Open Bar #44 - Rings of Power Ratings Disaster, Mandalorian Flops, Mario Bros Soars 

KK: "What would George Lucas do? I wish we could ask him! But he's *gone*!" George: "STOP TELLIN' EVERYBODY I'M DEAD!" KK: *sobbing* "Sometimes I can STILL HEAR HIS VOICE!"

49:33 Its so great that the next day, almost literally, the prediction became reality.

"Bowser's a simp!" All of us who have played the games. "Yes, that's accurate."

Disparu's comment on the Imperial Agent storyline from SWTOR is something I thought i'd never hear given how many people underrate that game. The Old Republic era is such a treasure trove of stories that i'm still shocked Disny havent plundered it yet. Then again, perhaps i'm glad they are untouched given what Disney are currently doing

I refuse to call her a Skywalker. She is and always will be a Palpatine to me.

It was wild to see Star Wars fans who previously called you toxic for your thoughts agree with you now. I really think the bad writing recently wore people down. Then it was wild to see Lucasfilm be so out of it, to start green lighting more things, like we’re going to cinemas after all this. Just a crazy three days in this fandom.

Mauler is Omniscient at 49:49 ! HOW DID HE PREDICT THE MOST PREDICTABLE THING

Christopher Lloyd is only in the Mandalorian because he is a man still looking for his DeLorean

It should be called The Bo-Katanian. Most competent character in the show. She has seen the Mythosaur. The Darksaber belongs to her. I will always love Katee Sackhoff as an actor though. Edit: I almost forgot she doesn't have to wear a helmet like any other Mandalorian...

People liked Avatar 2, because it didn’t belittle us. It had a simple emotional message: family is most important. And that the father is important. Not stupid, not useless. “Role of the father is to protect”.

7:25 - 8:50 IS ABSOLUTE COMEDY GOLD damn it guys had me giggling at 3 in the morning.

Awesome panel/group composition. Watched the entire thing live and will probably listen to it again soon! Much love, you deserve all the success you have!

49:31 well Mauler, you jinxed it 😂

Undisputed example of the best cameo ever: Glenn Close in Hook. As the bearded pirate that goes in the boo box

1:05:34 - 1:06:10 Love the shade and roast on Grace Randolph!🤣

The overpowered star destroyers are actually sharks with "frickin" laser beams on their head.

"Splinters of the Mind's Eye" was the first book published after the release of "A New Hope" in '77.... you could call it the first part of the Star Wars EU

I heard this story about how Bob Iger convinced George to sell Lucasfilm; basically Iger manipulated George by saying he didn’t have any children that could take care of the company and IP once he was gone. If this is true, that’s low on every level.

“Past tense of ping is pong.” -Bilbo Baggins

Around 100 years ago, Ed Bernays wrote about how our likes, dislikes, interests and pretty much every aspect of our daily lives were manipulated by a relatively small number of men that we have never heard of. That was a century ago, imagine how bad it is now with the technology we have. Getting rid of a couple of producers isn't going to change anything.

1:49:14 Could Rings of Power really pull a Dallas and make the first season all a dream?!? 😂

Avatar 1 being a fireworks show is an amazing way to explain how great it is and how little you care a week later.

I think it's about time someone made a parody of all the woke tropes. Make it crowdfunded or some shit. The main character being a female warrior, who's insufferable to everyone around her and who's never wrong - in her own head, because everyone else sees how bone-headed her plans are. She tries to help the poor and downtrodden of her universe, while at the same time mocking them for not keeping up with the times and actively making their lives worse. And plot twist: she's actually the main villain.

49:36 aged like fine wine

I think the thing with Avatar is that, with Pandora they created a realistic, and beautiful, alien world that you could believe in. And in my opinion probably the best realised alien world that has so far been created. People look at it, and think,"Yes, I'd like to visit such a world, or at least see more of it". The story is very much a secondary thing, especially the stories that we got. You could even make a case that Pandora is a fully developed world that is awaiting a good story.

1:04:14 for the Super Mario Bros. segment

49:34 this aged like fine wine, only took a few days too

shoutout to Echo for talking about the dogs at the start, I really miss seeing them turn around in the background occassionally

Own a sword for manor defence, since that's what the Magna Carta intended. Four heathens break into my cottage. "What in the Lord's name?" As I grab my aventail bascinet and windlass arbalest. Punch a bolt through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Throw a pot of naft at the second man and miss entirely since it's a hand thrown grenade in the dark and burns down the neighbour's harvest causing them to starve in the winter. I have to resort to the pot of boiling oil at the top of the hay loft "Deus Lo Vult!" The boiling oil completely drenches two men and cause them to scream in agony and writhe on the ground, racked with incomprehensible pain. The screams of pain frightens horses in nearby stables. Draw sword and charge the last terrified infidel. He bleeds out with no one to assist him since this is Feudal Europe and nobody gives a shit. Just as the Magna Carta intended.

