The Escapist Film Festival 2010: Opinionated Reviews: Burn Notice

[Savant Crime]

A little bit excessive on the amount of thumbs being used in the slides. I know it's superficial, but too much of something does bug me. You also sounded perhaps a little nervous? Your voice was somewhat faint and muffled, as someone else said. I think speaking fast also adds to this, as when people speak slowly they tend to speak more clearly too. Although i appreciate speaking slower wouldn't fit the style you are going for in these videos. I most definitely do not see them as ZP rip-offs. They're more akin to MovieBob; actual reviews that hold real critique rather than 'trolling for the lulz', of which Yahtzee is most famous for.

I think it shows you put a lot of effort into your homework for this video and i can imagine it was a real battle having to sit through tonnes of episodes for a show you despise, and yet still have to remember the information you want to discuss and put it on a slideshow format. A TV show isn't like a movie; it's probably significantly longer to sit through, and thus more excrutiating and tougher to retain information.

Wow, that was a great, thorough comment, thanks!

Also, the thumbs are a staple image of mine. I know that I can overuse it, but it exists simply to show approval or disapproval, and that is sort of a running thread in reviews in general. And then, if I had a bunch of different pictures of thumbs and picked one at random that would be strange and non-cohesive. So I end up using it a lot (Why am I justifying myself? Who knows. Seemed like the thing to do at the time).

And thank you very much for appreciating the effort involved in these reviews! I did the math once and one full season of a show is eighteen hours of material. And then in shows I hate, it can be painful. How do I retain the information? I take extensive notes. And on this one I watched it with a couple friends of mine, so it wasn't as bad as it might have otherwise been. I had to slog through Heroes on my own... talk about painful.

 

[mm2publish]

Have to say got tired of the voice before even half way through. It's not suited to verbal diarrhea, unlike Yahtzee's. That and the fact this is a horrible attempt to rip off ZP, only using TV shows instead of games, only means I disliked it even more.

I have to agree. This is a take off of ZP only using T.V. shows. This is a gaming site not a T.V. show site. I think you should come up with original content and quit trying to copy other peoples work. Why don't I make a film called Game Cats and copy Game Dogs only it will be with cats? NOT! 2 thumbs down!

 

[Tharticus]

Wow, you people need to lay off "It's a Zero Punctuation ripoff" because no matter who's idea did it first, other people will continue to do so. AVGN was the first video game reviewer and others spawn after his debut on the internet. Should we antagonize anyone who ripoff from him? Happy Video Game Nerd? He reviews good games. Spoony? He's the jack of all reviews. Irate Gamer? Well, you can beat him to a pulp because his shows are dull. Hell, we all draw inspirations from somebody. It certainly doesn't mean it's a ripoff.

Anyway, I love your way of critiquing on television series much like Moviebob does. Besides, the Escapist is expanding their base out.

I'm looking forward for you to review Law and Order.

 

[NotSoNimble]

Okay review of a show I've never heard of... I guess?

Yogurt being there for no reason was dumb, but since it was the only attempt at humor in the whole thing, I guess it's cool.

Has potential, but not something I care much about, that being T.V. shows.

 

[King Kool]

This has been said, but I will say it as well.

You make a nice product. You are adroit, thoughtful, intelligent and purposeful in your criticism. The visual aids are helpful and entertaining. If you win, I will feel nothing but happiness that a sincere Internet talent will flourish.

Your product is almost EXACTLY like Zero Punctuation. The only thing you don't do that Yahtzee does is swear.

It is patently unimportant if this was your intention. I would not dare call you a plagiarist, or imply that it was intentional. Nevertheless, the similarities are so strong, the word "similar" ceased to be adequate. I got the whiff of it within moments of watching it and actually dropped out and stopped watching it the first time (this was right after "Trailer Master," a pale Unskippable imitation, so I was perhaps gung-ho. I have, of course, finished watching it later.)

There is another trailer in the contest called "Speaking in the First Person," which is almost exactly like "Freeman's Mind" (giving narration to the silent Gordon Freeman, in this example). The creator said he'd never heard of it, and was undoubtedly crestfallen when he saw his idea done first (as I was when an idea I had to excise from my entry had also already been done by someone else).

I swear to you, I'm not trying to be belligerent, and I'm not trying to discourage you in any way. You have made something of legitimate and tangible value, something I'm not sure I've done in any of my Internet endeavors. But let me be as clear as day: denying the plainly obvious congruity to your entry and the flagship video series on this very website borders on self-delusion.

 

[Savant Crime]

Let me be as clear as day: denying the plainly obvious congruity to your entry and the flagship video series on this very website borders on self-delusion.

You know, I have no problems with being compared to ZP (it being, you know, good), I have problems with the people who dismiss me as nothing but a Yahtzee rip-off. It was never my intention to imitate ZP, but I have consistently produced similar work, so it seems my fate to ever be The One that Appeared After.

