<i>Star Wars: The Phantom Menace</i> came out years ago and stunk up the place big time. Most of us just agreed that it sucked and that it spent way too much time on the stupid little kid and the even stupider Jar Jar Binks. The movie below builds a 70-minute thesis on the suckiness of <i>SW:TPM</i> with copious examples of how the older movies did everything better and a startlingly insightful analysis of plot devices and movie-making, in general.<fn> You almost have to feel sorry for the older Lucas, because while his younger self mostly earns accolades, his older self is simply torn apart. Here's a taste <bq>This shot [opening shot of Star Wars] is so genius that I have a feeling that Lucas didn't have anything to do with it and probably fought against including it in the movie.</bq> <media src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FxKtZmQgxrI" caption="Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review (Part 1 of 7)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI" author="RedLetterMedia" source="YouTube" align="center" class="frame"> On a related note, this video is a prime example of the creativity discussed in the documentary, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU" source="YouTube" author="Michael Wesch">An anthropological introduction to YouTube</a>. At one hour, it's also quite a bit longer than our atrophied attention spans are accustomed to handling, but it's well worth the time for this fascinating look at the influence, effects and ramifications of video blogging and sharing via YouTube. <hr> <ft>It also has a few sub-plots of its own that may not be palatable to all audiences. You-have-been-warned(tm) and Your-mileage-may-vary(tm), yadda-yadda-yaddo(tm).</ft>