Plinkett's review of Nemesis

[Gaith]

The one thing Plinkett brought out that was right on:

Deanna Troi's character slowly became less and less Troi, and more and more Marina Sirtis. Her natural English accent slowly began showing up...which is a sign of poor direction by not keep your actors focused.

It's not necessarily poor direction if the resulting performance is warmer, more engaging, and results in an all-around better character.

I'll take the bubbly Troi from Insurrection over the me-alien-woman drone from Farpoint any day.

That said, the contrast is pretty funny and I appreciate those segments' inclusion in the reviews.

 

[Cakemixo]

Red Letter Media's review on Nemesis and Generations were on the mark. I didn't care for his First Contact review but that's just my opinion.

Pizza rolls sound great. I'm hungry.

 

[Aldo]

For all of it's faults I actually find Nemesis to be a fairly engaging film until the last half. Once they start the space battle the film pretty much loses me. Plinkett is spot on when he mentions watching two ships fly about and throw everything they got at each other is not all that interesting. They were riffing Wrath of Khan anyways they should have taken a lesson from that films space battle and made it more strategic, it was like a slow burn, started out slow, and then when it got going it became really entertaining.

In contrast Nemesis pretty much blew their load right away, the only time I recall my interest picking up (in theaters) was when Picard rammed the E into Shinzon's ship, then it lost me again when Picard goes over there alone and takes on the whole ship with just a phaser rifle.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Yeah the space battles were really bad. It just looked like a big-budget version of a fanboy film from someone who likes big space battles.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I can completely understand being annoyed by the guy's schtick, but it's hard to deny that nearly all of the points he makes in his reviews (Trek and SW prequels) are pretty much dead on the mark.

I agreed with him on Trek and Avatar mostly but thought he was completely off base on the PT. Of course it's all opinion anyway. Anybody's opinion is useless as shit to another person unless it reinforces your own or forces you to think in another light. The Trek and Av reviews reinforced my own opinions-though he liked Avatar a great deal more than I did-while the PT reviews did nothing for me.

Of course all other's MMV.

 

[sonak]

it was his PT reviews (TPM specifically) that "put him on the map."

I think those are still his best, and they show how clever he is at thinking it's just him being dumb and funny, but he actually has great insights into why the PT was such a disappointment.


there are many folks who are funny but it's a dumb humor that doesn't make you think. There are smart, insightful reviewers out there that aren't funny.

RLM combines humor with insight.



(edit because this is a horribly written post but hopefully still gets across what I mean)

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Oh, and he has a new Plinkett app for the iphone

 

[Devon]

Well I greatly enjoyed that. When he said "Post a comment" at the end, I thought he was going to say "Post a comment on my blog" because he sounds almost like Jack Cafferty at times.

 

[sonak]

he says "post a comment on my webzone" a lot.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I bought his app; now I can listen to that "webzone" sample over and over again with the tap of a button.

 

[Cyke101]

There's such a thing as enjoying a film critic's review but still disagreeing with the review. I find that a lot with RLM and occasionally Roger Ebert.

 

[hmbnimbus]

Hey, I love Plinkett's Reviews and all of the ST movies..... does that mean I have the best of both worlds?

 

[Sean Aaron]

HAH!

 

[Itisnotlogical]

blurhg... ja im gonna shlur my wordsh neksht thime i refoo an movee... ja... da sheemsh like a gut idea... blaaaaaaaar...

At one point, he's talking about the many problems with the set-up of the dune buggy scene. He (Shinzon) knew that Picard would go to the planet. But, as the man pointed out, it was a highly dangerous planet that could put the one way to save his life forever out of reach.

Plinkett's problem with this scene is that Shinzon is making it unrealistically hard for Picard, which would interfere with the overall objective of having Picard retrieve and assemble B4.

There's a number of problems with Plinkett's logic:

1. It has been mentioned- many times- that the Captain is not allowed to go on away missions by TNG-era regulations. Shinzon, supposedly having planned for several years, would have at least glanced at Starfleet regulations, and figured that there was little risk of Picard being killed on the planet (since he technically was never supposed to actually be on the planet's surface).

2. If it were on a lush garden planet, friendly to transporters, and much farther in to Federation space, it's highly probable that another ship would have picked the droid up.

