You all know the ropes by now. And by web series, I basically mean any kind of series on the web, whether they be independently produced videos videos by internet reviewers or more elaborate productions that are available either for free or for a fee.
I mostly just watch internet reviewers, so that's what a majority of my opinions will be about:
-The Nostalgia Critic's funniest reviews also happen to be his shortest ones. Extending them out to 20-30 minutes just for the sake of it forces him to put a lot of filler in his videos which really only drags out the few good jokes he has to be few and far in-between.
-The fact that none of the high-profile game reviewers have done any sort of tribute video to Ninja Gaiden Black is a travesty.
-James Rolfe's movie reviews and Board James videos are more entertaining to watch than his AVGN episodes.
-David A. Rose's series, The DVD Shelf Movie Reviews, is currently the best review show on the internet because he focuses on what makes movies interesting and exciting to watch in the first place by making all of his reviews positive, while also doing a shit-ton of research and going into detail about the history and background of each of the movies that he reviews.
-Lindsay (the Nostalgia Chick) has some of the most insightful videos on TGWTG, but she fails to actually catch my interest in most of what she talks aout.
-Welshy, before he recently retired, mostly talked about movies I could never stand, but somehow managed to go so in-depth with his reviews that I was actually interested in watching his videos anyways just to see what he had to say about them and how he defended them.
-I can't stand most angry reviewers or purely negative reviews in general, yet their videos seem to be the most popular. I'm more interested in hearing what's good about movies rather than seeing someone complain about movies that I know are bad, even if its just for humorous reasons (because the whole style has gotten stale and isn't really funny, anymore).
-I absolutely hate how so many people seem to think of Mr. Plinkett's reviews and opinions on the criteria for a good movie as some sort of unwritten cinema-law. First off, most of what he says is meant to be humorous and a lot of people take it way too seriously. Second of all, while there is definite truth to a lot of his opinions, he's still just a guy with opinions and its not wrong to disagree with him on some aspects of what makes a movie good. Now, as for Mr. Plinkett himself, I have no problem with him, and he's currently the best "negative" reviewer that I've seen, mostly because I can get his sense of humor without feeling like he's taking things too seriously for his own good, and thus he doesn't come off like a hard-ass, but rather as a guy pretending to be hard-ass for laughs (something that most reviewers of this sort seem to forget to do). I just can't stand most fans of the guy.
-I'm not a fan of JesuOtaku's new focus of videos. I personally preferred her old review style. Yes, I know it was hard work for her, but the work she put into it was why it was so interesting in the first place.
I too prefer short internet reviews. I'm glad that Doug Walker has brought the Nostalgia Critic back, and while some of his newer reviews are indeed funny and insightful, the fact that they're all long now kind of works against them for me. I tend to prefer Doug's commentaries and Sibling Rivalries with Rob to the NC reviews. I wish Doug would do some more commercial reviews.
On that note, I'm not a fan of heavy story arcs in reviews. One of my favorite online reviewers is Linkara, but I have to admit that the story arcs and sagas he frequently incorporates into his reviews bore me. I tend to prefer reviewers like Phelous, Obscurus Lupa and JonTron who either don't care about stories or just don't take themselves that seriously. The only story-heavy online commentator that I really like is the Game Overthinker, aka MovieBob, 'cause his stuff is so silly you have to just kind of chuckle at it, and he doesn't drag his stories out for too long.
And I also tend to stay away from overly angry reviewers. Too many people think (or thought at one time) that all you have to do is be angry, rant about something and curse like a sailor on shore leave and they'll be the next AVGN or Nostalgia Critic. Again, I prefer the smart or wacky reviewers who do their own thing rather than just screaming and dropping a bunch of 'F' bombs about stuff they hate.
I don't like Let's Plays. There, I said it. To be fair, the idea behind them isn't bad, and some of them, like 2 Best Friends Play and Retsuprae (guys who make videos riffing on Let's Plays) can be funny, but many of them feel the need to go through the entire game, which just gets boring after a while. I can only watch someone playing through a game or snarking on someone playing a game badly for so long before it gets old. I'd probably enjoy Let's Plays more if they were condensed to say, 10 or 15 minutes each.
I can't watch a JesuOkatu video for my life. I can understand that she knows her shit and all, but her rambling on for multiple minutes just to make her point just bores me to the point that I forgot what she was talking about in the first place.
As far as JO goes, I never found her to be too ramble-heavy with her earlier reviews, but she did start picking up that bad habit in later videos of her, and her more recent stuff is full of it, which just shows how much better it is to make a planned out and well-edited review. I do still love to see her "top (insert number) lists," though, as those tend to have the least amount of rambling from her and remain more focused, being that she only has a limited amount of time to talk about each entry before moving onto the next one.
Quote from: Silverstar on June 08, 2013, 05:59:43 PM
I don't like Let's Plays. There, I said it. To be fair, the idea behind them isn't bad, and some of them, like 2 Best Friends Play and Retsuprae (guys who make videos riffing on Let's Plays) can be funny, but many of them feel the need to go through the entire game, which just gets boring after a while. I can only watch someone playing through a game or snarking on someone playing a game badly for so long before it gets old. I'd probably enjoy Let's Plays more if they were condensed to say, 10 or 15 minutes each.
I'm usually not a fan of LP's, either, as most of them are just sloppily put together by people who aren't good at making interesting commentary on whatever game it is they are playing. There are 2 exceptions to this rule for me, though, and those are ProtonJonSA and Clement, both of whom tend to do pretty entertaining LPs of games that I either like or that I haven't played but still interest me. Every other LP that I've seen pretty much puts me to sleep, though.
What I do actually really like to see, though, is video game walk-throughs with commentary from experts at the game (which by default means tackling the game on its hardest available difficulty and/or settings). Those are both useful to watch if I want guidance on advanced tactics in a game that I like, and they are also interesting when the commentary is both insightful and interesting to listen to. Some people confuse these types of videos as being the same thing as an LP, but they couldn't be more different, and IMO these types of videos are more meaningful, anyways. I like stuff like RC Master's or Mythic Tyrant's Halo runs (with various challenges added to them on top of the fact that they play everything on Legendary difficulty). I also like Seraphim17's various videos for games that I like, though I mostly have only seen his DMC gameplay videos, though.
Many blip reviewers seem to confuse review with recap.
I don't care for the Happy Video Game Nerd (Derrick Alexander)'s game reviews because I find his particular approach to be too straight forward and somewhat boring. I find the HVGN to be informative, but not entertaining. Yet, at the same time, I can't fault him for trying to do something other than just being another angry gamer, of which there have been too many of. Thankfully, the AVGN wanna be is a type of video review that seems to be on the decline.
CR! (Chad Rocco)'s videos are entertaining when it's a topic that interests me. His "Familiar Faces" reviews are pretty fun, although I don't pay much attention to his game related stuff, unless it's a game that I possess at least some scant knowledge of.
The only internet video reviewer I actually like at this point is Mark from Classic Game Room. (And Dave from the older episodes.)
Another unpopular opinion of mine is that I can't stand most of Doug Walker's analytical reviews (the ones that he does as himself, not his editorials as the NC, which are for the most part pretty decent). His Disneycember stuff just pissed me off more than anything else, and in general the guy isn't really very good an analyzing a work as much as it is just trying to find fancy ways to give off his opinions about something while trying to seem like he's an expert or high authority on the matter. It pisses me off because sometimes he seems so sure of himself when he criticize something he doesn't like in a movie or series but can be dead wrong about it at times, and obviously he doesn't care about the accuracy of his information or analysis. I've seen him do this with his look at The Lion King and on all the stuff he says about the Harry Potter series in general.
