For anyone growing up in the '90s, the "Batman" movies were some of the best action movies out there, or at least half of them were. The quality of the movies just got worse with each sequel, and this movie was the campy bottom of the barrel. If you love watching someone pretend to absolutely lose their mind over a bad movie, this review is for you.
Having turned 30 last week, I am probably one of the last generations to grow up with easy access to classic cartoons. Having grown up in the infancy of cable and niche programming, these new stations needed content and old cartoons like Tom and Jerry filled a programming need until newer, more hip programming came along. The '90s saw a need to try to bring classic cartoons to the hip new generation with movies like Space Jam, and this abomination. More of Doug Walker's own opinion and less scripted material in this episode makes it really shine.
Another bad trope of the '90s involved really pretentious and preachy environmental films aimed at children, and FernGully: The Last Rainforest, while not the worst of these films, still rates up there. This review marks the first crossover with the Critic female counterpart, the Nostalgia Chick, portrayed by Lindsay Ellis. I'll get more in to her character and concept next month, though you don't need to watch any of her reviews to get any set-up for this episode. The two play well off of each other and the comedy is rather high (faux fight scene, aside).
While not the first review to come to mind when talking about the Critic's best reviews, this one certainly is under-appreciated. The writing has a unique premise - what if the guy who usually screams and whines about everything finally loses his voice and has to conduct the whole review in silence. While it sounds like a recipe for disaster, Walker actually pulls it off quite well with clever writing and very effective facial expressions. It also helps that the subject material takes itself so seriously, it was absurd before Walker even touched it. For creativity alone this deserves a watch.
Literally the next episode after "The Good Son," Walker reverted back to the traditional Critic comedic formula, but executes that formula well; one of his best performances. What makes this episode unique is that he compares and contrasts the title Sonic character series with another show featuring the same character that ran simultaneously. It ends with a very thoughtful, if comically-played, analysis of the difference between a story with little effort versus a story with real effort.
This episode came right after Sonic and two episodes after The Good Son, setting up a nice trio of videos in February 2009. One of the staples of the Nostalgia Critic is his "Top 11" lists. This list looks at some of the most bizarre moments in games and animation. The strange subject material aside, Walker provides some great analysis while maintaining a light and surreal tone. This episode should come with a warning for first-time viewers: keep your volume a little low - this episode can get loud at times.
Fast forward to June 2009 and what we have here is a universal fan favorite - the "North" review. By any standard, the movie "North" was horrendous; a movie critics Siskel and Ebert panned venomously. This is s movie directed by Rob Reiner, the cast filled to the brim with stars, and yet, is filled with terrible jokes, offensive ethnic stereotypes and one of the most poorly written movies I've ever seen, personally. Oh, and the Critic's review is quite entertaining, much in the vein of the "Batman and Robin" review.
From September 2009, this is another great "Top 11" list and is exactly what you think it is - a list of Walker's worst mistakes, whether it's an editing mistake, a writing mistake or otherwise. Walker introduces another fan favorite character, the obnoxious nit-picker, Douchey McNitpick, to ridicule the Critic through each item on the list and it's great to see Walker have a sense of humor about his mistakes.
While I could continue to list some really great reviews from 2009, which might have been the best year for the Critic, I would be remiss not to list some of the best reviews from this decade. Feb. 2, 2010, Walker released the 100th episode of the Nostalgia Critic, complete with great cameos from Bhargav Dronamraju (as Ma-Ti from "Captain Planet") and Noah Antwiler (lampooning Terl, the over-the-top villain in "Battlefield Earth" portrayed poorly by John Travolta). A movie based off a book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, "Battlefield Earth" is universally considered one of the worst movies of all time. Walker has a ton of fun comically ripping this movie apart, and the scenes with Antwiler playing off Walker are brilliant.
Debuted in July 2010, this review was a special request by a fan. Walker bent his own rules for reviewing this material by looking at a film past his cut-off date to be considered nostalgic. This review has a ton of laughs, a ton of hilarious cameos, and the movie itself, also regarded universally as one of the worst of all time, is a ton of laughs despite itself. The movie is so terrible, many viewers consider it hilarious, so the combination of the Critic and the cameos make it arguably his best review. This review also sparked some controversy, as Wiseau Films, the production company that made the film, pressed Walker with legal action to pull his review. Walker did so and responded with a biting satire of the whole affair. With help from intense fan pressure, Wisaeu Films backed off and the review was restore to Walker's website in December of the same year.
Released in November 2011, this review is arguably the best Nostalgia Critic episode. Even Walker himself listed this episode #1 in his "Top 11 Nostalgia Critic Episodes" review in a Sept. 25 video. It's hard not to see why - excellent writing - not just the dialogue, but also the musical numbers. There are a ton of cameo appearances in this episode, including Brent Black, a.k.a. Brentalfloss, a talented video game parody musician (yes, that exists). The video is well-shot and parodies the source material expertly. In fact, this video did its job too well, as it was after the filming of this video that Walker decided there was nowhere else he could go with the Nostalgia Critic and began writing the character's retirement, which would come to fruition less than a year later.
Arguably the last great Nostalgia Critic review, this episode debuted a month after "Moulin Rouge" and definitely deserves bonus points over the other possible final choice because of its originality. In keeping with the spirit of Dr. Seuss, Walker wrote the entire dialogue for the episode in rhyme. The result is actually very true to the spirit of the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and his rhyming, while it stumbles a bit at points, is perfectly on key.
A quick note on the Nostalgia Critic in 2012: As last year was supposed to be the farewell tour for the Critic, most of the reviews certainly felt that way - not so much delivering a final collection of great performances as much as rushed performances. None of the 2012 reviews are particularly bad, they just feel as if Walker was trying to quickly get the months over with until his final review, "Scooby-Doo (the live-action movie)" in August. If I had to recommend any review from last year as worth seeing, definitely take a look at his Patch Adams review - it's very insightful about the real Hunter "Patch" Adams and how the movie gloriously botched telling his story.
Well, that's all for my look at the Nostalgia Critic. Check back Thursday night as I take a look at one of the Internet's original well-springs of user-generated content - newgrounds.com, followed Friday by a look at a product of Newgrounds that still thrives today - Neurotically Yours.
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