OP
OP
Just listen between a current episode and like a 100th something episode from 2013. Around 2013 was the voice changing started to happen. He just sounds like a 40 year old man yelling.
Thoughts on Cinemassacre/AVGN?
- Thread starter jukeboxhero2396
- Start date
Sad about what happened to the Halloween monster madness marathon - was so great for years till they downgraded it last year
Board James segments were awesome and I only watch AVGN for board James and actual AVGN episodes
Don’t really care for anything else on their channel
Board James segments were awesome and I only watch AVGN for board James and actual AVGN episodes
Don’t really care for anything else on their channel
Well...he is 39 years old now so that isn’t a stretch...
Dude started making AVGN vids in his mid 20s
You can definitely tell James doesn't really care about the product that much anymore, the scripts are written by other people, and he doesn't have any more childhood games to make videos about. The channel is more or less other people's with James just acting in the videos because that's who people care about.
Those first 100 episodes are great, after that it's a big meh.
Those first 100 episodes are great, after that it's a big meh.
I still watch the really old AVGN episodes from time to time, but the newer ones are so hit or miss (usually miss) that I usually only watch them if they're about something I'm actually interested in. They're just too over-produced and over-acted.
I also just can't watch anything with Mike in it. Even aside from all the actual reasons he's trash, he's just so grating and unlikeable. I had to unfollow Erin Plays now that she's dating him – that's just unfortunate.
I also just can't watch anything with Mike in it. Even aside from all the actual reasons he's trash, he's just so grating and unlikeable. I had to unfollow Erin Plays now that she's dating him – that's just unfortunate.
I hate the gimmicks and the guest stars, just review the damn games, the skits fall flat to me and aren't what AVGN is about. The Mike asshole seems to be using James' declining interest to take over the platform and push himself on it, but then again he could also be the reason James still does it at all.
I liked him talking about old games. I never took it too seriously as he definitely exaggerated some things.
I don't care for him just sitting on a couch playing some new game with that other dude.
His best episodes were when he went in depth into a game or series. That stuff is still outstanding.
I don't care for him just sitting on a couch playing some new game with that other dude.
His best episodes were when he went in depth into a game or series. That stuff is still outstanding.
I used to watch them all the time, but I mostly grew out of them. I don't really find the shouting and gross out stuff entertaining anymore.
For real?
I was under the impression he studied film. How you study film and not know it's expensive to shoot out there.
His refusal to do anything about Mike makes him complicit. And he doesn't even seem to care in the videos anymore. Got old forever ago.
Earlier episodes were more concise and funny at times. Good 10 min-ish episodes. Some jokes fell flat, others haven't aged well but overall the videos were still enjoyable. Then - I don't know what happened - but his recent stuff got long and boring as fuck. Not even having it on in the background can make me put up with his 20+ minute recent videos. They aren't funny any more, the production is still lousy (and unwarranted) and I stopped caring about what he had to say/deliver. I think the last one I really enjoyed was the Polybius Halloween episode just because how different it was from his usual format. Then his work went back to shit...except now it has expressvpn ads.
Mike was always the problem. Even before all that stuff came out I still didn't like him. Very annoying guy.
I never really like the silly swearing skitty bits of ANN/AVGN but I did like his comments on the games. The first two games he reviewed, Simon's Quest and TMNT were actually the very first two games I ever owned. I got them with a NES for my 10th birthday. Those reviews brought a lot of stuff back lol.
I never really like the silly swearing skitty bits of ANN/AVGN but I did like his comments on the games. The first two games he reviewed, Simon's Quest and TMNT were actually the very first two games I ever owned. I got them with a NES for my 10th birthday. Those reviews brought a lot of stuff back lol.
Still really into it. I watch every new video, and at this point I enjoy Rental Reviews and Retail Reviews as much as AVGN.
His stuff is fine, the AVGN stuff I mean,, though I’ve grown a bit out of it.
All the other shows and people associated with him are awful, which is why I unsubscribed from his channel and just check in once in a while to see if a new Nerd vid or two were made.
All the other shows and people associated with him are awful, which is why I unsubscribed from his channel and just check in once in a while to see if a new Nerd vid or two were made.
I'm a huge fan of his earlier work, pretty much all the way up to episode 100. His newer ones still have some gems, but also some real stinkers, too. For example, his Immortal video was one of his worst ones yet. The Trespasser and Life of Black Tiger ones seemed more about him wanting to put some production value into it, and I think the script itself suffered. His best content is, frankly, where he's sitting in front of a TV playing the games, maybe with a bit here or there.
This is one of his idiot friends that is in every video now.
