Kickassia (2010 Video) User Reviews

Even as a fan, it's not gold....but still fun

[breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com · 6/10 · 11 June 2015]

One must remember when it comes to amateur movies, there has to be a level of expectation set prior to the viewing experience. One of the biggest things audiences have to accept is that the budget is significantly lower than normal professionally made movies. This will obviously affect the look of the film in a number of ways. The idea behind it though is that the people working on it are putting in as much effort as possible to make their endeavor the best it can be. For the crew behind Channelawesome.com, there's no doubt that they are a group of people that love what they do. With each sub-section of the site having different internet personalities covering various mediums, the range at which this team can expand is endless. As flawless and creative as it sounds, being ambitious has its uphill battles and making a feature length movie is no easy walkthrough. With that said, sacrifices have to be made.

A very large component to this feature length movie that was renounced is the story believe it or not. It's funny how Doug Walker (AKA The Nostalgia Critic), the guy who can't stand bad movies, makes a movie with no story. What a paradox. The film is about The Nostalgia Critic wanting to takeover a 1-acre plot of land called Molassia. That's really all that it is and it's done rather quickly. The rest is the NC and his followers going through the stages of a dictatorship, i.e. - oppression, then revolution. It's very bare bones to say the least. Joining the NC are a number of other recognizable internet personalities like the Cinema Snob (Brad Jones), The Nostalgia Chick (Lindsay Ellis), Linkara (Lewis Lovhaug), Spoony / Dr. Insano (Noah Antwiler), Joe Vargas (Angry Joe), Phelous (Phelan Porteous), Film Brain (Matthew Buck) and several others. For the characters listed above, it's difficult not to enjoy who they play because they're playing who they are on the main site. They all have their own special qwerks that make them, them. The only possible downside to this is that if you don't view the site from time to time, the viewer may feel more alienated than familiar with the cast.

But aside from the actors' respective character roles, the writing once again suffers from a lack of any clear motivations or background info. The reason for The Nostalgia Critic to want to go stark raving world domination crazy goes largely unexplained. That is except for the fact of just starting small and then slowly taking over the world. But to be honest, it's out of character because Doug Walker is still The Nostalgia Critic, so why and when did he get so maniacally evil? An example of background information going unused is the character of Spoony with the alternate personality of Dr. Insano. Where did Dr. Insano come from? There must be an origin for him. Anyone watching this for the first time with no other prior channelawesome experience won't have a clue how Dr. Insano materialized. However, even with this second giant defect, the comedy saves this almost script-less movie.

There are certainly a number of laughs to be had here. Whether it be The Nostalgia Critic yelling at high pitches, Film Brain being overly dramatic, The Cinema Snob talking with a snarky attitude, Spoony being too paranoid or Phelous being super sarcastic, the actors looked like they had fun doing their takes. Plus, the facial expressions these actors make are quite hilarious. Another good point is when the cast breaks the fourth wall by acknowledging the budget the film was on. It's not clever but it still is funny. Either that or watching goofy fight choreography with stock footage punching noises that sound like it was taken off a Mortal Kombat video game. Heck, they even got The Angry Video Game Nerd (James D. Rolfe) for a quick, as he would call it an "obligatory cameo". Rightfully so and well said. The only other element that feels obligatory and also bad is the special effects.

Again, it's understood the budget was limited for this production but some of it really looks out of place. Maybe post-production was rushed? It just didn't look right in certain scenes. Then again, camera-work was decent for its finite budget. Cinematography by Rob Walker (Doug Walker's brother) maintains a steady hand for his shots and even gets a number of interesting action choreography. Although, it is hypocritical that there are several shots where the camera is hugging an actor's face. For anyone who doesn't know, Doug Walker loathes that kind of camera-work with a passion so how he let that go, I'm not sure. Weird isn't it? The final ingredient that worked in this film's favor was the music provided by Michael "Skitch" Schiciano. Accept for a couple scenes, which involved borrowed music, much of his composition sounded original. Again due to cost issues, there's a good chance that the way the music was orchestrated was on a very tight budget. Understandable and considering the final product, it deserves a pass.

For Doug Walker's earlier film entries under his alter ego The Nostalgia Critic, the end result is a watchable romp for its comedic moments, its diverse bunch of internet personalities, appropriate music and camera-work (although its special effects are quite shoddy). As for a story, a plot barely exists with little back-story or motivations fleshed out.

Laughed about 3 times, but got tiring

[sitonpickle · 4/10 · 2 May 2011]

Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic) and the rest of the reviewers from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com come together in a collaboration for their first full length film comedy. As a result, any inside jokes referencing reviews will go over a new comer's head. I for one, only watch Doug Walker's videos and Lindsey Ellis' (nostalgia chick). The story itself is very silly and over the top, but seems to be missing the pacing energy of a comedy.

