My thoughts on Suburban Knights

            As my more dedicated readers know, I love web series, especially ones that involve reviewers.  So naturally, when I heard about the seven part Suburban Knights series I was all over it.  The seventh and final part aired last night on the website thatguywiththeglasses.com.  To those of you who don’t know, it’s the base website of the Nostalgia Critic and several other internet reviewers such as The Cinema Snob, Linkara and Spoony.  It was something they put together for the website’s three year anniversary and seeing as how I like this kind of stuff I decided to give my thoughts on it.

            The plot, (although I use that term very loosely), involves the Nostalgia Critic gathering up all, (or most of), the internet reviewers from That Guy With The Glasses to hunt for a supposed magical gauntlet.  How do they do this?  Well, they all have to dress up and act like fantasy characters and follow a map across Chicago that turns out to be a chain letter.  All the while, they are shadowed by a strange man in black who has an extreme hatred of technology and are constantly stopped by people who can actually wield magic.  It’s as stupid as it sounds, but more awesome then you would ever believe.

             On the positive side, you have the opening for starters and it was fucking awesome.  I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it but it was cool as shit to watch and surprisingly tense and nerve racking.  Throughout most of each episode I couldn’t stop myself from laughing my ass off.  There were just a ton of jokes and gags that were just hilarious.  Most of the actors really got into their parts which made it all the more funny.  As the characters they usually play, they were very realistic and as the characters they were pretending to be they were so into their parts that it was funny and almost disturbing.  There were also a lot of great spoofs and parodies of famous fantasy moments such as Link’s infamous “Well excuse me, Princess” catch phrase from the 1980s Zelda cartoon and having Crom from Conan the Barbarian actually talk to one of the characters. 

            Surprisingly, there was also a really creative back story to the magic gauntlet.  I won’t spoil it but it’s really cool and actually better than half the stuff they come out with for fantasy games, books and movies.  I also couldn’t help but love the effects in this series.  They looked cheep, they looked retarded but were awesome and really show that these people love what they do.  I also liked the way it ended; concluding the events of this story but opened the way for another.     

The guy who really stole the show, however, was the strange man in black.  He was hilarious yet awesome at the same time.  Whenever he was on camera, you couldn’t take your eyes off him because you never knew what the hell he was going to do and his role wasn’t revealed until later in the series.   

On the negative side, they tried a little too hard to be funny at time and the result was just stupid.  The best example that comes to mind is the fight in the playground.  That in itself was silly and stupid enough but then they had to include a few Indiana Jones references that just felt forced.  Another example is the stone “give me light” scene which started out funny but was a little too drawn out.

            Another annoying thing about it was some of the camera work.  To sum it up in a single sentence, the damn camera wouldn’t stop shaking whenever the characters were walking and made it painfully obvious that what I was watching was a web series.  While I did love the effects if this series, some of the sound effects weren’t entirely on par with the action going on screen, (although that may have something to do with the site, my computer or internet connection).

There was also a lot of dialog that just didn’t seem right and was obviously scripted.  Not to mention, there were a few too many film references that were predictable and got old very fast.  There were also a couple of cast members such as The Nostalgia Chick or Hansom Tom who didn’t seem to get into their roles.  While everyone else were really were into their roles, these two just didn’t seemed like they cared and were just there for a pay check.  I don’t know how else to explain but it annoyed me.

            The last negative thing to mention was the solution to it all.  I won’t spoil it, but I felt it was annoyingly predictable.

            So what are my final thoughts on Suburban Knights?  Well, like I said it was stupid, retarded, but awesome and hilarious.  If you’re already familiar with the Nostalgia Critic and other people on his website I absolutely recommend watching this series.  It’s not quite as funny as Kickassia but is still hilarious and worth anyone’s time.

As Siskel and Ebert used to say,

Thumbs up!

My Thoughts on The Nostalgia Critic

            Ah, The Nostalgia Critic.  Yet another web series that I have come to love alongside The Angry Video Game Nerd, The Dragon Ball Abridged series, and Red V.S. Blue.  Having already given my thoughts on The Angry Video Game Nerd, I thought I would give my thoughts on his biggest rival, The Nostalgia Critic.

            The series is performed and edited by Doug Walker and has been going steadily since 2007.  Originally it started as a YouTube video of Walker flipping out over how awesome the 2007 Transformers movie was, basically revealing all that happens in the movie in less than 3 minutes.  Soon after, he started doing reviews of bad movies, pointing out all the major flaws of each film and making excessive jokes about them.

