Moviebob's review of The Expendables and the community's reaction.

[Actual]

The video under discussion:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/1937-The-Expendables

The comments thread:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.226622-Escape-to-the-Movies-The-Expendables

Now bear in mind Bob saw this movie, whether that was a work obligation or he just wanted to I don't know.

Bob blames this movie and it's ilk for the lowering of quality of modern cinema. His reasoning; this is bad but it made lots of money, so movie execs will want to see more bad movies to make them more money. Roughly.

That's a fair enough stance.

The problem arises where Bob blames the people who go to see the movie for perpetuating the problem. The movie going sheeple. Now I should be insulted by this because I fully intended to go watch the film as a bit of fun I never expected it to be good but I do love me some cheesy action.

According to Bob it's not even cheesy action, it's just bad. But there was no way to know that before I saw it.

I enjoyed Bob's review, I didn't feel insulted, though maybe I should have. There is a lot of venom in his comments section and I'd like to get a better idea of how many people were actually upset. And maybe discuss, although you could go to Bob's comment section and do that too, but you might get CAPSLOCKED at.

 

[neoontime]

Poll is broken. I did disagree with his reaction, but hey, it might actually be that bad.

 

[Pipotchi]

Movie Critics are not real people like you and me, if it isnt game changing/Subtitled/watched by no-one then they are not happy.

If you want to go watch it then do, watch his videos and enjoy but dont look to them for actual direction. If the situation was reversed and everyone went and watched Scott Pilgrim and ignored The Expendables he still wouldnt be happy, and he would say that the Sheep have been won over by the marketing campaign for Scott Pilgrim and in their folly have ignored the old school delights of Stallone and his dirty half Dozen

Besides he liked Equilibrium so he clearly gets it wrong sometimes

 

[The Rascal King]

I believe he was making fun of the muscle lovin, Tapout t-shirt wearin' douchebags that wanted to see the movie because it fits their personality style. I could be wrong, but whatever. No need for butthurt here.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Does it honestly really matter that he has a different opinion?

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Well when movies like this make money, other movies come out that are exactly like it. I never saw the Expendables because I was too busy seeing Scott Pilgrim twice. It's just that when we let soulless action films (Transformers 2, Avatar (I actually enjoyed Avatar, but it certainly didn't deserve all the hype)) make this much money and then watch creative movies like Scott Pilgrim die at the box office, it really gives a bad message.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Since he probably watches multiple movies a week he probably get's bored with anything that's not amazing or innovative.

 

[lacktheknack]

MovieBob is getting more and more unlikeable each week. He still cannot shut up about Transformers and had a long stint in which he more or less labeled "The Blind Side" as an insidious, subversive Antichrist of films.

Now he's implying that the general population are all idiot sheep. Does he expect me to like him for that? I don't plan to see The Expendables, but I don't begrudge people for wanting to, because it has an awesome premise!

 

[grimsprice]

Does it honestly really matter that he has a different opinion?

If he insults other peoples taste and choices, to the point of blaming them for the decline of something he likes, then yes, people should at the very least give him a "don't be a douche" look; perhaps even going so far as to be mildly offended? I can't speak for the latter, but if he said these things to me in person i would certainly give him that look.

Its not just his opinion, its his judgement of others thats mildly irritating.

OTHERWISE, his actual comments on the movie itself i totally agree with.

 

[RoyalWelsh]

Well, I saw the film today and in my opinion, it was pretty good and I enjoyed watching it. Not as good as I was expecting it to be but still a good film, and his scathing review was his personal opinion. Ok maybe he shouldn't of 'judged' people for going to or wanting to watch it or even liking it, but just don't take too much notice, I didn't.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Does it honestly really matter that he has a different opinion?

If he insults other peoples taste and choices, to the point of blaming them for the decline of something he likes, then yes, people should at the very least give him a "don't be a douche" look; perhaps even going so far as to be mildly offended? I can't speak for the latter, but if he said these things to me in person i would certainly give him that look.

Its not just his opinion, its his judgement of others thats mildly irritating.

OTHERWISE, his actual comments on the movie itself i totally agree with.

But then why aren't there threads against yahtzee. He insults everyone all the time.

