MovieChat Forums > Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014) Discussion > My thoughts on AVGN: The Movie.

My thoughts on AVGN: The Movie.

posted 10 years ago by catchmeifucan331
10 replies | jump to latest

First, a little backstory. I have been a fan of AVGN since 2008 when I first remember coming into contact with the Cinemassacre channel. James Rolfe and his short films/reviews have influenced countless other youtubers/internet personalities since the initial upload of Simon's Quest. Whether it be Doug Walker, or Angry Joe, there is no denying the influence James Rolfe's AVGN character has had on the internet gaming community. With decades of amateur filmmaking under his belt, the amount of success that Rolfe has had is quite impressive and endearing. With that said, what many people don't seem to understand is that AVGN: The Movie is the ultimate culmination of what James does best: the AVGN videos and low-budget, self-penned, self-directed, self-acted films in the spirit of classic horror films, Troma entertainment, and other underground independent movies, usually featuring off-the-wall plots, and questionable casting choices. I mentioned earlier the power of influence. AVGN: The Movie is, and should be viewed as a film among films of it's kind. The use of practical effects, the zany plot, the over-the-top characters, Nerd himself, are all classic tropes of 80's underground indie films, of which James and many others, including myself are fans of. When we, the fans, the onlookers, the outsiders, watch the AVGN movie, what we are seeing is not only the dream of one man's life's work fully realized, but his own interpretation and contribution to not only the internet, but the cult-like nature of the world of underground independent filmmaking.

I read a lot of comments saying that the the film was too bad for it's budget, comparing it to Paranormal Activity. Whoever has said that obviously has no idea how much more practical effects cost when compared to CGI. We can have films like Paranormal Activity "look" much better, because it is an orgy of CGI. This film was never about "looking cool," otherwise we would've seen much more CGI than practical effects. Sure, the practical effects aren't as "pretty" today as they would have been 30 years ago, but it was never about that. It was never about how cool or edgy he could make the film look, it was about using classic, time-tested filmmaking techniques to the best of one's ability. In short, this film is classic James Rolfe. It's James doing James, the way James knows how, and he deserves every ounce of recognition he has and will continue to receive for his work. Cheesy it may be, but awesome it will remain.

[–] ykechan 10 years ago

The AVGN Movie has more CGI than Paranormal Activity. The background in driving scenes are CGI. The background in the family running scene are CGI. The dream sequence is CGI. The opening scene is CGI. The scene when the nerd got into the scientist guy's house and turned into a mario bros knockoff, is CGI. And it goes on.

How many CGI do Paranormal Activity have? Very little, just things moving, probably wired by a string.

[–] catchmeifucan331 10 years ago

You're insane.

[–] catchmeifucan331 10 years ago

All of the filters they used in that film were definitely CGI.

[–] ykechan 10 years ago

Depends on what you count as CGI. And I'm talking about the 1st one, couldn't care less for the rest.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
All the special effects were practically done in-camera, enhanced by director Oren Peli on his PC.

[–] Philip_90 10 years ago

Except James' acting as AVGN in the film is poorly done and so is the script, now when you go back to the Classic AVGN videos you'll see that James' actually gave a rats ass and would pour his efforts to making the character believable as well as entertaining.

There's no denying that this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjUHdz2_v_o has better acting than in the entire film as AVGN.

[–] bond_98 10 years ago

Well to be fair. He hasn't played the character outside his review before. Maybe he works better on his own.

[–] Philip_90 10 years ago

He's not even good as AVGN any more, he does review games but he's rather himself than the character he once came up with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQta2TYpQFA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKFgXGO51rU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgCSbOy4mNU

These AVGN videos just prove what AVGN fanboys try to hide away. James' really just can't act as AVGN any more so he should retire the character and stick to James & Mike Mondays.

[–] bond_98 10 years ago

Well this movie is better than Paranormal Activity. But pretty much anything is better than that.

[–] Philip_90 10 years ago

Paranormal Activity is like Scary Movie, it's never been very good or entertaining but some people do like it.

I remember watching a video about James' past and saying he has like more than a 100 but actually they're just short-films of which they're not appealing to a large audience, just like AVGN: The Movie.

[–] HeyJale 10 years ago

So the many practical effect scenes (which aren't even good) being not very great or there being little CGI means that's the excuse that movie isn't that great? Are you really just going to ignore every little other list of problems with it? Actors, writing, directing, etc?

Drooler.