Doug Walker, my idol in both critiquing and acting. How could you not laugh at him, he's clever, funny and has tons of energy. He's best known as "That Guy With The Glasses" and does many great sketches such as "Bum reviews", "5 Second Movies", "Ask That Guy With The Glasses" and more. I even love his videos when it's just himself and reviews films or talks about his likes and dislikes on film, not only do I learn from him but I could down and listen to him for hours without getting bored. For me his best performance that I get tons of laughs from and has inspired me the most is his retired character The Nostalgia Critic and since its a New Year, I think it would be appropriate to pay tribute to his character.
TYLER'S TRIBUTE TO THE NOSTALGIA CRITIC
Doug's first review as the character was on the "Transformers" movie made in 2007. Before he started doing reviews as his character, he actually did his first review in the style of his Bum reviews. Doug later on reviewed the 2nd film in the same style of his Bum character, as a tradition to the characters first review ever and had the Bum appearing at the end. When the 3rd film came out, (His character) Chester A Bum sued him for copying his performance and Chester A Bum won the case and reviewed the 3rd "Transformers" movie. His bum character also appeared in some of his reviews and I can honestly say, every time you see the Bum in the "Nostalgia Critics" reviews, are funny as heck.
His next review was on that corny mean spirited anti drug special, "Cartoon All Stars:To The Rescue". Instead of doing it in the style of the Bum, he did it both in a professional way and in a comedic way. It was the start of his characters style that we all know and love and from that review his character was born. While giving his opinion while he watches the film, he always stayed in character as the half well dressed jerk critic who carries a hand gun when he's pissed. His reviews are always on the money, he always gets his point across and even if you didn't always agree with his opinions(Believe me, there are films and shows that he reviewed that I didn't agree with), you still enjoyed hearing his thoughts and you have to admit that you had a good time watching him even if he did rip your favorite film or show apart.
One of the many reasons why we keep watching him is his humor. Good God, this guy is the funniest guy I ever saw and I swear it's not an over exaggeration. In every episode, he's always over the top, he's always cursing up a storm, he's bouncing off the walls and his humor is written clever. He's so over the top that he doesn't just remind you of a cartoon character, he's also like a long lost live action "Looney Tune". How's that possible? He has the energy of a "Looney Tune", he has the cleverness of the writers who write the "Looney Tunes" and he has the humor of all the "Looney Tunes" mixed together if they decided to do adult stand up, the one he resembles the most is Daffy Duck. He's also amazing at doing impersonations, he can do 50 of them in 50 seconds and he can sound like them. Hey, he's so good at it that he was on a PBS commercial promoting the documentary "Make Em' Laugh". Finally there's his running jokes which are always funny. He's done classic running jokes such as, "Of Course","It's a Trap", Casper,"Big Lipped Alligator Moment"(The Alligator did kill the bad guy at the end of the film, so he wasn't useless),MAN,"KHANN","I Was Frozen Today", singing birds, the cartoon elephant in the room and of course the infamous "BAT CREDIT CARD". They never grow old and are sadly being ripped off by people who review films on "YouTube".
One of my favorite episodes he does are his "Top 11" episodes where he counts down the Top 11 good things or Top 11 dumb things in cinema and TV. There have been so many great Top 11 lists that he's done that they're always on the mark such as" Top 11 Scary Nostalgia Moments"(His first one),"Top 11 Disney Villains","Top 11 Underrated Nostalgia Classics","Top 11 Villain Songs","Top 11 Scariest Performances","Top 11 Episodes From Batman The Animated Series","Top 11 Simpson's Episodes","Top 11 Awkward Christopher Walken Moments" and the lists go on. Most people just stick with a Top 10 list but hey the more the better and he is the first critic (That I know) to have a Top 11 list, which is unusual but that's because he likes to go "One Step Beyond". The only time when he did an even numbered list was in his "Top 12 Greatest Christmas Specials", he later on did a sequel to the list but sadly it was his regular top 11 list but it was still awesome. I also have to say this critic has BALLS, because when he makes noticeable mistakes, he makes a Top 11 "F--k Up" list and clearly point out his mistakes. He not only points them out but he also makes fun of himself and the Internet trolls by creating a character (Played by him) who's an Internet troll to annoy his character which I have to admit makes me laugh a lot. If there's one thing we can learn from his "F--K Ups", it shows that we all make mistakes, even us critics who bitch and moan but still act professionally and think we're always right.
