One Cut of the Dead (The Last Drive-In)

Film Year:  2017
Genre:  Comedy, "Horror"
Director:  Shin'ichiro Ueda
Starring:  Takayuki Hamatsu, Mao, Harumi Syuhama, Yuzuki Akiyama, Kazuaki Nagaya

The Movie

The one thing I want to point out about One Cut of the Dead that I feel that needs to be impressed upon anybody who might wish to watch it is that it's one of those movies that plays best when you know as little about it as possible.  It's also 100% not what you think it is, and please, for the love of god, keep watching after you see the credit roll.  The journey of discovery for this movie is magic.

I'd also recommend not reading this review but still click my link just for kicks.

So, at this point I'm going to talk about this movie freely without restraint for spoilers, because it's impossible to really explain what makes this movie special without spoiling what direction it takes.  If you read on, I'm either going to assume you're familiar with the movie or you're reading because you don't give a shit.

One Cut of the Dead starts with thirty minute story of a group of filmmakers who are making a zombie movie, but encounter a hoard of zombies while filming.  After the conclusion to this opening, we cut to several days earlier, but it's not the characters from the film we've been watching, but the filmmakers who made that thirty minute movie who were asked to film it live for television.  It that seems confusing to you, imagine watching a movie then watching a "making of" documentary immediately after, except the "making of" feature is also scripted and part of the movie.

So, if you're not familiar with the direction this movie takes, the first half hour of this movie probably won't impress many people.  The single take presentation of it is impressive, but while it's amusingly silly, there's not a lot here that hasn't been done before (the basic premise is just Diary of the Dead, without the found footage technique) and there are little idiosyncrasies about it that leave the viewer with questions of "What the hell is going on?"  Then a half hour into the movie, the end credits play, and I think to myself "This movie isn't over.  Where is this going?"  Then it does a hard cut to "reality" and I'm like "Oh.  This is interesting.  Is this going to turn into a horror movie too?"

It became clear that wasn't the intent of the movie.  The movie is actually the story of filmmakers who are thrown into the grind by executives, who told them to film a half hour horror story for television, but has to be done live and in one take.  It them becomes a story of people who are working under immense pressure, thinking on their feet, and making it work.  The climax to this movie, where they're actually filming the "movie" and they're running into "complications," and they have to solve them in the moment, is outstanding.  It's one of the best third acts ever committed to film.  Suddenly, even if that opening thirty minutes isn't great, it's oddness makes sense and it's idiosyncrasies are explained.  It becomes a product of passion and it stands proudly as being the result of tenacity.

This movie transcends being a simple movie and becomes a love letter to filmmakers who are familiar with working through the trenches and crawling through the mud to make their movie work.  People like George Romero, Sam Raimi, or Kevin Smith, who moved hell and high water to make Night of the Living Dead, Evil Dead, and Clerks.  It looks at all who have gone through the process and says "We see what you did, and we appreciate you."  And considering One Cut of the Dead was made independently by people who are working under that pressure to deliver this love letter, it's a meta group hug.

In case you can't tell, I loved this movie.  I'm so happy I have this movie in my life, and I've already pre-ordered the blu-ray.

The Drive-In

Joe Bob does warn us that this movie might be a little different this week, but he's very enthusiastic about it.  He has a little glint in his eye, as if he's plying a practical joke on the audience.  He explains a few basic things about it up top, including most people who dislike it left after a half hour.  He doesn't explain why, he lets the audience discover that for themselves.  In fact, he leaves the opening half hour entirely uninterrupted and lets the entire sequence play out for itself.  He might over compensate a bit with his opening rant, which lasts a bit longer than usual, about "Deep Fakes," which he uses as an attempt to set up the audience for what they're about to watch.

He actually doesn't pop in during this movie that often.  He has a few tidbits about its production to say, but mostly seems keen to digress into other topics and to discuss the filmmaking process (including how much he hates a "jib").  He also spends time talking about what's transpiring onscreen.

It's very likely Joe Bob has limited information on this movie, but when the movie is over it becomes clear that he's showing this movie to make a point.  He stands up and "gets real" with this audience, because he has a special message to all "aspiring" filmmakers out there (I use quotations on "aspiring" because Joe Bob says you should never use that word).  He wants the movie to be an inspiration to the people who want to make movies in the world to go out and do it.  Nevermind what resources and money you have, you can still create something.  And the great thing about this message is that it doesn't just apply to filmmaking, it can apply to any sort of creation.  If you're passionate enough about it, do it.  Don't come up with an excuse not to, find a way.

