In this case the "buddies" are also crew members that help with production and set design/construction. The channel is expanding because of their contributions.
Thoughts on Cinemassacre/AVGN?
- Thread starter jukeboxhero2396
- Start date
He can do what he wants but it's weird for someone to treat the fucking Ghostbusters canon, of all things, as sacrosanct
I used to watch James' stuff all the time, I followed him when GameTrailers shut down, I helped fund his movie & still subscribed to him for around 2 years after.
Mike's slow invasion into James' channel though really started to put me off, AVGN episodes were coming out much slower (understandably) as James was busy and Mike started doing videos with some guy called Ryan, I had zero interest in these videos even though I'm sure Mike made them because James needed to upload a certain amount of videos to keep his channel in good standing but it wasn't what I subscribed for, so after around 6 months I called it quits and unsubscribed.
As much as I can tell James is still a great guy but I haven't seen an AVGN episode since I unsubscribed and as long as Mike has a large part in the channel I don't want anything to do with it.
Mike's slow invasion into James' channel though really started to put me off, AVGN episodes were coming out much slower (understandably) as James was busy and Mike started doing videos with some guy called Ryan, I had zero interest in these videos even though I'm sure Mike made them because James needed to upload a certain amount of videos to keep his channel in good standing but it wasn't what I subscribed for, so after around 6 months I called it quits and unsubscribed.
As much as I can tell James is still a great guy but I haven't seen an AVGN episode since I unsubscribed and as long as Mike has a large part in the channel I don't want anything to do with it.
If you had followed his content for years it became pretty clear that the original Ghostbusters is one of his all time favorite films and he has stated several times how he wants a Ghostbusters 3 to happen with the original cast, ever since he was a kid even. This was years before any talk of a reboot even took place. With all this in mind, It is not hard to understand why he wouldn't support a reboot that completely dashed any hope of a "Ghostbusters 3" happening.
he used to be funny before : "eat a chicken found on the wall? Must be fucking dirty"
Now? he is painfully unfunny, like, holy shit dude , are you even telling jokes or just screaming curse words and making angry faces?
Now? he is painfully unfunny, like, holy shit dude , are you even telling jokes or just screaming curse words and making angry faces?
Pretty fair take - in fact I bet with hindsight James would agree with you lol
You know, as someone who has zero attachment to this franchise (seriously, I haven't watched a single Ghostbusters film, TV show, or read a a single comic book - though the first film is on my extremely long bucket list), I've found it really curious that, since the failure of the reboot, some people keep putting forth the argument that the first film wasn't anything special either. Because up until that point, I'd never seen any talk like that. And I've been on the internet a long damn time. I've been meaning to watch the original Ghostbusters for well over a decade, specifically because of how good everyone has always told me it is.
And like, people don't have any issue with mega fans of Terminator, Predator, or Alien trashing the shitty reboots/sequels that Hollywood keeps putting out - to name just a few of the many other classics of the 80s and 90s that have been run into the ground over the last couple decades. And yet hardcore Ghostbusters fans are apparently too hung up over their favorite franchise and need to accept that the original film wasn't ever that big of a deal? Does not compute.
Was he kicked out? I remember him doing bootsy beats and never saw him again.
Can find people on the internet saying anything, it's a big place haha
The reaction to GB16, even before we saw anything of it, was way beyond those other reboots, and the discourse well was poisoned right from the start
There are two reasons: one he had the temerity to ask to be renumerated for his appearances and two Mike's ego couldn't handle that he was well liked.
I enjoyed AVGN a ton back in the day. The videos where he went into the history of the hardware a bit were actually quite informative outside of the juvenile jokes. (I honestly would love a gaming history series by him. I think he'd do a good job.)
I've grown out of his work though and the people he works with are shitty so I don't feel comfortable following him anymore.
I've grown out of his work though and the people he works with are shitty so I don't feel comfortable following him anymore.
I'm still a fan and watch new AVGN episodes and Monster Madness every year.
With that said like most people Mike being a bigger part of the show has me pretty much click off anything he's on. He dominates a lot of the segments and it's annoying. Even before his racist comic came out I honestly couldn't stand him.
That Polybius episode kinda freaked me out a little. Good job with that.
With that said like most people Mike being a bigger part of the show has me pretty much click off anything he's on. He dominates a lot of the segments and it's annoying. Even before his racist comic came out I honestly couldn't stand him.
That Polybius episode kinda freaked me out a little. Good job with that.
AVGN and his teenage-style humour isn't for me, and that's okay. The thing that bothers me is that fans take him seriously as a historian. His Genesis vs SNES video where he's not even playing a character is so biased in favour of Nintendo, it's embarrassing. And I remember a pre-NES video where he complains about no enemies in Smurf on Coleco. There are enemies in the game; he's just playing on easy mode and didn't take a second to look at the manual or press another button. And finding out his friends are racist sucks, too.
mainline AVGN episodes are better than ever. and I'm happy to see the channel not only get over 1 million subscribers, but explode to over 3 million in just the last couple years after all this time. Mike Matai notwithstanding.