Another one of my favorite series of episodes that the Nostalgia Critic has done is his "Old VS New" series, where he compares an original film and a remake of the original film. He does it by choosing categories such as characters, special effects and story and sees which one is the best. What really makes this series great is while he points out the bad stuff in both film, he also points out the good things which makes the comparison more enjoyable. His first one was "Tim Burton's Batman" VS "The Dark Knight" (Personally I don't think they need to be compared since they're a different series with completely different stories) and went on to compare films such as "Willy Wonka","True Grit","Nutty Professor","Lord Of The Rings" and so on. Sometimes when he knows a remake is pure crap, he just reviews the remake and points out how bad it is compared to the original. Again his thoughts on the original film and remake are very interesting and are usually always on the money.
When a year has just ended and a New Year has just begun, Doug would treat his fans by having a themed month in January. He would have such interesting themes such as "Nickelodeon Month","Schwarzenegger Month" and "Sequel Month" and during those themed Months, he'd review a film or a TV Show based on the Months theme. His last one was "Star Trek Month" but instead of starting the year on that themed Month, he did a review on "Santa Claus: The Movie". It was a good review but most us were thinking and probably asking "Where's the themed Month" and "Why are you reviewing a Christmas film, when Christmas is clearly over?". Well after the review, he started to get right to work on "Star Trek" but due to errors, he had to finish reviewing the films in February even if the Month is over. Doug didn't just have themed Month in January, he'd also have different kinds of themed Months. On October, he'd have "Nostalgiaween" where he'd review horror films that were bad, odd or done by Stephen King where he'd play "The Stephen King Drinking Game".Then there's December where he'd go ape over and review some god awful Christmas Movies. Doug also did "Disneycember" where he'd review the Disney films as himself and show clips as he talks over it giving his opinion on the film. Obviously he's ripping off James D. Rolfes "Monster Madness" by using the same style but we didn't care nor do we think James did either. Who could also forget his Holiday Specials such as The Halloween episode with Teddy Ruxpin, His Christmas special "You Dirty Rotten Bastard Christmas" and his song "Holiday Cluster".
Another great thing about the show are the crossovers. Before it got to the point when crossovers was expected nearly every week, the crossovers became a very epic thing on his show. Sometimes he'd just have guests interact with him through the computer but his best ones are when he had guests come to his house and review the film with him. The first crossover that everyone remembers and loves are his fights with the Angry Video Game Nerd. It started off as just videos of them ranting at each other and mocking one another but when the film "AVGN Vs. NC Final Battle" came out, everyone was hyped. The films so funny and so amazing that none of us thought any crossover with the Nostalgia Critic could top it. Boy, did we not know what was in store for us. As much as it looks like they hate each other, Doug and James are actually good buddies and the video of how the film was made shows how close these two great critics are. They even made a video of them both (In character) reviewing "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:The Making Of Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour". I wish they did more videos of them reviewing films together, they're as good as a review couple like Siskel And Ebert and personally, I think they are our generation of them.
As time went on, he did crossover reviews with many Internet critics including his spin off character the Nostalgia Chick(Who by the way is a great and very intelligent critic too) but all of his crossover reviews would be upstaged on a review of a film he truly hates but everybody else seems to love. His review was on the film"Moulin Rouge" and instead of being a regular review or a normal crossover, he made it into one big musical review. He didn't have too, but he did and not only is this a great review but it's also the longest review he's ever worked on. This is also his number 1 favorite episode and it's mine too. The people he got to review it with is the Nostalgia Chick and Brent Black but he also got critics to make tons of cameos, which I won't give away who else is in this. It's also has lots catchy song parody's, it's very funny and clever on making fun of "Moulin Rouge" and it has lots of great visuals. Best review and crossover ever, yeah it's clearly his best.
