Unpopular Opinions You Hold About Web Series/Reviewers

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[No-Personality]

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.

[talonmalon333]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[talonmalon333]

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.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'd like AVGN more if Mike Matei didn't keep popping up.

[talonmalon333]

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.

[Silverstar]

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.

[No-Personality]

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.

[talonmalon333]

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.

[No-Personality]

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.

[Silverstar]

1. The Isle of Rangoon

2. Linkara

3. Obscurus Lupa

4. Phelous

5. The Blockbuster Buster

[Goldstar]

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).

[LumRanmaYasha]

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!