Brentai wrote:I got the impression that the lot of them never liked Star Wars in the first place
I think Kevin did. He's the one who was shouting about cinematic abortions.
Have to admit that Rifftrax isn't something I go out of my way for very much; I'll throw it on if I'm watching something I've seen a dozen times before, or if it's a movie I really want to see savaged, but being honest, without the visual component and without the benefit of their personas, these are three aging white guys talking over a movie who aren't as charming on their own as they've been led to believe.
I've watched a lot of them and I think it really depends on the material. It's probably not surprising that I prefer the B-movies over the Hollywood blockbusters (and the accidentally-bad movies over the intentionally-bad ones like Sharknado). There are exceptions -- I think their Twilight riff was great -- but on the whole, I prefer the movies that are more like MST3K movies.
They really seem to excel at '80s martial arts movies. I think part of it is that they've got genuine affection for them. And part of it is that those movies tend to be punchy; they move at a brisk pace, there's usually something interesting happening onscreen, and they're over in 90 minutes. Or less.
I also think their live riffs tend to be among their best. There are probably a number of reasons for that, too -- they
do have a visual component, they're typically movies that are already fan-favorites, plus, like any comedy, it doesn't hurt to see it in a theater with other people laughing.
I can rattle off some all-time favorite Rifftrax without having to think too hard about it -- Miami Connection, Jack the Giant-Killer, Samurai Cop, the Christmas Short-Stravaganza, Megaforce, Stone Cold, ROTOR, Krull. They've done hundreds of the things at this point and they can't all be winners, but there are some real gems in there.
And I'm pretty good at selecting ones I'm going to like. I didn't buy the Star Wars one specifically; I got it along with a bunch of other stuff as a reward for kicking in $1 to one of their Kickstarter campaigns.
I think you can tell the difference between movies they did because they wanted to and movies they did because they felt like it was an obligation. Most of the big-name Hollywood movies fall into the latter category (though there are exceptions; I mentioned Twilight as probably their best blockbuster riff, and it's probably not a coincidence that I read an interview where Kevin recounted taking his niece to see it and then immediately calling Mike afterward to say "You
have to see this.").