And believe me, I'm not just saying this because he has said bad stuff about movies that I like. Even when he reviews something that I haven't seen or even better yet have seen but don't care for myself, he still gives off his negative opinions of something in a way that just makes him seem like he's being a film-snob more than a legitimate critic. That's just the way I perceive his serious reviews, anyways.
Quote from: Goldstar on June 08, 2013, 08:26:46 PM
I don't care for the Happy Video Game Nerd (Derrick Alexander)'s game reviews because I find his particular approach to be too straight forward and somewhat boring. I find the HVGN to be informative, but not entertaining. Yet, at the same time, I can't fault him for trying to do something other than just being another angry gamer, of which there have been too many of. Thankfully, the AVGN wanna be is a type of video review that seems to be on the decline.
Honestly, I never knew he was a popular reviewer to begin with.
As for his actual reviews, I think that whether one finds them interesting or not has more to do with whether or not they have interest in the obscure games that he talks about. I love discovering hidden gems, so most of his reviews are right up my alley, especially his horror-themed ones. That said, my problem with Derek is that for a guy who's all positive about the games that he loves, he can be irritatingly biased at times at the games he looks down on. I'm still a bit pissed about him saying that the PS2 Shinobi game sucks without giving any reasoning whatsoever on why he thinks that.
Oh, here's another one that I can't believe I forgot:
I absolutely CAN'T STAND Bennett the Sage's reviews, PARTICULARLY his video game reviews (though his anime reviews suck too, IMO). Let me clarify that I have absolutely nothing against the guy as a person. For one thing, I don't know him, and for another, I make it a point not to actually let something as trivial as conflict of opinions let me judge a person for who they are. That said, I have to point out that his opinions on gaming almost entirely encompass EVERYTHING that I can't stand about the thought-process of modern gamers. Most of the stuff that he looks for in games are stuff that I either don't care for, am not impressed with, or just flat-out DON'T want to see in good games (games that I consider good, anyways). And a lot of the stuff that he detests and criticizes about games that he doesn't like are just his personal distaste more than anything objectively bad, most of the time. I know this because he tends to criticize a lot of things that I actually like about games. He also puts story over gameplay, which is the ultimate difference between what he looks for in gaming and what I care about. I play games because I want to play a game, not because I want an interactive movie (or in many cases, its not even that as much as a sad imitation of a movie).
The ultimate extremes of my difference in opinion on gaming with Sage can be seen in his Halo: Reach and Batman: Arkham City reviews. He stomped all over Reach without really giving it a fair and detailed review and went gaga over AC, which I personally find to be an insanely overrated game (I do mildly enjoy it, but overall I thought it was a disappointment, personally). Overall, I just don't think there is a single review that the guy has done where I agree with anything he says about it. Well, I did agree with him that NG3 is garbage, but he completely missed the points and reasoning as to why the previous games were great and just what were the worst aspects of 3 to begin with. So, yeah, I just flat-out can't agree with the guy's opinions on anything.
E-K, have you tried watching any CGR? Mark reviews tons of games, both new and old, mainstream and obscure, and he's almost always positive unless the game just flat out sucks. I wouldn't have played Fear Effect or Tokyo Beat Down without his reviews, which convinced me to pick them up. Plus, he has, like, the exact same taste in games as I do. He's recently started reviewing all the R&C games, which he appears to love, and Vanquish was his favorite game of 2010.
I despise Internet reviewers in general because of their ability to retcon reality.
What AVGN does, and to a lesser extent Nostalgia Critic, is to take something made long before their audience was born and shape what the "correct" opinions of those things should be. I really don't like that.
I disagree that they shape what the correct opinions of those works are. Only complete idiots who can't think for themselves would take these reviews so seriously as to think that whatever is said in those reviews are fact. Both the NC and AVGN are just trying to make humorous videos. I myself have liked quite a few movies that the NC has reviewed and don't agree with his opinion on them. It doesn't mean that I think I should hate them just because he makes fun of it, because at the end of the day I realize that he's just trying to have fun by mocking a movie he thinks is bad. Both Doug Walker and James Rolfe have stated on numerous occasions that there's nothing wrong with other people having different opinions about what they review.
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on June 08, 2013, 10:11:10 PM
I disagree that they shape what the correct opinions of those works are. Only complete idiots who can't think for themselves would take these reviews so seriously as to think that whatever is said in those reviews are fact. Both the NC and AVGN are just trying to make humorous videos. I myself have liked quite a few movies that the NC has reviewed and don't agree with his opinion on them. It doesn't mean that I think I should hate them just because he makes fun of it, because at the end of the day I realize that he's just tying to have fun by mocking a movie he thinks is bad. Both Doug Walker and James Rolfe have stated on numerous occasions that there's nothing wrong with other people having different opinions about what they review.
This. And on top of that, I do think it's worth noting that Doug and James have stated they actually
like some of the things they review negatively.
Yeah, Bennett the Sage's anime reviews were OK, as it seemed to be mere riffing of old OVAs. But then he got to End of Eva, which I have to wonder whether or not he truly understood it at al, as it was very scathing of that movie. Then later, his Macross review was the other extreme, being overtly fanboyish about it. Now, I no longer watch his stuff.
Quote from: talonmalon333 on June 08, 2013, 10:16:30 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on June 08, 2013, 10:11:10 PM
I disagree that they shape what the correct opinions of those works are. Only complete idiots who can't think for themselves would take these reviews so seriously as to think that whatever is said in those reviews are fact. Both the NC and AVGN are just trying to make humorous videos. I myself have liked quite a few movies that the NC has reviewed and don't agree with his opinion on them. It doesn't mean that I think I should hate them just because he makes fun of it, because at the end of the day I realize that he's just tying to have fun by mocking a movie he thinks is bad. Both Doug Walker and James Rolfe have stated on numerous occasions that there's nothing wrong with other people having different opinions about what they review.
This. And on top of that, I do think it's worth noting that Doug and James have stated they actually like some of the things they review negatively.
Exactly. It's not the Angry Video Game Nerd's or the Nostalgia Critic's reviews or opinions that annoy me. It's the fact that certain people who have no minds of their own hang on their every word and take the opinions of these 2 guys much too seriously. You get people who previously had no opinion or a different opinion about a particular video game or a movie, but then completely changed their tune about it or now suddenly have an opinion about because they saw AVGN or NC riff on it in a video. It's like people who base their opinions on entertainment solely by what the characters on
Family Guy have said about them. It's stupid.
If you don't know anything about the game or movie, then you should it check it out for yourself and formulate your own opinion of it instead of just parroting NC's or AVGN's opinions of it. James Rolfe and Doug Walker are just playing characters and the purpose of their videos is first and foremost to entertain.
Quote from: GaryPotter on June 08, 2013, 09:50:13 PM
I despise Internet reviewers in general because of their ability to retcon reality.
What AVGN does, and to a lesser extent Nostalgia Critic, is to take something made long before their audience was born and shape what the "correct" opinions of those things should be. I really don't like that.
If you mean the fans of angry reviewers being the biggest problem with angry reviewing then I'd agree.
