Red Letter Media

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Favorite recurring character? (Select 4)

  • Jack / AIDSMobdy

    Votes: 257 24.0%
  • Josh / the Wizard

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

    Votes: 460 42.9%
  • Jim (Canadian #2)

    Votes: 230 21.4%
  • Tim

    Votes: 386 36.0%
  • Len Kabasinski

    Votes: 208 19.4%
  • Freddie Williams

    Votes: 274 25.5%
  • Patton Oswalt

    Votes: 27 2.5%
  • Macaulay Culkin

    Votes: 541 50.4%
  • Max Landis

    Votes: 64 6.0%

  • Total voters
    1,073
I guess you haven't watched many Half in the Bags. Jay routinely voices his opinions on attractive females.
I've watched all the Half in the Bags. Voicing his opinions on attractive females was something he did more during the beginning of the show, leading me to wonder if he was just playing up a type early on. But yeah. I know he's about as gay as Max Landis the rainbow haired tiddy groper.
 
I've watched all the Half in the Bags. Voicing his opinions on attractive females was something he did more during the beginning of the show, leading me to wonder if he was just playing up a type early on. But yeah. I know he's about as gay as Max Landis the rainbow haired tiddy groper.

That Best of the Worst is the best proof, I say. It was clear Jay was highly annoyed by Landis the entire time, especially when he accused Jay of being gay. Pretty funny.
 
Jay's sex drive has been completely warped by years of gross torture porn shock pics. Whether or not he's gay is irrelevant because he only gets aroused at brutalized corpses.
 
I'm really baffled at why their actual filmmaking is so bad. (I could never force myself to watch anything they've done prior to their Youtube stuff).

I know they like schlock, but they should aim a little higher than acting and writing on par with a Channel Awesome movie. With how much they also criticize films, it's embarrassing when you see their stuff. I mean, it's fine if they don't take it seriously, but then why bother? Why waste the time and money? You gotta at least be able to put up or shut up if you're in the business of criticizing others in the same field, I say.

This is the best review of the film I found:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zil4cvDwlcM
Name one other movie where the extras and all that other stuff are better than the actual product attached to it, by far.

But that's the thing, they have what most creators could only dream about: Actual chemistry. We love RLM and could watch them forever when they aren't acting. They don't need to throw money into anything, because it's never as good as them just being them.

And as the review states, it's only enjoyable if you already know who they are, because of that as well.
The old adage "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" comes to mind. Except I'd rephrase it as "those who can, create; those who can't, criticize." Critics generally aren't good at the things they criticize, and I can't think of an example off the top of my head where a critic actually stepped into the field and pulled off something good.

But that's okay, honestly. You don't have to be a Michelangelo to give your opinions on art, you don't have to be a Scorcese to give your opinions on film, and so on. Hell, you don't even have to be a Tommy Wiseau. What matters in criticism is how best you can convey your stance, and the best critics draw on a wealth of knowledge to form their opinions. That's why it's entertaining to watch a Half in the Bag, because Mike and Jay (and generally anyone else they bring on) have watched plenty of movies and TV shows and can use that to their advantage. Just because Space Cop is ninety minutes of inside jokes and Rich falling down doesn't mean they don't know what they're talking about. Space Cop also basically seemed like an excuse to shitpost in movie form, so it's probably not the best example of their potential anyway.

I will say that they know how to handle the technical side of things, especially on a budget. The behind-the-scenes vid for Space Cop was rather interesting to watch for that reason. I think if they worked with another writer, they could produce a quality film. I just don't think they really want to. Their shows and Patreon pay more than well enough to support the studio, and taking time away from that for a couple years to make another film doesn't really make a lot of sense. Remember Jay's quote from the beginning of the video: "Every single aspect of making movies is a giant pain in the ass. And, it's never worth it."
 
For the question whether Jay is gay or not, in his short film Pork Pork in Outer Space there's a scene with a fully nude actress with large breasts.

It's more for shock value humor than titillation, but I can't help but feel like he wouldn't care to put that in his movie if he was gay.

People keep saying this but there is 0 proof they're still together. Jacks' bizarre "behind the camera" comment about her is meaningless. And we know that Mike is the only one on his current home's title so that's something. I know it doesn't mean they're not together but it means he's likely not married. We have no idea why she disappeared and likely never will.

It's a shame because she added an interesting dynamic.

When exactly did she disappear?

Don't understand why people want to know more about them personally.

There's never been a time when knowing more about a celebrity's personal life has made me like them more.

It's just simple curiosity.
 
For the question whether Jay is gay or not, in his short film Pork Pork in Outer Space there's a scene with a fully nude actress with large breasts.
Titania Lyn.
Titania - Pork Pork in Space - 1_4.jpg

Titania - Pork Pork in Space - 3_2.jpg
 
I mean, it's fine if they don't take it seriously, but then why bother? Why waste the time and money?
Why bother making and destroying sets for their review show where all they need to do is sit and talk?
Because they have a good time doing it I'd imagine. I think they honestly just wanted to try and make a movie despite knowing it would be shit considering their lack of talent, experience, and resources. Mike also doesn't have that strain of ego/vanity that results in him ignoring those limitations and putting on a black tank top and doing action scenes while unironically believing he is a bad ass.
 
So what ever happened to the Plinkett animated series? Why did Shaun take them off his and RLMs channel?
 
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Why bother making and destroying sets for their review show where all they need to do is sit and talk?
Because they have a good time doing it I'd imagine. I think they honestly just wanted to try and make a movie despite knowing it would be shit considering their lack of talent, experience, and resources. Mike also doesn't have that strain of ego/vanity that results in him ignoring those limitations and putting on a black tank top and doing action scenes while unironically believing he is a bad ass.
There's a best of the worst where they made a joke about "space cop" and apparently from that the movie was born.

