Moviebob: Difference between revisions

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''[[Proud to Be A Geek|Prouder to be an American geek]]"'' - The motto used at the beginning of each segment. }}
 
Bob "Moviebob" Chipman, also known as "The Game Overthinker", is a self-proclaimed "Z-list internet celebrity" who maintains a vlog on YouTube and a [http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/ Blogspot site],and also contributes to both [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/MovieBob The Escapist] and [http://screwattack.com/ Screw Attack]. He rips apart bad movies, but his particular shtick is giving analyses of gaming culture and the industry, in a style closely reminiscent of college-lit-class style "close reading", overlaid with appropriate (and sometimes humorous) images. Bob's analyses are very much like you would see from a troper. Indeed, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/7190-Trope-a-Dope he's written an article] that refers to "a genuinely wonderful website called TV Tropes". Bob loves what he loves and hates what he hates, and between his (admittedly) abrasive attitude, his [[Nostalgia Filter|unapologetic love of '80s and early '90s gaming]], and his tendency to [[He Panned It, Now He Sucks|belittle franchises with large fanbases]] (and those fans), he can be somewhat [[Love It or Hate It|divisive]]. However, agree or disagree with him, his videos often provide ample food for thought.
 
The list of the [[Films Discussed By Moviebob]] got so long, it's been moved to a separate page.
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** Many of his reviews are this.
* [[Berserk Button]]:
** "[["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|Hardcores]]"
{{quote| "You heard me, you half-cocked message board fuckheads, the [[Wii]] ''is'' part of ''this'' console generation ... so can we ''please'' stop it with this tired shit about [[Nintendo Gamecube|GameCubes]] and duct tape!"}}
** Tyler Perry also counts, as does [[Sam Raimi]]'s departure from the ''[[Spider Man]]'' films and the series' upcoming reboot.
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** While he admits their obvious flaws, he has a love of Nintendo games and often uses Nintendo characters in the [[B Roll Rebus]].
** The word "douchebag" pops up heavily when regarding hardcores or Michael Bay, becoming his mainstay word to describe someone/something he really hates (naturally people call him this).
** Discussed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/7367-Stuff-Bob-Likes here]. To be specific: [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Monkeys|Monkeys]], [[A Boy and His X|Dogs]], Monsters, [[Kaiju|Giant Monsters]], [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Dinosaurs|Dinosaurs]], Lesbians, [[Heavy Metal (Music)|Heavy Metal]], Awesome Fight Choregraphy, [[Insufferable Genius|Insufferable Geniuses]] as protagonists, [[The Fifties]], [[The Eighties]] and strangely enough [[Honor Before Reason]].
* [[Curse Cut Short]]
{{quote| Ah, finally. Just a good old-fashioned straight-up revenge movie. No [[The Book of Eli|post-apocalyptic bible salesman]], no [[Legion|angels with guns]], no connection to anything remotely spiritual, religious, church-related or anything else that gets people's [[Internet Backdraft|panties in a twist]] whenever I mention it. Ah, good. Good. ...Hey, who's in this again? *Shot of [[Mel Gibson (Creator)|Mel Gibson]] as he appeared in [[The Passion of the Christ]]* Aw, Mother F- *Theme Plays* }}
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* [[Fan Service]]: The hot model pics.
** In his ''[[Heavy Metal (Animation)|Heavy Metal]]'' review, he notes that this was the ''only'' reason the movie was worth watching at the time, since boobs were hard to find back in the early 80's, let alone cartoon boobs.
* [[Fast -Forward Gag]]: He sometimes speeds up part of his voice-over in order to make the video fit the standard ~10-minute length while still including all the [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|BIG WORDS]] he wants to use. It is usually accompanied by a graphic of a chipmunk and a cup of coffee.
* [[Franchise Original Sin]]: [[In Universe]] example; in the ''Intermission'' editorial [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/9521-Consequences "Consequences"], he cites four examples of great films that he feels started some of the more annoying and/or problematic trends in various film genres, and in moviemaking as a whole.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: He admitted once that he was bullied in high school, and his comments seem to give away that his resentment from that era is one, if not the main reason behind his criticism to certain things. Like the "douchebag" video game crowd that came with the Play Station generation (especially [[X Box]] Live FPS users), his hatred towards the 90's (the decade in which he went to high school), and his fondness for [[X Men|Magneto]]-like villains. He's also specially done a ''Big Picture'' episode about nerd reactions to such actions and the mindset that if one was bullied, they can't in turn be a bully themselves. He admits that he's talking to himself as much as he is to the viewer.
* [[The Great Comics Crash of 1996]]: ''Game Overthinker'' Episode 11, titled "''Can It Happen To Us?''", pointed out similarities between the current game industry and the pre-crash comic book industry.
* [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?]]: Yes. Every female character in every movie gets ranked based on how much she appeals to Bob's carefully explained tastes.
* [[Heavy Metal (Music)|Heavy Metal]]: Bob uses the metal fandom's rejection of neo-Nazi skinheads latching onto them as a model for how gamers should react to their medium's association with fringe whackos (like the Oslo killer) and disgruntled youth.
* [[History of Hollywood]]: He's done a series of episodes on this subject for ''The Big Picture''.
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* [[Stop Being Stereotypical]]: The entire point of #33, "Building a Better Gamer"
* [[Story Arc]]: {{spoiler|Episode 43 had Game Overthinker's [[Evil Counterpart]] come in and [[Hostile Show Takeover|take over the show]], by teleporting Game Overthinker. Many have noticed the [[Follow the Leader]] to the plotline based elements in [[That Guy With the Glasses]]'s shows.}}
