Poll: Do you enjoy Moviebob's content?

[Teoes]

Yes I do. I enjoy the info-dump Big Picture episodes where I can learn about some of the more odd and obscure aspects of movie and comic history and I appreciate his film reviews. I don't always agree with his opinions, but get this - I understand they're opinions, I understand reviews can't be objective, I understand my tastes will not always line up with those of another person. That's why I watch other reviews from other people as well, to get a sampling from which I can form my own expectations.

I don't think he's as skewed on some subjects as some would have us believe (namely Marvel) and I don't have a problem with him repeatedly bringing up stuff like DKR or Man of Steel when he was so disappointed in how they turned out. These things do not bother me, sorry.

Some of the stuff on Twitter has been questionable but I'm waiting to make my mind up on that.

 

[Sampler]

I'm not a fan of his movie reviews as he can't seem to keep a good spoiler to himself, hell, even a slight one - I know his argument for it in his video's but personally I feel a review should be a peak under the bonnet of a film - what are the stories broadstrokes, what artistic endeavour were the team behind it aiming for (even if that boils down to "Bay make things go boom!"), did they get near that and was the acting passable.

or a more indepth discussion on a film, it's story and anything a spoiler may impact on I feel that's more where his Big Picture shows should come in.

But that's just me, all I do know is stear clear of Escape to the Movies for anything I'm fairly sure I'm going to go see (or wait for video) and only run through the ones I'm either not sure about or simply don't care for.

I don't follow his twitter and don't watch his overthinker series (mostly as the first I'd heard was the big picture cross-over and if that was supposed to be at it's best to sell itself than I don't think it's a show for me).

Some of the Big Picture stuff he does is cool though and I see plenty of people like him on hear (more so than those who dislike him, didn't realise that was a thing until reading this topic), but each to their own, we all have our own preferences and priorities and way we like to see things done and that doesn't always gel with the rest of the world..

...and that's ok.

 

[themilo504]

I enjoy his stuff unless he talks about video games, I feel like he simply hasn?t played or knows enough about modern non Nintendo games to talk about video games in the way he wants to.

As a person he seems like kind of a jerk, at the very least he seems to have good intentions just poor methods, I really wish that people like him would stop accusing things they don?t like of sexism or racism, those are big accusations that should not be used lightly.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

He has his good moments (I especially loved his Kevin Smith retrospective) but I don't go out of my way to watch his videos. Like others in this thread, I appreciate the depth of his knowledge and would never question his devotion to the subject. He just doesn't review the types of movies that I like, and on the rare occurrences when he talks about something that interests me, I find his presentation a bit dry.

The best way to state it is that I see his videos as condiments, NOT my main course.

(And until Bob starts reviewing a metric fuck-ton of horror movies, I'll stick with Bloody Disgusting.)

 

[jklinders]

At first I saw his content as being similar to Yahtzee in that he seemed to be taking the piss a little bit. Then I realized that unlike Yahtzee he was actually frequently insulting to people who did not share his views. I used to see his reviews as I had enough of a lead on his tastes to know that if he disliked something I would likely like it. Then I also started noticing he would seemingly go into a movie with a red pen just on the basis of it being directed by someone he doesn't like. Frankly that makes his opinion (which as a critic is his job) utterly worthless to me. So I stopped looking at his reviews.

Big Picture, much like his Twitter feed seems to be turning more away from pop culture and more toward other *COUGH*gamergate*cough* things. Lots of places on the internet I can find that if I want to, I really don't need it sprinkled into pop culture analysis as well.

I just find him lately to be full of hatred and contempt and that's not what I am looking for from an escapist content producer. So yeah.

 

[Dogstile]

Not at all, he reminds me of that nerd at school who got angry every time something happened that they didn't agree with. He's just so angry all the time. It's like when he does a review and spends ages talking about himself and how he's disappointed because of "what could have been".

Cool, review the damn film for what it is, ta!

 

[Poodlewalker]

I love his Big Picture videos and have listened to them all more than once, I think he has talent for writing up an entertaining short lecture,I've always loved an able teacher, no matter the subject. Well, within reason. I enjoy the way his mind works and even if I disagree with his ideas about a movie, the movie usually turns out to be worth a look. I don't follow twitter, I would argue the work a writer has considered,is his/her best, truest voice and the one they would wish to be remembered for. That sounded a bit stuffy but I'm sincere.