Out of all child stars that the Nostalgia Critic would pick on, it was Mara Wilson. He basically just finds everything about her annoying and really hates all the movies she starred in. At the end of his review on "A Simple Wish", Mara Wilson appeared and got revenge on the critic by showing videos of him when he was a kid making videos. No one has seen or heard of her since the movie "Thomas And The Magic Rail Road" and seeing her on the show is not only a good come back for her but it's also nice to see one of our childhood stars grow up to be a beautiful women. It's also interesting to see some of Doug's videos that he did when he was a kid, I think they're cute, maybe not good but all great things have to start out with a rough draft. Doug placed this crossover as his number one favorite joke he did on the show and it is one of the best moments on the show. Oh for those people who are interested in what Mara Wilson is doing now, check out her website "Mara Wilson Writes Stuff"(http://marawilsonwritesstuff.com/) and also check out her special guest appearance with the Nostalgia Chick on her review of "Matilda".
Another great thing about the "Nostalgia Critic" are his tribute videos. His first tribute video were on the two iconic critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. The video was funny, an aspiring look on the two, and in my opinion is the best tribute video there is on the two. The video was such a hit and a good look back on the two that Roger Ebert himself liked the video (I hope Doug Walker likes my tribute to his character). Doug then went on to do a tribute to the cartoon show "The Animaniacs", which many (including myself) find it one of his best episodes and best tribute to the show. Instead of him just talking about the shows history, he actually interviewed the voice actors, animators etc etc, to talk about the show and answer the questions that fans of the show question about, which to me is why the tribute is so special. I barley watched this show as a kid but after seeing this video, it has inspired me to take another look at it.
Here's another interesting thing that he does that I've seen no one ever do, review Commercials. It started out after his review of "My Pet Monster" and after getting his spirit broken by the director of the movie, he sits down wearing a doughnut shirt in depression, stuffing himself with junk food and reviews nostalgic commercials. I must say, I thought this was gonna blow but boy was I wrong. He reviews the commercials by watching and mocking on what's going on the screen, how good the product sounds and heck even talks about the success or the rip off the product was at the time. These reviews weren't just funny but just like his movie reviews they were an interesting look back at our childhood.After the review he sings his own laugh out loud version of "Poor Jack" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and is back to being the Nostalgia Critic. Even though his character feels 10 times better, he still did two more funny sequels to his review on Nostalgia Commercials and it became a funny trilogy of reviews.
As great as Doug Walker and his show is, he still had some issues by fans, such as his F--k Ups, his Autism joke in his review of "Ernest Saves Christmas" and (Which many fans hated) his let's play video on the "Simpson's" video game "Bart's Nightmare"(Personally I thought that was a good try). However, out of all the rants from fans, he did have a legal issue. He did a funny as heck review on Tommy Wiseau's"The Room" and his video was taken down by Wiseau-Films due to copyright infringement,.Doug Walker responded to this by posting a piss your pants funny video called "The Tommy Wiseau Show" of him mocking Tommy Wiseau and the staff at the studio by acting and dressing up as the people, he even sometimes shows up at conventions wearing a wig, mocking and acting like Tommy Wiseau before he takes Q&As. The video was back on his website cause of "Fair Use" for his review on the film and Wiseau-Films didn't mess with him again.
The Critic's final review was on "The Scooby Doo Movie". The video started off with him bitching and moaning to a sudden outburst that makes him sound like a mixture of Daffy Duck, Professor Fate from "The Great Race"(Another inspiration for his character) and John Belushi. After that, he reviews the film with his past and future self and the three hate it and save the world from this piece of crap film. In the end after when the Critic meets an old friend,he plays poker with his brother and friends and it parody's the finale to "Star Trek: The Next Generation" "All Good Things...". This was a great way to close the "Nostalgia Critic" series.
There's no doubt that the Nostalgia Critic will not be forgotten by those who've watched him. He's funny, clever,always full of energy, has great and interesting thoughts and has definitely made us look back at our childhood in a different way. When ever I feel sad or feel like I'm bad at what I do. I turn on a Nostalgia Critic episode and after watching one I feel at least a lot better and more confident in myself then I was before. Everyone has their dream of meeting someone famous and if I had to choose, I'd pick Doug Walker, cause he's inspired me in so many ways and if I ever meet him, even if its just for a second, I'd not only tell him how big of an impact he was on my life but also tell him that he's the best critic and comedic performer I ever saw(At least in my book). Even if we don't have too,will always remember him and his work!
HAPPY NEW YEAR DOUG WALKER!
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE WHO'S SUPPORTED MY WRITING! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
No comments:
Post a Comment