History WebVideo / MisterPlinkettReviews

* WagTheDirector: [[invoked]] Discussed; Plinkett believes that one of the problems behind ''Picard'' was that the actors (Patrick Stewart in particular) were given too much creative control over the series, stating that most actors. don't have the creative chops necessary and if given the chance they'll use it to feed their overinflated egos.

-->''Soccer Dog'' is about a dog who plays soccer! There's no weird ''[[Film/TheExorcist Exorcist]]'' crap in it. And most importantly, Soccer Dog never gets hit by a car and dies. He plays... fucking soccer.

* WagTheDirector: [[invoked]] Discussed; Plinkett believes that one of the problems behind ''Picard'' was that the actors (Patrick Stewart in particular) were given too much creative control over the series, stating that most actors don't have the creative chops necessary and if given the chance they'll use it to feed their overinflated egos.

* IncestIsRelative: Dubbed the 2009 ''Star Trek'' a "guilty pleasure" - much like his pole-dancing granddaughter, Crystal.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Mr. Plinkett himself. Apparently, he made out with George Lucas and he compliments William Shatner's "merkin"[[note]]if you don't know what it means, [[SchmuckBait don't look it up]][[/note]] in the Star Trek review.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Mr Plinkett himself. Apparently, he made out with George Lucas and he compliments William Shatner's "merkin"[[note]]if you don't know what it means, [[SchmuckBait don't look it up]][[/note]] in the Star Trek review.

** Pausing during the ''Baby's Day Out'' review to phone-order sex toys (using [[TheMan Rick Berman's]] credit card), unaware that he has left the mic on.

* EightDeadlyWords:
** In ''The Phantom Menace'' review, Plinkett remarks in regards to the plot, "Why in fuck's name should we care at all? I don't care about any of these characters." [[invoked]]
** He cites this for ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'', since the main characters pretty much have their motivations either glossed over or forgotten entirely by the movie's end, and just about every single side character is portrayed as incredibly stupid, a massive JerkAss, an obnoxious caricature, or some combination thereof. He really doesn't see why he's supposed to care about the movie's New York being overrun by ghosts; the movie doesn't really show anyone in it worth caring about.

* CozyCatastrophe: Points out that the reason it's hard to care about the Clone Wars in the prequel trilogy is that it never really seems to affect anything. Aside from the war being mainly between equally disposable robots and clones, Coruscant, where most of the focus is, is still just as lively and active in the third movie (when the war's been going on for quite a while) was it was in the first.

** Really, he sees a closeted gay subtext in nearly everyone. Anakin and Obi-Wan, Indiana Jones and Mac, Chekhov and Sulu, [[InterspeciesRomance Scotty and Keesner]], [[FoeYay himself and George Lucas]]….

!!''Mr. Plinkett Reviews'' gives examples of:

* AccidentalInnuendo: {{Conversed|Trope}} InUniverse. He points out in his ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' review that a lot of the dialogue sounds sexual out of context.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: In the Sith review, Plinkett suggests that the Clones should have been the villains of the Clone Wars from the start, like an army of monsters attacking the Republic from somewhere in space, instead of a conveniently disposable army for the Republic. This was the original backstory for the Clone Wars in ''Legends'' material. His argument is that if they were, the Republic would've been forced to draft countless ordinary men into service, dying by the millions to fight the war, which would have added some tension and emotion to the conflict and (along with the other consequences of such a brutal war) made Palpatine's obvious power-grab seem more justified in-universe.
* TheAlcoholic:
** You'd need a drink, too, if you had to review these movies.

** Plinkett makes the case that Qui-Gon is one, as an explanation for many of his questionable decisions in ''The Phantom Menace''.
--->'''Plinkett:''' Does anyone smell gin? Hey! It’s 11:30 in the morning! Who’s been drinking?

* AllThereInTheManual: Plinkett ''abhors'' this trope, or at least despises the fact that fans so often invoke it to explain away the all but incomprehensible plot and setting of the Star Wars prequels.
-->(From ''The Phantom Menace'' review) "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG1AWVLnl48#t=5m47s ...Point is, I'm still not sure what the [Trade Federation] ships were there to do.]] And [[BerserkButton don't any of you f[beep]gots tell me it was explained more in the novelization or some Star Wars BOOK]]! What matters is the MOVIES! I ain't never read one them Star Wars books, [[BookDumb or any books in general for that matter]], and I ain't about to start. Don't talk about them stupid video games, or novels, comic books or any of that fucking crap. I seen enough of that shit."
-->(From the ''Revenge Of The Sith'' review) "[[https://youtu.be/bYWAHuFbLoc?t=1395 But several questions remain that aren't told to the audience. AND I DON'T CARE IF IT WAS TOLD TO US THROUGH THE FUCKING BOOK OR WHATEVER!]]"
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** InUniverse: Plinkett claims that ''Cop Dog'' was originally meant to be a dark psychological thriller directed by Creator/ToddSolondz.
** He's taken aback when he learns that Captain Janeway hasn't been imprisoned by now.
** Qui-Gon Jinn is a drunkard, and wanted to sleep with Shmi Skywalker.
** Anakin's a megalomaniacal psycho from the very start, and getting burned and put in a robot suit is just a formality.
** Any given part of Palpatine's plan could have been easily foiled if the Jedi weren't [[NewAgeRetroHippie a bunch of disorganized hippies]].
** Jar-Jar Binks was inspired by Tara Reid on a bender.
** Padawans are raised in a creepy, cult-like environment where they lose all their free will.
** The Old Republic is composed entirely of asexuals. The only person in the universe getting any action is Creator/JimmySmits! (Not counting Palpatine, who gets aroused by hatred, and Shmi who was [[MysticalPregnancy making out with the Force]])
** The maid in ''Baby's Day Out'' is the baby's real mother, and Mrs. Cotwell is into servant sex.
** The kid in ''Cop Dog'' is a jibbering lunatic.
** They don't call him "[[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kit_Fisto Kid Fisto]]" 'cause he's into chicks, if you know what I mean.
** [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Wesley Crusher]] is bisexual and in a relationship with [[MemeticMolester The Traveler.]]
** Really, he sees a closeted gay subtext in nearly everyone. Anakin and Obi-Wan, Indiana Jones and Mac, Chekhov and Sulu, [[InterspeciesRomance Scotty and Keesner]], [[FoeYay himself and George Lucas]]….

