James Rolfe / James D. Rolfe / Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) / Rex Viper and Cinemassacre / Screenwave - Now with not much grieving about a 41-year old man still making videos on YouTube. We're the balls on the dick.

[Inflatable Julay]

Damn, this may be the end of James' track record of avoiding drama and staying squeaky clean. It's pretty sad, I always had a big respect for him for following his dreams of making movies, even though the AVGN movie was shit it was still his lifelong dream and he did it. I would rather he stop AVGN completely instead of turning it over to someone else, and that's probably how he felt too but the money was too good.

 

[Van Darkholme]

He can't stop AVGN, it's what's making the most money. Kill that and watch the subs (and therefore his cashflow) drop dramatically. Just compare the AVGN video views to Rental Reviews for example: Trespasser was uploaded five days ago and has over a 1 million views, the rental reviews are around 200-250k average.

 

[Man vs persistent rat]

Transferring Monster Madness to RR is showing how cynical James is becoming.

I could forgive him autopiloting AVGN because even if it's not making megabucks vs. investment it's still his primary identity from most viewers and has value in keeping the brand around. But to convert MM into a completely different format that doesn't have the same appeal shows that he's willing to debase properties that he no longer has a passion for to prop up current properties that maybe not everybody likes. Why bother to script and edit when you can just pad out videos with empty minutes (or dozens of minutes) to work the YT algorithm I was going to say at least he doesn't have a Patreon so anything goes in the free market, but he does(!?).

 

[Doctor of Autism]

He made his first video. I didn’t see it but it could be promising if it’s James and just one other guy

 

[The Pink Panther]

He made his first video. I didn’t see it but it could be promising if it’s James and just one other guy

I remember there was a tweet where he said although in the style of RR, the 24 reviews are just James and one other guy.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I remember there was a tweet where he said although in the style of RR, the 24 reviews are just James and one other guy.

Oh that’s good. Like James doing stuff with one other guy means that he won’t just be awkwardly standing in a room of boring people

 

[BrunoMattei]

Oh that’s good. Like James doing stuff with one other guy means that he won’t just be awkwardly standing in a room of boring people

He'll just be awkwardly sitting in a room with one person. Not counting the camera man or any other crew.

 

[Van Darkholme]

He made his first video. I didn’t see it but it could be promising if it’s James and just one other guy

Krakem rum ad and shilling
Kraken rum sign plus bottles
Kraken rum hat
Kraken rum shirt

 

[Man vs persistent rat]

Perhaps bad-tasting alcohol can become ironically good just like bad films.

 

[deeman]

One of the neckbeards made the wise decision of posting on 4Chan.
Has there ever been a time where a content creator posted on one of the chans and a shit show hasn't happened?

I had a feeling Kieran was the more "chill"persons of the group (liked his take on Akira) and seeing his top list Animes, i actually would like to have a beer with him, a guy who likes Hokuto No Ken and Guyver (The OVA, mind you) is a man of great taste in my book <3

 

[Man vs persistent rat]

Maybe I just have low standards, but after years of Mike Matei content, the RR people can at least demonstrate some vague level of passion for a subject at times (I guess like Josh on RLM). The long-haired neckbeard in particular seems pretty inoffensive with his persona too.

 

[Orkeosaurus]

The Screenwave boys are just fine for reviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and it's a decent fix between RLM episodes but Monster Madness should be left alone. The video essay format is the only way for James to show off his encyclopedic knowledge of classic horror. James talking horror with a Screenwave guy is like the equivalent of Mike trying to hold a Star Trek conversation with Jay.

 

[The Pink Panther]

r/TheCinemassacreTruth

Honestly, I thank this subreddit, because tbh, I didn't know about any of this shit. I mean I noticed that there were more skits and stuff, but there is a lot of shit I didn't know that I learned from reading this subreddit.

I didn't know that:

1. James doesn't record most of the footage for the games.
2. AVGN has multiple writers now.
3. Production for the AVGN had shifted under the helm of James to Screenwave.
4. This Screenwave change started around 2017.
5. Mike Matei stopped writing for AVGN in 2012.

