Online Video Reviews

Hope Your New Years Ain’t Like This

Hey, you're new! Check out my RSS feed and get the scoop on the best and worst videos that the web has to offer. I waste my time so you don't have to

So if you’re party is looking this sad, you might as well head on over here and check this site out… you don’t really have much to lose.

Cheers and Happy 2009 to all, and to all a good night!

More of a Good Thing, The Guild Season 2

Felicia Day and Kim Evey are making some big waves in the online video pond with their show the Guild. Having cleaned up with a Youtube, Yahoo, ONNetworks and SXSW awards with their first season, amassed over 9 million views and single-handedly put the niche of MMORG on the radar of every net-savvy producer out there, they’re back with season 2, just in time for Christmas.

I won’t mess you about, the second season - currently on episode 3 - is quite good, better really, than the first season.

What I particularly like is that we are starting to see a bit more about the characters. Felicia the scriptwriter understands that this what we want and so, for example, in episode 3 we get a particularly funny peak at Vork’s life. Her dialogue in this second season seems to be even more chock full of MMORG geek-speak, which left me lost once or twice, but I know that the players will eat it up. And besides, I get the gist of what she means and the rest of the script is tight and funny.

More importantly, she gets that comedy isn’t necessarily about being silly or packing your dialogue and story with non-sequitors (Seth MacFarlane Presents, the Blah Girls, Val Verde). Yes, we laugh, but we want to get closer to the characters and their sad, game-obsessed lives.

Season 2 - Episode 3: Quest Accepted!
…what the hell am I babbling on about, this ain’t a NY Times review (they spell better and have a better grasp of grammar than I do, for one). You want to take notice of the character’s use of the “4th wall” or how an indie production like this has garnered so much attention and a sweet sponsorship from MSN-Video? Go right ahead. I, personally, geek out at the production values, which I wish to god more online video producers would use as a role model, but even that is not really worth mentioning.

What absolutely has to be said is: “look, people, the show is good fun. Go watch it and be happy.”

And so, despite one or two wrinkles: Sandeep rushes through his lines/ad libs like a guy doing improv, I really hate the MSN-Video site, especially ’cause I usually can’t find the show and I can’t embed an episode here!!)... I  recommend the second season so far unreservedly.

Evil Henchmen Come From Val Verde

Val Verde is a small Latin American country which produces and exports evil henchmen..you know, the guys who get offfed in all the adventure movies early on - the ones who spent several minutes shooting at the hero and then get popped by the hero’s one well-placed, over-the-shoulder shot.

In this 60Frames original show, we follow Carruthers, Ajax, Zaptop, Jax and the Uncredited Henchman (true to form, we never see his face) as they flee the attack and destruction of their evil henchmen training camp into the jungle where they soon realize that they’ve stumbled into a low-budget, humorous (for us, at least) re-make of predator.

Check out the first episode:

Written, produced and staring those dashing young comedians over at Elephant Larry, the 4 episode-show is most certainly funny but not quite ripe, in the same way that teenage boys amusing themselves by pretending to make movies are not really all that great…yes, this was a swipe at Smosh.

All snide remarks aside, the boys do a good job with what they have and despite what the Youtube cool kids say about quality not mattering for online video…which, as a viewer, I completely disagree with…it’s nice to see that the kind folks over at 60Frames do actually care about good videography, sound and post-production. Now, if they would just take some time to go over the script a little bit more…

The problem is really that, while making check-marks down the laundry list of action movie stereotypes, the story gets pretty much neglected. Hey, I’m a simple guy to please. You don’t need a 3 scene story arc that ties in all the individual character’s story arcs to make me happy…but I can’t help but feel that the show was conceived during an improv set one night, and that the guys did nothing more than create the aforementioned laundry list of action movie stereotypes and think of some way to tie it all together. Sure, it’s funny, maybe two episodes worth of it, but after that…who wants to watch anymore?