Joe Bob's message includes:

1.  Don't use the words "aspiring."  Like Yoda says, "Do or do not, there is no try."

2.  It's not 1970.  You don't need to go to film school.  We have everyday access to the technology you need and methods of learning at home.

3.  There is no "Hollywood."  Filmmaking can happen anywhere.

4.  You don't need money.  Creativity often happens by working with what resources you have available to you.

5.  Be prepared to fall on your face.  Failure happens.  Accept it, learn from it, tighten your belt, and keep going.

Also, Joe Bob wants to see your movie.  If you've made one, send it to him.  He's genuinely interested in seeing what you can make with your own two hands.  This is an open invitation to anyone.  One Cut of the Dead is his chance to get that message out there, and I hope those who listen to it will embrace it.

Joe Bob's Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Troma's War (The Last Drive-In)

Film Year:  1988
Genre:  Comedy, Action
Director:  Michael Herz, Samuel Weil (Lloyd Kaufman)
Starring:  Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Michael Ryder, Patrick Weathers, Jessica Dublin, Ara Romanoff

The Movie

War!  Huh!  Yeah!  What is it good for?  Absolutely NOTHIN'!  Except Troma flicks!

The minute you see the word "Troma" in the title, you should know what you're in for.  If you're unfamiliar with Troma, they're a studio that specializes in low budget exploitation with a cheeky and borderline (read:  very) offensive sense of humor that has been evolved straight from softcore nudie flicks.  So, if you're watching a movie called "Troma's War," what you're imagining in your head is almost exactly what it is.

This flick tells the story of an airplane that crashes on an island.  The survivors of the crash are distraught with their situation, but find that things are about to go even more south when they discover they're sharing the island with a group of bloodthirsty terrorists who are planning a raid on America.  The survivors find that they need to get primal, gear up for battle, and declare their own war on terror.

Imagine Troma going for a Red Dawn flavor, and Troma's War won't be far off.  Intended to be a parody of Reagan era military glamorization at the ass end of the Cold War.  I was very young at the time, so I'm not really sure how effective it is at being a satire, but what I will say is that it's "Troma" sense of humor tends to undermine its attempt at cleverness.  It's hard to take its observations seriously when it's parody is a bit too absurdly animated, such as the terrorists using AIDS infected soldiers in an attempt to infect the American population, who are so absurdly portrayed that I think they transcend offensiveness.  In this film, AIDS is portrayed as giving you puss filled boils and pimples all over your body, turning people into disgusting beasts, and every character with the disease is a conniving evildoer.  I almost felt horrible about such a blatantly irrational portrayal of the disease until I realized that maybe what the film is trying to do is make fun of the way people with AIDS were demonized during the time period as subhuman monsters.

Troma's War is filled with stuff exactly like this, as its execution is just confusing enough to make it feel like it's adding to the propaganda rather than making fun of it.  It's tone is attempting to be offending for the sake of offending, and if you have a message you're trying to get across, that's a tricky delivery system.  The modern version of that is your average episode of South Park, which does stumble at times trying to figure out what it's trying to say as it throws edgy humor at the screen.  Troma's War is that experience on acid.  Take that for what you will.

The Drive-In

There's a legend in the house!  Troma producer and director Lloyd Kaufman is here to talk about his Tromatic experience in the film industry, and I am all here for it.  Kaufman's always been an animated and colorful guy, and he speaks about his filmmaking with enthusiasm.  Here he discusses Troma's War, which Joe Bob calls "the most violent anti-war movie ever made" and one of the most misunderstood movies ever made (Darcy says "No.").

Joe Bob's interview with Kaufman is interesting, because I can't help but feel like ol' Lloyd is something of an unreliable narrator of sorts.  I'm sure most of the big stuff he states is true, though his claims that Troma's War is used as an army training film or that a terrorist giving away his position helped create irritable bowel syndrome awareness seem a little bit of a stretch.  Kaufman's a funny guy, but he can play it as stone faced as the best of them.  For example, Joe Bob asks him about a story about Kaufman that he told during Blood Sucking Freaks, where Kaufman re-edited the film for an R-rating then put the cut footage back in and released the unrated cut with the MPAA rating, only to have Kaufman deny that's what happened then explain it the exact way that Joe Bob described, leaving us to wonder if he misunderstood Joe Bob's question or is just driving us around in circles on purpose to keep us confused.