            He also has a number of other segments that go beyond reviewing bad films such as his Old V.S. New Segment.  I've already explained that this was what partly inspired me to do my Franchise V.S. Franchise segment and they are similar in a lot of ways.  What he does is take a film that has been remade, such as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or King Kong, and compares the characters, the special effects, and plot and decides which is superior.  While I think a lot of people disagree with a lot of his choices they're still entertaining and interesting. 

            Another segment he has is his Top 11 Lists where he decides on the top 11s of things.  Why 11?  Well in his own words, “Because I like to go a step beyond.”  Surprisingly, these lists are anything but generic and include his Top 11 Coolest Clichés, Top 11 Saddest Nostalgia Moments, Top 11 Scariest Nostalgia Moments, and his Top 11 Disney Villains list.  There are a ton more but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.  I think everyone know what a Top List is so I don't think I need to explain it.  Yet somehow, he is still able to make them funny.

            The last one worth mentioning is his Raiders of the Story Ark Segment, where he looks back at an old show series like X-Men, Captain Planet, and Full House and gives his thoughts the series and how it would hold up today.

           And somehow his videos are always funny.  Often his humor will revolve around out pointing out plot gaps, bad acting, bad special effects, trivia info, and weird things about the movies and making some kind of excessive, over-the-top joke out of it.  He'll also add in clips from other films to add to the humor and often thinks of things that have next to nothing to do with what he's reviewing and somehow ties it in.  The weird thing about it is that anyone could think up these jokes and yet there still hilarious.  For example, at the end of his Batman V.S. The Dark Knight/Old V.S. New episode, he gets a “call” from Christian Bale who in turn curses him out as the Critic reacts to it as if he is actually talking to Bale.  The “call” was actually a recording of Bale flipping out on a guy on the set of Terminator Salvation when a recorder was on, (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up).  In another, “God” smites the Critic for choosing The Prince of Egypt over The Ten Commandments.  Like I said; jokes that anyone can think up but are still funny as hell. 

            Also, his jokes tend to repeat themselves throughout not only the episode, but the entire series.  Yet there still funny.  For example, whenever he mentions a villain who's ultimate goal is world domination the episode will cut away to a scene  in the Street Fighter movie, (I will not call it a film because I do not consider it one), where Raul Julia as M. Bison will shout Of Corse!  Another reoccurring joke is his treatment of the actor Mako and that one requires a little explanation.  In his TMNT review he gave Mako crap about the way he sounded as Splinter, not knowing who Mako was and people slammed him for it, sending him all kind hate mail.  As a result, he praises everything that has to do with Mako in his reviews and has become a reoccurring joke in his videos.

            Not that the series doesn’t have flaws as it tends to be a bit repetitive.  As I said, he often uses the same jokes but on the whole come in a large variety.  Sometimes all the things he says aren't entirely accurate but that's ignorable.  My biggest problem with the series, however, is that it's usually just him sitting in front of a camera acting the review out.  Only in recent months has he really stared adding in new characters that he doesn’t play as and adding in some cheesy effects that still somehow comes second to the AVGN's effects.

            That aside, I have to say the series as a whole is hilarious.  Is it a bit repetitive? Yes.  But it's also consistently funny and there are a large variety of segments that keep the series fresh.  If you haven't already seen this series just Google The Nostalgia Critic and you'll get his entire library of episodes.  Check it out some time and I grantee that you'll laugh so hard you'll cry.

            Until next time, this is the Illusive One thanking the Nostalgia Critic for remembering it so I don't have to.      

Announcing Franchise vs. Franchise

           March was a busy month for me.  I published 17 posts, got my highest number of views in a month, reviewed several games and films, compared franchises, introduced a new segment, rammed a claymore up the ass of my rival and got shot in both knee caps for giving less than perfect reviews on certain posts.  So how will I start this month?  Well, with all the new stuff I have been doing lately, I decided to try a new segment in which I compare competing franchises.  Inspired in part by The Nostalgia Critic's Old V.S. New segments, in this segment I'll be comparing the plots, characters, and such of different franchises that usually compete with each other, or are made by the same people.  Like my Illusive One V.S. Game Informer segment, this may get its own blog if feedback from it is positive enough.  But without further adieu, I'm pleased to announce Franchise V.S. Franchise.

V.S.