A TV series lets you ease people into it. Plus, Babylon 5 started with a mystery, and worked in the politics later. It was the UN in space, which then branched out to deal with the various alien governments.

Take any normal movie about politics that works, put them in funny outfits. If it still works, the answer is "yes" I think most of the problem is related to the one Teague had with Dark City (except this time justified): with a SF tale, you first have to understand the background before the politics become interesting. Unless the tale can be broken down to its most basic components (they must do THIS to stop war!), politics often IS local and doesn't translate well. This is true with foreign films, and is going to be even more true in a fictional universe. In both cases most viewers will just follow the character arcs and ignore the actual political details.

I've plugged them a few times, but since they're still off the list I'll once again put out there The Cowboys, the one John Wayne movie everyone MUST see, and A Bridge Too Far. Come on, I need you guys to dive into a William Goldman film that was screwed up by someone, possibly him.

It is self publishing, but I don't have to deal with Amazon or Apple Print on Demand is damned cheap nowadays, and the place I found lets you order a book at a time.

Yes. Women should wear as little as possible.

Another general rule, spelled out in other films, is if your wife/girlfriend wants to pause and have a good frolic with you, DO IT. Otherwise, bad things will happen to one or both of you and you'll never get another chance.

It's an old argument. In the animation world, where something is written in one country, storyboarded in another, and animated in the third, how do you describe its nationality? Is a Japanese movie only released with English dialog with US actors no longer an anime? In general, I go with who does the writing/storyboarding. Applied to live action, this would mean The Fifth Element is a French film

Ah, Megaforce... I actually managed to talk my friend out of going to see that one back in middle school He was so convinced from the ads that it would be great...

Lucas? Land Before Time is Spielberg producing Don Bluth.

I'm not sure if they still do it, as I haven't watched in years, but it was the regular format of The Simpsons. Start with one plot, then have the real one show up later.