This seems to be a common symptom amongst the online videos created by stage-based comedy troupes…and one which seems to bother not just me. Only a few really troupes seem to have made the transition from stage to video elegantly: the Groundlings and Casanovas.

the Bottom Line:

3 stars out of 5. It’s a show to watch if your’re trying to kill some time at work. It is pretty funny but no where near compulsively watchable.

Another Example of Online Video Getting It Right

You never know what you’ll get when you put a bunch of stars together tell ‘m to sing about politics. Funny or Die got it right with this one about Prop. 8 in California (you know, about gay marriages).

Jack Black gets my vote as best cross-over from traditional media to “new media” and, of course, Neil “Dr. Horrible” Patrick Harris.

Episode 1 of the Guild’s 2nd Season is Out Now!

This is just a short heads up  to let you know that the Guild Season 2, episode 1 is out! I can’t embed it here  because it belongs exclusively to MSN video. It’s great - go watch it.

The story continues with Zabo and Codec getting kicked out out Codec’s house by Zabo’s mom….and I won’t tell you anything more except that the episode ends with the two of them leaning in for a kiss. Seriously. Go watch it and I’ll put out a real review very soon.

Catching Up With the Meatgrinder Show

I first reviewed the Meatgrinder show in July. Back then they had only 3 episodes and a handful of PSA’s. The show was rough around the edges but had  certain dirty charm - if you could get past the overtly sexual puppet themes. Since then, Chris Erb, Dal Wolf and Dan Mott have put out a whopping 2 more episodes. But, hey, then again, I’ve not put out a new post in over a week so we’ll let that one slide.

The question is, have they gotten any better? And the answer is, unfortunately, no.

I really wanted to like this show. It’s indie made and it manages to have pretty decent production quality. Hell, they made their own puppet! But, at the end of the day, after watching all the episodes once again (for your gentle reader, only for you)…I have to honestly say that the show is not worth your time.

Your 14 year old brother or cousin might like it. Hell, they’ll probably find it brilliant…but, here’s the thing, if your not an adolescent, sex-starved boy, you won’t be able to sit through more than one episode.

Last time I took a few snarky shots at Dal Wolf’s acting, but hey, the guy’s better than most Youtubers (seen Hooking Up yet?) and it’s really not the acting that kills the show for me, it’s the really lame attempts at irreverent humor. Comedy is tricky genre and Chris Erb, writer director of the Meatgrinder show, clearly does not get it.

the Bottom Line:

2 out of 5 stars. This train has gone off the tracks…you don’t need to bother watching.

POYKPAC’S Whose Boners

If You Like The Funny, You Need To Help The Casanovas

Listen folks, one of the top online video comedy series, Casanovas, is out there knocking on doors trying to get the funds to put out a second season. And let me tell you, I NEED to see a second season…and if you’ve watched the show, you’d feel the same way.

So, here’s a few things that we can do to help Kip and Geoff along to getting some bucks for the next season:

1. go watch the show over on Youtube, Blip or their blog…views count in the online video world
2. talk about the show to others - word of mouth is the holy grail of online video
3. send links or embed their videos on your myspace, facebook, wordpress blogs etc.
4. if you’re your a blogger, do a review
5. if you are looking for a show to advertise on, the Casanovas are the show for you. Check out their ad page.

If you love the Funny, you MUST help the Casanova’s….yeah, it doesn’t quite rhyme like “if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit” but you get the idea.

Here’s their new new promo…sizzle reel:

Steroids Saved My Life

Ever wondered what it would be like to take just one “cycle” of steroids? Just a little taste to jump start getting that new massive, ripped body that you’ve always wanted? Scrawny, nerdy Peter Brown asked himself that very question, but unlike most of us, he decided to actually give ‘roids a try….and to make an online video show about it, called Steroids Saved My Life.