So what do you expect from an offhand joke/dare? ;)

The old adage "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" comes to mind. Except I'd rephrase it as "those who can, create; those who can't, criticize." Critics generally aren't good at the things they criticize, and I can't think of an example off the top of my head where a critic actually stepped into the field and pulled off something good.

But that's okay, honestly. You don't have to be a Michelangelo to give your opinions on art, you don't have to be a Scorcese to give your opinions on film, and so on. Hell, you don't even have to be a Tommy Wiseau. What matters in criticism is how best you can convey your stance, and the best critics draw on a wealth of knowledge to form their opinions. That's why it's entertaining to watch a Half in the Bag, because Mike and Jay (and generally anyone else they bring on) have watched plenty of movies and TV shows and can use that to their advantage. Just because Space Cop is ninety minutes of inside jokes and Rich falling down doesn't mean they don't know what they're talking about. Space Cop also basically seemed like an excuse to shitpost in movie form, so it's probably not the best example of their potential anyway.

I will say that they know how to handle the technical side of things, especially on a budget. The behind-the-scenes vid for Space Cop was rather interesting to watch for that reason. I think if they worked with another writer, they could produce a quality film. I just don't think they really want to. Their shows and Patreon pay more than well enough to support the studio, and taking time away from that for a couple years to make another film doesn't really make a lot of sense. Remember Jay's quote from the beginning of the video: "Every single aspect of making movies is a giant pain in the ass. And, it's never worth it."
If you're going to create, you have to have some lack of self awareness. Critics if they're not careful, can get to the point where they question every tiny aspect of the art from their critical eye and thus end up paralyzed.

BTW, I know yahtzee and Shamus young are video games critics that have done video games also. No idea of the quality though.
 
I'm really on the same wavelength as RLM when it comes to to those bizarre early 90s studio films like Nothing But Trouble and Freaked, love that stuff.

Nothing But Trouble, while flawed, has just so much bizarre creativity and yet it's also a movie starring Chevy Chase and Demi Moore, it's such a hodgepodge of bizarre cult movie and studio comedy, there's nothing else like it (John Candy is also great in it)

I mean, I can see what Dan Aykroyd was going for, what Ghostbusters was for the ghost movie genre, Nothing But Trouble was supposed to be that for the "cannibal hick" horror genre ala Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's a little easier to understand when you look at it that way, but even then that is still an incredibly bizarre idea and it's no wonder it wasn't a hit and the movie itself doesn't fully work, but I'm glad it exists.

There's so much creativity with the backstory of "Valkenvania" and how the Judge is somehow able to legally get away with his murders.

For whatever reason in the early 90s it was a trend for studios to experiment with really bizarre, surreal movies, some of which were hits, like Edward Scissorhands, most of which weren't, like Robin Williams' Toys, but I still love that slew of movies even when they're flawed for being something unique.

Toys would be a perfect candidate for a Re:View episode as a matter of fact.
 
I'm really on the same wavelength as RLM when it comes to to those bizarre early 90s studio films like Nothing But Trouble and Freaked, love that stuff.

Nothing But Trouble, while flawed, has just so much bizarre creativity and yet it's also a movie starring Chevy Chase and Demi Moore, it's such a hodgepodge of bizarre cult movie and studio comedy, there's nothing else like it (John Candy is also great in it)

I mean, I can see what Dan Aykroyd was going for, what Ghostbusters was for the ghost movie genre, Nothing But Trouble was supposed to be that for the "cannibal hick" horror genre ala Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's a little easier to understand when you look at it that way, but even then that is still an incredibly bizarre idea and it's no wonder it wasn't a hit and the movie itself doesn't fully work, but I'm glad it exists.

Nothing But Trouble had a very "Tales From the Crypt" nineties vibe to me. EC Comics and pulp were being mined as a source for entertainment, especially since HBO had come along and had started producing R-rated TV series that could fully show what only horror comics had been previously able to get away with.
 
RE those that can't do teach....I feel like their problem isn't that they don't know how to make a good movie, it's that they lack all the resources a typical film has while trying to emulate them. A normal film has separate people in charge of scripts, lighting, sound, editing, directing, effects, etc. Mike and Jay do like 90% of that alone, and they're only ok at it. They made Space Cop because they liked the idea of making a sci fi buddy cop movie first and foremost, they didn't care that a space movie would require a lot of work and money to look believable. And when you cant make something look believable you have to lean into the shlock.

There was a prerec stream of Jack doing a simple green screen effect for a Space Cop scene but he had to do it a harder way because Mike and Jay used 2 pieces of green paper with a seam which would make keying it out difficult. And when he got everything all correct the footage he placed into the window came with a bounce because someone walked by the camera when they were filming it. Lots of little mistakes like that add up in production to make everything harder and take longer to fix. They could probably make a good low budget drama but they're allergic to playing it serious so that would never happen. Maybe if each of them were put in charge of one aspect they excel at. Like if someone wrote a movie and was backing it with a great crew and funding, Mike or Jay could be a good director or editor. One role only. Feeding Frenzy was pretty alright though.
 

Jay was such a dork back in the day, imagining him next to a naked woman is such a bizarre thought for me.

Ironic, since most consider him to be the only one of the RLM group capable of scoring lots of chicks these days.

There's a best of the worst where they made a joke about "space cop" and apparently from that the movie was born.
I don't think so. Did you watch that behind the scenes video about it? There was literally early footage of it back in like 2008, before they even got popular. The idea's way older than that.
 
Jay was such a dork back in the day, imagining him next to a naked woman is such a bizarre thought for me.

Ironic, since most consider him to be the only one of the RLM group capable of scoring lots of chicks these days.

We all know you imagine laying naked next to Jay. Don't hide it.
 
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