 

[Gigaguy64]

MovieBob is getting more and more unlikeable each week. He still cannot shut up about Transformers and had a long stint in which he more or less labeled "The Blind Side" as an insidious, subversive Antichrist of films.

Now he's implying that the general population are all idiot sheep. Does he expect me to like him for that? I don't plan to see The Expendables, but I don't begrudge people for wanting to, because it has an awesome premise!

Wait....when did he go off on "The Blind Side"?

 

[the Dept of Science]

Movie Critics are not real people like you and me, if it isnt game changing/Subtitled/watched by no-one then they are not happy.

I would disagree with that, in Moviebobs case at least, and a lot of other critics that I trust. He has championed lots of movies on the grounds that they are merely enjoyable without being any of those things: 2012, KickAss, Hot Tub Time Machine, Zombieland are just some examples.
Its more a matter of a movie being well made or not. Zombieland is hardly game changing, but its funny and well written and well directed and all that. From what I've heard, Expendables has nothing to recommend it beyond the cast, and even then, they have all been in better films.

Personally, I always wait for at least a few recommendations or reviews before seeing a film (or buying a game, CD or book). Otherwise, all that you are really going to see a movie on is either marketing or director/cast. Considering I'm going to be paying upwards of £10 to go and see it, I'd like a bit more of a firm idea of it than what is provided by marketing.

 

[101194]

...Nerd Rage for money? Seems like he has a good business practice, At least he's getting more attention now.

 

[lacktheknack]

MovieBob is getting more and more unlikeable each week. He still cannot shut up about Transformers and had a long stint in which he more or less labeled "The Blind Side" as an insidious, subversive Antichrist of films.

Now he's implying that the general population are all idiot sheep. Does he expect me to like him for that? I don't plan to see The Expendables, but I don't begrudge people for wanting to, because it has an awesome premise!

Wait....when did he go off on "The Blind Side"?

Every single time he talked about the Oscars, and in a couple of his written pieces.

Does it honestly really matter that he has a different opinion?

If he insults other peoples taste and choices, to the point of blaming them for the decline of something he likes, then yes, people should at the very least give him a "don't be a douche" look; perhaps even going so far as to be mildly offended? I can't speak for the latter, but if he said these things to me in person i would certainly give him that look.

Its not just his opinion, its his judgement of others thats mildly irritating.

OTHERWISE, his actual comments on the movie itself i totally agree with.

But then why aren't there threads against yahtzee. He insults everyone all the time.

Yahtzee doesn't even pretend that he's anything other than a troll, so we don't mind him. MovieBob is playing it straight.

 

[Booze Zombie]

But then why aren't there threads against yahtzee. He insults everyone all the time.

It is an odd double-standard.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

So answer my poll please.

What is the deal with this site and polls only having a 50/50 chance of working lately? I can live without them, but it's just kind of weird/annoying.

Anyway, I didn't see the movie and don't plan to, but I watched the review anyway, because I tend to like Mr. Bob's stuff even when I don't agree with him. This was not an exception. I definitely don't have the same taste in movies as he does (although there's a pretty decent amount of overlap), but it doesn't particularly bother me if he likes something I hated or hates something I liked. He's also pretty entertaining when he gets all feisty like that and starts ranting, and he tends to at least have a reason for the things he says, even if other people don't agree with that reason. It doesn't hurt that he often tries to point out things about "film" in general or the history of the medium in relation to what he's talking about, particularly in his written stuff, but in a way that those of us who haven't studied the topic in school can get something out of.

So, I don't always agree with him, and I don't always find his reviews helpful (and occasionally not even entertaining), but I didn't have a particular problem with this one any more or less so than previous ones. Yeah, he's a little more irritated than usual, but I think people are overreacting a bit. He has his opinion, and you have yours. If you're actually offended by what he said, you need a bit more confidence and conviction in your own opinions if you can't just shrug it off and go, "Yeah, whatever. He's wrong, and I still like it."

 

[lacktheknack]

But then why aren't there threads against yahtzee. He insults everyone all the time.

It is an odd double-standard.

Again, the game-changing difference is that Yahtzee knows he's a troll and doesn't pretend to be anything else (watch the Batman review). MovieBob plays it straight, so he comes across as more insufferable. Besides, I bet there's been tons of threads decrying Yahtzee if you look back far enough.