3. Plinkett also pointed out that Shinzon didn't assemble B4 himself. What Plinkett doesn't realize is that Shinzon has been completely isolated from other human beings for a period of several years, and wouldn't have access to any sort of information about the assembly of a Soong android (already a complex piece of machinery). Picard and his engineering staff, on the other hand, have had at least an equal amount of time to study Data, and figure out how to disassemble, repair, and re-assemble him, in addition to support from the entire body of engineers in Starfleet Command.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

blurhg... ja im gonna shlur my wordsh neksht thime i refoo an movee... ja... da sheemsh like a gut idea... blaaaaaaaar...

At one point, he's talking about the many problems with the set-up of the dune buggy scene. He (Shinzon) knew that Picard would go to the planet. But, as the man pointed out, it was a highly dangerous planet that could put the one way to save his life forever out of reach.

Plinkett's problem with this scene is that Shinzon is making it unrealistically hard for Picard, which would interfere with the overall objective of having Picard retrieve and assemble B4.

There's a number of problems with Plinkett's logic:

1. It has been mentioned- many times- that the Captain is not allowed to go on away missions by TNG-era regulations. Shinzon, supposedly having planned for several years, would have at least glanced at Starfleet regulations, and figured that there was little risk of Picard being killed on the planet (since he technically was never supposed to actually be on the planet's surface).

2. If it were on a lush garden planet, friendly to transporters, and much farther in to Federation space, it's highly probable that another ship would have picked the droid up.

3. Plinkett also pointed out that Shinzon didn't assemble B4 himself. What Plinkett doesn't realize is that Shinzon has been completely isolated from other human beings for a period of several years, and wouldn't have access to any sort of information about the assembly of a Soong android (already a complex piece of machinery). Picard and his engineering staff, on the other hand, have had at least an equal amount of time to study Data, and figure out how to disassemble, repair, and re-assemble him, in addition to support from the entire body of engineers in Starfleet Command.

 

[Broccoli]

^ Wait...are you coming up with counterpoints to Plinkett by describing other plot holes within the movie?

 

[Itisnotlogical]

^ I fail to see how 1 and 3 are plot holes. 2 might be kind of a stretch, but by my reasoning 1 and 3 make perfect sense.

Shinzon at least reached his teen years before he went into the mines. The Romulans were grooming him to impersonate Picard, which would presumably include knowledge of Starfleet regulations. Thus, Shinzon figures it is "safe" to put the droid parts on the planet with hostile tribal aliens, because it won't endanger Picard, because he knows regulations forbid Picard from joining an away team. He didn't count on Picard's recklessness, and was also maybe banking on the fact that he himself would send disposable soldiers, if he were in Picard's position, rather than going down to the planet personally.

Information on Data, rather than Starfleet Regulations (which is mostly common sense stuff anyway, especially the "Captain-stays-on-the-damn-ship" rule) would be highly restricted. He's an incredible piece of technology, one of a kind, distinct even from Lore and B4 in some ways. There's no way Shinzon or his team would know how to put together such a complex piece of machinery, especially in the damaged state they probably found it in. B4's reassembly probably took much more effort than the short collection of shots that the movie actually showed. Thus, they find B4 as a pile of severed limbs, and not a complete android.

Also, if B4 were complete, there is a slim chance that he might find a way off-planet, far away from where Shinzon guessed that Picard would eventually find him, or possibly get damaged beyond all repair by the natives. Even if Shinzon could have reassembled B4, doing so would not be a wise move. If you were going to leave somebody a note, would you leave it in a way that is sure to remain where you intend it to remain, or in a way that it could easily be lost, overlooked, or maybe even destroyed?

 

[Broccoli]

Okay, I misunderstood your first point when I first read it.

The second point, yeah, regardless of where B4 was dropped, there is no reason why a bunch of ships didn't pick up the signal and check it out. And given that the Enterprise was somewhat of a distance away (iirc) from the planet/Romulan Neutral Zone, it would have been more likely that another ship should have picked up the signal and gotten there first.

The third point I am still not sure what you are trying to get at. While Shinzon and Co. should not have the technical know-how to repair B4 (and, you are right, the likely wouldn't), the movie clearly implies that they did. Or at least enough to control him from a distance. Thus, your explanation on how Shinzon shouldn't have known creates a plot hole since they clearly did.