* AngryBlackMan: Plinkett's primary gripe with Mace Windu is that he ''didn't'' adhere to this trope, and that the character was a complete waste of Samuel L Jackson's [[TypeCasting talent for playing this type of character]]. Moreover, he argues that Jackson was cast specifically to attract viewers who would expect him to be this trope. He says if they wanted to cast an African American actor then someone like Creator/MorganFreeman or Creator/ForestWhitaker would have been more suited to playing a wise Jedi Master.

* TheArtifact: Considered Indy himself to be this in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', since an AdventurerArchaeologist doesn't fit in with what's intended as a 50s sci-fi throwback. He credits the indecisiveness involved in retaining Indy as being the main reason the film's sci-fi elements don't work.

* BoringButPractical: Plinkett offers several better, more practical plans for the Jedi and Queen Amidala to get to Coruscant from Tatooine in ''The Phantom Menace'', as an alternative to Qui-Gon's convoluted bet with Watto for a replacement hyperdrive:
** Trade the Queen's broken starship for a less flashy, but fully functional ship that can get them to Coruscant.
** Hire a transport pilot or smuggler to fly them to Coruscant, offering them whatever Republic credits they have as collateral, then paying them more when they reach their destination (which was the exact plan Obi-Wan used in ''A New Hope'').
** Instead of taking Watto's claim that he's the only one with a T-14 hyperdrive at face value, try shopping at another junk dealer who will accept Republic credits (or mind trick them like they tried to do to Watto) and get the needed part.

* BrokenAesop:
** Just [[Film/StarTrekInsurrection relocate the fuckin' people]], ok? It's what we did to the Indians on Earth, and look how ''that'' turned out! We have so many wonderful casinos.
** Plinkett argues at length that the ''Star Wars'' prequels retroactively have this effect on much of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. In the latter, TheReveal that the "great warrior" and master of the Force, Yoda, should turn out to be a small, physically unintimidating creature was intended to illustrate that the Force had an ephemeral quality that went beyond the physical. By contrast, in the prequel trilogy, where the same small, unintimidating creature has to engage in physical combat despite severe handicaps, the implied Aesop is much more cynical. That the DVD Special Features have George Lucas on record explaining that he did this based on the oh-so-flimsy logic that, in Lucas' words, "everyone's looking forward" to seeing Yoda fight because "we haven't seen him do that yet" didn't help matters either.
** Plinkett feels the anti-racism theme of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' in regards to the Romulans and the androids fall flat because for the Romulans, most of them are portrayed as sinister, violent, or ungrateful to Picard for trying to save as many of them as he could; and for the androids, they're able to be easily swayed by Sutra into agreeing that organic life should be eradicated and Soji comes very close to letting in the robot space octopus.

* CardCarryingVillain / ObviouslyEvil: The reason Plinkett likes Palpatine in ''Revenge of the Sith''.
** He mocks General [[strike:[[AccidentalMisnaming Greviance]]]] Grevious' use of this in his name.
-->"Also on this ship is Commander Nefarious, Captain I'm A Bad Guy, and Admiral Bone To Pick (but they didn't mention them)."

* CharacterShilling: Plinkett argues that one of the biggest issues of the Star Wars prequels is putting way too much focus on the story of Anakin/Darth Vader and making him seem like the center of the universe (which was unquestionably inspired by his real life popularity), arguing that his role should have been a [[SmallRoleBigImpact small part of a bigger story instead]]. He also has difficulty believing that Anakin was really a good friend or a good person as Obi-Wan implied in ''A New Hope'' going solely by whats shown on-screen in the prequels (and not taking tie-in materials into account), arguing that all signs pointed to him being a lost cause from the start. He also points out how the opening of ''Revenge of the Sith'' does this in a blatant attempt to backtrack and remind us that Anakin is still a good person (by arbitraily wanting to aid some convieniently disposable Clone Pilots under heavy fire) despite Anakin having been shown ruthlessly slaughtering an entire tribe of Tusken Raiders out of revenge in the previous film.

* ComplexityAddiction:
** Plinkett notes that the whole plot of ''The Phantom Menace'' hinges on Palpatine setting into motion his insanely convoluted, 13 year long scheme to get into power by having the Trade Federation stage an invasion on Naboo so he could take advantage of the crisis to advance himself politically. But Plinkett points out that Palpatine's entire plan could have been easily foiled from the beginning if Queen Amidala turned out to be a coward and just signed the treaty.
** Plinkett breaks down how much the [[Series/StarTrekPicard Zhat Vash]] make their whole goal of trying to find the synth planet ''way'' harder than it has to be and ends up making them looking like terrible spies. For instance, Commodore Oh ordered the murder of Sutra's sister when they could have captured her and interrogated her, or were unable to find Bruce Maddox even though he still goes out in public and works at multiple facilities. Not to mention how the Zhat Vash organizing the destruction of Mars leads to the banning of synthetics across the galaxy, which would make finding the synth homeworld even ''harder'' since all the androids would either go into hiding or be deactivated.
* CompositeCharacter: In his ''Phantom Menace'' review, Plinkett suggests that Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi should have been combined together to form a character called [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Obi-Wan Kenobi]], since Obi-Wan could have basically served the same role as Qui-Gon, who Plinkett considers to be a pointless addition to the film.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Not a fan of this one, as shown in his ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Franchise/StarWars'' reviews. Ever more so if its simply for the sake of being Dark. Like how it's utterly unnecessarily for there to be rape in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''. He also lambasts ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' for its more nihilistic tone that clashes with the rest of the series, and points to ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' as an example of Star Trek doing this correctly because it showed a different political side to things and was still able to tell well-written sci-fi stories.

