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Yea, I've never been a fan of "But it's a PARODY/SATIRE!" to defend bad film making. Last Action Hero could have been a really funny movie given the timing of its release, but it's too caught up in a thoroughly lousy plot that isn't funny or clever at all. There's some great jabs here and there, it just doesn't come together as a solid experience. I never got into Starship Troopers for the same reason. Yea, I get that it's a satire, it's not subtle about that in the slightest, it's just not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. I feel bad saying that because looking into its production, it's obvious the people that made it were on the cusp of a great idea and I got the references to Nazi propaganda, just at the end of the day, the movie didn't have much to say and the plot was incoherent. Back to LAH, That doesn't mean Doug didn't completely miss the point in most of his criticisms, but much like why I don't get people crawling in here to defend the cinematic abortion that is The Lorax, just because he ripped on a movie for a stupid reason doesn't make it magically a not poo poo film. Hell, you know what? Just go and compare Lindsey's video on the Lorax to Doug's and they're night and day on the level of critical analysis. And that was with less skits and more of a "vlog" format.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:12
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I don't think anyone's been saying LAH was a good film, though. Just that Doug missed the point.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:31
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There's nothing offensively terrible about LAH. It's a fairly okay parody of hollywood action movies. It's well-directed, well-cast, has decent humour and a plot that succeeds in what it sets out to do. It's good the way Predator is good - simple action movie tropes and concepts taken and confronted by their own inconsistencies and antitheses. Unsurprisingly, they share the same director and star. It's also written in part by Zak Penn, who would go on to write Incident At Loch Ness, a top-notch mockumentary and one of the best films ever. You can see many, if not all, of the ideas for that film in a primordial form in LAH.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:42
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WickedHate posted:I don't think anyone's been saying LAH was a good film, though. Just that Doug missed the point. This is how I feel as well. Last Action Hero is incredibly ripe for mockery, even though it's an overblown parody action movie it's still an overblown action movie. The thing is that the review gets in the way of itself and its jokes, it's confusing how badly Doug missed things.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:42
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There was one instance in the Signs review that really bugged me. Okay, that's a lie, there was probably more than one instance, but this one in particular annoyed me. There's a scene where Mel Gibson is talking to the cop lady and he's distraught about something, and Doug was confused that she knew he was distraught without asking him if he's distraught. Something like that. You know, because reading someone's emotional state is impossible apparently.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:49
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Leal posted:Isn't Linkara's storylines full of copyrighted characters? How would he even release that without being slapped with a copyright suit? Though I guess if Suburban Knights hasn't had any problems... There are a few, but most of Linkara's characters are his own, like Harvey Finevoice and 90s Kid. So are his villains. He'd have to give up the green ranger suit, Snowflame, anything Star Trek and Pyramid Head. As far as the anniversary movies are concerned, if push came to shove, it's satire and parody. Off course, if push really came to shove, I don't think Channel Awesome has the capital for a long legal battle .
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Mar 12, 2015 17:57
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Arcsquad12 posted:I have a feeling he just doesn't get satire or parody, which both of these particular films thrive on. This would explain a lot about the movies...
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Mar 12, 2015 18:19
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Rebochan posted:Back to LAH, That doesn't mean Doug didn't completely miss the point in most of his criticisms, but much like why I don't get people crawling in here to defend the cinematic abortion that is The Lorax, just because he ripped on a movie for a stupid reason doesn't make it magically a not poo poo film. Hell, you know what? Just go and compare Lindsey's video on the Lorax to Doug's and they're night and day on the level of critical analysis. And that was with less skits and more of a "vlog" format. I didn't defend the Lorax movie as much as his review was ripe with unfortunate implications if one remembers what the heck he did for months before said review.
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Mar 12, 2015 18:27
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Miss Wallace posted:There was one instance in the Signs review that really bugged me. Okay, that's a lie, there was probably more than one instance, but this one in particular annoyed me. There's a scene where Mel Gibson is talking to the cop lady and he's distraught about something, and Doug was confused that she knew he was distraught without asking him if he's distraught. Something like that. You know, because reading someone's emotional state is impossible apparently. I don't know a nice way to ask this, but how does Doug feel about trains?
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Mar 12, 2015 19:00
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Trains?