Thank you very much for being polite about it, though, and I'm glad you enjoy my work.

 

[Signa]

I found this video worse than the combined effort of all of Game Dogs. Why do I think that? Well, I'll let the readers figure out why I hate something instead of actually pointing at real examples of what made it bad, because that's what this video did.

I LOVE Burn Notice. It's not the best show ever, and I wouldn't try to talk it up too much either, but this review makes it sound like a show that wouldn't be worth watching more than 5 minutes. The whole review reeked of a product hitting some one who wasn't part of the target audience. Hell, I never even paid enough attention to the joiners to see all the bikinis, and yet we use that as an example of why the show was "atrocious." Criticizing that just makes you sound girl who is probably jealous of others in a swim suit and finding it borderline offensive. The only REAL criticism I could take in the whole video was the blue-orange bit, and I don't understand why that destroys the show. MAYBE it could be a better show, but there is plenty of comedy, snarky comments and entertaining espionage to keep me watching and enjoying.

 

[King Kool]

Let me be as clear as day: denying the plainly obvious congruity to your entry and the flagship video series on this very website borders on self-delusion.

Thank you very much for being polite about it, though, and I'm glad you enjoy my work.

(lets out a huge sigh of relief)

I was really nervous that was gonna become a "thing."

 

[nashty13]

Agree with general trend in forum. Good to see a show reviewing TV shows and I did like it, good points made but need to change animation style.

Already have zero punctuation, escape to the movies and extra credits using the audio monologue with visiual stills to make point or input gag.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

The presentation style is very similar to...well you can guess...but it's got a great flow and you fit a lot in. In a way it feels more like Moviebob than zp, since it doesn't stray into dick jokes and it talks about technical as well as story based issues...

...actually thinking about it, I take back good flow. After a while the speed means you tune out under relentless bombarding of words.

I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it.

 

[mm2publish]

Let me be as clear as day: denying the plainly obvious congruity to your entry and the flagship video series on this very website borders on self-delusion.

Thank you very much for being polite about it, though, and I'm glad you enjoy my work.

(lets out a huge sigh of relief)

I was really nervous that was gonna become a "thing."

Isn't Rhode Island one of those states where the people are not intelligent enough to match their mile markers to their exits? Anyway, I thought you did a good job on this video! and again King Kool where is your vid? I must have missed it.

 

[King Kool]

Let me be as clear as day: denying the plainly obvious congruity to your entry and the flagship video series on this very website borders on self-delusion.

Thank you very much for being polite about it, though, and I'm glad you enjoy my work.

(lets out a huge sigh of relief)

I was really nervous that was gonna become a "thing."

Isn't Rhode Island one of those states where the people are not intelligent enough to match their mile markers to their exits? Anyway, I thought you did a good job on this video! and again King Kool where is your vid? I must have missed it.

Are you seriously following me around and commenting on MY comments on your video because I said something mean about it? Is this seriously the level of maturity we're dealing with.

Leave this out of other people's topics.

 

[ADDatWork23]

I think the video is a good start and has potential for wit and some good commentary. It's nice to get an online reviewer for Television shows; it's something I havnet seen done yet. But I wanted to take a minute and give some constructive criticism to the video.

You bring up a lot of points about the writing in the beginning of the review but my problem with it is that you don't elaborate on your points. You mention that The Girl isn't well acted or that Bruce Campbell's character is stereotypical but why is Bruce playing a stereotype? What's the stereotype? What are the cliche's of the show, what's blocky about the exposition, what makes the main character unlikable? There are a lot of things you give thumbs down to but I dont see why they're bad things. One thing I think would help is to take some time and show some examples of these problems you bring up in the review. Also, I read in the comments that the yogurt is something Burn Notices does constantly but having never seen the show I wouldn't know that so the joke felt a little alienating.

Later in the video, you pointed out a few examples of Burn Notice's Color Palette choices and it's editing overload and from the photos you showed it proves the point and it shows your argument well of "Show Dont Tell" (which I totally agree with that policy).

I think that if you took some time and elaborated on Burn Notices writing mistakes or other things that you didn't like, it could help strengthen your arguments and make for a cool review show. I hope this comment is useful and I don't come off as a douche for saying it but I wanted to chime in. Good luck in the contest!

BTW, Stop calling her a ZP Rip-off, she has a completely different tone and style of reviewing then Yahtzee and calling "Rip-Off" is getting annoying.

 

[Savant Crime]

I think the video is a good start and has potential for wit and some good commentary. It's nice to get an online reviewer for Television shows; it's something I havnet seen done yet. But I wanted to take a minute and give some constructive criticism to the video.