* DenserAndWackier: This was his main problem with ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'', The actors just constantly shouting ad-libs over each other and the bright, in-your-face visual style and just about every single character being portrayed as a total idiot completely ruins the tone of the film, which he compares to a toddler in the back seat of a car screaming for the driver's attention. He especially contrasts this with the [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 1984 original]], which used a much more dry, deadpan tone, better comedic timing, and more believable, down-to-earth characters. He eventually sums it up as the original adhering to 'less is more' and the remake opting for 'more is more' where everything needs to be bigger, brighter, and louder.

* DesignatedVillain: [[invoked]] He has this opinion towards the villains of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', claiming that Spalko doesn't do anything particularly evil besides being a communist and working for her government, and the film also tries to establish that 50s America isn't particularly great either (in comparison to the villains of earlier films, who would usually KickTheDog enough to establish that they're bad people [[EvenEvilHasStandards even by the standards]] of Nazis and cultists). He's also played it for laughs a few times, such as claiming that [[Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIAttackOfTheClones Jango Fett]] was just trying to make his way in the world, and [[Film/Titanic1997 Hockley]] "has no faults."
* DevilInPlainSight: Plinkett points out this trope in the Star Wars prequels, pointing out that despite how shady and conspicuous Palpatine makes himself look with his transparent political orchestrations, [[INeverSaidItWasPoison talk of Sith Lords and other Jedi matters he should have no knowledge of]] (including asserting very suspiciously [[NotSoDifferentRemark that Sith and Jedi aren't so different]]), nobody figures out that he's the villain until he all but outright tells Anakin that he's a Sith Lord in Episode III.

* DumpMonths: Coined the phrase "fuck you, it's January!" to mock the low standards for movies released during that month.

* EightDeadlyWords:
** In ''The Phantom Menace'' review, Plinkett remarks in regards to the plot, "Why in fuck's name should we care at all? I don't care about any of these characters." [[invoked]]
** He cites this for ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'', since the main characters pretty much have their motivations either glossed over or forgotten entirely by the movie's end, and just about every single side character is portrayed as incredibly stupid, a massive JerkAss, an obnoxious caricature, or some combination thereof. He really doesn't see why he's supposed to care about the movie's New York being overrun by ghosts; the movie doesn't really show anyone in it worth caring about.

* ExpandedUniverse: Plinkett hates this. He hates when the main story has plot holes explained outside the movie [[AllThereInTheManual via tie-in materials]]. He also came down heavily on ''Film/RogueOne'' for being a new story in an established universe, which he considers cheating (it's a big cause of the review's broken base).

* ExtremeDoormat: In the ''Ghostbusters'' review, Plinkett notes that director Paul Feig's constant fawning over the cast seems to indicate an unwillingness to give them strong direction, thus leading to the constant ad-libs.

* {{Filler}}: Plinkett considers the entire Podracing sequence of ''The Phantom Menace'' to be this and that it adds absolutely nothing to the plot, and notes that Qui-Gon could have easily gotten everyone off Tatooine by just selling the Queen's ship to Watto off the bat, and then discreetly getting off the planet to Coruscant on another ship that wouldn't draw attention to themselves.
* FillingTheSilence: A major criticism he has with Ghostbusters is how the constant ad-libbing pads the film with awkward and unfunny dialog while also killing dramatic tension and comedic timing. Plinkett demonstrates this by comparing scenes in the film with ones where he edited the dialog out; the quieted shot actually does convey a appreciable sense of ominousness, and could have nicely set up a well-written quip to break the tension.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Plinkett feels the way The Force was presented in the original trilogy had an ethereal quality to it that inspired genuine awe and wonder (using Yoda's mere existence and character to demonstrate this), also due in part to how sparingly and carefully it was used and presented (such as Yoda humbling Luke by successfully lifting the X-Wing out of the swamp), and that the prequels trivialized it by playing up the powers aspect of it way too much, turning it into an excuse to show characters constantly spamming force telekinesis and the super acrobatic abilities it allows, making it come off as a mundane way to show off fancy effects and video game stunts.
** Plinkett says that ''Film/StarTrek2009'' took minor character traits from all the original ''Franchise/StarTrek'' crew members and electrified them, to make the characters more interesting.
** Also applies to Plinkett himself; in the earlier reviews his penchant for murder is just hinted at with a few offhand comments, while in the later reviews we actually see him tormenting his victims and his serial-killer tendencies are mentioned much more often and become much more central to his character.

* FourLinesAllWaiting: Plinkett tears into ''Episode I'' for this happening at the climax. Well, not him so much as selected clips of Lucas and co. looking less than comfortable about having done this and not being able to change it so late in production.

* FranchiseKiller: Plinkett blames [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine the Dominion War]] for creating a rapid burnout and causing the temporary death of ''Franchise/StarTrek''.[[invoked]]

* FutureSocietyPresentValues: Plinkett feels this was to the detriment of ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. The series' not-so-subtle commentary on current political issues didn't make sense in the franchise's universe where humanity has moved on from those things by now, and the show makes it look like people have regressed. Certainly, the franchise tackled various social issues, but they would usually examine it through the lens of interactions with aliens or time travel.