Even Kaufman's wife, Pat, is in on the fun, as she's brought in to help keep Lloyd in line and keep the story straight.  She also has some details to spill on Troma's War, which she was pregnant during and claims "The director's wife is treated the worst on set."  Together they share some juicy gossip about on-set strikes, one about the depiction of AIDS in the movie and one about the cast wanting fried chicken, and according to them the fried chicken one was more intense.  The history of Troma is touched upon, as Joe Bob and Lloyd discuss the sex comedies that lead into the Toxic Avenger, which revolutionized the company (but changed Kaufman's life in no way).  Lloyd also discusses his mysterious partner, Michael Herz, as well as his directorial pseudonym, Samuel Weil, which he uses to get past the Screen Director's Guild.

Troma's an interesting subject, and Troma's War is just about as interesting a film to discuss it during (the film has almost 300 on the bodycount list).  Joe Bob invites Kaufman to come and discuss whatever Troma film they may have on the show in the future, and we look forward to that day.  Whatever you can say about Troma, it's not boring!

Joe Bob Rating

⭐⭐1/2 

Heathers (The Last Drive-In)

Film Year:  1989

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Michael Lehmann

Starring:  Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannon Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker

The Movie

High School is deadly, and Heathers realizes this.  This flick has a Winona Ryder as a popular girl who finds herself rebelling against the other popular girls, the "Heathers."  She winds up dating an outsider as they muse about fantasies of killing the Heathers, until they one day take it a step too far and one of the Heathers dies from drinking drain cleaner.  They cover the murder up as a suicide, but after the most popular Heather in the school "kills herself," the idea of suicide starts to become glamorized at the school, leaving it easier to cover up further murders.  

Heathers is an interesting comedy, which isn't funny in a laughter kind of way, but more of a wry and dry dark humor.  If the movie had a face, it would constantly have a smirk on it, as if it found itself more amusing than the audience does.  While I'm not entirely enamored with Heathers, I get it.  There is a lot in this film to digest, and a lot of it is truthful.  It's a smart parody of social circles, the tiers of popularity, and the envy of those beneath.  The bullshit melodrama of high school is called out in this movie, which plays with the "live ends at high school" vibe and takes it a step further.  When the most popular girl in school commits suicide, suddenly death is "in."  Combined with the goth curiosity of life ending, people begin to romanticize her death, some even ponder imitating so they can be remembered as fondly as her for even a brief moment.

While the undertones are the more fascinating part of the film, the film is heavily reliant on the turbulent relationship between Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, which snowballs in intensity as the film goes on.  They have an interesting dynamic, but as their affair gets edgier it also grows more outrageous, so does the film.  The movie gets more animated as it goes along, and there is a bit of a zaniness to its final act that almost makes the movie feel to be more of a cartoon by the end.  Heathers is nothing if it's not attention baiting, much like the popular girls of its title.  It's always doing something interesting and it's difficult to not be interested in how it plays out.  While I can't say it's a movie that will ever become a favorite, I can't take what it does right away from it.

The Drive-In

Joe Bob throws us a curve ball with our second film, which on first look might be a bit of an outlier for a Last Drive-In feature.  But upon closer inspection, Heathers is a movie about a pair of serial killers and/or a woman stuck with a sociopath.  It's different tonally than a lot of Last Drive-In features, because it's a dark comedy high school movie, but then again, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is tonally different than other films featured on the series as well, and that's one of the best Last Drive-In episodes that I've seen.

Unfortunately, while Joe Bob has some juicy tidbits about Heathers, he doesn't pop up nearly as often as he usually does.  I didn't count the number of Joe Bob segments in this episode, but they did seem fairly low and movie sections run rather lengthy.  This episode also features a movie that's roughly twenty minutes longer than the previous film, Maniac, while the Last Drive-In episode is roughly the same length (of course, that episode had a guest star to bounce off of).  Joe Bob does praise the flow of this movie, especially the first act, so it's possible he doesn't want to interrupt it too much.  I'm curious whether this was a conscious decision, because in your average Last Drive-In episode, Joe Bob usually pops in after big dramatic scenes or memorable setpieces, and Heathers is structured mostly as a snowballing build up to a big scene and repeat.  His appearances in the film seem calculated.