 

[rorychief]

Like a lot of people i came to the escapist for ZP, stayed for Big picture/Escape to the Movies. Lately though I finding myself reading his stuff out of a kind of fascination for his drama and tantrums. I still enjoy his work and i think he's very talented, we have polar opposite tastes on everything (despise family friendly superhero movies) but he explains his points well and even if what he's saying makes no sense to me i believe that he really believes it makes sense, if that makes sense? I guess i admire his honesty, if not his tatses and justification for them.

As for culture stuff, to me he's a caricature of well intentioned/deluded American liberalism. Like i know politics over there is extremely polarized, so maybe bob is like the mirror of fox republicans, but I've long since stopped counting him to inform my opinion. Instead the myriad neuroses he places on screen are their own kind of fun to watch unravel.


Here's a charming example i just took from his twitter.

"2 fundamental questions underline 90% of my decisions: "Does this get us closer to a better world?" "Is this morally correct?" In that order... It's a thin line of importance separating the two, but at the end of the day a tangible superior future has to sometimes "win out" over......"how does this square with some largely subjective social concept of right or wrong?"
Immediately followed by
"Classic example: "Is murder wrong?" Yes. "If you could time travel, would you kill pre-WWII Hitler?" Of course. Without hesitation or regret."

See here he endorses transgressing societies widely held morale code so long as it will help bring about his 'better world'. (Building a better world on the ashes of the old one is a common rhetorical device of Moviebob's) Abhorring murder but being willing to murder hitler is the example he then gives of this philosophy in action, with no irony or awareness that the crime that would justify hitler's murder was transgressing societies moral code in pursuit of a 'better world.' He acknowledges that society's morale code is subjective, but not the definition of a better world because there can only be one and that is his.
I dunno, its just sort of neat to watch these stream of consciousness rants coil round and round and round. I vote i like his content. For different reasons than when I began

 

[DoPo]

Aren't "Generally no" and "Occasionally yes" the same thing?

Yeah, I think so. The poll is odd. It also doesn't have an option for "I don't follow MovieBob". This would have been my pick, but since I couldn't, I went for "Generally no" - the option "I've never enjoyed a single piece of his work." was also correct but it depicted what I actually wanted to get across in a more incorrect way than my chosen answer. So I chose the less incorrect of the two.

To explain my (so awfully neglected) situation - I watched few of his videos and they weren't to my taste. So I didn't watch any of the rest. *shrug* I don't see why everything has to be split between love and hate.

 

[Emanuele Ciriachi]

He's a liberal fascist - I find that his intolerance of viewpoints outside his own narrow one negatively impact his professionalism. I definitely can't say I appreciate his work because of this.

 

[Frothy Gibblets]

I used to quite like Escape to the Movies years ago, but it was somewhere around the time of The Expendables/Scott Pilgrim reviews that I began to dislike the man. He's not the first or only overweight nerdy kid who was bullied in school, but it's a chip he can't seem to shake off. Not to mention how sanctimonious he became.

I'm sure he makes a good show, is informative and all the other positive things people have mentioned in this thread, but my disdain for the man is so great I simply refuse to watch or read anything he does now. For those who like and enjoy his content, fair play to you.

Captcha: Do you Love me? Nooo! I have no heart, I feel no love. I feel no fear, no joy, no sorrow. I...am...hollow!

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Eh, I watch The Big Picture every week and Escape to the Movies whenever I'm interested, so yeah, I like his work here. I try to just listen to his videos for the sake of enjoying them.

 

[endtherapture]

Not generally, no. His attitude just puts me off. That 'I know better than you' arrogance and the way he aggressively presents his opinions as if they were hard facts just rubs me the wrong way. Even when he says things I agree with, I have a hard time enjoying his content. This was not made better when he sprayed SJW juices all over the place.

Definitely, he's incredibly full of himself and arrogant given that he doesn't seem to actually have much professional experience. His opinions are presented as fact.

I have long since stopped watching most of his videos. I'll watch the occasional episode of The Big Picture if it looks interesting, but Escape To The Movies I left long ago. Too many little jabs at films I enjoyed (The Dark Knight trilogy, followed by the first TASM, and then Man of Steel) just got boring. Bob has his attitude that films should be made the way he wants them, and no other way. He fails to understand that things are marketed for the youth of today rather than a guy in his late 20s/early 30s, and thinks everything should line up with his outdated view of the world.

Plus I don't think any of his comments are even very insightful. He knows a lot about comic books, he should stick to that rather than the social commentary. His news articles aren't news but basically Marvel wanking and DC bashing with inflammatory clickbait headlines and misinformed facts with a heavy dose of personal bias. And he's got people lapping this crap up...

His videos aren't even that good. ETTM is the trailer of the movie looped whilst he talks about it. I watched GameOverthinker once and it was more self indulgent than AVGN. Big Picture has a lot of reaction faces but I'm not sure what each face is meant to represent.