That doesn't have any bearing on whether or not the original film was any good or not. What I am pointing out is that, after the new film ended up sucking so bad that almost nobody could defend it (including almost nobody here or on the old site before the exodus), suddenly we started seeing people saying that the original was never really good either. What an interesting coincidence.
Oh wow, you're really running with this whole "the original Ghostbusters was never a big deal." I guess that's why it never became a massive franchise with zillions of product tie-ins and spin-offs, much like many other classics of the day. ...Oh, wait.
(I've been an active user of a dozen message boards since the age of 11, covering all sorts of different subjects and fandoms. It's not like I only have posted on on forums filled with die-hard Ghostbusters fans. The film was critically acclaimed, made a whole bunch of money, and scores of people I have talked to over the course of over a decade and a half hold it in high regard to this day.)
Are you doing a bit or did you just really misread my comment, I cannot even tell!
That's what I'm saying, the conversation was taken to such an extreme right off the bat that you even had folks trying to say GB1 was never good. Everything was revved right up to stupid levels immediately. For the record I liked both movies just fine, even if I have plenty of issues with '16.
Oh, wait, now I see what you're saying. Yeah, well here's the problem: some of those people are right here in this damn thread. It's been, what, 3 years since the reboot came out, a brand new movie is already on its way, and people are still acting like Ghostbusters was never a big deal? Come on.
Agreed. It really sucks. Toxic nerds are the fucking worst and turn everything to shit. If there hadn't had been such a sexist outcry over the reboot, I guarantee you we wouldn't even be having this discussion right now.
I was really into AVGN years ago, I even watched that awful movie he made. I don't know the man personally, but James always looked like a cool guy. I even tolerated that unfunny ass of Mike Matei at first. I was already falling down with the channel but I remember the exact moment I unsubscribed and that was when they releases a fucking video with AlphaOmegaSin (a gamergater supporter). I don't know if James is naive, he does not care or malicious but whatever, I don't care anymore. And I see that he still gets together with not the best persons. Also #JusticeForBootsy.
Kinda feel the same as OP post
New stuff ain't as great and I hardly bother with it, but some of the old AVGN and Monster Madness episodes are still fun for a rewatch every now and then. James seems like an all around chill dude so I still hope it all works out for him.
New stuff ain't as great and I hardly bother with it, but some of the old AVGN and Monster Madness episodes are still fun for a rewatch every now and then. James seems like an all around chill dude so I still hope it all works out for him.
I enjoy watching Monster Madness and rental review, but now that people have pointed out that James is just a "yeah, Yeah" voice box, in most episodes, I can't NOT hear it lol
AVGN hasn't kept up with the times and it's too cringy for me to watch.
James and Mike Mondays are shit because:
1. I can't stand the racist
2. James is phoning it in
AVGN hasn't kept up with the times and it's too cringy for me to watch.
James and Mike Mondays are shit because:
1. I can't stand the racist
2. James is phoning it in
My kid loves AVGN but neither of us like the other stuff. It's so fucking boring.
I went back and watched an episode that seemed interesting to me, that I thought I could tolerate, which is where the interview a horror show host, and the entire time James just kept going "UH HUH UH HUH UH HUH" into the mike and it drove me fucking nuts.
I went back and watched an episode that seemed interesting to me, that I thought I could tolerate, which is where the interview a horror show host, and the entire time James just kept going "UH HUH UH HUH UH HUH" into the mike and it drove me fucking nuts.
I saw some of the very early AVGN videos and thought they were good. Haven't seen any of the latest videos due to reading about highly problematic people who are part of the CineMassacre YouTube channel aside from James.
Looks like one of these highly problematic people will be at the video game convention MAGFest in 2020:
Looks like one of these highly problematic people will be at the video game convention MAGFest in 2020:
can someone explain to me this phenomenon, when speaking about james rolfe, where it's insisted that he's a nice guy, despite the trash human beings he surrounds himself with?
when you surround yourself with racist, sexist assholes, odds are better than even that you're a racist, sexist asshole too.
just because he's been smart enough to avoid blurting out n-words so far doesn't make him a fucking saint.
hell, I'll go one better: his refusal to call out mike and the rest of them for their shitty behavior makes him a piece of shit too, even if he's never said a racist thing in his life.
when you surround yourself with racist, sexist assholes, odds are better than even that you're a racist, sexist asshole too.
just because he's been smart enough to avoid blurting out n-words so far doesn't make him a fucking saint.
hell, I'll go one better: his refusal to call out mike and the rest of them for their shitty behavior makes him a piece of shit too, even if he's never said a racist thing in his life.
How do you know he's never called him out? You mean publicly? We don't know what he's said to him in real life.
What did the others do?
I like him well enough. It just feels like he's run out of steam. Everything he does now feels like it takes minimal effort. His Cinemassacre stuff is top shelf content. At least I'll always have that. I check on his channel once in a blue moon, but as many others have said, I'm not into anything that involves all his buddies. I like his scripted and edited stuff. Especially his horror movie stuff.
This is one of his idiot friends that is in every video now.
TB^ is TotalBiscuit (thoughts aside on him) who had colon cancer
Holy shit. I know that fucker.
