MovieChat Forums > Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014) Discussion > The Hate is Totally Unjustified

The Hate is Totally Unjustified

posted 10 years ago by piratecannon
14 replies | jump to latest

Like a lot of you, I've followed the work of the Nerd for a long time. When he announced that a movie was happening, I was excited. As has been noted time and again, James has a passion for filmmaking, and, well, I knew he would just churn out a crappy movie for the sake of getting it done.

When the thing was finally released, I was dismayed to see all of the negative reviews from fans. In fact, they caused me to wait a little longer to rent it than I'd originally planned. Tonight, though, I had some free time, and it seemed like a good a time as any to give it a whirl.

And you know what? It is awesome. The story, the effects, the humor--it's all perfectly AVGN. I was entertained the for the entire runtime, and I thought James penned a script worthy of the legend that has been built-up around the E.T. video game (really, the screenplay is ingenious; brining in past game reviews and the mythos of Area 51 was perfect).

Early on it seemed like people were complaining about the effects. Again, for an AVGN film, they're perfect. What did people expect? Transformers-ish CGI? The cheesy nature of the miniatures is the kind of thing James loves and appreciates from the films of yesteryear, and I think he made great use of that technique here.

I'll conclude this mini review by saying that putting together a movie is no easy feat. I've done it. I didn't have the budget James did, but even with that kind of money it's a grueling endeavor. You have to be totally invested to make it through the process, and I think James has crafted something he should be really proud of.

[–] darthleather2011 10 years ago

I didn't like this movie very much, but I still don't see why so many people have such a seething resentment towards James.

And not just James, but the Nostalgia Critic ,and a lot of other internet personalities.

I really think a lot of it is just a kind of jealousy. These guys are able to make very comfortable livings by talking about pop culture on the internet, and I'm sure every nerd on the internet would love to be able to do that, but only a select few are able to pull it off.

I think that's where a lot of the hate comes from. Jealousy that they are not the ones being listened to, and raking in the dough.

[–] Sanke 10 years ago

IMDB is full of negativity on pretty much every film that has hype around it. The AVGN movie is no different. People bitch and complain just to bitch and complain and because these guys are internet famous they get more harshly criticized. Furthermore like other films there are people who make up their minds that they hate it before they even see the film. Their were a ton of comments about how AVGN episodes weren't good anymore before the movie was released and people like that just watch the movie with a I hate everything attitude. You find people like this all over this site.

[–] RIP_Matthew_Abaddon 10 years ago

I didn't like this movie very much, but I still don't see why so many people have such a seething resentment towards James.

And not just James, but the Nostalgia Critic ,and a lot of other internet personalities.

I really think a lot of it is just a kind of jealousy. These guys are able to make very comfortable livings by talking about pop culture on the internet, and I'm sure every nerd on the internet would love to be able to do that, but only a select few are able to pull it off.

I think that's where a lot of the hate comes from. Jealousy that they are not the ones being listened to, and raking in the dough.

I see what you mean, but I don't resent them. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about pop culture, but I admit they know even more. I doubt they have any hobbies/interests outside of pop culture...they just seem so immersed in it. Considering both have personal lives to attend to, they probably don't have time to become an expert on anything else.

[–] HeyJale 10 years ago

I like long-winded biased opinions like this on the movie that I get to mock with my friend. "AVGN MADE IT, SO IT'S NOT ALLOWED TO BE BAD!!!" Quit patronizing, damn dude. You're just making it worse.

I STILL love AVGN, I STILL have sentimental feelings for his old stuff and yes, I like James and Mike Mondays, but I hated this movie, it's the worst I've seen this year, and I judged it before I ever saw a single review of it. Don't be ignorant to negativity like this, if someone thinks something sucks then they think it sucks. Yeah, you're probably gonna call me a hypocrite like "then why are you commenting about this? I like it so I like it." Guess what? This isn't about me and this is the last time I'm going to comment on this. Also, who the hell cares how invested you are in a movie? IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW EMOTIONALLY INVESTED YOU ARE INTO SOMETHING, IT'S. NOT. ALWAYS. GOING. TO. TURN. OUT. GOOD. That's like saying you're emotionally invested into a relationship, but that doesn't always mean its going to turn out okay, BAD THINGS HAPPEN SOMETIMES. Like this movie.

If you just liked this movie instead of just forcing it on others that it's some grand masterpiece that's not allowed to suck, then I would've ignored you. But it's ignorance in its purest form to act like everything James does is some touch of Christ that's belittled as life-ending-consequential heresy if anyone doesn't like something he says or does. Grow up, please.

[–] jbhutt0 10 years ago

There's definitely a group of people hating on the movie because they just don't like James / AVGN.

That being said, I wasn't the biggest fan of the film, either. It's definitely a mixed bag. I find it kind of annoying that all of the obsessed AVGN fans have to make excuses for it ( "if he had Michael Bay's budget imagine how good it would be", "but it was for the FANS, you must not really be a fan", etc).

If the hate is totally unjustified, then so is the unconditional adoration of all things AVGN. James' best AVGN reviews are the ones where he is more subdued. Like the Swordquest review, it's basically a short documentary on the history of the game. Unfortunately, James took it in more of a MechaDeathChrist / Rob the Robot direction.

[–] Spaggett 10 years ago

The movie sucked a bag of dicks, end of story.l

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] lop_gen 10 years ago

Why?, i tell you why:

20 minutes into the movie there were already 5 different people that constantly ask him to review ET. 25 minutes into the movie the whole ET review thing was bothersome and annoying. BECAUSE I HAD TO WATCH IT IN THREE PARTS, i couldnt finish IT. And I really LOVE THE AVGN series.

The hate is unjustified, it is true, i dont hate him; i love his work, but the movie... oh lord... it is an abomination. And im not complaining about the CGI and effects, that was good and funny. The plot makes no sense at all, where are all the characters we wanted to see: ninja gayden, the music guy, megajesus, etc. THE GLOVE!.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Sanke 10 years ago

He is doing 12 episodes in a row each day at the moment.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] randyhndrsn 10 years ago

It's just not a very funny or entertaining movie, people are upset because we waited years for it, donated and all loved James videos.

He hardly made it even feel like part of the nerd universe, most of the supporting nerd characters are absent, the focus isn't on James enough and he introduces us to new characters that are not very memorable.

Add on terrible pacing and editing, no way should this film be two hours, it's basically all built around exposition for very little payoff at the end, then the humor isn't nearly as raw as most in his videos.

Just felt like some bad low budget VHS film, I think he was trying to go for that, but I also thought he was going to make a great and fun AVGN, instead he just kind of made a generic movie with the Nerd in it.

[–] jimanchower 9 years ago

The movie was awful dude. I've been watching his YouTube videos since 2007.....I donated to his fund to get the movie made.....then I paid 5 bucks to watch it.........it was just awful. I couldn't even finish it.

That's not "hating", it's the truth.

Everyone has noticed how much he's changed since his early videos, it's like he's just going through the motions now because he needs the money from AVGN to maintain his popularity and fund his other stuff. Making lets play videos is about as low as you can go IMO. Mike isn't funny at all.

I totally 100% respect that he achieved his dream, but that doesn't mean I have to pretend his movie was good or I'm "hating". It's not the first terrible movie and it won't be the last.

He's not a very good writer IMO, his AVGN stuff is almost like a comedy routine with the games supplying the material. Without a framework to build on (game reviews) he just isn't that funny. He caught lightening in a bottle with AVGN but he doesn't seem to have anything else up his sleeve so he keeps doing them and they keep going down in quality.

I will say his Board James are decent sometimes, but they'll never have the mass appeal his AVGN videos did.