James and the like aren't trying to retcon reality, but the fans take what he says at gospel even when he says its only his opinion blown up to make it entertaining. He even said he likes Castlevania II, but if you ever see anything about Castlevania II these days AVGN fans will dogpile on it calling it a terrible game.
I think the Nostalgia Critic is at his best when he touches on kid's stuff. Doug seems very passionate on quality entertainment for younger audiences, and a lot of his best spiels come from material that's meant for them, rather than when takes on things like The Room or Pearl Harbor. Sadly, that's what he would rather review nowadays, but when he does takes on kid's stuff, like the King and I and Cat and the Hat, this is where he gets some of his better material.
That's not to say that everything he reviews that are meant for older audiences comes out weak, though. I think his Patch Adams review has some of his best stuff, and that's clearly for adults.
-I agree that Doug's best moments usually come from short videos about kid's stuff. He really shines there.
-While I far from hate them, I'm not really found of some of the newer Red vs Blue seasons.
-I hate Moviebob, but I like Yahtzee. Then again, I don't take Yahtzee all that seriously and just watch it for the entertainment value.
Yesterday, someone told me I was wrong for not liking Bastion specifically because Yahtzee liked it. I like Yahtzee too, but Christ. :unimpressed:
Although I don't think I've actively watched Yahtzee since 2010.
I've seen Let's Plays fail before - so I'm pretty sure I know what you're talking about - but, I'm telling you, try PushingUpRoses! - http://blip.tv/pushinguproses/let-s-play-shortys-psycho-4864370 (this is a perfect intro to her crossover Let's Play's with Paw Dugan, those two are dynamite together)
I can't stand Bennett the Sage either. And, I think it very much has to do with him as a person. He has extremely iffy taste and then gets a serious attitude about it. Then, watching him and FilmBrain try to make humor out of his bad attitude (the Batman Returns crossover)... I'm sorry, but who does he think he is?
I like the Nostalgia Critic's Editorials more than his current regular reviews.
Doug's Nostalgia Critic reviews are pretty good when he has a good subject or concept. They tend to run kind of long now since he incorporates the Demo Reel actors Malcolm Ray and Rachel Tietz into all of them (not that they're an unwelcome addition, but having to accommodate additional actors all the time just naturally means having to pad the videos), but when they work they can be pretty darn entertaining. Like Aviator said, Doug really shines when he tackles kids' movies and franchises; this week's Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie review was one of his best yet.
I don't mind the Demo Reel actors, either. I think they are pretty funny. The problem is that Doug feels the need to have these long skits in his videos, and it just causes his reviews to drag. For example, I barely remember any review in his Catwoman video. All I remember is the skit.
His Editorials are some of his only good "serious" videos, to me.
Quote from: talonmalon333 on June 26, 2013, 12:36:07 PM
I don't mind the Demo Reel actors, either. I think they are pretty funny. The problem is that Doug feels the need to have these long skits in his videos, and it just causes his reviews to drag. For example, I barely remember any review in his Catwoman video. All I remember is the skit.
I agree. I already stated this on page 1, but I'm generally leery about reviewers who incorporate stories, especially extended stories, into their reviews, as they tend to bog things down and long stories tend to bore me. The worst offender IMO is Linkara; though I love his insight, delivery and humor, the stories and sagas he likes to incorporate into his reviews just drag on for me and slow down what are otherwise decent segments.
The best internet videos I've seen are the ones which are either all insight and information or all skit from cover to cover. Rare is the contributor who can do both equally well. It's an art, and few are its' masters.
I used to hate the skits on the series I watched regularly. But now, unless they go on for minutes, I find they're not so bad when I rewatch the videos.
I'll tell you something- they must get a lot of positive feedback from the people who watch them because they do go to conventions and people do tell them what they like in their videos. They would get the message pretty quickly that everyone hated their skits.
I actually don't mind the skits in NC's videos since they usually only last for a couple of minutes at most (the one exception being his review of Pearl Harbor). That's not to say that I find all of them to be funny, but more that they just don't bother me too much. I think Linkara's skits can get a bit too overbearing, though. I remember seeing him do a review of a Pokemon comic (I think that was the review), and IIRC, the beginning was a really long skit and it took him a good 10+ minutes before he even started review the comic titled in the video. Now that is something I personally have a problem with. I came into the video expecting a review of what the title said he'd be reviewing. I didn't come to see him continue some story arc that he started several videos ago and that I have no investment in whatsoever.
If you think Linkara's skits are bad, well, I'll just leave this here... (http://blip.tv/thatguyinthecape/the-art-of-gaming-earthbound-the-sketch-6587365)
I mostly don't like the NC's Catwoman skit. It seemed longer than the review.
A LOT of people seem to hate Doug's screaming voice. I actually don't mind it, probably because I've seen all of his reviews so many times that it's imbedded into my mind, but I still think that some of his best bits comes from his screaming.
You know what I do hate though? His little kid voice, which I'm very thankful that he dropped since the NC's return.
Quote from: Avaitor on November 10, 2013, 07:47:21 PM
A LOT of people seem to hate Doug's screaming voice. I actually don't mind it, probably because I've seen all of his reviews so many times that it's imbedded into my mind, but I still think that some of his best bits comes from his screaming.
You know what I do hate though? His little kid voice, which I'm very thankful that he dropped since the NC's return.
I think he tends to scream too much. It just comes off as overacting/overreacting which I feel he tends to do often. Also, what little kid voice are you referring to?
As for an unpopular opinion of mine, I have to say that, for some reason, I'm kind of slowly feeling like I'm getting "over" the TGWTG site. I mean sure, there are only three shows that I watch there, but I'm getting tired of two of them. First is the Nostalgia Critic. Every since he returned from his "retirement" I feel that he's gotten a new-found energy and is actually funnier then he was in the previous few years. But his videos get so unbelievably long nowadays that I honestly have no interest in sitting through them. I'll go onto his site and see he has a new video, only to check it and see it's 40+ minutes long. I just don't have any interest in sitting through a video that long. Not to mention, I'm sure that a good chunk of those videos are just skits which are a bore to sit through for me. And I don't mean any offense to his two Demo Reel actors because I actually think they are pretty funny. It's just Doug's skits get dragged out too much when all I'm interested in is watching a review. The Catwoman review, for example, seemed like 40% skit to the point where I barely even remember a legit review in there.
Then there's Lindsey. I don't know why, but for some reason I'm having more and more trouble stomaching her over time. Maybe it's her friends. Every time they show up, her video officially dies to me. What's especially grating is when she takes her crew and calls it "Team Nostalgia Chick".
Yeah, the "blip critic" trend gets into people's head at times. Like Jesuotaku, whose inflated ego on twitter combined with only releasing one review every season or so just kind of kills my respect for her.
I don't really like NChick's stuff. None of her stuff has been very funny. And worse, she's been coming across to me in some of her videos as very condescending and pretentious. Her Lorax video for example had this unpleasant underlying tone to me as if to say, "If you genuinely liked this, you're an idiot!" and I just can't stand that kind of attitude. And to me, that's the demeanor she gives off.
I like Nella though, she's funny. And her other friend is the hottest girl on the entire site.
Really? I think Nella and what's-her-face are easily the worst part of Lindsay's reviews.
I will say that Todd>everyone else, though.
Quote from: Peanutbutter on November 12, 2013, 01:32:52 AM
I like Nella though, she's funny.
:wth:
Quote from: Peanutbutter on November 12, 2013, 01:32:52 AM
And her other friend is the hottest girl on the entire site.