 

[Gorrath]

When he avoids the controversial, I think his content is usually top notch. It's not that there's anything wrong with talking about controversy, or expressing strong opinions about which side he thinks is right in those controversies, but Bob takes to demonizing people who disagree with him or his position. He often talks down to his audience like he's some kind of parent admonishing a child for bad behavior. Even when I agree with him, that kind of attitude grates on me.

It also greatly annoyed me when he took the time at the beginning of one episode to accuse people of not knowing what the word "hypocrite" means. Surely there are those who were using the word wrong when describing him but on some positions, he very much is a hypocrite; just see the difference in stance he takes on harassment depending on who it's leveled at.

All in all, he's much better at movie reviews and digging into nuggets of geek culture past and much worse when it comes to putting on a rant. Lately he's been far too much into the latter for me to follow his work as I had in the past.

 

[b.w.irenicus]

When he does his comic thing, I like The Big Picture. You know, episodes like "Whos was that guy at the end of Thor 2?" Puting that aside, when he talks about politic or economics or social issues, I actually can't stand him. Not because I always disaggre (which I don't), but because he comes across as incredibly smug and self-righteos. I remeber one episode about genetic engeneered food which he started by basicially threating everybody disagreeing with him like cavemen. Didn't bother watching past that. Even when when I agree with him, his way of talking down on others sometimes makes me wish I didn't.

 

[prowll]

To put it lightly, no; I cannot stand the guy. And I'm a big fan of harsh critics, like Brooker, Yahtzee, and Sterling. But Bob always seems to be arrogant in his commentary, using his bias as a crux as opposed to a reference point. That and I studied film, so I can't stomach his movie reviews given that most of them make little to no sense in my mind. The Road = a film in which nothing happens vs 2012 = best apocalypse film of 2012? No.

To be perfectly honest, now that Jim has gone I'm seriously thinking about taking my leave from this site given the sheer volume of Bob stuff posted here.

See, I see this the exact opposite. While I find Bob incredibly watchable, whether I agree with his opinion or not, I find Jim f*ing Sterling to be a overbearing arrogant prat, even when I totally agree with him.

 

[RedDeadFred]

As others have mentioned though, I go to TGWTG almost every day, at LEAST twice a week because their stuff is just funnier and more honest and open.

Out of curiosity, I searched TGWTG since I'd never been to the site. Wow. I didn't realize that a bunch of Youtubers I enjoy all contribute to the same place. I'll definitely going there quite regularly now.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Personally, I enjoy him sometimes and sometimes not but generally I know what to avoid.

Yeah it really just comes down to that. I still watch a lot of his movie reviews and stuff, don't always agree with them, but still find what he says interesting sometimes. It used to be different though.

I enjoyed his work quite a bit when I first found this place and everything he said seemed pretty good, up until his political presence outshined his geek one. At first it wasn't so bad because I lean pretty far left myself, but as time went on I started getting more and more uncomfortable. The Authoritarian side of my party makes me just as uncomfortable as the Teaparty. I mean, he can insert as much of his politics into his stuff as he wants, that's his call, but I can be repelled by it to; that's mine.

 

[carpathic]

I find I enjoy his content often.

I was really very miffed with him around the Mass Effect 3 stuff. Gamers are not entitled and neither is art inviolate.

That turned me off his stuff for a long time. Lately however I have started watching his stuff again and enjoy the quality as well as the thought he clearly puts into things.

 

[Gorrath]

To put it lightly, no; I cannot stand the guy. And I'm a big fan of harsh critics, like Brooker, Yahtzee, and Sterling. But Bob always seems to be arrogant in his commentary, using his bias as a crux as opposed to a reference point. That and I studied film, so I can't stomach his movie reviews given that most of them make little to no sense in my mind. The Road = a film in which nothing happens vs 2012 = best apocalypse film of 2012? No.

To be perfectly honest, now that Jim has gone I'm seriously thinking about taking my leave from this site given the sheer volume of Bob stuff posted here.

See, I see this the exact opposite. While I find Bob incredibly watchable, whether I agree with his opinion or not, I find Jim f*ing Sterling to be a overbearing arrogant prat, even when I totally agree with him.

It's interesting isn't it? I find Jim's arrogance to be a caricature of half enraged advocate, half intentional man-child. All in all, I think it's pretty funny and sometimes charming because it's an obvious affectation. Bob on the other hand comes off as actually full of himself, which is what I find grating even when I'm totally with him on a point. Even though it all comes off as arrogant, people seem to prefer one over the other. Odd, that.