Whatever the reason may be, Joe Bob clearly loves Heathers quite a bit, deeming it the "high school flick that outclassed all other high school flicks" and risks angering the almighty Mail Girl, Darcy, by pointing out that there might not be Scream without Heathers.  He talks a bit about how John Hughes (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off) ruled the genre during the 80's but the screenwriter, Daniel Waters, found the screenwriting to be "unrealistic," and set off to make some sort of anti-John Hughes movie with the idea of "What if Stanley Kubrick directed a John Hughes movie?"

Well, to answer that question, I'd say production would have taken twenty years and thousands of youth labor laws would have been violated so he could do a billion takes of each scene.

If I were to point out an observation of this creation method, it reminds me a lot of how the sitcom Married...with Children was originally pitched, as it was made by people who hated The Cosby Show (nowadays everybody hates The Cosby Show, but for different reasons) and desired to make a show that was the exact opposite.  It's an interesting method for creators to carve their own niche into a genre.

Heathers was a box office bomb upon original release, which Joe Bob attributes to lack of advertising due to being released just before its distributor, New World Pictures, started folding its feature film division.  But it found life in the booming home video market.of the 1990's, which turned it into a cult classic.  Joe Bob loves to dig his teeth into a cult classic, and he analyzes the smallest details, such as Christian Slater's supposed "Ich Luge" bullets to the real life tragic deaths of supporting cast members Jeremy Applegate (who died of suicide, like he is thought to in this movie) and Kim Walker (who died of a brain tumor, and delivered the line "Did you eat a brain tumor for breakfast?" in this movie).  He even touches upon how it impacted pop culture, including the term "Geek Squad," which is currently a job title at Best Buy.

As for the film's stars, Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, Joe Bob rides Slater pretty hard as "desperately trying to get Jack Nicholson to notice him."  There are so many epic pot shots at poor Christian during this episode.  Leave the man alone!  He was in Broken Arrow, and that movie was moderately entertaining!  Ryder he seems to have more respect for, as she seems damn proud of this movie.  "I don't think I'll ever make another movie as great as Heathers." she was once quoted as saying.  Joe Bob ponders whether or not she still believes that, after all the movies she has made since (hell, she's currently riding high off of Stranger Things, but granted that's not a movie).  Personally I like Beetlejuice more, but to each their own.

Taking all of this into consideration, Heathers is a pretty interesting watch, even if it isn't a typical Drive-In movie.  And if you're going to watch it, you might as well watch it with Joe Bob, so having it on the show is a win.

Joe Bob's Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Maniac (The Last Drive-In)

Film Year:  1980
Genre:  Horror
Director:  William Lustig
Starring:  Joe Spinell, Carolyn Munro, Tom Savini as Disco Boy

The Movie

Joe Spinell stars as Frank Zito, a man with mommy issues and spends his evenings as a serial killer, scalping young women and attaching their hair to mannequins to comb them.  While this movie premise probably seems a bit too simplistic and a grimly nasty, this early flick from the 80's slasher boom has a little more depth than most.  What separates this from the likes of Friday the 13th and the like is that this movie is told primarily from the killer's perspective.  We see the world through their troubled eyes, and while we don't exactly sympathize with him, we at the very least understand him.

Reviews of 1980 seem to paint that aspect of the film as a perversion, seeming to mistake it as an effort to glorify a serial killer and his dirty deeds.  While film is very subjective, I do feel this is a misunderstanding of the intent of the film.  It's not a glorification of violence, but rather a portrayal and study of the mentally ill.  Getting into the brain of someone who would do something like this.  This isn't a death count movie.  Zito kills a lot of people, in very gory, Tom Savini enhanced ways, but they're the works of a sick mind, and the movie's only crime seems to be that it's somewhat intrigued by the sick mind.  Compare this to the "sick mind" of Pamela Voorhees, who was only a brief character with a brief, but blunt, motive for killing people.  Or Michael Myers, who didn't really have one.  Of all the 80's killers, Zito seems like something special.