Avatars cultural impact is on the visuals, not on storytelling. The majasy of visual effects has a shelf life because computers keep getting better and better. So even amazing visual movies from +10yr ago are "dated". Where are movies like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek (TNG)...etc have a cultural impact because the story being told. That is long lasting because a great story can be told in ANY medium and it will still be great!

Daisy Ridley is the "Keira Knightley we have at home", IMO.

Disparu's point about Nostalgic properties being regarded fondly is based on the combination of them being something from one's childhood/formative years that is coupled with an impactfull life lesson/universal values/initiation to deeper concept was brilliant. and it is exactly how I feel about the Final Fantasy VII remake vs its original counterpart and why its just a fluffy facsimili without any of the depth and themes

I think Pirates of the Caribbean proved that any type of movie can succeed regardless of previous failures. You just have to do it great.

Lord of The Rings was always a part of the Big Three. You had Marvel for Superheroes. Star Wars for Sci-Fi. And you had Lord of The Rings for Fantasy. Everyone growing up chose one of these three paths to follow; and to see them all going down the same route now is... Upsetting to say the least.

I wish I could be a guest on one of these streams, but I'm a literal nobody that most viewers would probably dislike anyway. But a man can dream. ;)

Regarding superhero burnout, to me it's more just a lack of variety. Over the past 10 years if you remove all the big extended universes, there's been so few sci-fi/fantasy type movies. I want to see more solo movies, or maybe trilogies, that have nothing to do with the DCEU, MCU, Star Wars, or Star Trek.

18:16 Mando kneeling...? xD *Flashbacks to the last Underworld movie: Where a guy kneels in front of a lady's pelvis and next we hear what can only be described as ASMR rapid mouth sounds*

Mauler predicted the new just announced trilogy 😂

I thought Mario was a terrific movie. It was entertaining. I used to go to the movies to be entertained. That’s what it did. I liked it

Please have Chris Gore and It'sAGundam back as often as possible. Great stuff

The best thing to happen to Daisy Ridley is Galadriel.

36:00 I don’t know if you’ve seen Dexter’s lab, there’s this episode where Dexter’s dad thinks Dee Dee is dead and she’s right behind him saying “I’m right here” 😂

30:00 that is precisely the problem caused by mystery box style writing. They wanted the hyper speculation, because it’s clear they lacked any real plan.

I always thought the best way for "The Batman" to have ended would have been right when he discovers that the flood is going to happen. He hears the bombs and you see fear on Batman's face as the water rushes into the city. The let movie 2 be dealing with the aftermath.

agree with Tyrone. its not super hero fatigue, its fatigue of what they are doing with superhero movies, which unfortunately is harming other superhero movies.

Murnau's Nosferatu is around since 1922, literally 101 years, and they're still releasing new editions of that movie and people still go to theaters to watch it. I bet 100 years from now people will be still watching the Star Wars OT and it will be always remembered as the immense monolith of a cinematic milestone it is, especially the 1st one, though Empire is objectively the better movie of all of Star Wars. The thing is these days Hollywood does not make movies, they make fast food, and that of the bad kind, that people consume because it's there, not because it tastes good.

dancing on the grave of "rings of power" feels amazing!

Does anyone know what the name of the Countdown mix they use for most Open Bar and Last Call premieres? I like the music and was hoping to find a loop or source depending, but I seem to’ve only found the old mixes. Been meaning to ask but missed the last.

49:31 well here we are now 😂

Thank god for Mauler and the Drinker 🍻🍻🍻

I'm glad the Mario movie gave Charles Martinet something significant too.

We're in a world where I'm more fascinated by what they're doing with the Five Nights At Freddy's movie than anything in the new Star Wars films

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder is pure gold

Oh shit, released on a Saturday? I actually get to listen to this on my work drive!

You guys are awesome. I laid down to relax and listen for the first time and I am now subscribing. Comfort food and common sense that respects the source material for my ears, oh yeah.

Mando went from being an interesting western ish SW series to a bigger vesper jumping moment than bloba fett that now looks like a marvel movie with all the clean shiny CG, male MC being treated like an incompetent button of every joke and bad comedy moments.