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Mar 12, 2015 19:10
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e X posted:Linkara's terrible storyline are surprisingly popular and he is really into it. I mean, he has a series of self-published novels, a webcomic and a self-published limited comic series. I guess he is just one of those people who really want to tell a story but don't have the technical skill to realize it on a greater scale. But the success of AT4W gave him an audience and the money to do so. And while I don't think the plot will be anything to write home about, I guess you can assume the technical aspect will be handled well, since he had the foresight to actually use the money he raised to hire some professional people to do the heavy lifting for him.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:11
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Miss Wallace posted:Trains? They're asking if he's autistic.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:14
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Ah. I don't get the reference. As far as I know, no. He's off in his own world, but not in a medical sense.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:16
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Puppy Time posted:This would explain a lot about the movies... Again, Small Soldiers is a Joe Dante film. I'd be more surprised if it didn't have satire. But the bery fact that the GI Joe and Barbie knockoffs in the movie are the bad guys should have made it obvious. Doug says that the commando elite made the gwendy dolls alive to be their sex slaves, when the first thing out of their mouth is declaring themselves cannon fodder gwendies. Joe Dante does NOT like the american toy industry's promotion of military toys and barbie doll ideals.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:18
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I think they meant the anniversary movies.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:22
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Arcsquad12 posted:Doug says that the commando elite made the gwendy dolls alive to be their sex slaves, Yeah... As much as he pretends to be a child in his reviews - his mind goes to these sort of places sometimes... I still get squicked out over his joke about the little girl dollie in the 6th Day review... Sephiroth_IRA posted:It seems kinda obvious he never really intends to do anything more than a really shallow review. Any more depth than that probably would interfere with the whole angry review gimmick. His Signs review pretty much blows this out of the water, though. KayTee fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Mar 12, 2015 19:30
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KayTee posted:His Signs review pretty much blows this out of the water, though. Yeah I haven't watched his reviews in awhile. I think the last one I saw was the AI review and it was interesting to learn that Kubrick was behind the bad ending and not Spielberg. I'll give the Signs review a watch.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:57
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If I remember one of the Critic tributes correctly, the only part he likes of the Signs review is the alien conversation and isn't too keen on the rest. So at least that's something.
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Mar 12, 2015 20:00
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Miss Wallace posted:Ah. I don't get the reference. I imagine it's referring to Thomas the Tank Engine.
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Mar 12, 2015 20:36
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Omnicrom posted:This is how I feel as well. Last Action Hero is incredibly ripe for mockery, even though it's an overblown parody action movie it's still an overblown action movie. The thing is that the review gets in the way of itself and its jokes, it's confusing how badly Doug missed things. Wheat Loaf posted:I imagine it's referring to Thomas the Tank Engine. Not exactly. It's referring to one of many things where there's people with serious minutiae obsessions for things that people assume comes from some sort of autism spectrum disorder. People filming and making extended journal entries about what trains pass by is just a common one, as are ones on toilets, elevators etc.
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Mar 12, 2015 20:55
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stillvisions posted:Not exactly. It's referring to one of many things where there's people with serious minutiae obsessions for things that people assume comes from some sort of autism spectrum disorder. People filming and making extended journal entries about what trains pass by is just a common one, as are ones on toilets, elevators etc. Well that and loving model trains, and train schedules, and documentaries on how trains work. Trains are something complicated made out of many many simple thinsg that work in a very predictable pattern. It should be obvious why autistic children tend to latch onto them and why the two things are associated.
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Mar 12, 2015 21:00
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stillvisions posted:Not exactly. It's referring to one of many things where there's people with serious minutiae obsessions for things that people assume comes from some sort of autism spectrum disorder. People filming and making extended journal entries about what trains pass by is just a common one, as are ones on toilets, elevators etc. Right, okay. I assumed it was Thomas because I'd read that it's massively, massively popular with autistic children (because the faces change expression, but never actually move). I know it was definitely one of my narrow, intense interests as a child (before being replaced by the solar system).