It started out good

Peter’s a film student and he obviously has had some fun in making this show, as evidenced by the different styles that each episodes takes. Episode 1 starts out like a serious documentary and by the time we’ve gotten to episode 9, Peter’s documentary has changed to an hómage to Super Mario. In between, the show takes on the distinct aspect of an infomercial for steroids. It’s a strange and unsettling progression. Here’s the first episode:

I started out enjoying the show. Peter seemed like a sympathetic little guy who just wanted to change how he looks for the better, this charting his progress from weakling to hulk is something that the we’ve seen many times.

but then it started to go down hill

At about episode 5 I started to realize that I didn’t like him and was not really all that interested in his progression from 138 pound weakling to 165 pound nerd . It started in small ways, his dislike for food, the use of nick-names instead of real names for most of the people that show up in the show, the fact that he couldn’t keep a single format from one episode to the next.

But my dislike for Peter became full-blown when he started mouthing empty platitudes like “the world treats good looking people better” and giving so much camera time to his meat-headed, steroid role models Suga and Mr. Fantastic. If these are the people that he’s aspiring to be, than he should have enrolled in a Mystery Method course instead of taking steroids.

It’s an interesting show, nonetheless and if you’ve got an extra hour or are interested in seeing what steroids do to a 138 pound weakling in 12 weeks, then definitely check it out. It’s just a shame that Peter turned out to be such a flake.

The Bottom Line:

3 out of 5 stars for this interesting but flawed show about a chemically-induced quest for muscles.

Urban Cowgirl, An After School Show for the Internet Generation

Stike.tv is in full swing, and I’m over all my hysterical whining about there not being enough new content to warrant the hype. One of the things that I believe will make the advent Stike.tv so important is the fact that it is bringing many neglected genres to online video. Sketch comedy is soooo 2005, from what I’m hearing and it looks like everyone is either putting out a sexy thriller or a gruesome horror show nowadays. So it’s refreshing to see some big money and time go into bringing other types of stories to the web, like Urban Cowgirl.

In the pilot episode of Urban Cowgirl young Jorgie is being driven by her father to a riding stables where he has arranged that she speak with the owner/lead trainer about a job. Upon arriving she spots the “it girls”, a group of  popular girls from her school, already leading their horses out to practice. Do you see where this is going? Add in an accomplished young cowboy, Zando, and a challenge to harness an old and temperamental horse, Stella, and you can probably figure this first episode out for yourself.

Obviously  Jeanne Rosenberg, writer and director of Urban Cowgirl, has done her fair share of youth meets animal movies (THE BLACK STALLION, THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN, WHITE FANG, HEIDI to name a few ) and this is territory that she is comfortable with. Maybe that’s why the story seems a bit too cookie-cutter. Despite that, it is a sweet show, so far (this is coming from a guy in in his mid-thirties).

Urban Cowgirl seems like an after school special re-purposed for the web. It’s very traditional TV: in production style, script, cast and length…and I know that some people will have a problem with this. The internet video early adopters will certainly not like the show. But that doesn’t matter, because as our little online video crawl space opens up to accommodate more and more people, the early adopters will lose their dominance, like so many black t-shirted clove-smoking Cure fans grumbling about all the main-stream people going to the concerts.

I have to be honest with you here, this is not a show that I’d pursue on my own. I say that simply because I’m certainly not the target audience for this - that would be female, between the ages of 13 - 21, which, if you think about it, kinda fits nicely to web demographic.

I  will be keeping tabs on this show none-the-less and it’s certainly something that I’d recommend others to watch (my 14 year old niece, for example)

…and what’s that, you say? It’s too long for online video you say? Pshaah! Listen folks, if you don’t realize that viewers want good content with passable production values, regardless of the length, you’ll never be able to profit from web-video. The 3 to 5 minute web video standard is on the way out. With more sites offering full content TV shows and films online and with the main-streaming of devices that allow you to watch digital video streamed onto a television set longer content is the future. Whether Urban Cowgirl will be around is another story.

the Bottom Line:

This is a sweet show for a female teen to early twenties demographic. The first episode suffers a bit from predictability, but I recommend it all the same. 3 out of 4 stars.