That's actually true. But other then that, I Still find her annoying. I don't dislike her as much as Nella though. :P
Quote from: Avaitor on November 12, 2013, 01:55:22 PM
Really? I think Nella and what's-her-face are easily the worst part of Lindsay's reviews.
I will say that Todd>everyone else, though.
Yes, really I find them funny.
FTR, the other girl in NChick's videos is Elisa Hansen. She also does her own Vampire Reviews as Maven of the Eventide.
-This past Halloween, Obscurus Lupa did a crossover video with another online show called The Isle of Rangoon. I had never heard of IoR before then, but their riff on the short The Haunted Mouth had me in stitches, so I checked out IoR's Blip page. It turns out they also did a crossover riff with Linkara. I've been watching The Isle of Rangoon semi-regularly since. For the uninformed, The Isle of Rangoon is these 2 puppet characters, Sunny Jim and Starchibald, who riff on short films, movie trailers and educational videos MST3K style. It's the kind of online show I'd like to do someday: nothing long, complicated, pretentious or epic, no extended sagas or serials involving battles with villains, just short, funny riffs and comedy reviews.
Out of curiosity, how is Elisa when she does her own videos? Is she more bearable? :P
Quote from: Avaitor on November 12, 2013, 01:55:22 PM
Really? I think Nella and what's-her-face are easily the worst part of Lindsay's reviews.
I will say that Todd>everyone else, though.
Quote from: Peanutbutter on November 12, 2013, 01:32:52 AM
I don't really like NChick's stuff. None of her stuff has been very funny. And worse, she's been coming across to me in some of her videos as very condescending and pretentious. Her Lorax video for example had this unpleasant underlying tone to me as if to say, "If you genuinely liked this, you're an idiot!" and I just can't stand that kind of attitude. And to me, that's the demeanor she gives off.
Quoted for truth.
Quote from: Peanutbutter on November 12, 2013, 01:32:52 AMAnd worse, she's been coming across to me in some of her videos as very condescending and pretentious.
This, specifically. I really respect how much research and information she puts into each of her videos, but it's all for naught when she expresses her opinions in a manner that so obviously insults anyone who disagrees with them. She's actually part of the reason why I have started to resonate more with positive, yet still insightful reviewers like David Rose (who's videos aren't actually meant to be funny). And as far as "analytical" reviewers go, Mr. Plinkett is both much better and much funnier than Lindsay, IMO, and he makes his tone so obviously ridiculous that I never really feel offended by any of the cynical comments that he makes in his reviews.
Quote from: ShadowGentleman on November 14, 2013, 01:36:44 PMQuoted for truth.
Quoted for opinion.
Quote from: Peanutbutter on November 12, 2013, 01:32:52 AMHer Lorax video for example had this unpleasant underlying tone to me as if to say, "If you genuinely liked this, you're an idiot!" and I just can't stand that kind of attitude.
There is little reason to arrive at this conclusion. Though, like anything else, it depends upon your background with a work and how much you've thought about it versus how much it probably should be thought about.
Examples abound: are you familiar with the original story? Did you see the 70's television special? Did you compare the arguments made in the book or the television special - which are rooted in concerns for the environment, so if the adaptation in question can't respect them the only true right it has to exist is for profit (and if that's how you feel, that profit is a valid reason to fuck over a compelling creative parable about a serious life/death issue we are all facing, please do not bother replying) - with that of the film? Did you compare the film's message with how the studio's sleazy and hypocritical corporate product tie-in campaign invalidated that message? Did you compare the overarching message of the film with how much respect it treated its own characters? Or, its audience for that matter?
Or you really going to sit there are tell me you truly believe Lindsay made the statement that people who like the film are idiots? When it could easily be argued (and was extremely effectively argued by Lindsay herself) that the film was already telling the audience they are idiots.
AHEM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxORg5zbRJw (In addition to trivializing the issues of our planet being destroyed from the effects of global warming, to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands of people we hear of dying in one devastating natural disaster after another, how exactly do you think this clip makes me feel as a member of the LGBT community? You might not notice as frequently as I do, but this "joke" is anything but an isolated incident or a rarity in Hollywood filmmaking and pop culture. The fact that this movie has this many things wrong with it yet is receiving praise as a Good Kids' Movie rather than Good Because It's Offensive pretty much says it all.)
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on November 14, 2013, 05:04:42 PMI really respect how much research and information she puts into each of her videos, but it's all for naught when she expresses her opinions in a manner that so obviously insults anyone who disagrees with them.
So obviously?
Strange: I've watched all her videos. Most of them at least 3 times a piece. Half of them at least 5 times a piece. Some of them at least 7 times, in full. Some still, in individual pieces, almost a dozen times. I've also watched hours worth of interviews with her, listened to her commentaries, read her blogs, and several Twitters, as well as interviews with people who've worked with her who aren't on TGWTG. Over the 3 years I've been watching, I've gotten to know her work and the intention behind it pretty darn well. And, yet, I Completely and Intensely Disagree that she "so" obviously insults anyone who disagrees with her.
What I believe she does do is put a lot of effort into presenting an informed, intelligent, sometimes (the emphasis is on being) socially progressive, thoughtful way to view a movie, show, etc. And by merely showing that she agrees with that position, she's taking the higher road. Is that pretentious? By definition, if you've actually taken the time to find out what the show she runs is about, she is trying to blend analyzation with comedy. So, if you disagree, you're meant to take what seems pretentious or condescending about the view she's presenting with a grain of salt. Especially since opinions On Entertainment Media aren't exactly set in stone. They can change. They are informed by perspectives like we have with serious life issues but unlike those issues with at times life-altering consequences, this is about how we choose to pass our free time. So perhaps this entire campaign to get people to speak out about how they've been wronged by her is, to be delicate, poorly focused. It is, after all, just about opinions on the internet. And especially since you don't see her own peers making such claims. She runs a TGWTG of her own called Chez Apocalypse where her co-producers freely disagree with her, not a single one of them feeling condescended to by her (hence why they don't feel the need to single her out- they simply make divergent points and let those speak for themselves).
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on November 14, 2013, 05:04:42 PMShe's actually part of the reason why I have started to resonate more with positive, yet still insightful reviewers like David Rose (who's videos aren't actually meant to be funny).
Even if I myself wasn't attracted to the frustrated perspective of the
try-to-be-positive until the dark forces pull me back to reality of many of Lindsay's core arguments (which have a fuckton of validity within them depending on how closely you watch marketing trends in the popularization of world media), I could and can always count on the majority of consumers to make the sensibilities of my view on the world far blacker, and vastly more cynical, than Lindsay's could ever be. How exactly do you consider your view and the importance you place on your token superior reviewers realistic And Positive, rather than simply positive?
Well by being overly interrogative and a bit too meticulous (dozen times?), you seem confident in putting your opinion in front of everyone else's. Maybe you could explain on your own terms rather than questioning others.
Though while Lindsay can get a bit testy, she's still not at Spoony or JO levels. At least not yet. For all it's worth, she hasn't had a Twitter meltdown while blindly attacking some of her fans.