TB^ is TotalBiscuit (thoughts aside on him) who had colon cancer
TB^ is TotalBiscuit (thoughts aside on him) who had colon cancer
I always liked that his videos were informative and gave history about things I never knew. Now I don’t get any of that and it’s obvious that the games he does now are all user requested and nothing he played as a kid.
James seems like a great guy personally and I’ll check out a new AVGN every so often and they’re still mostly good for a laugh, certainly not as good as the old ones but nowhere near current Nostalgia Critic levels of unwatchable.
I’d like to watch his other stuff because I enjoy listening to him talk about movies since he has such a pure love of them, but I kind of hate everyone he does them with. They range from being sort of dumb and uninteresting to watch since they don’t know what they’re talking about to being actually shitty human beings (who are also dumb and uninteresting to watch). The lack of structure also really hurts a lot of these videos since they don’t seem to have any sort script or even a light framework. For a good comparison you can watch James’ video on Airplane and see how it fails next to RLM’s re:View of Top Secret, where RLM breaks down a bunch of different aspects of the movie and James+1 just list gags from the movie for for the entire video.
I’d like to watch his other stuff because I enjoy listening to him talk about movies since he has such a pure love of them, but I kind of hate everyone he does them with. They range from being sort of dumb and uninteresting to watch since they don’t know what they’re talking about to being actually shitty human beings (who are also dumb and uninteresting to watch). The lack of structure also really hurts a lot of these videos since they don’t seem to have any sort script or even a light framework. For a good comparison you can watch James’ video on Airplane and see how it fails next to RLM’s re:View of Top Secret, where RLM breaks down a bunch of different aspects of the movie and James+1 just list gags from the movie for for the entire video.
I used to watch him, but he lost me at Ghostbusters and after learning about Mike Matei's skeletons in the closet.
I will say that the video of him reading that Chilean fan mail from the fight instructor guy is still one of the funniest videos on the internet.
I will say that the video of him reading that Chilean fan mail from the fight instructor guy is still one of the funniest videos on the internet.
I loved the first batch of 'Angry Nintendo Nerd.' For me, those videos scratched a nostalgic itch of "how the fuck did these games get made & released..." and his schtick was so funny of just being brutalized by hard and usuyally poorly thought out games. Reminded me of my childhood. The videos on the Top Gun, Ghosts & Goblins, and a bunch of others were my reactions as a 7 year old renting them, but I didn't have anything else to play so I just kept playing them, hating them, but kept playing.
I lost interest when the videos got really creative, which I know was what the guy wanted to do from the start, and that's his bag so that's cool I just lost interest and didn't think they were as funny/entertaining.
It's kinda like bad 80s/90s wrestling. I can watch bad 80s/90s wrestling with light commentary (like OSW Review) all day, but I'm not into the ones that make themselves the show, which a lot of podcasts and youtube channels do.
I haven't genuinely watched the AVGN videos in like a decade so, when he had the dedicated Cinnemassacre segment on GameTrailers TV. I'm glad I've never followed any of the BS or drama with that channel or other youtubers. I'm not into Let's Plays so the videos of him and the other dudes on his couch playing games has never been for me, and so when he has shitty guests on his program or w/e, I'm glad it's something I don't waste mental effort on.
I lost interest when the videos got really creative, which I know was what the guy wanted to do from the start, and that's his bag so that's cool I just lost interest and didn't think they were as funny/entertaining.
It's kinda like bad 80s/90s wrestling. I can watch bad 80s/90s wrestling with light commentary (like OSW Review) all day, but I'm not into the ones that make themselves the show, which a lot of podcasts and youtube channels do.
I haven't genuinely watched the AVGN videos in like a decade so, when he had the dedicated Cinnemassacre segment on GameTrailers TV. I'm glad I've never followed any of the BS or drama with that channel or other youtubers. I'm not into Let's Plays so the videos of him and the other dudes on his couch playing games has never been for me, and so when he has shitty guests on his program or w/e, I'm glad it's something I don't waste mental effort on.
at this point he's covering really obscure things or really popular things, so i still find the videos interesting.
he's definitely been diversifying with the movie review stuff
he's definitely been diversifying with the movie review stuff
I've actually found his last couple AVGNs to be some of his best work. His resident evil video and Pepsi man one were gold
Love AVGN but I feel like he's kinda running out of games that people actually remember. He rightfully points out that even bad newer games are typically a whole lot better than the bad old ones.
I don't think James has enough hate or contrarian in him to shit on good old games with a modern lens in a Yahtzee type manner. Feels like I've seen so many videos where the "angry" video game nerd concludes with "well it's not that bad".