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]:
** Admitted in-universe when accused of picking on big names because it makes him feel big.
** Reading his twitter feed or blogs shows that this applies in real life as well.
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* ''[[Farmville]]'' and other browser games: Doesn't get why people view it as killing gaming, nor does he get the dichotomy between "casual" and "hardcore" games in general.
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto (Video Game)|Grand Theft Auto]]'': Likes the series overall, with ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City (Video Game)|Vice City]]'' being his favorite. However, he hated ''[[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (Video Game)|San Andreas]]'', viewing that game as having jumped head-first into the sort of ''[[Scarface (Film)|Scarface]]''-esque [[Damn It Feels Good to Be A Gangster|gangster machismo]] that ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City (Video Game)|Vice City]]'' had parodied. He also laments the inherent limitations of the genre.
* ''[[Halo]]'': Exhibit A for every problem that Bob has with modern [[First -Person Shooter|First Person Shooters]], particularly the genre's focus on online multiplayer. He also argues that there are [[Unfortunate Implications]] in the differences between the Covenant and the UNSC.
** ''Halo 4'': In the ''Big Picture'' episode [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5654-One-Day-in-November "One Day in November"], he discussed the conspiracy theory that the timing of the game's release on November 6, 2012 -- Election Day in the US -- was an attempt to get Mitt Romney elected President by distracting the youth vote (which pulls strongly for Obama) with a major entertainment release, thus reducing turnout by them. His conclusion: the theory has little to no basis in fact (even if the general idea was theoretically possible), though the mere fact that people even considered it just serves to highlight how gamers should be more involved with the world around them and be active participants in its processes.
* ''[[Madden NFL (Video Game)|Madden NFL]]'' and other [[Electronic Arts|EA Sports]] titles: Dislikes how EA charges $60 a year for what usually amounts to a roster update and minor gameplay changes, things that, in an age of [[Downloadable Content]], should be done via that route.
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* ''[[The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'': Apart from believing that Fi will never appear in the franchise ever again, he comments about how the game treats the themes of romance and sexuality through several plot points, "like Nintendo's development teams just now discovered sex and they're really excited to tell everybody".
* ''[[Mario Kart (Video Game)|Mario Kart]] Wii'': Not talking about the game itself, but about gaming romantic also-rans, inspired by the statue of Luigi dancing with Daisy on the Daisy Cicuit.
* ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'': Having admittedly never played any of the games<ref>He later watched the endings on [[YouTube]], and found them to be "[[So Okay ItsIt's Average|neither awful nor great]]".</ref>, he feels that the [[Internet Backdraft]] over the ending, specifically the demands that [[Bio Ware]] change it, went way over the line, comparing many of the more vocal fans to Annie Wilkes from ''[[Misery]]'' in terms of their sense of entitlement. In his opinion, being a fan of a property does not give you the right to claim control over its creative direction, and outbursts like this do nothing to help the image of gamers and geek culture in general. In the process, he makes an argument in favor of the idea that a more linear plotline makes for more compelling storytelling, and that this is the reason why it's so difficult to tell a conventional story through a video game -- the very same elements that traditionally make for a good story in other media also make for boring, unimaginative gameplay.<br /><br />This one frustrated him so much that he devoted two ''Game Overthinker'' episodes '''and''' part of a ''Big Picture'' episode to it. During the second ''Overthinker'' episode he did on the subject, he felt that Bioware's caving to the demands of the "Retake ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]''" movement set a terrible precedent for the relationship between gamers and developers -- a developer may be a lot more reluctant to take [[Twist Ending|narrative]] [[Downer Ending|risks]] after seeing what happened to Bioware. He used ''[[I Am Legend (Film)|I Am Legend]]'''s [[Focus Group Ending]] as exhibit A for the chilling effect that this could have on creativity in games.
* ''[[Mega Man (Video Game)|Mega Man]]'': Did an ''Overthinker'' episode discussing the various literary, historical and pop culture sources (particularly ''[[Astro Boy]]'') that the series drew its influences from.
** ''Mega Man 9''
* ''[[Metroid Other M]]'': Controversially defended the game from many of its more common criticisms. He believes that game's portrayal of Samus Aran, while [[Unfortunate Implications]], was due chiefly to a failure to translate old-school narrative mechanics to a modern game, [[HanlonsHanlon's Razor|rather than any deliberate malice or misogyny]] on the part of Team Ninja or Nintendo. He also states that trying to associate the game's perceived misogyny with broader gender issues in Japanese culture carries a ton of unfortunate implications in itself, going as far as to call it flat-out racist.
* ''[[Modern Warfare]]'': Much like ''Halo'', he views it as representative of everything that he dislikes about shooters, often referring to the sequels as "map pack delivery systems". In particular, he is greatly put off by the series' (and other military shooters') gung-ho militarism and weapons fetishism, which he feels attracts whack-jobs like the Oslo killer and [[Right Wing Militia Fanatic|fringe militia types]] to gaming, thus inadvertently giving it its association with [[Murder Simulators|real-life violence]].
* ''[[New Super Mario Bros Wii (Video Game)|New Super Mario Bros Wii]]'': Devoted an ''Overthinker'' episode to pointing out the surprising similarities it has with ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2''.
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[[Category:Video Review Show]]
[[Category:Moviebob]]
[[Category:Trope]]