Star Wars

The Gungans Were Right To Banish Jar Jar, He Is Just Too Clumsy

Mike Ryan

23 Feb 2026 — 5 min read

Over the weekend I watched Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, a movie I've seen a shockingly high amount of times for something I purportedly don't like very much. Actually, it's a little more complicated than that. When I saw The Phantom Menace at midnight on May 19, 1999, I came out of the theater thinking it was the greatest movie I had ever seen. It was only after seeing it in theaters a few more times did I start questioning my original assessment.* I quickly deduced The Phantom Menace is not the greatest movie of all time. Though, my opinion of the movie has had its up and downs over the years, kind of like a stock that has a successful IPO, bottoms out, then over the years has seen some steady gains.

*I have a checkered history of loving every Star Wars movie the first time I see it. The only time in my life I walked out of a new Star Wars movie with negative feelings towards it was The Rise of Skywalker. And I was at the premiere, an environment created for the best experience possible. At some point this will get its own post.

Here's An Oral History Of 'Scotty Doesn't Know' From 'EuroTrip'

This was a piece that published at Uproxx on August 17, 2018, which has been deleted from the internet. So here it is again. There are two things I remember distinctly about putting this piece together. First, that it took a surprisingly long time, which is a big reason I

Film Festivals and ‘Melania’: Let’s Answer Some Electronic Mail Questions

Jumping off the advice I have received to start weekly features that publish on the same day each week, I’ve decided to make “Let’s answer some electronic mail questions“ a Friday thing. If you would like to ask a question, about almost anything, please email me at mikethehardpass@

Introducing "May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way Thursday": My Worst Interview Experience

I have been listening to suggestions for The Hard Pass and one that has come up the most frequently is doing a recurring feature on the same day that people can look forward to reading. With that in mind, it is today that I present the first installment of "

Movies Aren't Too Long, They Just Don't Know When To End

A version of this post published on September 3, 2021 on Uproxx, but is no longer on the internet. With this one I did, let's say, tidy it up a little bit. In 2021, we were still very much feeling the affects of the pandemic and I edited

Read more

Here's An Oral History Of 'Scotty Doesn't Know' From 'EuroTrip'

Film Festivals and ‘Melania’: Let’s Answer Some Electronic Mail Questions

Introducing "May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way Thursday": My Worst Interview Experience

Movies Aren't Too Long, They Just Don't Know When To End