Recent content by Epictetus

Frankly, Bobo and Jeffrey Tambor practically steal the whole film.

Your report that Smalltown contained people of many races is useful; it doesn't surprise me too much, either. Until I was twelve I lived in a very small town in rural America, and I don't think it had too much overt racism. But there was a huge distrust of urban culture - or, indeed, any other...

That's something of a non-sequitur - you noticed it yourself, as you admitted above. Then you said that despite your concern, you "don't think the filmmakers intended anything offensive". My point is that your argument is not a good one: I can very easily believe that the filmmakers did not...

It's very, very easy to be offensive, racist, or cruel without ever intending to do so.

Here's an interesting article on the new film: I need to be cautious about jumping into this personally, as the fact that I did not like the new film makes me very likely to be prejudiced in favor of anything that criticizes it. But I'd be curious what other folks thought of this critique.

Thank you!

I really enjoyed Muppets From Space - more than almost anyone I know. And I don't object to Gonzo being an alien, but, yeah - just like everyone else has said, being a "whatever" seems a lot closer to the Muppets' spirit, and, frankly, like just a funnier and more interesting gag for the...

Me Party has sort of a decent role in the script, but even the countless rave reviews of The Muppets have found time to mention how awkward and terrible the song itself was.

I can only agree with this to a limited extent. There is truth to the idea that the majority of big-budget, mainstream films are directed at teenage male audiences these days. This was not always the case: prior to Star Wars, studios made there money with a larger number of lower-budget movies...

I had a busy weekend and forgot to check in on this thread. Egads, what a lot of great discussion! I don't have time, at the moment, to say more than that The Descendants is THE BEST. I just saw it last week and the first thing I said to my wife after the credits rolled was, "Well! That was a...

It's not just parenting groups, though. It's every critic who says, in a review, "Such and such a line seemed a little edgy for a supposedly family-friendly movie." It's every parent who says that something seems too "dark" for their kids. The world is dark, the world is edgy, and kids are...

These aspects of the movie were like someone reproducing the mannerisms of the earlier films without understanding the reason for them. The Muppets have always broken the fourth wall, because the idea was that they were actors and producers and technicians: TMM was the Muppets making a movie...

Amen. Amen, amen, amen. I don't think it's just ADHD, though... the Muppets have always been frenetic and chaotic: it's a fundamental part of their charm. But energy and chaos have to be anchored in skill and purpose; when speed and randomness are used to cover up something that doesn't really...

We're not engaging in unanchored hypotheticals. This is a quote from an article in Wired: Let's make our arguments fact-based, when possible.

Whoops! I was thinking of the wrong thing. You meant this Letters to Santa. No, I need to check it out!