* GuideDangIt. Plinkett has no use for anything but what is presented in the source material.
* GuiltyPleasure: He considers ''Film/StarTrek2009'' to be this. Also his [[IncestSubtext granddaughter]], Crystal.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny[[invoked]]: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. Plinkett cites this as the biggest flaw in ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' that isn't directly the doing of Creator/SonyPictures. While giving your actors room to ad-lib can greatly improve a comedy film, it's obvious that Paul Feig's direction in many scenes only went as far as going "Say/do something ''funny!''" This makes the humor come off as too broad, unstructured, and divorced from the action much of the time, in contrast to the original, where the ad-libbing was kept consistent with the action by complementing and building off of jokes that were already in the script.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Harry explains the somewhat tacked-on nature of the Spock/Uhura romance as a case of the [[BuryYourGays NotGays]] wherein the director draws undue time away from the plot in order to establish that a character is in fact heterosexual. He then goes on to show how other characters have a case of the [[BuryYourGays NotGays]] and begins to refer to it as the disease the director seems to think it is. He also points out how it's also done in dog movies.

* HollywoodTactics: One of his big complaints about ''The Last Jedi'' is how blatant this trope is there. He thinks that instead of being a NecessaryWeasel in the service of story and spectacle like in previous ''Star Wars'' movies it just makes every commander on both sides look like complete idiots.

* IdiotBall: Another pet peeve of Plinkett, such as Padme being transferred to be "processed," even though the villains not knowing what happened to the Jedis ''and'' the fact ''she's central to their entire plans''.
* IdiotPlot: [[invoked]]
** {{Discussed}} in the ''Star Wars'' reviews. Plinkett contends that if any of the characters had exercised even the tiniest amount of common sense in the prequels, Palpatine's plans would have been easily thwarted and Anakin wouldn't have become Darth Vader.
** He also argues this with ''Star Trek: Picard'', claiming that a lot of the plot seems to be fueled by the characters making decisions that make no sense--for example, the attack on Mars, where the Romulans apparently decided that the best choice to pull their FalseFlagOperation would be staging a strike on a fleet preparing to save the Romulan race from annihilation, or the creator of the androids burying the true goal of the program behind layers of fake memories rather than simply giving them the mission normally. He cites this to be due to the creators prioritizing a sense of mystery and countless twists and turns over creating a plot that actually makes sense.

* InformedAbility: Plinkett ''loves'' pointing these out, such as Anakin's alleged pilot skills.
** He dedicates a larger part of his ''Picard'' review to some of these.
*** He notes that the series treats it as a given that Picard and Data were the closest of friends and Picard, above all others, never questioned Data's humanity... before showing a bunch of clips from ''Next Generation'' that suggest Picard was no stranger to questioning Data's nature, making insensitive remarks, or being impatient with his quirks, and ''Geordi'', not Picard, was Data's closest friend.
*** He finds it rather comical that the Romulans are supposed to be expert spymasters when, in an era of teleportation, their idea of a kidnapping is a standard home invasion barely a step above your average street gang, and they try to suffocate an android.

* InNameOnly: Much of his critique of ''Picard'' owes to its failure to capture the original tone and morality of ''Star Trek'', such that it feels like it could be any given series.

* KidAppealCharacter: Ruthlessly deconstructed, especially in the case Phantom Menace-era Anakin.
-->"Kids' imaginations don't work that way!"

* LighterAndSofter: One of Plinkett's complaints about ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. Indy only murders one enemy, and even Plinkett is confused about how the enemy died (why would the poison dart be poisoned on the ''wrong'' side?)

* LostAesop: He notes this of the depictions of [=McCarthy-era=] America in ''Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', with Indy being wrongfully treated with suspicion by the government, characters lamenting the atmosphere of paranoia, one of his buddies changing sides explicitly because "I'm a capitalist, and they pay", and the protesters being shown sympathetically--all of which seems to be going for a vibe of "the US isn't so great, either." But nothing ever really comes of this, because the Soviets are still treated as self-evident antagonists, the conflict has almost nothing to do with the Cold War in general, and most of the movie doesn't even take place in the US, so really, all it does is undermine the stakes by making it seem like the villains have a point when they're not really supposed to. At one point, he noted that the movie seemed to do a better job of showing the US government as bad than showing the main antagonist as bad.
* LostInMediasRes:[[invoked]] One of Plinkett's criticisms of ''The Phantom Menace'' is that the film rushes through its setup so quickly that it doesn't even take time to properly establish fundamental story points to give an audience a clear understanding of whats at stake, such as ''why'' the Trade Federation are invading Naboo and are risking their entire organization by going along with Darth Sidious' oblique plans. He also scoffs at how the film lazily over-relied on [[AllThereInTheManual tie-in materials to explain these story gaps.]]
* MadnessMantra: [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Fuck the pain away. Fuck the pain away. FUCK THE PAIN AWAY. FUCK THE PAIN AWAY. FUCK THE PAIN AWAY.]]

* MerchandiseDriven: Plinkett felt that Star Wars started heading his direction as early as ''Return of the Jedi'' (mainly singling out the presence of the Ewoks) but really got out of hand in the prequels. He also joked that the reason ''Return of the Jedi'' had its name changed from ''Revenge of the Jedi'' was because having one less letter would've saved hundreds of dollars in George Lucas' ink fund.

* MisBlamed: InUniverse. He points out that Lucas gets the majority of the flak for the prequel trilogy, but that things still could've been better if someone, ''anyone'', had the courage to stand up during production and tell him that his ideas were terrible.
** He also holds this view on Hayden Christensen's portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the prequel films, saying that he's not a bad actor, it's just that nobody could make some of the scenes and dialogue written for that role look good.
** He also defends the cast of ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' and says they're all funny actors who have been in plenty of good roles, and instead directs the blame to director Paul Feig for giving the cast no real direction, instead just having them ad-lib everything and sit back laughing at all of it.