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Mar 12, 2015 21:36
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Arcsquad12 posted:Again, Small Soldiers is a Joe Dante film. I'd be more surprised if it didn't have satire. But the bery fact that the GI Joe and Barbie knockoffs in the movie are the bad guys should have made it obvious. Doug says that the commando elite made the gwendy dolls alive to be their sex slaves, when the first thing out of their mouth is declaring themselves cannon fodder gwendies. Miss Wallace posted:I think they meant the anniversary movies. Yeah, what Lupa said; if Doug seriously doesn't have a grasp of satire, it explains the terribleness of the movies. At least, the terribleness that doesn't come from the amateur production stuff, but I'm always willing to let some of that slide.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:30
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stillvisions posted:Was coming in to say the same - LAH fell into the trap of pointing out how silly an action movie cliche is, and then resorted to doing it over and over again. You can do this, but it's tough to do it well and generally needs something to subvert expectations and prove to the audience that the movie was doing it intentionally. Making a joke about how action movies are cookie-cutter and then following cookie-cutter action movie rules makes the joke fall flat, and I think that was part of why LAH missed the mark, though I did find it entertaining to watch as a kid. Hot Fuzz immediately springs to mind as a parody of action films that managed to pull this off. Because it takes the first three quarters of the film tearing down action movie cliches, only to rebuild them in the most gloriously silly way possible for the final shootout.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:39
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achillesforever6 posted:Yeah, you got to at least respect Linkara in the fact that he'll at least put effort in his lovely storylines and not half rear end it. Plus he's a nice guy from all accounts (though I've heard he's too nice/friendly to the point of being annoying) so if he wants to make his fans happy then by all means make your lovely little movie. Me I just wait until October when he does his horror comic videos which are fun and informative imo. That work ethic is why Linkara is actually someone I could see hashing together a movie starring himself based on the ongoing skits in his review show. Not only is there enough material to actually justify such an vanity project but Linkara has been consistently putting out one or more videos a week for over 6 years now. One of the reasons he is a superstar in the strange little world of internet reviewers is that he's still chugging along like its still 2010 and reviews by internet personalities are still new territory. Linkara's ridiculous drive is such that I could see him actually making a 90-minute extension of his storyline on top of everything else. Meanwhile I never believed that Spoony would make a full length movie, even at his best and most consistent output he still probably didn't have the wherewithal to do it all by himself. The various anniversary movies were a big combined effort, and I don't see many critics having the fortitude to go all the way.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:52
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Meanwhile, Lindsey launched a Patreon for Loose Canon and also put a post flipping the bird at everyone getting mad that she put up a Patreon because making money on the Internet isn't a real job like the Olive Garden. Also it pretty much explains why her output plummeted (she DID get "real" jobs.)
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Mar 12, 2015 22:59
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Yeah if you followed her on Twitter she was doing all sorts of different work that made it hard to do videos.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:06
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Wheat Loaf posted:I imagine it's referring to Thomas the Tank Engine. I don't know a nice way to ask this, but how does Doug feel about Thomas the Tank Engine trains that transform and combine into a megarobot
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Mar 12, 2015 23:07
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As much as I enjoy internet critics from time to time I think the only ones I would hate to see go are the RLM guys. May their patreon's and ad revenue never falter.Rebochan posted:Meanwhile, Lindsey launched a Patreon for Loose Canon and also put a post flipping the bird at everyone getting mad that she put up a Patreon because making money on the Internet isn't a real job like the Olive Garden. Boils down to jealousy. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Mar 12, 2015 23:32
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lornekates posted:I don't know a nice way to ask this, but how does Doug feel about Thomas the Tank Engine trains that transform and combine into a megarobot I've not seen that before, but it looks like a Really Useful Engine to me.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:43
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Yeah, you could basically wipe all Internet Critics from the Universe and nothing would really be lost. That's why it's so important to derive meaning from how, despite being just sound and thunder, plenty of folks find even the worst critics funny and appealing. I have a soft spot for Spoony because you could compile some of his 'greatest hits' into a four-hour documentary about the effects of internet fame on a person and I like that arc, but in all honesty you could do the same with Doug. Linkara's videos you could cut all the non-review stuff out and just leave in the storylines with Linkara in his house arguing with Linkara in a hat with an accent and bam, you have an actual fever dream. Here's a deep cut from the at4w plot guide (it needs a plot guide!!!): quote:Linkara thinks back to 90s Kid’s strange behavior during the KISS Comics review, how it was 90s Kid who called Linkara and distracted him when Ninja-Style Dancer was taken, how 90s Kid was the last one with Harvey before he was taken, and how Pollo vanished when they were all in a room together. Of all the people in the world, why would the Entity leave 90s Kid? It's post fan-fiction. I can't even describe what a beautiful mess it is. Before The Great Wipe comes and we delete 99% of the internet to make room for more dog pics, make sure you download all his episodes into a time capsule so future generations can appreciate the madness.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:49
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Rebochan posted:Meanwhile, Lindsey launched a Patreon for Loose Canon and also put a post flipping the bird at everyone getting mad that she put up a Patreon because making money on the Internet isn't a real job like the Olive Garden. How can you possibly get mad at someone for putting up a Patreon, Kickstarter, Indigogo, whatever crazy flavor of donation aggregator? Oh no, they want money for whatever product/service they're offering. Those fiends! At best I can see discussion of how many people are supporting someone/something and whether or not it's a silly amount. But never actually getting emotional about it. That's just weird as poo poo.