10:28 I am reminded of when they had DJ Khaleed play at the Blizzcon and absolutely zero fans watched or cared. That is what that Lizzo person is to Star Wars. She belongs in a maybe a holiday special as a sideshow joke but not a prominent anything

yay thanks for posting this :) i always miss the live show. great panel! I love Tyrone Magnus he's based AF but he's really huge here on youtube

Oh my god, can we stop making cinematic universes? I'm sick of not being able to just pick something up, enjoy it, and be done with it. There are so many good concepts that you can't stretch out forever.

Oh I can't wait to see them use the clip of Mauler making that comment about a Daisy led movie.

the irony is that the only thing I got from Star Wars recently that stayed with me was Andor, and that's cos they made the theme so important. I gave more of a shit about the Rebellion on Ferrix then I ever have about "The New Republic", which to be fair, is the biggest victim of recent Star Wars (compared to the EU). it's one thing to lose Leia, Han, Luke, but to see that we lost them so that they could give us a new "New Republic" which doesn't ever feel like a place worth fighting for, let alone giving a shit about (unlike the EU). will we end up saying "Thrawn was right"?

You cant give force awakens any credit. The whole thing was just a compilation, reskin of episodes 4-6. They showed their creative bankruptcy right off the start.

Avatar is a visual show. That's it. No one I talked about can name one character. The (original) matrix was also somewhat of a visual piece, but it did gave characters and a story

1:03:38 Best quote I've heard in quite some time

I don't necessarily want a Nintendo cinematic universe. I just want Nintendo to make movies and shows but what I want from each franchise under their umbrella is different, I don't want them to all be animated(Metroid in live action please.) and I don't want them to all aim for a uniform art style in hopes of setting up a Smash Bros movie later on.

Tyrone is always a great addition to the panel. Should have him on more often 👍🏼

Mario had the best nostalgic sound I've heard in a film.

I subscribed to echo’s channel at 1:03:50 ish and wrote this comment Because of how eloquently put this and his other thoughts and statements together in such a profound way

Calling Rey a Palpatine is equally as disrespectful if you ask me. Palpatine was actually a good and well-developed character. Rey just picked up a lightsaber one day and was going head to head with trained Jedi and Sith. It was just wahmen power from the beginning. Best to just forget about the sequels and exclude them from canon

1:58:51 Yes! 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye' was the fist Star Wars novel separate from the movies, released a year after 'A New Hope'. It's what began the Expanded Universe, a canon which many dearly, dearly miss!

1:33:40 What do you mean? It was so much fun, as a whole life Tolkien fan, watching Gandalf kill the psycho herbits, or Finrod telling 'Galadriel' BS pseudo allegories, and an original orc have more empathy and better character than 'Galadriel'! It was so much fun...

"That doesn't sound like a great review though" bro he literally encapsulated everything the movie was, told you he liked it, and then told you why he liked it. That is literally a review of the movie by definition and a pretty spot on one at that. Mario movie wasn't the buggest deal story-wise but it was very enjoyable and fun. Made me feel like I was playing again with all my buddies back in the day

Man, I felt for Echo Chamberlain when he asked if anyone had read the Star Wars novel: “Splinter Of The Minds Eye” and the guys were ALL clueless…? I was like, HOW can you like OT Star Wars and NOT have read that novel? Effing kids…LOL It was literally the first of the Star Wars expanded universe/Legends novels written by Alan Dean Foster back in 1978 and it was the second Star Wars book I ever bought back in the day from an old Woolworths store circa 1978/79. Aah~ The ‘Member berries are speaking to me. Leave an old man to his memories. Go away now!🤤

At 1:46:00, they talk about powerful women not needing to go battle and my mind got to Cersei and Olenna Tyrell in GoT, as two very powerful women clashing with wits and not swords in a medieval setting, nonetheless. And the mother in the first season of heroes, a overbearing presence done by a middle aged Lady. At times she was scarier than the villain. And Atia, in Rome, powerful woman 101. So they did know how to do it and is so more menacing than a girl with a sword.

Please install a Critical Dogo camera!

Wait, do you guys not know about Ark 2? The trailer for it is literally Vin Diesel riding a dinosaur with his family after getting off a spaceship. Your wish has been granted!

For literally the first time magnus gave some proper opinions and some thoughtful insight. Good on him, I’ve criticised him before but he was interesting to listen to here

For Westerns, my favorites are probably The Searchers and Tombstone (very different flicks, but I like them both!)