* MyWayOrTheHighway: In the review of ''The Last Jedi'', Plinkett unfavorably compares Admiral Holdo's iron fisted leadership style to the leadership style of [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Captain Jean Luc Picard]], who was willing to listen to and consider others opinions, and was willing to give even his worst enemies the benefit of the doubt if it was clear it would make a situation better, to make a point of just how unhelpful and incompetent of a leader she is despite the film presenting her actions as noble and necessary in the big picture. He also points out that it is rather strange that the Resistance, who are supposed to be the good guys and ostensibly more egalitarian that the First Order, operates its chain of command in such a strict and authoritarian way.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: In his review of “The Force Awakens”, Plinkett states that the lack of romance in the film made the cast feel robotic and alien to an extent compared to the original series where romance and sexuality was pervasive. He states that he would have settled for romance of any kind, including either Rey and Finn or even [[HoYay Finn and Poe]]. Similarly, he notes that a romance subplot in the Ghostbusters remake would have given the characters some personal stakes, even suggesting that Holtzmann should have had a romance with the Mayor's assistant.

* OriginStory: Plinkett takes the Star Wars prequels to task for being this, arguing that they overall weren't a story that neeeded to be told, and that overfocusing on Anakin and [[CharacterShilling making his story seem like the center of the universe instead of a small part of a bigger story]] because of his real life popularity actually came to the detriment of the series, and that ''how'' Anakin became Darth Vader is nowhere as interesting as what he does when he ''is'' Darth Vader.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: A major problem Mr. Plinkett has with the ''Next Generation'' movies is that Picard acts like an angry, vengeful, action movie character rather than a diplomatic captain who uses violence as a last resort. Years later it would get even worse in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' with how Picard will make stupid decisions for no reason other than to move the plot forward.
** Also, Plinkett points out how the Borg in ''First Contact'' randomly act like Frankenstein's monster. Plus Obi-Wan has random moments of being foolhardy and showing off in Episodes II and III.
** Also considers Palpatine using a lightsaber and everything Yoda does in the prequels to be this.
** As far as Plinkett himself goes, doesn't anyone else think him saying that he really liked ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' was weird? Twilight is about a 100-year-old guy who looks young for his age who stalks someone [[FridgeBrilliance ...Oh, wait.]]

* PinballProtagonist: Plinkett's explanation for why he doesn't consider Anakin the main character in Phantom Menace, due to him having little to no control over the events going on around him, even pointing out that him blowing up the trade federation ship at the end was an accident, and also because Anakin was first introduced a bit into the film's second act.

* PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil:
** Examined and eventually subverted in his review for ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', where he dedicates a small part of the video to Disney going out of their way to give the movie a diverse cast, the way Disney marketed and promoted this diversity, and why Disney would do so. He does conclude that the diversity isn't a bad thing at all, but that it's something most moviegoers, especially children, won't really care about all that much, and that it was most likely only done to make the movie more marketeable to people who ''would'' demand such a thing.
** They also subverted this with discussion about ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'', especially notable because of this trope being the crux of the controversy surrounding the movie. The channel does discuss the controversy in a couple of videos[[note]]They question in their ''WebSeries/HalfInTheBag'' video why Sony seemed to be playing up casting women in the lead of a sci-fi movie as something inspiring when it really isn't anything particularly new or revolutionary and also questioned why they picked ''Ghostbusters'' of all movies to be made into female empowerment movie when giving the same treatment to a macho action movie like ''Film/DieHard'' or ''Film/FirstBlood'' would have had a bigger impact. In a separate video, they also came to the conclusion that Sony intentionally manufactured, or at least fanned the flames of the controversy by intentionally leaving [=YouTube=] comments from actual misogynists up while specifically removing comments that were critical of the film for other, unrelated reasons in order to make it look like sexists are the only ones that don't like the movie and sexism is the only reason not to like it[[/note]], but overall seem to take the position that it isn't really anything to make a big deal out of either way, and that there are ''plenty'' of perfectly valid criticisms and reasons not to like the film that have nothing to do with the cast being women, chiefly the [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny directing]] and [[DenserAndWackier tone]]. In fact, the Plinkett review itself pretty much ignores the issue entirely.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Plinkett accuses Indiana Jones of indulging too much in this trope, and haphazardly at that. Because the film is set in the 50s and uses a OnceAcceptableTarget (the Russians) as the villains, the filmmakers try to compensate by playing up the flaws of 50s American culture...with an evil Men In Black subplot [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse that goes absolutely nowhere]] and nonsensical lines like, "Of course I sold you out. I'm a capitalist."
--->'''Plinkett:''' But people have been greedy since the dawn of time!
* PopularityPower:
** Plinkett argues in the ROTS review that this kicks in for Darth Vader. Before the PT, Darth Vader was an iconic character and a symbol of the Empire, formerly a good man gone bad, but only one aspect of a larger story. However, in the prequels he becomes Space Jesus and the most pivotal man in the Galaxy. Plinkett believes this is because Vader is a popular and iconic figure, his life is central to not only the story, but to the in-story universe as well, when it was not suggested in the OT.
** Plinkett also questions why in the world Padme would bother thanking R2-D2, "a piece of equipment". Why would the queen be ordered to clean a dirty droid? If she's thanking inanimate objects, why not thank ''the spaceship''. This, despite in previous films R2-D2 was treated as just another machine by Luke and others. Once again, R2-D2 is famous to the ''viewer'', not to the characters in the film.

[[folder:R-Z]]

* ARealManIsAKiller: Believes that a ''good'' Indiana Jones movie is reflected in how many people Indy brutally murders throughout the film.
* RedShirtArmy: The biggest problem with the Clone Wars concept, as far as Plinkett is concerned, is that we have two armies of faceless CGI mooks (clones vs droids) who can die by the hundreds onscreen in large battle scenes, with no consequence or emotional impact on the audience.

