The Big Picture: Stone Soup

[Roboto]

That whole beginning segment about hating when critics do their job poorly reminded me of when you chopped the balls off of all the Mass Effect 3 fans without so much as entertaining the notion. That made me sad panda

 

[Cry Wolf]

Stone Soup

MovieBob takes a good look at the Flintstones.

Watch Video

Moviebob, do you understand that more than one of your own reviews invoke the same reaction you describe at the begining of this video from a significant number of viewers? I'd suggest that you take a look at your status as a film critic - you know, the fact that you run a minor weekly webseries as the sum monument to your abilities. You're only in a position to be a hypocritic when making such statements about the work of others.

TL;DR - You actually are pretty bad at movie criticism, and should deflate your own ego a bit.

EDIT: Megaman stands up horribly today. I really wish you could ditch your nostalgia when talking about games, because you seem to hate anything new in games with the exception of when they haven't made any progress in the last decade.

 

[Invadergray]

Cocoa Pebbles > Fruity Pebbles. Sorry, Bob.

 

[maddog015]

Ten bucks says next week he talks about the Pebbles and Bam Bam cartoon...when they were teenagers.

That or Captain Caveman.

 

[person427]

So next week we get the Flinstones Kids and (maybe) the Pebbles and Bambam as teenagers spinoff?

 

[spartandude]

That whole beginning segment about hating when critics do their job poorly

i almost rage quit out of the video at that point. I dont think Bob has ever said something this arrogant before, he essentilly implied he was in a position to say other critics are bad because they may disagree on what the strenths and weaknesses of a movie with what he thinks
he even condemns them for calling something "formulaic" but then says it ok when he does it because....?

 

[TheLastTatlFan]

EDIT: Megaman stands up horribly today.

The original NES version? Yeah, that one's kinda terrible.

"Retraux" 9? Total shyte, I never even bothered with 10 because of it.

The series as a whole? A great fuckin' lot of titles in there that are still a blast to play today. 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, the original X, X4, X5, the Zero games, Zx, Battle Networks 2 and 3, Star Force 3...

 

[the clockmaker]

So what annoys Bob is people that he thinks aren't as good as he is? That's....that's bloody charming that is.

 

[Taunta]

So confession time, when I was a kid, I never liked the Flinstones. Especially after the Great Gazoo happened, and then the focus shifted to Pebbles and Bam-Bam, the series just got stupid. Also, I'm pretty sure it was virtually the same show as the Jetsons, except on two opposite ends of the time spectrum.

I respect it for what it did, but maybe I was just too young to find enjoyment out of it. Also, I never liked Fred Flinstone as a character. He just seemed like the lazy husband archetype but without any of the redeeming qualities.


Also, yeah, Bob, you probably could have done that intro a little better. Instead of "other movie critics suck" you could have just started out with "I really hate it when some movie critics criticize a movie for being formulaic."

 

[Vault Citizen]

My earliest memory of the Flintsones was an animated movie I had on VHS as a child, in it Bam Bam and Pebbles are grown up and in a relationship. I can't remember most of the movie but I do know that it involves Bam Bam and Pebbles breaking up in rom com fashion before getting back together again, Fred complaining about the cost of a wedding, Fred, Barney and their children behind bars at a police station and finally Fred and Barney arguing over something at their children's wedding.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

And they will be returning to Primetime at somepoint thanks to Seth Mcfarlane and Fox.

Now that I think about it, The Flinstones isn't too far removed from the family sitcom schtick that MacFarlane has milked (excessively IMO) with Family Guy, American Dad and Cleveland. It'll be interesting to see whether or not MacFarlane manages to completely fuck it up.

That's probably going to be his biggest hurdle. That formula that Bob spoke so highly of the show's ability to work with has also been run completely into the ground by the four shows Fox has already wrung out of it. Maybe five, if you think Bob's Burgers counts.

That's the beauty of having a formula. It can be rebuilt with the basics that worked and be ehnanced to have it's own appeal.

It's much like a choclate chip cookie, you know the basics for making it, how it works etc. If a cookie is poorly made, it's a bad cookie, if a cookie is greatly made, it's a bitching cookie. No one is ever going to say cookies are bad, unless they just hate cookies. People will just say that particular cookie is bad, and wish for a good cookie. That applies to Fox sitcoms.

