Rifftrax 039-048

R039 Independence Day

R040 Heroes

R041 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

R042 Raiders of the Lost Ark

R043 Spider-Man

R044 Next

R045 Missile to the Moon

R046 Transformers

R047 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

R048 The "Star Wars" Holiday Special

Wow, I handed out a lot of praise in this section, with only three of the above scoring less than three and a half stars. Part of this certaintly has to do with my own personal tastes, which run more towards big silly CGI extravaganzas and away from Mike's beloved 80's cliche-fests. A large part, I think, is film selection; usually a Rifftrax is funnier when there's more on the screen to make fun of. And then it's also likely that Mr. Nelson and company are simply getting better.

We've got a Star Wars at each end of the quality spectrum here. My favorite of the above is The "Star Wars" Holiday Special; far and away the funniest thing they've ever done. The worst one is Episode III, which I could only watch in small doses. Transformers and Spiderman are both really good, and though several of the others rated higher, I recommend Missile to the Moon to anyone nostalgic for "the old days" since guest Fred Willard riffs a lot like Joel used to.