* RomanticPlotTumor: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. The ''Attack of the Clones'' review becomes increasingly sidetracked by the Plinkett/Nadine storyline, as a deliberate contrast to the Anakin/Padme storyline in the movie.
* RootingForTheEmpire:[[InvokedTrope Invoked]].
** Not technically rooting for the Empire, but Plinkett wonders how Obi-Wan automatically knows the Trade Federation attack on Naboo was unprovoked.
** Less than 5 minutes into his ''Phantom Menace'' review, Plinkett is giving the Trade Federation advice on the best ways to murder Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.
** Mace Windu decapitating a poor working stiff who's just trying to make his way in the universe.[[spoiler:(Jango Fett)]]
** In ''Crystal Skull'', [=McCarthyite=] America terrifies Plinkett way more than Spalko does.
** Vader throwing poor Palpatine down a mine shaft.
** Maybe the [[Series/StarTrekPicard Zhat Vash]] were right about the androids, considering they almost let in a robot space octopus hellbent on eradicating organic life. And for a non-villainous but still portrayed as in the wrong example, maybe Admiral Fuckface and the rest of Starfleet were right about the Romulans, considering how most of them are Jerkasses at best. See BrokenAesop.
* DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER: {{Discussed}} InUniverse
-->'''Mike (The United States of Noooo!!!):''' ''"[that scene] ruined everything. Not just ''Star Wars'' movies, but every other type of movie ever made."''
-->'''Plinkett (''Star Trek Generations'' review):''' ''"It ruined everything. And not just ''Star Trek'' movies, but everything."''

* [[invoked]]RunningTheAsylum: What he thinks is ultimately one of the biggest problems with ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' was director Paul Feig giving a cast full of otherwise competent actors essentially zero direction and instead just letting them ad-lib everything. He even directly compares Feig's directing style on ''Ghostbusters'' to a school teacher directing a cast of young children by letting them do whatever they want and just sitting back laughing at how cute it is that the production has gone off the rails. He especially hates this compared to the original film, which mostly used constructed jokes and well-done comedic timing, whereas the 2016 remake is full of the actors all yelling and quipping over each other which just blends together into constant noise.

* SceneryBasedSocietalBarometer: Discussed in the review of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Plinkett points out that the effects of the war could've been shown affecting Coruscant, thus highlighting the issues to the audience. Specifically, he claimed they could've seen the bustling nightlife slow to a stop as the film progressed and explored the idea of a draft being placed on the citizens of the planet.

* SellOut: Plinkett takes more than a few cheap shots at the fact that George Lucas' franchise is a licensing juggernaut.
-->"But it (the title of ''Revenge of the Sith'') also harkened back to the original title of “Return of the Jedi” which was supposed to be “Revenge of the Jedi”. Buuut at the last minute Lucas had decided to change the title from “Revenge” to “Return”, because he discovered that having a word with one less letter in it would save him $916 annually on the cost of printing the logo on countless T-shirts, action figure boxes and posters.[[note]]Note that this was absolutely not the case in real life--J.W. Rinzlers ''The Making of Return of the Jedi'' revealed that Creator/{{Kenner}} had to destroy over 250,000$ worth of toy packaging due to the 11th hour change in the movies title.[[/note]] Hey ink’s not cheap kids! The man runs a business. However by 2005 Lucas had saved up well over $1000 in his ink fund, so he could afford that extra letter."

* ShotReverseShot: An extensive deconstruction of this technique forms a pillar of Plinkett's criticism against the cinematography of ''Revenge of the Sith,'' as well as that of the Prequel Trilogy at large. To summarize a ten minute discourse: it's a workmanlike technique whose overuse makes for boring cinema, it doesn't mesh well with the dynamic and free-form camera angles found in entirely computer-generated action scenes, and it takes the viewer out of the film by making it abundantly clear that dialogue is always taking place while characters are sitting or are languidly walking back and forth on a greenscreen runway.

* ShowDontTell: Plinkett's adamantly stresses visual storytelling as a virtue of the original films (particularly highlighting the opening of ''A New Hope'') in contrast to how much blatant exposition though talking is given in the prequel films.

* SmallReferencePools: He takes issue with ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' constantly and gratuitously overusing references to other famous movies. This later culminates in PopculturalOsmosisFailure in the scene from the movie where Holtzmann briefly sings Glinda the Good Witch's "Come out, come out, wherever you are" song from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' to lure a ghost out of hiding and Paul Feig admits on the commentary track that, despite having paid ''thousands of dollars'' just to put that one line in the film, he doesn't actually know what movie the song originally came from and assumes it was from "some Disney movie" (Fellow movie reviewer {{WebVideo/Bobsheaux}} even left a comment saying that he never watched a Paul Feig movie before and, after finding that out, he'll make sure he never will).

* SpecialEffectFailure: Plinkett considers this a big problem with the prequels due to their over reliance on CGI. He argues that the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy benefited from the limitations faced with practical special effects, which includes the problems Lucas faced during production because of using practical effects. He has a particular hatred for the overuse of the lightsaber effects in the prequel movies, seeing as how they were much easier to produce than they were during the production of the original trilogy. [[invoked]]
-->'''Plinkett''': The human eye can detect fakeness real easy. [[DragQueen It's not too hard]].
** Parodied near the end of the ''Episode III'' review when he claims that the CGI took a drop in quality for the climatic fight, when he's showing the basic CGI outlines/paths.

* StrangledByTheRedString: [[invoked]]A major part of his critique of ''Attack of the Clones'' is this, noting that Anakin and Padmé's romantic arc basically amounts to Anakin acting like a dumbass creep at best and a total psychopath at worst, and Padmé inexplicably deciding to marry him despite barely knowing him and having every reason to cut ties with him.

