breadth of knowledge which I appreciate, and they say things which make sense to me.

It's interesting to contrast this "two people sitting and talking about films" show with the new Roger Ebert Presents show on PBS. I like the way those two people talk about movies, too. But this show feels a bit more... um... honest to me somehow. I think part of it is that they're not trying to do too much in the allotted time. I think the last episode of Ebert I watched had at least 7 movies covered in a half hour.

I'd seen the first of these when the past Plinkett review was FPPed here. But I'd forgotten about them in the meantime. Thanks for posting and reminding me about this series.
posted by hippybear at 4:37 PM on May 16, 2011

Just watched the Battle: Los Angeles one, and was pretty impressed by the actual review, but not so much by Plinkett at the end. Possibly because I imagined Plinkett as less clean-shaven and neatly dressed, but also because I felt he was always characterized as bizarre but not as incompetent or slapstick-y, which is how the 'massage table' thing came off as.
posted by AdamCSnider at 4:54 PM on May 16, 2011

"You could just say, you talked extensively about her V."

Okay, I nearly spit out my beer at that.
posted by hippybear at 4:54 PM on May 16, 2011

They criticise Drive Angry for being vulgar and violent, and not being effortlessly cool. Then in the Suckerpunch review, they criticise Zach Snyder for doing things because he instinctively feels they're cool. I can't help wondering what would happen if they reviewed a movie they loved.

And they spoilered the ending for Drive Angry, which is the most thick-headed thing a reviewer can do. Even if the ending is obvious based on the genre, or even if it's shown in the trailer, you just don't do that shit.
posted by WhackyparseThis at 7:13 PM on May 16, 2011

Their review of Super, which I hadn't heard of before now, makes me want to see the film.
posted by hippybear at 7:41 PM on May 16, 2011

Seems to me there's a surfeit of two man, ten minute film reviews around. The Plinkett stuff was so neat because it was so in depth.

I hope they focus on the long form stuff. There's so much fodder.
posted by Trochanter at 10:02 PM on May 16, 2011

For as much as I've seen of the Star Wars reviews, they seem to have a lot of very legitimate things to say, but I absolutely cannot stand how it's said. Literally. That horrible voice Plinkett puts on is like a knife in my ear. I'm interested in no way, shape, or form if that voice is involved.
posted by gregoryg at 11:06 PM on May 16, 2011

I really like the Plinkett voice. Reminds me of Ted Levine.
posted by Pendragon at 3:36 AM on May 17, 2011

I bounced hard off this first time around from the terrible Plinkett stuff before the review even kicked in... and I actually kinda liked that in the long reviews. But skipping up to the actually reviews there's some interesting and funny stuff so I'm going to give them another go.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 5:23 AM on May 17, 2011

I sometimes wonder what the heck i used the internet for before Plinkett, the Nostalgia Critic, and Spoony came along. I was.... what was i doing? Geocities or something? Was it math?
posted by ELF Radio at 5:24 AM on May 17, 2011