Comments

I'm not going to downvote this because whatever, but I would say that it's a bit shortsighted to assume that because you watched one episode of the third season of a show involving an semi-emotional plot that only has any resonance if you've seen most of the preceding episodes and didn't like it, that you dislike the show as a whole. I like every other comedy show you say you like below, not that that's a total indicator of taste, and of course it doesn't really matter to me if you like Parks and Rec or not, but if we were friends, it would be the first (comedic) show I would recommend you watch that is currently on the air. The second would be Bob's Burgers.

Is it just me (and I know there are exceptions - sorry, exceptions! I love you!) or would these conversations be a lot less douchey if Vgum didn't have facebook connect for commenting?

Also, that is basically what she said.

Sure - like I said to The N above (basically), that's a valid point of view. But the way you wrote your critique of it is above is insulting and dismissive. I like it and you don't, but there's nothing wrong with trying hard.

I will give you that yesterday wasn't that "funny," but I found his writing very entertaining. You didn't enjoy it, fine, the reason people are downvoting you isn't because you've taken a political stance, it's because you're kind of being a dick about it. Don't know Mans personally, but I'd feel a bit insulted to have my work dismissed out of hand in an insulting manner. That's all.

There sure are a lot of jerks on the site today.

I haven't seen the movie, so this isn't necessarily on point, but I always kind of take issue when people make the case that if you're making a big, dumb popcorn movie, it's ok if the plot sucks and/or doesn't make any sense, the acting is sub-par, and the caricatures are as broadly drawn as possible (Transformers, Iron Man 2, etc.). You're spending 200 million dollars - take the time to nail, um, the little details like plot and script and character development. Independence Day is one of my least favorite movies for exactly this reason - it's big and stupid and doesn't even try, because it thinks it doesn't have to.

I'm thinking you don't actually like this site at all.

Best guest blogger so far, and that's far from an insult to any of the others.

The books are overlong and badly (or not at all? out of respect for the dead or something) edited, and not very well written into the bargain. They're also lazily plotted, with far too much detail about things that don't matter, and gaping plotholes that the book pretends aren't there, and huge jumps in genre and style from time to time, and a respect for print journalists, that, at this point in history, borders on the comical. And the second book is kind of a piece of shit. But. They're also translated from another language, which adds a level of remove from the original writing, and taken as a whole, I kind of enjoyed them. If I ignore all the stuff I pointed out in the first paragraph. The movies are actually worse - the leaps in logic and plot are even more glaring because of how much is left out, and nothing that anyone does makes any sense at all if you stop to think about it for a second. And the books are so long that they're cutting 90% of them to make a 2-hour movie, which isn't a new problem, but given the structure and pacing of the books, it just doesn't work. The first one is watchable but badly flawed, and the second is just a mess. Haven't seen the third yet.

Agreed. Standing O.

Ah, good call. Crisis averted.

I will watch this, but also I think there's probably something wrong with me that I'm a little sad that there (probably?) won't be a Top Chef recap this week. Shop shop shop cook cook cook sad sad sad.

I'm starting to feel pretty certain that Stephen Baldwin is an alien, MIB-style. Doesn't it look like his face skin is about to slough off?

Sounds like the beginnings of a Videogum promise.

It's based on up(and down) votes, I believe.

Sorry - no, I meant why would someone take offense just because you explained why you didn't like it. But that's probably naive. I think, though, that it's probably a movie you have to see for the first time when you're in your early 20s and feeling romantic/hopeful. Not a lot happens, obviously.

Independence Day. For so many reasons.

The downvotes will win, but I'm on your side. I have no idea why so many people like this movie.

It's one of my favorite movies, but I'd be interested to know why you don't like it. It's a movie - why take offense?

I think it's a movie that it's easy to hate in retrospect. Classic backlash movie - if it had been made for 1mil and didn't have any stars, it'd be a cult classic.

The Tao of Steve. Well reviewed for some reason, but it's awful.

Check freaking plus. I was trying to come up with an example for this and drawing a blank.

Also - Benjamin Button = Lost is a stretch, even more so if you haven't seen it.

Well, actually (diving in...) - Jeff Dunham is a racist, sexist nightmare because his humor (such as it is) is based on offensively generalizing about a group of people (who are pointedly not his audience) and trading on fear and ignorance for humor (allegedly). And the I Spit on Your Grave poster was offensive because it was exploitative of women/rape/whatever the fuck people watch those movies for. You could certainly make an argument that posting the photo was in poor taste (and frankly I'd agree with you), but that doesn't make the site/Gabe a hypocrite for calling out the former while doing the latter, because they're not related.

I mainly agree with the "it was a lot of fun to watch but hardly world-changing" argument - the only thing that I have to add to the discussion is that I don't actually see how the ending was ambiguous. I mean, I guess he thought it was supposed to be, with the top spinning, but - his kids are the exact same age. They're wearing the same clothes as every other memory he has of them. They're in the same exact spot, crouching in the same way - the only difference is that in his memory they head away towards the sound of his mom's voice, and in the end of the film, they turn and run to him, which reads to me like him gaining control of that memory. So I have to assume that the top is just really there as a representation, as others have said, that he doesn't care any more. Ok, actually one more thing - I thought the whole first act was really rushed: people can shared dream (ok?), and here are all these facts about all the characters, and oh, you need a builder (a what?), and hey - this girl should be great at it despite the fact that she's never heard of it before, etc. etc. I realize he had a ton of work to do to even get the concept off the ground, but after about 45 minutes, I didn't think I was going to end up liking it very much. That being said, once that was out of the way, it picked up nicely.