You bring up a lot of points about the writing in the beginning of the review but my problem with it is that you don't elaborate on your points. You mention that The Girl isn't well acted or that Bruce Campbell's character is stereotypical but why is Bruce playing a stereotype? What's the stereotype? What are the cliche's of the show, what's blocky about the exposition, what makes the main character unlikable? There are a lot of things you give thumbs down to but I dont see why they're bad things. One thing I think would help is to take some time and show some examples of these problems you bring up in the review. Also, I read in the comments that the yogurt is something Burn Notices does constantly but having never seen the show I wouldn't know that so the joke felt a little alienating.

Later in the video, you pointed out a few examples of Burn Notice's Color Palette choices and it's editing overload and from the photos you showed it proves the point and it shows your argument well of "Show Dont Tell" (which I totally agree with that policy).

I think that if you took some time and elaborated on Burn Notices writing mistakes or other things that you didn't like, it could help strengthen your arguments and make for a cool review show. I hope this comment is useful and I don't come off as a douche for saying it but I wanted to chime in. Good luck in the contest!

BTW, Stop calling her a ZP Rip-off, she has a completely different tone and style of reviewing the Yahtzee and calling "Rip-Off" is getting annoying.

You know, when I first wrote this script it was my longest of the dozen reviews I've made, weighing in at nineteen hundred words. I think the longer script may have fixed a lot of your criticisms with my video, as I did go into considerably more detail there. However, no one on the planet can say nineteen hundred words in five minutes (except for possibly the guys that read the fine print for radio commercials), so I had to cut it all the way down to eleven hundred fifty words, and most of the detail was lost. My reviews usually run seven to eight minutes, and if the Escapist hires me, I'll ask for more time. There's just too much material to cover in five minutes!

 

[ADDatWork23]

I think the video is a good start and has potential for wit and some good commentary. It's nice to get an online reviewer for Television shows; it's something I havnet seen done yet. But I wanted to take a minute and give some constructive criticism to the video.

You bring up a lot of points about the writing in the beginning of the review but my problem with it is that you don't elaborate on your points. You mention that The Girl isn't well acted or that Bruce Campbell's character is stereotypical but why is Bruce playing a stereotype? What's the stereotype? What are the cliche's of the show, what's blocky about the exposition, what makes the main character unlikable? There are a lot of things you give thumbs down to but I dont see why they're bad things. One thing I think would help is to take some time and show some examples of these problems you bring up in the review. Also, I read in the comments that the yogurt is something Burn Notices does constantly but having never seen the show I wouldn't know that so the joke felt a little alienating.

Later in the video, you pointed out a few examples of Burn Notice's Color Palette choices and it's editing overload and from the photos you showed it proves the point and it shows your argument well of "Show Dont Tell" (which I totally agree with that policy).

I think that if you took some time and elaborated on Burn Notices writing mistakes or other things that you didn't like, it could help strengthen your arguments and make for a cool review show. I hope this comment is useful and I don't come off as a douche for saying it but I wanted to chime in. Good luck in the contest!

BTW, Stop calling her a ZP Rip-off, she has a completely different tone and style of reviewing the Yahtzee and calling "Rip-Off" is getting annoying.

You know, when I first wrote this script it was my longest of the dozen reviews I've made, weighing in at nineteen hundred words. I think the longer script may have fixed a lot of your criticisms with my video, as I did go into considerably more detail there. However, no one on the planet can say nineteen hundred words in five minutes (except for possibly the guys that read the fine print for radio commercials), so I had to cut it all the way down to eleven hundred fifty words, and most of the detail was lost. My reviews usually run seven to eight minutes, and if the Escapist hires me, I'll ask for more time. There's just too much material to cover in five minutes!

I'm guessing that was the hardest part to do and I'm sure it was a headache to condense all the points Maybe if you win, you could do an extended version?

 

[Savant Crime]

I'm guessing that was the hardest part to do and I'm sure it was a headache to condense all the points Maybe if you win, you could do an extended version?

I'd really much rather have put up the extended version, but that damn time limit! If I don't win, however, I can't do anything to extend it. Except, perhaps, release the script.

 

[Savant Crime]

I gotta say I found your review pretty boring. There was nothing engaging in the video itself and the jokes were minimal.

Well, thanks for your support even though you didn't like it.

Honestly, when I write these reviews I don't put jokes into them. I always think that if I try to make them funny, it'll come off as forced, so I script them how I'd say them, and if some people think that's funny, great. I really go more for informative content than entertainment, so I can understand that you (and indeed, others) may find it boring.

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

 

[Mr. Omega]

Two minor problems:
1: Needed more time. Seemed rushed. That was more the fault of the time limit, though.
2: Perhaps a little change in the presentation. I personally don't see it as a ZP rip-off, but I can see why the people who do think that.

Out of all I've seen so far, this one certainly has the most potential for a long run. Maybe not weekly because there are only so many shows on TV, but it's something I could enjoy. Also, now I want to see the episodes that are on Youtube.

 

[talenos]

I would love to see a review of the walking dead by you.

It was enjoyable and kept me interested. I'd seen a couple of episodes and thought it was ok. But it never made me want to go watch a whole season or anything.