Early in my blogging days I would chronicle dumb arguments online and he contacted me about his friend being kicked out of a con for "a very stupid reason". When I asked for more info it turned out his friend had been kicked out for asking cosplayers sexually explicit questions and then making fun of how uncomfortable they were.
So instead I wrote an article about how much of a shithead he was and the guy got mad and blocked me.
I'm kind of annoyed to see he's now more successful than I am.
James Rolfe has been on the internet for a looong time, and a lot of his stuff has been candid, non-character stuff. And while appearances can be deceiving, and sometimes you never really know people, non-character James seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Like, for comparison's sake, James has always seemed like a much nicer guy than Doug Walker (the man behind Nostalgia Critic).
But then Mike Matei emerged, and he's been setting off red flags with people pretty much since day one. And then skeletons started falling out of his closet, most notably his horribly offensive comics.
When people complained to James about Mike dragging things down, James explained that Mike is James's IRL BFF since childhood, and Mike is at least 50% responsible for AVGN/Cinemassacre, since Mike did 100% of the behind-the-scenes work (which James was not capable of doing), while James was "merely" the on-camera personality. One day, Mike decided that he wanted to be famous too, so he moved from behind the camera to in front. And James says that Mike has that right, since Mike helped build AVGN/Cinemassacre. If Mike wants to burn the company to the ground tomorrow, James says he's okay with that (because of loyalty, and because James is literally incapable of finding a replacement for Mike). Also note, Mike has apparently never done anything shitty to James. Or at least, nothing shitty enough to justify burning a lifetime friendship.
When shitheads get invited to the show, you can bet that Mike is the one who invited them, not James. James probably doesn't know who these people are, because he's not exactly internet-savvy (Mike even answers his email for him).
So the most accurate read of James is probably "nice guy, joined at the hip to an asshole". If you want to consider James an asshole for that, you're free to do so.
I still enjoy AVGN, but you can tell he really wants to branch out and move on from it. His rental video series is comfort entertainment for me, but I wish he picked better friends. Mike is insufferable in comparison.
I still watch the AVGN episodes, but pretty much everything else is junk.
I do have to give James the side eye though. I do understand how much it sucks when one of your good friends becomes a shithead, and its hard to let go of that friendship. But now finding out some of the new AVGN "superfriends" are also shit makes me think it's a "James" thing.
I do have to give James the side eye though. I do understand how much it sucks when one of your good friends becomes a shithead, and its hard to let go of that friendship. But now finding out some of the new AVGN "superfriends" are also shit makes me think it's a "James" thing.
Man I knew about Mike being a shitty person, but now Justin, jesus christ fuck that guy.
I still like James though. I love going back and watching AVGN and Board James. James should really try and get Bootsy back, he was the best of all of his other friends.
I still like James though. I love going back and watching AVGN and Board James. James should really try and get Bootsy back, he was the best of all of his other friends.
I like James, but his channel/brand is entirely taken over by screenwave media now. Sponsored content is maybe a necessity these days, but I think it cheapens the product and it doesn't age well.
mike and the dude from hack the movies are awful people.
mike and the dude from hack the movies are awful people.
Used to love his stuff and the Dream Phone episode of Board James is really great stuff, but how he kinda-sorta-without-saying-it-but-also-not-NOT-saying-it leaned into the toxicity around the Ghostbusters 2016 movie was kinda shitty. There were totally legit reasons to not like that film (as some folks here have already mentioned), but if you critique genre movies and didn't talk about this aspect with nuance and care it looked like you're siding with the worst aspects of the internet. Revelations about his friends being very direct with their shittiness didn't help any.
I was looking for this post. Pretty much sums my feeling towards the matter. He's a fucking shit person for hanging around with these assholes, period.
I gotta say, when Macaulay Culkin popped up in a couple of shows, that was pretty crazy. Other than that, I occasionally watch AVGN if the game is any interesting, but I stopped watching their other stuff. There's so many more skilled and knowledgable players out there. I can't stand it when someone who records a goddamn video of themselves playing a game can't figure out basic stuff and are too distracted to even pay attention to hints.
I think AVGN is a great example of a user-created-content that simply...ran low on stuff.
I don't watch their other stuff, or anything that's focused on anyone but James. I'll watch AVGN episodes, but that's really all.
Problematic colleagues aside...I've tried once or twice to watch the bench warming stuff and just didn't find it entertaining.
I don't watch their other stuff, or anything that's focused on anyone but James. I'll watch AVGN episodes, but that's really all.
Problematic colleagues aside...I've tried once or twice to watch the bench warming stuff and just didn't find it entertaining.
It's changed a lot. I don't like a lot of the new people that came in to do Rental Reviews, so I don't even watch that stuff. Mike is insufferable, so I don't watch James & Mike Mondays anymore, either. AVGN is still fine, but it's few and far between. Occasionally, I'll go back to older episodes, but for the most part I don't frequent the channel.
Also, I miss Bootsy.
Also, I miss Bootsy.
Still a fan of AVGN. Newer episodes are pretty good with a great one here and there. Nothing beats some of the earlier stuff though.