And I have to admit that EK's right about wanting more positive critics. The "angry guy who complains about something for ten minutes" schtick has run dry, with people like Mike Matei and Zac Bertschy co-opting the style so it's become an excuse for people to overreact at shows and their fans without giving calm reasons for why. After a while, hearing a guy talk about how something is sucks and is analogous to a type of fecal matter just gets tiring. We don't need more Yahtzees. The last thing we need on the internet is more Yahtzees. There are more mature ways of critical method that don't involve calling Bolin a retard or saying Uncle Grandpa is cancerous or the like. But being the loud guy with a blog is the easy way of getting your opinions out, while calmly trying to explain and validate why you think that way takes effort.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on November 15, 2013, 04:32:16 AMWell by being overly interrogative and a bit too meticulous (dozen times?), you seem confident in putting your opinion in front of everyone else's. Maybe you could explain on your own terms rather than questioning others.
I've already discussed The Nostalgia Chick on this forum at length, both my agreements and my disagreements- so, my opinion I'm so confident to put in front of everyone else's is already a comprehensively, multi-dimensional view on Lindsay's style, points, flaws, and merits. My getting involved in this discussion at all was purely to question others. If I think they're being grossly unfair and leaving a lot unconsidered, why wouldn't I?
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on November 15, 2013, 04:32:16 AMThough while Lindsay can get a bit testy, she's still not at Spoony or JO levels. At least not yet. For all it's worth, she hasn't had a Twitter meltdown while blindly attacking some of her fans.
Yeeaaahh... why would she? Again, this is coming from someone who's not just seen the hours of interviews but actually remembers what she's said. She knows about "passionate" people online, both actual haters and self-professed fans, and deals with them in her own way. She actually does speak out about these things through constructive channels to raise awareness of how she deals with the problem. She addresses this quite often, so she'll never be taking it to Twitter. Part of her attitude is- who has the time? She's actually a shockingly good role model for how to handle being online and still live life as a real person. (None of this reflects the quality of given episodes, which I admit is always subject to waxing or waning.)
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on November 15, 2013, 04:32:16 AMAnd I have to admit that EK's right about wanting more positive critics. The "angry guy who complains about something for ten minutes" schtick has run dry
I'm not challenging that point of view, in fact I fully agree. I'm saying it has no relevance to Lindsay or The Nostalgia Chick given that there isn't even an argument here that she created or popularized the Angry Reviewer shtick anyway. Her influence on internet reviewing has been extremely positive: were you aware that she is the Single Primary Influence for Kyle Kallgren's Brows Held High, one of the most popular series on Blip.tv with both audiences And the website's staff? She's also an influence for Rantasmo's Needs More Gay series - http://blip.tv/needsmoregay - which is entirely positive. Her best friend Elisa's 80% positive series Maven of the Eventide is a literal spin-off from Nostalgia Chick. Her company Chez Apocalypse is also host to the ultra sugary sweet series Stuff You Like (which I don't but, hey: Opinion) and the ultra-popular The Bunny Perspective. Which, while featuring many screaming angry rants, is still one of the most popular and legitimately acclaimed (by more than just fans) series on Blip. So... again, the connection of relevance is pretty faint with Lindsay and the Angry Complainer tainting the waters for all positive and fresh critical commentary.
Just like before, I have no interest in getting into a long-winded debate about this stuff with you, NP. You seem to be under the impression that I don't like Lindsay just because I don't agree with some of her opinions. I clearly stated, however, that I do fully respect the thoughtful insite that she puts into her reviews. Over the years, though, I've grown up a bit and found that, at least for me, there are other factors of presentation that count just as much as being intelligent. Of those, one of the most important is coming off as relatable. Personally, I can respect Lindsay as a reviewer, but have trouble relating to her world-view, regardless of whether I agree with her opinions or not. For instance, in her review of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I actually agreed with most of her criticism of the films as adaptations that weren't quite as great as their source material. That said, I couldn't help but feel off put by some of the way she expressed her opinions, such as how she essentially made it clear that she felt several of the changes made from book to film were to dumb things down for a general audience (and even went so far as to use the idea of an obese couple as a representation of these general audiences). Mind you, her criticisms were spot on, but I highly disagreed with the notion that general audiences would be too stupid to appreciate some of the nuances of the original book had they been properly adapted to film, because I just hate the ideas of generalizing any kind of people, as it is.
That's just a single example, but like I said I'm not getting into a whole debate, hear. I understand and respect your viewpoint on Lindsay's reviews, but what you have to understand is that her style simply doesn't appeal to me. I'm not claiming to be right, here, just simply stating my own viewpoint.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on November 15, 2013, 04:32:16 AM
And I have to admit that EK's right about wanting more positive critics. The "angry guy who complains about something for ten minutes" schtick has run dry, with people like Mike Matei and Zac Bertschy co-opting the style so it's become an excuse for people to overreact at shows and their fans without giving calm reasons for why. After a while, hearing a guy talk about how something is sucks and is analogous to a type of fecal matter just gets tiring. We don't need more Yahtzees. The last thing we need on the internet is more Yahtzees. There are more mature ways of critical method that don't involve calling Bolin a retard or saying Uncle Grandpa is cancerous or the like. But being the loud guy with a blog is the easy way of getting your opinions out, while calmly trying to explain and validate why you think that way takes effort.
This is why I wanted to blog Kill la Kill instead of Outbreak Company or whatever. I've tried to move past my angry internet reviewer phase. I can't stand that shit anymore. (Do note that I am not saying Nostalgia Chick is part of the so-called angry crowd. I've never seen any of her videos.)
Ha: you don't have to "debate" with me. I recognize I have a tendency to steamroll over others to begin with. So, I'm perfectly comfortable doing the talking for both of us. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. You won't respond and everyone will live happily ever after. But I will speak my peace. Or war. Feel free to not read it.
You have to know that I've chosen to intervene in the overall Lindsay-bashing session (and yes I believe that's an accurate thing to call it) because it's irritated me to see people mischaracterize her based on their own silly reactions thinking she's a snob when there is plenty of concrete evidence she has to base - as you pointed out - her "Cletus and Joanne" metaphor on (my mother's name is Joanne, which I always get a chuckle at). Among more than half the other things she's pointed out over time. Damn her one water-poisoning flaw of un-relatability, now no one can defend her lest they want to align themselves with "a snob" (even though Brad Jones honestly and unlovingly bashes things all the time with a real ax to grind and he gets zero of the bullshit she does).
But you do not have to see things the way she does to understand and appreciate many of the conclusions she arrives at. Even if you disagree, you have to admit she's not just done the research- but the research is very much in service to something. Just look at her best reviews and you'll see that- The Christmas Shoes, The Lorax, You've Got Mail, Reality Bites, She's All That, Cruel Intentions, DreamWorks' rivalry with Disney, Der Fuhrer's Face, Red Hot Riding Hood. Have you even seen these reviews? I could point out dozens upon dozens of extremely important and relevant points she has made about the way entertainment relates to the people it's sold to. That Christmas Shoes review alone should probably be shown in college classes.
I'm sorry to push this again but it's relevant: you already kind of shot yourself in the foot. First with your "I want reviews positive" thing (which, no, I won't get off of), now you're actually calling it "growing up." A dig so subtle, I'm going to assume for a tiny shred of civility that you didn't consciously mean it to be. If you've really grown up, you should be able to agree that not every topic warrants a positive attitude. And that many creators of the content she's reviewing could be charged for treating the audience like idiots. People like David Rose may very well be ignoring this entire aspect in their push for positivity. Yet, I think people do care about it. Clearly not the idiots who pay to see Adam Sandler shit. But others very much do. You want to cite your subjective unease with her like it really is her fault for turning you off. Well, I like negative (Phelous), positive (Rantasmo, and Obscurus Lupa is a far more refreshing antidote to Brad Jones' Cinema Snob), and everything in between (2 words: Diamanda Hagan). Because I'm "grown up" enough to know that it comes down to the subject of discussion and who writes it well.