'''Tweet:''' [[DarthWiki/RuinedForever UNSUBSCRIBE!]]
* StrawmanHasAPoint: [[invoked]]In his ''Picard'' review, he grumpily points out that the GeneralRipper admiral who claims that Starfleet should just let all the Romulans die is ultimately validated, as nearly every bad thing in the show comes down to the Romulans being a bunch of {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder to the point that they seem to prioritize screwing over the Federation [[StupidEvil over the continued survival of their species.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[invoked]]
** Plinkett regrets the missed potential lesbian sex scene between the mother and the nanny in "Baby's Day Out" since Lara Flynn Boyle and [[Series/SexAndTheCity Cynthia Nixon]] have "done their fair share of dirty roles, why can't they make room for that here?".
** He points out that the Clone War from the Prequel Trilogy had its impact greatly lessened by the fact that the heroes are pitting their disposable army of clones against the villains' even more disposable army of robots. After a disclaimer that he doesn't normally want to speculate on how to "fix" the prequels, he goes into detail about how it would've been more interesting if the clones were an invasive force attacking Coruscant from some unknown source in space and inflicting such damage that Coruscant was forced to institute a draft, resulting in millions of deaths, the vibrant, futuristic society shown in Episode I becoming far more run-down and barren by Episode III, and making Palpatine's tricking the people and senate into giving complete power to him so easily more believable, since it would parallel the tactics of many real life dictators.
** He points out that Anakin's temptation would have been more effective if he were portrayed as a kind family man from the beginning, who only loses his way and falls to the Dark Side at the end of the trilogy, whereas in the actual series, he's portrayed as already being unstable from fairly early on.
** Plinkett wishes that ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' had limited its scope to focus on more episodic, emotional, character-driven plots that were actually ''about'' Picard, like the creators of the show originally promised. Instead, the show includes a plot with a galactic-scale with a bunch of characters that are more important than Picard himself. To illustrate his point, Plinkett throws out a bunch of original plot ideas that they could have done instead.

* Administrivia/TropesAreTools: While acknowledging many good filmmakers stray away from traditional structure, Plinkett argues that Lucas shouldn't have for the Star Wars prequels. Credits classic Star Wars characters for being memorable partly by fullfilling certain archetypes like the HerosJourney, FishOutOfWater, LoveableRogue, DamselInDistress, TheMentor, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers gay robots]].
* TrueArtIsAngsty: Invoked in ''The Nerd Crew'' about ''Film/RogueOne'', [[DeadpanSnarker stating]] that war films aren't supposed to have any CharacterDevelopment.
-->'''Mike:''' It's not meant to be [[AirQuotes "enjoyed"]] ''per se'' as a conventional film.
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: InUniverse: "Palpatine" takes this position toward the Star Wars prequels.

* TheUnfairSex: Although focused on more in the WebVideo/HalfInTheBag episode for the movie, he takes issue with the portrayal of both sexes in ''Film/Ghostbusters2016''. Of major note are the fact that while Janine in ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'' was portrayed as a smart, sarcastic character who was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, her male equivalent Kevin in the remake is for some reason portrayed as being dumber than a brick. On the other hand, he takes issue with the fact that the guys making up the team from the original were mostly (at least most of them) portrayed as pretty professional all around and ranged from DeadpanSnarker to TheComicallySerious, even if they tended to bumble their way through things a bit just by nature of being in way over their heads, whereas in the remake, the women making up the team are, mostly because of the HarpoDoesSomethingFunny directing style, all portrayed as childish goofballs that don't seem to be taking anything that happens seriously and seem to have no real motivation for what they're doing.

* ViewersAreMorons: Lampshaded and discussed in several reviews.

* WagTheDirector: [[invoked]] Discussed; Plinkett believes that one of the problems behind ''Picard'' was that the actors (Patrick Stewart in particular) were given too much creative control over the series, stating that most actors don't have the creative chops necessary and if given the chance they'll use it to feed their overinflated egos.
* WalkAndTalk: Criticizes what he believes to be a misuse of this technique in the ROTS review. Because most dialogue scenes are shot on a short greenscreen runway, there isn't much room for dynamic or frenetic motion. Having that would mean that Lucas would have had to alter his cameras' positioning, which he was unwilling to do, and results in scene after scene featuring two characters slowly walking down a hallway, talking, until they reach a point where they turn and face each other so that the dialogue can end in a ShotReverseShot exchange. This pattern, far from looking natural, actually accentuates the limits of Lucas's use of CGI.
* WarIsHell: Plinkett argues that the impact of the Clone War should have been much more visible, with mass conscription and millions dying, which would have added tension and drama and made Palpatine's power grab more justifiable in-universe. Instead, life in Coruscant seems to just carry on as normal and the war is treated like some minor inconvenience out in space.

* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: According to Plinkett, gets broken when characters act like weird, unrelatable space aliens (which they are) and by seeing live-action actors put into physically impossible and unsurvivable situations, such as in Baby's Day Out and Attack of the Clones, that serve only to draw attention to the artifice.
** In the ''Attack of the Clones'' review, he criticizes the idea of Dooku being able to use Force Lightning. Specifically, he explains how in ''Return of the Jedi'', that Emperor Palpatine being able to use Force Lightning was more of a storytelling tool than a literal ability, meant to demonstrate just how powerful and evil Palpatine was, and imply that he has even more abilities like that up his sleeve. After all, if Palpatine wanted to kill Luke, he could have just strangled him. When Dooku does it, he claims he can't take it seriously because it trivializes the impact of the ability, likening it to a power-up a video game character gets from reaching Level 50 Sith status. He claims he was honestly surprised that Yoda didn't start shooting out green lightning at him too.
** Speaking of Yoda, he describes the reserved, mentor like Yoda of the original trilogy as a believable character who was there to demonstrate an ethereal quality of the force. For the prequels, he criticizes his over the top, "windmill on a pogo-stick" style of fighting and acrobatics as cartoony and completely unbelievable, seeing them as just a way to show off fancy effects and video game style stunts while flying in the face of the original nature of Yoda's character.
* WolverinePublicity: Plinkett mocks ''Revenge of the Sith'' for heavily hyping up Darth Vader's appearance (in his iconic armor) in all of the trailers, commercials, merchandise and tie-ins, even though Vader only has 2 minutes of screentime in the entire movie.
* WorldOfJerkass: {{Discussed| Trope}}.
** Plinkett states that he found it hard to care about the fate of New York in ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' as every side character seemed to be either TooDumbToLive or extremely unpleasant jerks.
** He also found this to be a major problem with ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' because of how it traded the optimistic future where humanity has genuinely managed to move forward for a future filled with unpleasant and foul-mouthed characters in a much more cynical setting.
* WTHCastingAgency:[[invoked]] Plinkett delivers one for the casting of Creator/SamuelLJackson as Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequels. While Jackson excels at playing bad motherfuckers who yell, curse and beat people, he is utterly ill-suited for the role of a wise and serene Jedi Master. Plinkett suggests that Creator/MorganFreeman, Creator/ForestWhitaker and Creator/SidneyPoitier would have been better choices if Lucas wanted an African American actor to play a Jedi, but none of them has Jackson's box office appeal.
* YesMan: Everyone surrounding Lucas during the making of the prequel films, but especially his right-hand man Rick [=McCallum=]. This backfires when he finally sees the rough cut of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'':
-->'''Plinkett''': Rick [=McCallum=] is frozen in utter shock at how horrible the movie was. Internally, he regrets not challenging Lucas on some of the things he was worried about.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: USA! USA! Oh wait, I mean [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain Adventure Man]] and [[Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra Multinational Joe]].
** Plinkett also accuses Indiana Jones of indulging too much in this trope, and haphazardly at that. Because the film is set in the 50s and uses a OnceAcceptableTarget (the Russians) as the villains, the filmmakers try to compensate by playing up the flaws of 50s American culture...with an evil Men In Black subplot [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse that goes absolutely nowhere]] and nonsensical lines like, "Of course I sold you out. I'm a capitalist."
--->'''Plinkett:''' [[OlderThanTheyThink But people have been greedy since the dawn of time!]]