Maniac stands out from the pack of 80's horror because of this.  It's different right down to the end, which isn't your typical virgin girl chased by somebody with a knife ending.  Instead it's a battle between Zito and his mind, and it's keeps the viewer guessing as to what's real and what's not.  Maniac is more fascinating than your average slasher movie.  You just need to allow it to be.

The Drive-In

Joe Bob is stepping up his guest star game this season, as we're three movies in and we're already on our third guest.  Following up Kelli Maroney and Chris Jericho, he's got a genre legend on his hands this week with Tom Savini, the special effects creator for films such as Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th, as well as the director of the first (there have been a few) remake of Night of the Living Dead, which Joe Bob praises as underappreciated (I disagree, but that's a rant for another day).  He also did the effects for today's feature, which involved a lot of scalps.  Savini talks a lot about the process, including a confirmation that he used his experience as a military medic to inspire his work.  He also expresses frustration with movie death scenes, in particular movie stars who keep their jaw clenched so they look "pretty" when they're dead, insisting a real corpse's jaw would be slack and limp.

Note:  The day after I watched this episode I watched Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker for my Rifftrax review, and during a death scene at the end of the movie, there was a clenched jaw and I couldn't get his words out of my head.

Savini also talks a bit on the production of the film, which he didn't just do effects for, but also had a cameo as "Disco Boy," a character who tries to get romantic before our titular Maniac shotguns his face.  And the answer is yes, Savini did his own head explosion.  He took the job for only five grand because he wanted to live in New York for a few months.  He also really dated his girlfriend, "Disco Girl," from his scene, who's real name was Hyla Marrow.  He also talks working with Spinell, and how Carolyn Munro stole her role from Dario Argento's wife, Daria.

Moving away from Savini, Joe Bob seems fascinated by parallels between this film and 2019's Oscar contender Joker.  In fact, he has a pretty big rant about Joker to open up the episode, asking the question of whether or not Arther Fleck was "disturbed or empowered?"  More Maniac related, he talks a lot about Joe Spinell, who is a "god among character actors."  Joe Bob is in awe of his work in the film and talks a bit about his career right down to his death.  He also points out several porn stars in the cast, including 7 into Snowy (a fairy tale where the dwarfs get it with Snow White) star Rita Montone.  Joe Bob clearly loves this movie, obviously thinking more highly of it than the movie Joker.  It's hard not to fall in love with his enthusiasm for it.

Joe Bob's Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (Rifftrax)

Film Year:  2019
Genre:  Fantasy, Science Fiction
Director:  J.J. Abrams
Starring:  Carrie Fisher stock footage delivering static lines, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Issac, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniel, Keri Russel, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong'o, and ghostly cameos by Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford (and behind that tree over there is Kelly Marie Tran)
Rifftrax Year:  2020
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

The Movie

Boy, if there was ever a filmed metaphor for the implosion of the Star Wars franchise, The Rise of Skywalker is it.

So, the story of this mess is that Kylo Ren is now leading the First Order and doesn't wish to be challenged, so he hunts down Emperor Palpatine who is still alive...I guess, but winds up his new apprentice instead, because Kylo Ren is an easily manipulated idiot.  Meanwhile, the Resistance continues to build their numbers and Rey continues her Jedi training from Leia (RIP Carrie Fisher).  Rey, Poe, and Finn then go on a series of McGuffin quests to find things that will lead them to Emperor Palpatine and hopefully end the war.

So this is how Star Wars dies...by a wet fart...

I have no stake in whether or not a Star Wars movie is good, but The Rise of Skywalker is a grueling watch.  It's a panicked movie that hurriedly runs back and forth to appease a fanbase that seemingly is unappeasable.  It's attempt at a gear shift to try and tie up plot lines while burning off what fans whined about previously simultaneously is frustrating, because it becomes clear that the movie doesn't have the balls to let its story play out.  It wants to be a "correction" and not a movie.  And for that "correction" they conclude the series needs to abandon ship on all original plotlines and just redo what previous films have done but with more expensive effects.  That's the underlining thing that bores me about Star Wars, when it can't find a way to make its story compelling, it falls back on being a familiar sound and light show.  It's a pretty sound and light show, but there is nothing worth giving a shit about here.  And The Rise of Skywalker is the biggest sound and light show of the bunch.