Just came here to thank the drinker for recommending Cobra Kai, damn i was fed up of Hollywood. Thanks for recommending this one.

1:00:00 that “secret thing” you keep referring to is compelling narrative. The reason john wick is compelling isn’t just because some guy destroys a mafia in response to killing his dog. It’s about someone who has lost all those he cared about, and who can only find comfort in the last remaining thing he still has. The dog doesn’t judge him for his past and loves him no matter what. It’s what keeps him sane. The intro shows is how beaten down he is, and Once that dog is dead, he has nobody left to love, but plenty of people to hate. Little is more dangerous than a scorned man (or woman) with nothing left to lose, but everything to gain. If it just cut to him shooting the mafia the movie would be far less interesting. As for avatar, it’s more the prospect of a world untouched by man’s destructive behavior, hyper industrialization, and often cynical attitudes toward the world. It’s the potential to start over in a primal world. One with a new story, a new world to explore, a new culture, and new conflicts. I believe The reason so many of us barely remember or talk about the films, but get exited at new ones is because deep down we recognize that this world has immense potential for a fresh story, and are exited to see a good story be told within it, but so far it hasn’t. Yet we hold hope that one day someone will make a story within this world into something more than a visual spectacle.

Wasn’t “ready player one” all about “hey remember This??” . .a Steven Spielberg film

when I saw them both I almost felt that The Next Generation or Stargate feel because all of a sudden there'd be some random celebrity, usually a fan. I think that was before they had Whoopi, so I guess I didn't do a big "whoa". I think it was strange to have three of them in one episode though. I think if they'd had Black and Lizzo in one episode, and then later Lloyd then it wouldn't have been so jarring. tbh it takes a lot to un-immerse me. the irony is, that it was one of the better episodes because shit actually happened. something ain't right.

Disparu at 1:35:21 Exactly, that's why I am here to watch the dumpster fire

Seriously I thought Mandolorian was shite within the first 3 episodes, I could not finish the first season

There was a division in the Star Wars fanbase before The Last Jedi, in 2014 when Disney killed the original continuity. Back then most people were optimistic about Disney taking over so the division was very small compared to now, but it did exist.

I think we need an EFAP episode on the Super Mario Movie 1993

37:02 if Mark Hamill had broke his contract and walked away refusing to shoot TLJ. Disney would’ve sued him for the same amount of money that TFA made at the box office. Disney also would’ve tarnished his name and gotten fans to hate him for refusing to shoot TLJ without us ever seeing it. Hamill would’ve been blacklisted in Hollywood and would never work again. Mark Hamill had absolutely no choice once he signed on to do the films.

If you just swap out trucks for horses, then Hell or High Water is an excellent modern wester. Love that movie

Vin diesel is in the upcoming Ark 2 video game. Riding a dinosaur.

Glad to see Tyrone Magnus on Open Bar! Cheers!

Star wars, Escape from New York, Alien, Warriors, The Exorcist, Deer Hunter, Little Big Man, Halloween, One flew over the cuckoo's nest, Pappilon, just some of the movies I grew up with, I remember them all and they where made in the 70's. Today I've seen tons of movies but there are very few that I can even remember. That says something about the quality of movies being made in resent times.

Great to see your open bar expanding with more peeps discussing. Loved your commentary since found you in covid. Drinker May your channel & book sales grow more : )

None of James Cameron's Smurf movies made any ''cultural impact'', because they're simply not movies. They're tech demos.

Somehow Palpatine will be back again to confront Rey. This time his incarnation will be called Ovaltine and include product placement.

It'll be wild when the Metal Gear Solid film gets made.

If you're a fantasy fan and haven't read Malazan - do it. One of the most epic-epics - and you don't even have to hope the author finishes it...

You guys are awesome. Much respect. 👍

The Halo show should been about Sgt. Johnson through the Orion(Spartan 1) project and his work with ONI during the Insurrection war, then leading to the events in Contact Harvest.

Rings of Power can still be saved by ignoring this season, start it up again with season 1, hire writers instead of activists, hire actors instead of activists, hire producers instead of activists, hire directors instead of activists, stay true to the lore, stay true to the Master & don't insult the Tolkien Army (trust me those lads and lasses ain't the same as the hardcore Marvel herd that will feed on absolutely anything thrown before their snouts) and ! make billions. But they won't do it. They simply refuse to do it. It's beyond frustrating. No rephrase that, it's descending into apathy (and that's even worse). We will always have the books and Jackson's LotR.

When is Mauler gonna come out with another Unbridled video?