** Plinkett feels this was to the detriment of ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. The series' not-so-subtle commentary on current political issues didn't make sense in the franchise's universe where humanity has moved on from those things by now, and the show makes it look like people have regressed. Certainly, the franchise tackled various social issues, but they would usually examine it through the lens of interactions with aliens or time travel.

''Mr. Plinkett Reviews'' is a [[VideoReviewShow movie review web series]] by WebVideo/RedLetterMedia, and the company's BreakoutHit. Mike Stoklasa performs in voiceover as Harry S. Plinkett, who painstakingly reviews terrible films and sub-par offerings of beloved franchises. The character of Mr. Plinkett is a cantankerous old man prone to mumbling, mispronouncing words, and getting sidetracked on unrelated tangents. His reviews are heavily sprinkled with increasingly overt insinuations that he is a SerialKiller who murdered his wives and regularly kidnaps other women. The videos are notable for their length, often extending beyond an hour. [=RedLetterMedia=] earned mainstream attention with the Mr. Plinkett review of ''Star Wars: The Phantom Menace'', and it remains their most popular and celebrated offering.

** A [[Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Douchey McNitpick]] sound-alike from ''Titanic'':

** Plinkett's fragile mental health deteriorates even further at the end of the ''Filn/BabysDayOut'' review, culminating with him repeating "[[MadnessMantra Fuck the Pain Away]]".

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[InUniverse Mike's promotional popcorn tub]] for ''Titanic'''s initial release date suggests a more action-oriented film, including the tagline, "Collide With Destiny." Compare to the finished tagline, "Nothing On Earth Can Keep Them Apart."
--->"But something DID keep them apart. It was an iceberg! Oh wait, it said 'nothing on Earth', [[DontExplainTheJoke an iceberg's in the water]]. I get it..."

* FanNickname:
** [[invoked]] Cate Blanchett's impressive turn as [[PunnyName Ivanna Spankov]].
** TV Show Picard--we'll call him Larry.

** Like [[WebSite/SFDebris Chuck Sonnenberg]], he's taken aback when he learns that Captain Janeway hasn't been imprisoned by now.

** During the lengthy comparison between the stories of [[Film/CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane]] and Anakin Skywalker, ''Die Moldau'' by the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana plays in the background. It is worth noting that Mike is Czech-American, and may have chosen to score the scene with music evocative of his ''own'' heritage.

** The most memorable and frightening scenes take place in Harry's creepy, dilapidated basement; contents include a plastic bin, several piles of various debris, a [[StuffedIntoTheFridge refrigerator containing flesh eating cockroaches]], more than one human skeleton, one or more living victims to be occasionally tormented by Plinkett, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers a Titanic promotional popcorn tub]].

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Literally with a threat by Plinkett. Considering it's two women he's threatening to stuff in a fridge, it borders on ShoutOut.

* IdiotPlot: [[invoked]] {{Discussed}} in the ''Star Wars'' reviews. Plinkett contends that if any of the characters had exercised even the tiniest amount of common sense in the prequels, Palpatine's plans would have been easily thwarted and Anakin wouldn't have become Darth Vader.

* CluelessAesop: He argues that while ''Crystal Skull'' tries to address the flaws of 1950s America to given the conflict moral complexity, that idea is misplaced because it's still fundamentally an ''Indiana Jones'' movie; it's a simple adventure narrative rather than a political drama, so there's only surface examination of those themes and they vanish from the plot quickly. Consequently, those ideas don't really go anywhere or see any real resolution, other than undermining the stakes due to the villain seemingly having a good point.

* DesignatedVillain: [[invoked]] He has this opinion towards the villains of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', claiming that Spalko doesn't do anything particularly evil besides being a communist and working for her government (in comparison to the villains of earlier films, who would usually KickTheDog enough to establish that they're bad people [[EvenEvilHasStandards even by the standards]] of Nazis and cultists). He's also played it for laughs a few times, such as claiming that [[Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIAttackOfTheClones Jango Fett]] was just trying to make his way in the world, and [[Film/Titanic1997 Hockley]] "has no faults."

** "The entire senate is filled with stupid idiots. *picture of the US Senate* ...y-yeah, okay, that's true. Yes. But I was talking about ''this'' senate. *shot of the Galactic Senate from the Star Wars prequels*."

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