Incidentally, I've never seen Lord of the Rings- so I entirely refuse to swear by her episodes. I watched them each twice and it's a chore to sit through something where you can't appreciate the meaning behind it. Just makes it look trivial. Shockingly enough, I've seen most of the stuff David Rose selects for review. I'd say that has made my expectations too high. Is "this guy" really relatable? Maybe. But in what way? The way he dresses? Talks? Thinks? There is a reason online review videos are connected to the TGWTG monopoly: entertainment value. This may unfortunately date the whole trend, making the ability to laugh at anything they do subjective until there is no discernible point to watching them if you've never heard of The Nostalgia Critic (who as I've said before is no stranger to really tasteless homophobic jokes), but of course we're talking about internet video critics to come sorta post-Doug Walker (even though most of them take their influence from him). So, fuck it: they all exist to get whatever laughs they can derive from their prickly observations, positive or not.
Is the future in positive reviews? I'm hoping instead the future's in GOOD reviews. / Oh, and... don't call me long-winded unless you want to hear me reply with: suck my long wind. That's bait to me and I will always respond thusly. You can count on it.
I've never heard of Mr. Plinkett. Red Letter Media has a big problem with categorizing their episodes unless you've followed them from the beginning. I only heard of them last year and flipping through their pages on Blip... I have absolutely no idea what I'm clicking on, so I barely bother. That and the fact that their structure is Way Too Loose. And they pad with skits like crazy. To the point where they don't seem to be talking about something at all. Is it my fault they couldn't find anything interesting about Troll 2 to discuss? Frankly, I could come up with at least a half hour long episode, easily. Were I a video review script co-writer. Oh, and there's not even the illusion of actual analysis on their "reviews" of all those new releases they were doing around the time of Warm Bodies, Hansel & Gretel, and that new Jack and the Beanstalk adaptation. So, I don't watch much of them. Like talonmalon's complaint on Doug's recent work, I don't have 36-45 minutes to wait for them to stop making jokes about alcohol to figure out what their point on the movie they were nonchalantly chatting up was.
Now... other people wanted to talk about Lindsay's skits and the like. Personally, I like almost all the skits now. I'm used to them. The only one that springs to mind that I have trouble with is Rantasmo in the Disney Needs More Gay crossover. I like him a lot. I've also seen all his videos and etc. But his actual friendship with her has Not Been Good for Him. And since she found out about him, it hasn't been good for her either. I balk at people saying Phelous and Lupa have soured each other's videos because they're both just as hit or miss as they ever were. Together, apart, then, now- it doesn't matter. She hit gold recently with Baywatch but her latest Witchcraft video stunk. His Garfield Halloween video ruled but his Jacob's Ladder vid was blech. But, her direct influence has really killed his funny (though the Coke joke in the Brett Easton Ellis vid was great) and his influence on her (which you can see in both Matilda and Cutthroat Island) feels ingenuine. (I'm glad she dropped the labeling of reference clips from movies the moment she picked it up.)
You're reading way too much into what I said, now. Yes, I do generally find positive reviews more interesting, but where exactly did I say that it's not justified to look at stuff negatively? That's like saying that all form of criticism is invalid and should be ignored, and that's not at all what I meant. I should probably clarify that I've mostly grown out of the angry and/or snobbish reviewer phase. I used to find that kind of personality appealing, but now it just sickens me. There's really nothing more that I can say about that to make it more clear to you. I just find that most reviewers who focus on the stuff that they look at in a negative light don't manage to pull that style off very well, in my eyes (and I already stated my example of a reviewer who I feel does pull it off well).
And did you really need to have devoted almost an entire paragraph to responding to my "growing up" comment? It's just something that I typed up in passing, really, but I didn't intend it to mean anything along the lines of me having matured to some self-perceived higher standard, nor did I intend it to come across as putting myself above anyone who writes or prefers negative reviews or analysis on any form of entertainment. I simply meant it as me growing out of what I previously used to find enjoyment in.
I get the feeling I can't say anything you disagree with without you feeling the need to turn it against me. "Shot myself in the foot" you say? I'm sorry to say, but clearly you are the only one taking this subject seriously enough to apply that term to this scenario. As I said earlier, I respect your opinions and outlook well enough, which is why I took the time to consider what you said and respond to you, but if your objective is to change my mind and convince me that my thought process on this matter is wrong, then it's only fair for me to tell you that you're wasting your time in that endeavor.
The devil character in the Critic's Care Bears Movie 2 review was a good idea, but I feel like it was wasted by giving the role to Sage. Man that guy sucks.
Now that someone else is trash-talking him, I feel bad...
But, yes. Yes. One thousand times over, yes.
I don't know what he's supposed to be an expert on but he doesn't have the best taste in music and he doesn't know crap about movies. His on-camera personality sucks, the only videos of his I've ever seen are vlogs (so I doubt he's anymore likable off-camera), and his acting is awkward at best. I just rewatched Jesu Otaku and Film Brain's crossover last week and he reprised his devil character for them.
So, I know I'm probably the only person here who still likes AVGN, but today I learned how truly bad Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing is, in his newest video. It easily has to be one of the top 5 worst video games in existence. James doesn't even make fun of the game that much (for those of you that aren't a fan of his style). It's just one of those games that speaks for itself. He spends most of the video reacting to it in shock. Just seeing this game in action is absolutely hilarious.
Well, I'm not a fan of AVGN, but I do like almost everything else that James Rolfe does. It's just more interesting to see him give his honest opinions on things and talk about a lot of classic movies and cinema and video game history in a more sincere way than seeing him try to be funny by cursing and making poop jokes. That said, some of his most recent Nerd videos have been way better than any of the old ones he's done, IMO, since he himself has consciously been moving away from that old style of humor.
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 19, 2014, 10:56:00 PM
Well, I'm not a fan of AVGN, but I do like almost everything else that James Rolfe does. It's just more interesting to see him give his honest opinions on things and talk about a lot of classic movies and cinema and video game history in a more sincere way than seeing him try to be funny by cursing and making poop jokes. That said, some of his most recent Nerd videos have been way better than any of the old ones he's done, IMO, since he himself has consciously been moving away from that old style of humor.
I think that, as a whole, James Rolfe is my favorite internet reviewer/star/series. I still like AVGN, but even beyond that, as we both know, he has so much to offer, such as Monster Madness. But if you think some of his more recent AVGN videos have been better than previous years, I would say his Big Rigs one is worth checking out. I honestly didn't know much about that game before seeing his video.
I'd like AVGN more if Mike Matei didn't keep popping up.
Mike Matei is annoying. I hate going to Jame's website, seeing a new video has been released, and then realizing it's a Mike video. Kyle Justin is much better in AVGN videos.
I haven't seen that many of James' videos besides AVGN. I've caught a few "You Know What's Bullshit?"s, 1 or 2 "Board James" videos (though I kind of trailed off them since I'm not into board games) and his and Mike's riff on the Super Mario Super Show DVD menu that featured Inspector Gadget.
Speaking of riffs, I recently re-watched the Isle of Rangoon riff on the short film What's It To You? with Linkara, and it's still hilarious. I wish those IoR guys would put out more stuff; they're really funny, but they seem to keep the bulk of their videos on their Tumblr account and on their web page as opposed to YouTube or Blip, plus they don't seem to produce new stuff that often.