Fox seems to bake up some bad cookies. They take a basic formula and use the cheapest/worst materials to make some horrible shows. That's why I don't watch Family guy anymore, it's much like those famous Amos cookies you get at the store, sure they are great for a bit, but keep eating them and you realize how cruddy they taste and wish your Granmother is still alive to bake cookies.

Now I want cookies.

That is the most amazing/delicious analogy I've heard in a while. Have a...no, wait. Too easy.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

This topic reminds me of when this one guy told me that he didn't like the works of P.G. Woodehouse because they where to formulaic, and I was so shocked not only could I not respond, but I couldn't even form a complete sentence for about 8 minutes.

 

[Tamrin]

Time were sure different back then.


You wont see that on Spongebob.
​

 

[Evil Alpaca]

I liked MovieBob's explanation on formula. It highlights the key difference between a formulaic game and a clone game. A formulaic game will take a basic structure (Mega Man, Zelda, Mario) are keep things like the story structure fairly simple while trying to be innovative with bosses, items, or level design.

A clone game is one that relies exclusively on formula to carry it through. I think that was one of the biggest faults of the game Dante's Inferno, was that it did not have enough innovation and seemed to rely on the God of War formula to carry it through.

Formula is a steeping stone to give the game a structure or direction, but you can't make a game out of it.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Wait, there's a show based on the vitamins? (I kid, I kid.)

On the other side of the spectrum we have House, really formulaic but awesome characters.

House is excellent example of a formula that works because of the characters. In fact the weakest part of the show, in my opinion, are those times they try to do over-arching story lines to break that formula. I did enjoy the hiring contest in season four, but most of these story lines were really poorly handled. I actually quit watching when House and Cuddy got together, it was just painful to watch.

 

[IAgreeWithYou]

Moviebob, do you understand that more than one of your own reviews invoke the same reaction you describe at the begining of this video from a significant number of viewers? I'd suggest that you take a look at your status as a film critic - you know, the fact that you run a minor weekly webseries as the sum monument to your abilities. You're only in a position to be a hypocritic when making such statements about the work of others.

TL;DR - You actually are pretty bad at movie criticism, and should deflate your own ego a bit.

EDIT: Megaman stands up horribly today. I really wish you could ditch your nostalgia when talking about games, because you seem to hate anything new in games with the exception of when they haven't made any progress in the last decade.

I had to make an account just to tell you how much I agree with you.

I enjoy watching these 'The Big Picture' videos just on the off chance that Bob will start talking about something that is somewhat interesting in its own right, without having Bob give us his own, annoyingly biased opinion, like a certain comic book story-line. Usually when he starts talking about his own opinion I switch off. As for his movie reviews I watched a few but I can't say I was sold on him being a movie critic.
I'm sure he doesn't care that a few viewers don't really hold him in very high regard as a real movie critic, but I feel like I have some say in the matter as I am a film studies student. I understand why he is so appealing to people who are only moderately interested in films and don't study the medium, but I don't think this entitles him to be so darn egotistical.

Your point on Megaman is completely true too, I think anybody claiming that a 25 year old series still holds up is going to have a hard time persuading someone who didn't spend their childhood playing the games.

I'm glad someone agrees with me, as someone who really doesn't like his movie reviews I couldn't really believe what I was hearing for about a minute of this video.

 

[PunkRex]

Anyone else think how awesome a 'Fallout: Bedrock' would be while watching this?... christ im predicable.

Oh, and as a soon to be trainee Paleontologist (with any luck) I was always let down by the Flintstones.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

The Flintstones was an okay series, but the Honeymooners sucked.

Bah. The Honeymooners was amazing. I know formula isn't necessarily a reason to bash a work of art, but in the case of Avatar, it just made it downright boring. I know the visuals were supposed to be amazing, but they just didn't do much for me. The characters were too poorly developed for me to care about any of them and I found the entire premise to be farfetched. I felt the same way about Dances With Wolves. I'm not unsatisfied that it's the same plot as another movie, I'm unsatisfied because I didn't like that plot much in the first place.