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Who originated the TGWTG-style format for movie "reviews"?

Princess AlicePrincess Alice
in General
Obviously film criticism has been around forever, but I'm curious about the particular format of a video discussing the film, with clips from the film interspersed throughout alongside the commentary. Especially when the point of the video is to entertain rather than provide meaningful criticism.

It seems like the kind of thing that only really caught on once Internet videos were around, though I suppose it's closely related to the MST3K format of watching a movie while snarking at it the whole time.

Basically I don't want to give the Walkers credit for this if they didn't actually originate it.
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Comments

  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    Wasn't Siskel & Ebert's show a lot like this?
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    Me
  • TatterhoodTatterhood
    People were definitely doing this with video games long before nostalgia critic was a thing, but idk about movies and such.
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    MST3k was an inspiration, but Ebert's style of getting emotionally disgusted with movies he hated was also a big one. The CInema Snob IIRC actually started as a parody of Ebert circa 1985 or so.
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    The clip-driven riff-review thing strikes me as a synthesis of the Siskel & Ebert and MST3K styles, specifically as an evolution of the way that style was applied in text riffs on bad fanfiction in the LiveJournal community transposed back into video. While the Walkers were probably not the first, they were certainly very early adopters, as was Brad Jones; moreover, their particular approach was quite influential.

    I feel like this situation is sort of like with Red Letter Media and the analytical video essay: Say what one might about the people who got the ball rolling and how they did so, but their influence in itself cannot be denied or discounted.
  • TachyonTachyon
    imagei will watch the heck outta this pumpkin patch
    couldn't DVD director's commentaries and the like also be considered a historical precedent?
  • Section42LSection42L
    We can do anything if we do it together.
    It kinda comes off like an adaptation of the AVGN, TBH.
  • TatterhoodTatterhood
    Section42L said:

    It kinda comes off like an adaptation of the AVGN, TBH.

    Yeah that's kinda what I had in mind. Doing the movie/TV equivalent of an existing format for games stuff. Was AVGN the first one to do that kind of thing? I'm not sure.
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