Similarly, the Game Overthinker (Bob Chipman/MovieBob) didn't do a GO video for February, but he made 2 for March: the second Ask Ivan and the latest GO saga video. I guess he was just busy with his other projects; the guy seems to stretch himself kind of thin.
I think I'm finally ready to say I was a little bit wrong about The Cinema Snob. I still think he can really kill a review with his character. And I also have to butt heads on him when it comes to his view on the 90's. Because, apparently, he's almost 3 years older and he just had such a typical wide-eyed love for the 80's to the point where he kind of identifies it by the cult interests rather than, oh I dunno, how socially, culturally, and politically screwed up it was. The 90's can kinda blame the 80's for so much that was wrong with it. It didn't invent regressive television shows like Full House and Saved by the Bell- the 80's gave us those. The hit songs that made the charts, that trend for pushing for the blandest, least offensive thing rather than reflecting the tastes of the youth (like it freaking should, and sometimes did- Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" for example was such a big hit that it infiltrated mainstream radio), was a product of the late 80's where what I like to call Adult Sap flourished- Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Richard Marx, Bon Jovi, etc. The kind of stuff that made Todd's Worst of 1987 video. Unlike the 80's, the 90's kind of belonged to the teens. And they just weren't listening to the same radio, watching the same TV stations, paying to see the same movies as their parents were.
(Not that one's better than the other, really. I mean, objectively: the 90's did have a lot more flab on the charts. I admit. But too many people don't give it the credit it deserves.)
But, anyway, I think my real issue with him was just his horror reviews. He reviews garbage and good films the same way. Although, I could tell from his Maniac review that he was pretending to be a completely different kind of critic. It was a terrible video- he was just mocking every criticism against the film without actually confronting them. He's still smart and talented and a great actor. But I think his best reviews are usually not of horror films. Which seems to be changing, too, since Halloween was kind of one of his best videos as well.
I'm in the process of re-evaluating him. Is what I'm saying.
So, do we have a thread for just general web series/reviewers discussions?
For now, I'm just going to post this here (if I'm wrong, or if anything thinks I/someone should make a thread for general web series/reviewers talk, tell me). My top 5 favorite internet series/reviewers/whatever, and they include any type of series (movies, video games, reviewers, internet shows, serious videos, comedic videos, etc.). These are just the five that I feel I like the most and feel the biggest attachment to. Also, each entry will encompass a lot, just about whatever they post as videos on the internet.
1. James Rolfe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rolfe_(filmmaker)
2. Mega64: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega64
3. RedLetterMedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RedLetterMedia
4. Extra Credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Credits
5. Happy Video Game Nerd
The Happy Video Game Nerd stays here even though he's slowly down a lot in activity.
1. Nostalgia Chick - big shocker
2. Pushing Up Roses
3. Phelous
4. Diamanda Hagan
5. Obscurus Lupa
I cannot find a good index for the Plinkett reviews, by the way. Clicking through RLM's pages on Blip, it looks like a graveyard. Stuff I've already been through.
1. The Isle of Rangoon
2. Linkara
3. Obscurus Lupa
4. Phelous
5. The Blockbuster Buster
1. Linkara
2. Phelous
3. Obscurus Lupa
4. The Blockbuster Buster
5. The Isle of Rangoon
Honorable Mentions: CR!, Mike J, Film Brain, early Nostalgia Critic (I like Doug's current stuff also, but I liked his NC reviews more when Doug didn't feel the need to have a story going along with his reviews).
I don't really watch many internet reviewers, but I guess a top 5 for me would look like:
1. Nostalgia Critic
2. RedLetterMedia
3. ToddintheShadows
4. Linkara
5. CR!
1- ToddintheShadows
2- Nostalgia Critic
3- Nostalgia Chick
4- Oancitizen
5- Linkara
1. The DVD Movie Shelf (David Rose)
2. James Rolfe (non-AVGN stuff)
3. Red Letter Media
4. Nostalgia Critic
5. Happy Video Game Nerd (may be surpassed by Clan of the Gray Wolf)
1. SFDebris
2. Oancitizen
3. Jontron
4. Red Letter Media
5. Cinema Snob
Honorable Mentions for LP's: Chuggaaconroy, Two Best Friends Play, Lucahjin, Diabetus, Game Grumps.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on April 21, 2014, 02:27:02 PM1. SFDebris
Crap, I knew I was forgetting someone. Granted that, I, 've mostly only seen his animation reviews, but regardless, I'd replace the NC's spot on my list with him.
I like Jontron, Todd in the Shadows, Red Letter Media, Oancitizen, and SFDebris. I can't really put them in any type of order, since I don't watch web reviewers a whole lot any more.
Let's see if I can, I would go for this, My list is not much reviewers as much as entertainers, but I like them anyway
1. Jimquisition/Jim Sterling
2. TotalBiscuit/John Bain
3. Chuggaaconroy
4. JonTron
5. Extra Credits
The Isle of Rangoon is more of a riff show that occasionally does reviews; it's kind of like MST3K, but with mostly shorts and starring the puppets. (One of the show's creators, Trent Troop, makes occasional appearances as Trent the Human, but for the most part it's just the puppet characters.)
As much as I like Linakra and E-Rod (Blockbuster Buster), I admit I'm not crazy about the reviewers who try to incorporate story lines into their videos with them battling supervillains and whatnot. I'm tempted to just skip past their stories, but once I see the beginnings, I at least want to see how they wrap them up. Phelous, Lupa, CR!, Mike J and Film Brain are among my favorite TGWTG contributors because they don't try to turn their reviews into sagas.
1. Classic Game Room (Mark Bussler)
2. Oancitizen
That's it, really.
Even though I ranked James Rolfe at #1, he's not my favorite comedic show. That goes to Mega64, which is easily the funniest I can think of. However, James Rolfe has so much under his belt, that he just barely takes the belt. It could really be a tie, though.
If we're talking about favorite comedic show on the Internet in general, and not just Internet reviewers, my list would be completely different:
1. TFS's DBZ Abridged
2. Honest Trailers
3. How It Should've Ended
4. Cinema Sins
5. Dark Swamp
Yay, another Dark Swamp fan! :swoon:
Anyways, for me it's:
1. LK's Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged
2. TFS's DBZ Abridged
3. Did You Know Gaming/Did You Know Anime
4. 1Kids' Pokemon Abridged
5. Honest Trailers
Quote from: Cartoon X on April 21, 2014, 08:17:00 PM1. LK's Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged
Yet another thing that I forgot about. Consider it tied with DBZ Abridged on my list.
I like how everyone here has pretty varied taste when it comes to web series.
And I'm pretty sure there are no YouTube vloggers of the Jenna Marbles variety mentioned, either. :>
Don't know if anyone here's heard about this or not but... Blip / Maker Studios is conducting an absolute massacre of shows/series. As of now, untold dozens of channels are being stripped of banners, their video pages downgraded, and are receiving E-Mails that their shows will be canceled as of July 7th (which means that's the date no new uploads will be allowed), then All Episodes Deleted as of September 1st.