I don't care how much you hate The Last Jedi, but let's take it out of the equation.  What exactly did these sequel films add in the long run?  The original Star Wars was the story of Luke, a dreamer on a desert planet who is swept up in an intergalactic war, learns he has lineage in the Dark Side, chooses to turn his back on it and become a Jedi, while an old man bellows at him "Strike me down!" to annoy him into becoming a Sith, and concludes when the old man's former partner betrays the Dark Side to save the day.  The long awaited sequel trilogy is about Rey, who is a dreamer on a desert planet who is swept up in an intergalactic war, then she learns that she has lineage in the Dark Side (she legitimately has an "I am your (grand)father" moment in this film), and chooses to turn her back on it and become a Jedi, while an old man bellows at her "Strike me down!" to annoy her into becoming a Sith and the old man's former partner betrays the Dark Side to save the day.

Boy, I'm so glad Disney bought Star Wars.  That way we can get new stories like this!

Seriously.  What was the point of these sequel films if they were just going to remake the original films?  The Last Jedi at least took a swing and did something original.  Admittedly I gave The Force Awakens a pass in spite of its derivative nature, but that was mostly because I was enjoying the new cast and the fresh flavor they were giving to the film.  I still like the cast, because these are great actors, but they look defeated in this movie.  Like they were swept up in a production that was working to make a release date placeholder and not an actual conclusion to their story.  There is nothing about what The Rise of Skywalker sets out to do that deserves any sort of respect, and it certainly doesn't show why Star Wars is the most popular film franchise of all time.  The best I can say about previous Star Wars movies is that I came out of them thinking "I had fun."  When I walked out of this, I just felt tired.  And I had to deal with hoards of friends trying to convince me to watch The Mandalorian, to which I declined by saying "I just can't even with this franchise right now."  I still haven't seen The Mandalorian, and that's unlikely to change any time soon, no matter how good it might be.

Is it Star Wars fatigue?  I'll be honest and say I don't get fatigued on things easily.  If you get fatigued on something it's your own damn fault for not watching something your more interested in at the moment instead of watching something to bitch about how you don't want to watch it anymore.  I ask for things to be entertaining or interesting.  But the one thing I will say about Disney's run on Star Wars is that they came in way too hot.  On paper, Star Wars seems like the one franchise that should be able to achieve a "one event film a year" status that a lot of franchises are trying to do in the wake of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's consistent success.  While it seemed like they were going to pull it off for a while, production on new Star Wars seems to have been put in motion before an actual vision for it was achieved.  Too many creative voices from separate directions were hired and reportedly fired to the point where it became clear that no clear plan was in place.  The Rise of Skywalker seems like a natural conclusion to this disastrous planning method, because they have the conclusion to the sequel trilogy and their "Skywalker Saga" and they won't budge it from their filmmaking factory schedule of "Pump one out a year!"  It has to come out on a certain date, even if we have to drastically restructure it in the wake of three things:  1) The loss of their director (but what Star Wars film hasn't lost a director at this point), 2) the untimely death of Carrie Fisher, and 3) the unforeseen mass rejection of The Last Jedi.  You have to fix all of this within an accelerated production schedule that would be unhealthy for even a more organized production.

You know what other movie went through this?  Justice League.  Maybe The Rise of Skywalker is a better film in the end than that mess, but if your movie production starts to resemble that film in any sort of way, you really need to stand to the side, take a breath, and reassess what you're doing.  I don't care how powerful your studio is, that's a more important lesson to learn than pleasing a bunch of manbabies who scream "I hate PORGS!"

The most telling thing about my opinion on this movie is that I saw it the same weekend I saw the much maligned film adaptation of Cats.  I'd rather watch Cats again.  At least that was a laugh.

The Trax

"Sand and podracing.  Finally something new with this franchise."

I had so little desire to rewatch The Rise of Skywalker that I had some serious questions in my head if I was actually going to go through with my annual May the 4th Star Wars post this year.  Star Wars has hardly been Rifftrax's most consistent series.  The last two riffs weren't outstanding by any stretch, and even looking back to the riffs of the original trilogy, they peter out pretty hard.  If I find I have any desire for Rifftrax to continue riffing the series, it's because Star Wars is the most iconic film series of all time, and Rifftrax's ability to riff literally any movie they desire has always led them to it, and I think all Rifftrax fans want to see riffs for these movies even if Rifftrax's riffing format has been moving away from these types of riffs for about ten years now.  A Star Wars riff has always seemed to be an important event, even if it hardly ever is a home run.