Holy shit. I was kinda shocked, particularly the first one. I knew James was mediocre at games and that Mike helps him for shit, but I didn't know that all of that footage is recorded by someone else with James angrily reading someone else's script most of the time, like damn. I thought James was a mostly self-made man with his videos with some assistance from Kyle Justin and Mike Matei. But this kind of changes my perspective on the matter.

Like I mean, at least you could say with Doug Walker, he wrote most of the material for his reviews with his brother. You can tell pretty much everything was a Doug effort, but with AVGN, I am really curious besides film editing and direction, how much writing James did for the AVGN that wasn't from Mike or one of the Screenwave guys. Especially analyzing it now, Mike probably wrote a lot of AVGNisms particularly because his style of humor is more in line with that form of shock humor that the AVGN character is known for . I'm assuming the timeline between 2013-2016/7 where James was becoming softer with AVGN was just him, but I don't even know.

 

[Intelligent Calcium]

Maybe I just have low standards, but after years of Mike Matei content, the RR people can at least demonstrate some vague level of passion for a subject at times (I guess like Josh on RLM). The long-haired neckbeard in particular seems pretty inoffensive with his persona too.

The fat guy with the long hair and the fat guy with the short hair are pretty alright and only get annoying when they try too hard to be funny. An example would be the recent Jurassic Park video where it was just them exchanging "comically" hyperbolic statements instead of actually discussing the movie (maybe they dropped the bit but not quicker than I dropped the video). Otherwise they're fine, but the fat guy with the glasses just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[BOONES]

BIG MOTHERFUCKIN RIIIIIIIGS!!!!

 

[Man vs persistent rat]

I'm really not fond of the whole adversarial format they do with the which film is better than the other. The Raiders vs. Crusade, while it had some good ideas, was clearly one-sided and lacking. It takes a lot of skill to advocate from either a devil's or difficult position and requires you understanding where you will be attacked from, people who are not ready to counter these points will either just give up and rely on emotional arguments, or amp up the jokes, both suck.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Does anyone remember which RR it was where one of the fat guys is wearing the Justin Silverman T-Shirt (as seen in my avatar) but James noticed and commented on how weird Justin looked because his fat mouth got sucked into the other fat guys manboobs in some weird Fat Matrix?

At first, I thought it was Surf Ninjas...

 

[Man vs persistent rat]

Does anyone remember which RR it was where one of the fat guys is wearing the Justin Silverman T-Shirt (as seen in my avatar) but James noticed and commented on how weird Justin looked because his fat mouth got sucked into the other fat guys manboobs in some weird Fat Matrix?

At first, I thought it was Surf Ninjas...

Star Trek V, I don't know the time though.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

It takes a lot of skill to advocate from either a devil's or difficult position and requires you understanding where you will be attacked from, people who are not ready to counter these points will either just give up and rely on emotional arguments, or amp up the jokes, both suck.

What? They're fucking dinosaur movies. No one's expecting a debate of objective merits and reasoned viewpoints. "I prefer [x] movie because [x] reason." "Well, I prefer [y] movie because [y] reason." is enough.

Also, never forget the state of organized debate in modern America:

Spoiler

 

[Man vs persistent rat]

Do you think the Jurassic Park one was better than the Indiana Jones one? Because the JP was unbelievably shit attempts at comedy, IJ was attempts to discuss the films as popular cinema that did a bad job. Should they all be joke videos if they are blockbusters? Alien was a huge success, should be just make memes about that because trying is for nerds? JFC

Nobody would say this stuff should be analysed like Tarkovsky, but something better than shit would be great. Things can also be funny and informative at the same time, but it needs more core knowledge or work to do that. If RR isn't trying to be interesting like re:View that is fine, but at its worst it's not funny either.

Edit: pretty much the only value the JP video had for me was not even about the subject (2 vs. 3), but James showing some interest in the practical effects of the first. I don't even mind it being in there as off-topic, but it shows up the non-content of the rest of it.