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Thread: Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (Kevin Finn, James Rolfe)

  1. #1
    Moderator TGM's Avatar
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    Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (Kevin Finn, James Rolfe)

    ANGRY VIDEO GAME NERD: THE MOVIE

    Directors: Kevin Finn, James Rolfe

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  2. #2
    Moderator TGM's Avatar
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    So I've been following AVGN and James Rolfe's videos for a number of years now, and have kept up with the production of this movie for the past several years as well. And, while overall I do appreciate what they were able to do here for the most part, there was still a lot here that didn't quite work.

    James has mentioned in some of his past videos how he'd like to be the kind of filmmaker who makes movies that have a home-movie feel to them, and while this movie has a much bigger budget than your typical home movie (this was entirely fan-funded), in that regard I would consider this a success in terms of its production. However, in terms of its writing, I can't help but feel that "home movie" style only holds this thing back and keeps it from feeling like the legitimate movie they set out to make.

    In randomly breaks the fourth wall and goes into spoof territory, ala Airplane or the Naked Gun, but it doesn't have enough of a consistency there to where it feels natural. And then there's the main villains who have a complete personality swap out of nowhere about halfway into the movie, and basically all of the female characters feel like they're written by a bunch of horny teenagers, which became pretty off putting really quickly.

    That said, for fans of the AVGN series, there's a lot of references to some of his other videos and more prolific games and movies he's reviewed, which are probably the highlight of this thing. Also, the way they actually incorporate the whole ET stuff near the end is actually kinda neat, and certainly gets better as it nears the end.

    So overall, this was a mixed bag of a movie. I really wasn't liking it at first, but it did start to get a bit better about halfway into it. And yet, despite its major flaws, I have a hard time hating it anyways. It's pretty cool to see this thing all come together, especially after having followed along for the past few years as they've been working on it and keeping us updated on the progress. So, I'll give it a mild yay.

  3. #3
    I appreciate your comments, as I'm definitely curious about this one. I haven't followed the development as closely as you, but I've been an intermittent viewer of his web series since 2006. Unfortunately, the humour can get painfully sophomoric and scatological at times. That's definitely not part of the appeal for me (I was dismayed to find out, via the trailer, that the film contains a scene with some really gratuitous projectile vomit). The strength of the series lies in Rolfe's ability to hyperbolically dramatize the frustration of engaging with these games, which are clearly the result of hardware limitations colliding with obscenely poor craftsmanship (LJN!). His sensitivity to the crude or awkward idiosyncrasies of these titles is also great. For example, I still remember how I laughed really hard at the Nerd's gobsmacked reaction to the Friday the 13th (NES) game over screen ("YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD. GAME OVER").

    I can understand what you mean about it being cool to see this come together. It's clear that Rolfe is a huge fan of cinema, and his ambitions as a filmmaker have always come across as earnest and endearing. This movie is the culmination of lifelong dreams that have been repeatedly evinced in a variety of videos over the years, so it's really neat that he actually managed to release a feature film.

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