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  1. Epictetus

    Muppets From Space

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

    Racial Coding in The Muppets

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

    Racial Coding in The Muppets

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

    Racial Coding in The Muppets

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

    Racial Coding in The Muppets

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

    Muppets From Space

    Thank you!
  7. Epictetus

    Muppets From Space

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

    Me Party vs Party For One

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

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

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

    I can sympathize. I was a senior in high school when the first new Star Wars movie came out. (Shows how old I am!) I was so excited about having Star Wars back on the big screen that I twisted myself into knots trying to love that movie. I even claimed to like Jar Jar Binks. I wanted it - really...
  17. Epictetus

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

    The only reply necessary. See 14:37 for the relevant bit.
  18. Epictetus

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

    I like your exegesis of the song and the respective conflicts of both Gary and Walter. To be fair, the actual lyrics of the song offer very little assistance in reaching your interpretation. The script itself offers only the faintest breadcrumbs in arriving at your much stronger story, too: has...
  19. Epictetus

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

    Your experience makes a lot of sense to me. For me, MFS is a little bit similar: it had lots of things wrong with it, but still provided a core that just worked. I can imagine a person feeling similarly about the new film. In my opinion, what's off about The Muppets is more fundamentally...
  20. Epictetus

    Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

    I actually agree with these criticisms of Muppets From Space. The jokes were just so funny and the Gonzo / Bobo / Pepe characters so great that my experience of the film was overwhelmingly positive. MFS is a hard movie to defend, in a way - every time I read a criticism, I find myself nodding...
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