Obviously, there is a lot of fat on Blip TV. But, a few TGwtG contributers are going to be chopped down. Including: Leon Thomas / Renegade Cut, Welshy, Sad Panda, Dena Natali, Lotus Prince, Andrew Dickman (who has appeared in more than a few Obscurus Lupa and Phelous videos and was at one point a regular title card artist for either Lindsay/Nostalgia Chick or Lupa), and... at one point, Jesu Otaku, as well as Diamanda Hagan's wife Omega who has her own channel where she reviews children's TV and animation. Shockingly, both Omega and JO's channels have been resurrected, pulled from extinction as of just the last couple days. Somehow, Blip actually reversed their decision. But this massacre has been going on for the last week, and they were This Close to being axed.
Overall, while this really sucks for all the people who want their series to keep going, this affects almost none of the series I still watch (Pop Arena, Boots to Reboots, Some Jerk with a Camera, Infamous Sphere, The Bunny Perspective, or any of Nostalgia Chick's Chez Apocalypse roster). Although it affects one of who I consider to be the better gay reviewers on Blip: Arthur Knowledge, whose Quest for Geekdom series wasn't great but it definitely had potential. He's a damn sight better than AbsentCommentator, that's for sure. But you could literally knock me over with a feather that The Cine-Masochist is getting the ax. He's a really great guy with some decent horror reviews and, to my knowledge, posts as regularly as The DVD Shelf does.
Yeah, I've heard about this, and it sucks.
Didn't Oancitizen have a scare as well?
I haven't heard anything about him- I can't imagine after that phenomenal Shakespeare month that he's hurting from low view counts. Those videos are some of the best TGwtG / Chez Apocalypse could ever hope to accomplish. If I thought for a second that viewers weren't digging it, I'd throw up. And I don't even know anything about Shakespeare- that's how entertaining, informative, engaging, and just the epitome of what review videos should be those videos were. I don't know how he managed all those videos in 1 month.
I wish he did specialty months more often.
I've recently started watching How It Should Have Ended, which I like but I think the Honest Trailers series sucks.
I feel the exact opposite. I love Honest Trailers but find HISHE to come off as bad fan parodies, myself. Hell, half the time it's not even about the ending of the movie, but just making fun of random scenes.
Anyways, Cinema Sins is better than either of them, IMO.
How some feel about Tumblr... I feel about Cinema Sins.
The only decent idea they have is pairing the movie images with audio from different sources. Their execution, as much as their idea, is purely arrogant and doesn't come from a funny place.
Over the past week I've been watching episodes of The Completionist, and I think the big problem I'm having with these is Greg. He's not funny. At all. And his jokes draaaaaag. The worst is when he starts singing. Jirard's side of the thing is fine though. I actually find that stuff interesting.
Quote from: Nel_Annette on October 29, 2014, 01:15:11 PMOver the past week I've been watching episodes of The Completionist, and I think the big problem I'm having with these is Greg. He's not funny. At all. And his jokes draaaaaag. The worst is when he starts singing. Jirard's side of the thing is fine though. I actually find that stuff interesting.
Wow, what a coincidence. I've been watching his videos over the past month, myself, and I love Jirard's input on the games, which is why I keep watching them, but I totally agree about Greg. He's so fucking annoying. No offense to the guy himself, who seems like a chill enough dude in real life, but the character is just fucking irritating and unfunny, and drags down an otherwise great review show. I'm surprised that not enough people complained about it, because clearly they seem to think that it's good enough to keep it on the channel. The Ninja Gaiden review from last week itself was just painful to watch because of that stupid Ryu joke that Greg just ran into the ground. Seriously, who thinks that shit is funny?
Despite all of the negative things that I've said, I still must make it clear that I like this show thanks to Jirard. He, himself is a great reviewer, and he has genuinely interesting things to say about the games that he reviews. If it was just him, this show would be a favorite of mine among Internet review shows. Sadly, Greg prevents it from being as great as it could be, IMO.
Well, the reason I started watching them is because they were in Jesse Cox's P.T. playthrough a month or two back, and now they're all playing games together as the "Scary Game Squad" with the current playthrough being Fatal Frame. Greg's actually tolerable when he's just being himself. Like you said, he's very chill. Those videos prove that. But in The Completionist, yeah, I'm banging my head on the screen muttering "shut up" over and over again.
Speaking of which, I've just been watching their P.T. playthrough, and even with their hilarious commentary and reactions to the game, it still fails to take me out of the immersion of having this game creep me right the fuck out. I don't think that I've ever experienced the same amount of sheer terror from any other video game ever, especially not from just watching some other people play it.
And the thing is, it's not like in other games where you're hiding or running away from something. Those can be plenty scary as well since you can't flat-out just fight your opposition, but in this game not only can you not fight, you flat out can't even really understand what your opposition is. I mean, yeah, the easy answer would be that it's the haunting memories of the people that your character probably murdered, but what I mean is that the way you are being haunted is so cryptic. You just flat-out don't know when you are on the verge of being killed or not. Every time you have to turn a corner or even so much as turn around, I feel like I'm about to piss my pants in anticipation of what happens next, and I'm not afraid to admit it.
Somehow I doubt that the actual game that this is a teaser for will be able to sustain this level of immersion and horror throughout the entire experience. There,so just something about the mysterious and the unknown that makes this demo so goddamn effective.
Well, Ensatsu, just a few months after we talked about it... Greg's off the show. Personally, I think this'll be an improvement, but clearly a lot of people are upset, so I feel for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrhmaL7RlzU
For what it's worth, I found that he got more tolerable in later episodes, but....yeah, I can't say that I'll particularly miss his presence. To be brutally honest, I think that this may actually be better for the quality of the show.
From what I gathered, it wasn't anything due to health or family or anything. Apparently Jirard posted on Twitter that they were "still friends to an extent" and Greg flat out responded by saying "No, we are not friends." So some shit went down behind the scenes. My original theory, based on Jirard's repeating "you all have to remember, we're people too" was that Greg had finally had enough of commenters shitting on him, but I guess that's not the case. People can only speculate for now. Still, though, as much as the whole situation sucks, I feel the show can finally reach its potential without Greg's sense of humor constantly bringing the show to a grinding halt every thirty seconds.
Yeah, while I'm sure that Greg had his fans, I believe that most people would agree that he was just dragging the show down. While it sucks that he had to leave on such bad terms, this is one of those cases where I feel like it needed to happen eventually if the show was going to keep moving forward and trying to improve.
Well, the first Greg-less episode of The Completionist has been released. Interestingly enough, I believe that it was written before Greg's abrupt departure, so you get Jirard saying a lot of lines and jokes that seemed like they were meant for Greg. Admittedly, it felt a bit awkward listening to Jirard's voice in places where you'd normally expect Greg to chime in, but overall it honestly still feels so much less annoying without him around, IMO. I do still feel that this is better for the long run.
You beat me to posting about it by about 5 minutes. XD Yeah, the humor feels a tad forced, so I hope Jirard will find his footing soon enough (and hopefully not bring in a replacement right away, if at all). But the comments section. My god. I can't believe how many people legitimately found Greg hilarious.
Well, Jirard did say in his farewell video to Greg that he had no intentions of replacing him. Aside from the occasional guest-reviewer appearance, this will just be Jirard's solo act, as it probably should've been to begin with.
So what's the deal behind the Jenny Nicholson thing? I don't want to be one of those people who's like "she's popular because she's cute", but from the handful of videos I've seen of hers, she's not that funny or insightful, but I keep seeing her be shared, including by other reviewers.
She's all right. That Escape from Tomorrow review was pretty well-done, but haven't much else of her work. I guess it's because she provides an alternative from the bitter youtube critic who complains about mainstream cinema dying.