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Mar 13, 2015 00:40
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As much of an rear end as he apparently is I still feel bad for Doug to an extent. He wanted to be done with the NC but basically got forced into continuing it.
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Mar 13, 2015 00:42
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Gyges posted:How can you possibly get mad at someone for putting up a Patreon, Kickstarter, Indigogo, whatever crazy flavor of donation aggregator? Oh no, they want money for whatever product/service they're offering. Those fiends!
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Mar 13, 2015 00:51
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Tracula posted:He wanted to be done with the NC but basically got forced into continuing it. Not really...? Not to hear him tell it. I was told that he fell out of love with Demo Reel hard about midway through and was inspired to resume the NC stuff after seeing that Timothy Green movie and really wanting to review it, and that was all related to me three or four months after his return, still completely stoked to be doing the NC stuff again, said he was just burned out before from putting too many rules and boxes around what he reviewed. This came up because I confronted him about being pressured into resuming the NC stuff (and not telling anyone else about it, which was lovely,) and he was extremely adamant about his feelings. He wasn't bullshitting me, that was definitely how he felt, and Rob backed it up convincingly as well. Dunno if that's come up in here in the past or not, but there you go. tl;dr From the horse's mouth, he was really enthusiastic about resuming the NC stuff when he did. He was super burnt-out leading into the 4th year, but after Demo Reel I guess that changed. Just for whatever that's worth. Jay O fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Mar 13, 2015 |
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Mar 13, 2015 00:59
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That's a fair point. I always had heard and got the vibe he wanted to be done with NC but got pulled back. Good to know what really happened though, thanks Jay O.
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Mar 13, 2015 01:29
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Having people who are or have been involved with this in the thread is the best.
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Mar 13, 2015 01:35
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I hadn't heard that before...I was under the impression that the fans hated Demo Reel and the lack of new NC episodes was hurting the site's ad hits, so that led to him going back to it. I'm glad at least he wanted to do it?
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Mar 13, 2015 01:57
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Gyges posted:How can you possibly get mad at someone for putting up a Patreon, Kickstarter, Indigogo, whatever crazy flavor of donation aggregator? Oh no, they want money for whatever product/service they're offering. Those fiends! There's this weird idea among a LOT of people that, if you do anything creative and/or entertaining, you should be doing it solely for the Love of the Job and not make any money off it. The consumer shouldn't have to pay for entertainment because. But God help you if you DON'T churn out the material steadily while you're actually working to get money for food and shelter! I think a lot of people don't realise how much work goes into creative stuff. They just hear people talking about how enjoyable and satisfying creative things are and assume it's all goofing off and throwing glitter and I guess living in a fairy tale cottage where food magically appears in the pantry.
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Mar 13, 2015 02:02
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FlamingLiberal posted:I hadn't heard that before...I was under the impression that the fans hated Demo Reel and the lack of new NC episodes was hurting the site's ad hits, so that led to him going back to it. I'm glad at least he wanted to do it? Honestly I get the impression that none of them really liked Demo Reel after an episode or two. It was an experiment that just didn't click for the parties involved.
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Mar 13, 2015 02:09
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