Plus it's kinda obvious his heart isn't into it. Back at the height of AVGN's popularity, he wasn't releasing new content very often. It sorta seems like he's been burnt out for almost a decade now.
I don't think James has enough hate or contrarian in him to shit on good old games with a modern lens in a Yahtzee type manner. Feels like I've seen so many videos where the "angry" video game nerd concludes with "well it's not that bad".
Plus it's kinda obvious his heart isn't into it. Back at the height of AVGN's popularity, he wasn't releasing new content very often. It sorta seems like he's been burnt out for almost a decade now.
I love AVGN and Board James. Yeah, though, definitely not as good as it used to be. I used to get excited about a new AVGN video but no longer do. All the Rental Review stuff and new guys are terrible.
I'm not that down about it because there's lots of great episodes. I just don't get excited about new ones.
I'm not that down about it because there's lots of great episodes. I just don't get excited about new ones.
James is fantastic. Still enjoy AVGN mostly, it's more hit or miss now but the Spawn and Chex Quest episodes were great.
Really enjoy when James talks about movies he enjoys too.
Really enjoy when James talks about movies he enjoys too.
A copy of BMX XXX. Despicable.This is one of his idiot friends that is in every video now.
TB^ is TotalBiscuit (thoughts aside on him) who had colon cancer
I loved AVGN in the old days, because it had this combination of DIY mentality, geeky passion, and the will to go above and beyond in spending time and effort on what others might see as trivial or even pointless, that I adore. Followed the Cinemassacre productions off and on for a while, but then I felt the quality started dropping, and when I learned of Mike Matei's racist bullshit I unsubbed and never looked back. The gang seems to really have fucked over Bootsy as well, and I don't care for that either.
What Ghostbusters thing? The thing everyone realized once the movie had been out for a month that James was correct over?
You're actually upset that he didn't want to see a shitty movie. Someone still thinks like this?
I 100% agree with this. I think a lot of it is James' channel was the right place at the right time, there was a dearth of produced retro gaming content until around 2010 (hilarious to even imagine now), so his channel was very novel and imperative to people into retro gaming at the time. Then it became more about the nerd character, which was fine but I cared way more about learning about the games than the character. Other channels came along that suited these needs better and I kind of fell off, but still casually watched from time to time. I did enjoy Monster Madness a lot and it got me more invested in classic horror films, but that was more education over entertainment which helped.
His "expanded content" like James and Mike Monday's, and now Rental Reviews are fine, but the issue I take with it is it's all filled with boring takes. I feel if he brought on literally anyone who wasn't a white dude in his late 30s, this content would be more interesting, but I'm pretty burnt out on white dudes waxing poetic about 80s and 90s nostalgia and seek more interesting takes on that stuff. Also videos like his Ghostbusters 2016 one is just like... why do this.
Overall he's fine and my opinion barely matters, but if his channel went away next week I wouldn't be too upset.
I still like seeing James do stuff, but I can't stand Mike and I don't want to see a bunch of neckbeards doing their best RLM impressions so the channel is mostly dead to me. I'll catch James videos here and there occasionally and that's about it.
I like AVGN, I have no problem with James Rolfe, I also like when he speaks about horror movies.
I don't care much for his friends and his other series, though.
I don't care much for his friends and his other series, though.
I still enjoy AVGN pretty regularly. I am glad that he has gone back to doing mostly more straightforward reviews and playthroughs -- there was a time when episodes leaned into being very elaborate sketches, and that was really not great.
I don't like Rolfe enough to watch all the other content he produces. I occaisionally try to give James & Mike Mondays a spin, but man is that ever a low-energy show.
I don't like Rolfe enough to watch all the other content he produces. I occaisionally try to give James & Mike Mondays a spin, but man is that ever a low-energy show.
Pretty much this. James is cool. His friends... not so much. I'm well past the point in my life where I want to watch someone screaming about bad video games.
Was cool to see Lloyd Kaufman and Gilbert Gottfried pop up on his channel though. Most new videos are ass, and have lost their charm overall.
I like AVGN although the new season feels like its trying too hard. Mike is a piece of work. I'm gona have to look into Justin. I didn't see the stuff posted in here before. James seems like a solid dude though. I like a lot of the movies they talk about in Rental Reviews so I watch it for a bit of nostalgia. It just seems like James is trying too hard on the production end of things. That Halloween AVGN about The Immortal was weird. It was done in a single shot and I think its cool hes experimenting and stuff but I just dont like it. The Pepsi Man episode was pretty good though.