"The Force:  Sure, yeah, it can do that."

Luckily, Rise of Skywalker is one of their better attempts at the Star Wars franchise, as its chaotic storyline lends itself to some high quality ribbing.  It's not unusual for a Rifftrax riff to have its comedians "play stupid," as if they're left confused and bewildered by a film, even if it's a fairly simple affair.  It doesn't always work for them, but Rise of Skywalker is pretty much the correct choice for the approach, because it abandons ship on so many storylines from the previous films and goes on a "RUSH RUSH RUSH" nonsense storyline of its own.  Mike, Kevin, and Bill sound as if they're trying to follow it, but mostly feel defeated by it.  I sympathize so much with them so much.

"I'm the spy!"

"Oh of course!  The killing of billions of people in the first film was a part of his cover!"

The detriment of the film to the Rifftrax is the length of the film, much like Attack of the Clones and The Last Jedi.  It's very difficult to maintain a laugh quota for a movie that drones on for two and a half hours.  But they wisely turn it into a bit of a gag as well.  There's a slight quip by Mike about halfway through, leading to Mike giving himself a weak laugh and whining "It's so long."  There are a few more observations about how endless the film is, but mostly the spirit level is maintained quite a great deal.  This probably has the most consistent entertainment value of any Star Wars riff since Revenge of the Sith or the Holiday Special, making it's dragging runtime a bit breezy (and believe me, this movie needed to be breezy).  I'd say it's probably the best of the Disney Star Wars riffs, which it's only challenged by The Force Awakens.  It's a tight race, but I'd give the edge to Rise of Skywalker if only because its a better merger of inane film with heckling.

Also, for sensitive viewers, it is best to be forewarned that there are jokes at the expense of Carrie Fisher's untimely passing.  It's actually evident that they're willing to go there pretty early on, because they reference in the opening crawl, of all things.  While this might seem tasteless at first, to be fair it's kind of hard to ignore the elephant in the room, especially when the movie works so hard and fails so miserably to work in archive footage of her into it.  The fact of the matter is every scene with her is so stilted, and everyone sharing dialogue with her looks like they're talking to a brick wall, so I'm going to consider the event fair game for comedy because it's a genuine flaw in the movie.

There is a certain spirit that I feel is lacking from Star Wars riffs.  For the most part, Star Wars films are competent (Holiday Special notwithstanding).  With Rise of Skywalker they're faced with a movie that's practically a disaster, and their treatment of it as such really makes it work.  Watching all of the Star Wars riffs has been a lengthy, sometimes thankless road, but if they were all leading up to this one, then it was worth it.

Good

Don't Get Angry (Rifftrax Shorts)

Rifftrax Year:  2016

Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

That tragic day all started with three girls playing jump rope.

This education on emotions tells of Susan, a little girl who gets bent out of shape on someone stepping out of turn while skipping rope.  Because of this, Susan flies off the hinges and no one is safe from her anger.  There is also a subplot about a boy named Paul who is mad that his friend (who looks like he's at least seven grades more advanced than Paul) is playing baseball instead of playing airplanes, leading Paul to turn into a hulking green rage monster.

How might have all this been solved?  Apparently Susan should have told the object of her anger "Hey, you're pissing me off, bitch!" and Paul should have gone into a gym and pretended the punching bag was his friend's face.  Problems solved!

The point of this particular short is to get kids to externalize their emotions and not keep them bottled up.  It's a good attempt at a message, but I think more effort should be put into healthy expression.  Paul's lesson, for example, is to pretend a punching bag is his friend and to just let out his anger on it.  That's all well and good, but pretending to beat up a friend still is something of a questionable violent outburst.  The way Paul lets off steam doesn't necessarily need to be different, he could still beat up a punching bag and just describing it as exerting negative energy, it's just a little disturbing in the way they describe it.

"Susan is a hair-trigger rage-machine!"

It's not hard to see the attraction to this short, with the simple childhood problems causing tempers to flare.  Mike, Kevin, and Bill do quite well here, with the over-the-top emotions on display, while the therapy can become a prime target for their perversion, to take the method of letting one's anger out and pushing it just a step too far.  Don't Get Angry is simple and short, and it has a lot of laughs.

Thumbs Up

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