One must always remember that this is a movie with no budget and made by a bunch of internet amateurs. The story begins with Doug Walker decided to take over a one acre land called Molassia, which is apparently ruled by one man who dresses in an army uniform. They're is no acknowledgment of the fact that the man could just call the police to get rid of an army of internet geeks running around the land, or the fact that once these internet geeks aren't ruling over anything after taking over Molassia since it doesn't have any citizens. This is a very ridiculous premise that's funny at first, but the movie provides no pay off and milks down the joke.

Doug Walker and his team take over Mollassia by an ambush and rename it Kickassia. The ruler of Molassia disguises himself as another person to avoid fighting with the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses team. Doug Walker rules Kickassia with plans to take over the neighbor hood and later Navada.

Doug Walker, Film brain and Spoony deliver a delightful over the top performance, while the rest of the cast (15 people) are either hardly in the movie, or are forgettable.

The best way to see if a comedy is really funny, is if I remember it afterwords. For example, there are several very funny moments in Nostalgia Critic reviews that I always remember, and I will often think of at random times of the day.

The running joke that supplies the movie, is that several scenes are played out serious, but contain a line breaking the mood, or are serious while being over the top. This is a good idea, but doesn't work in a movie as long as Kickassia. Every scene is trying to be funny for the same reason, and uses the same comedy strategy that after the first half of Kickassia, becomes tiring.

Bottom line, there just weren't many laughs during the movie. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular. In fact, I had no idea there was going to be a full length collaboration as an anniversary. I didn't even know TGWTG was doing an anniversary video until I saw the video with Doug raping Ma-Tia (boy that sounded strange to type). So I virtually had no expectations at all. I was just hoping to be entertained and laugh, and the movie didn't deliver very much of that. I laugh more times watching Nostalgia Critic reviews then Kickassia.

It had a lot of potential, but had failed to execute that properly.

[chinees_11 · 6/10 · 8 May 2011]

Okay, first of all, I'm a huge Nostalgia Critic fan. I kinda like Linkara and the Cinema Snob as well, but to be honest, I actually never watch any other series on TGWTG. And the problem is that this is the same for a lot of people: They like 1 or 2 shows, but never watch the others. That's one of the failing points of Kickassia, but not the biggest.

As the title reads, the idea had a lot of potential. The whole idea of a bunch of internet 'celebs' conquering an entire nation (Molossia, which is a true nation by the way, go look it up) was actually good plot material... And that's the other failing point: The plot.

I never expected Kickassia to be a movie or anything, just a Special. But when a plot is thrown in, you know it's trying to be a little more. Unfortunately this plot is really poorly executed. At the start it was looking promising, but after the whole "conquering", it starts to get... sluggish and slow. It's hard to describe it in detail, but let's say that if you're not a (true) TGWTG fan, you'll be bored after 10 minutes or so.

The acting wasn't something to write back about as well. Although Doug Walker was doing his part pretty well, the rest of the crew wasn't used to this kind of acting, as it clearly shows. This proves the fact that a popular internet personality doesn't have to be a good actor, although most of them are.

I won't complain about any technical stuff. After all, this wasn't intended to be a real movie, and there probably wasn't a real budget to work on. It's not that bad on that aspect, but it doesn't come close to an actual movie.

I give it a 6 because I'm a fan, and I still got some laughs out of it... Well, mostly when Doug Walker was acting. I'm sorry, but it seemed that he was the only one who really... acted.

A waste of time

[IMDB-User-4801 · 2/10 · 2 April 2011]

I have read a wide range of viewpoints on this movie, and honestly I find both the strongly negative arguments and the strongly positive arguments somewhat compelling in their own ways; however, I'd grant greater purchase to the negative views, and here is why.

On the one hand, you have a series of highly disjoint and awkwardly assembled set pieces, with characters numbering in the double digits, but none of them having a personality in any way distinct from any other character. They are all very mean-spirited and tend to speak only in a shouting voice, complete with exaggerated arm gestures and painfully contorted facial expressions, and there isn't really a single character for the audience to like and connect with. I guess that Brad Jones (the Cinema Snob) is somewhat likable, but his role is quite small, to where you couldn't really classify him as a protagonist in any respect. Every single character is a greedy sociopath bent on domination and constantly scheming. That could make for a good dark comedy, in the right hands, but it falls apart here because there's no goal or cause for the audience to care about. Now Doug's in the president's chair--okay, now Spoony's in charge--oh, no wait, now Lindsay is running things. None of these is a meaningful transition, since Doug, Spoony, and Lindsay are all basically the same character--a scheming sociopath. Meanwhile, all conflicts are played out in the same exact manner: long fight scenes consisting in the worst fight choreography I have ever witnessed, including in community theater. Also, the characters all evidently have infinite hit points and never sustain injuries and occasionally display never-before-so-much-as-hinted super powers, so there is no drama to these scenes. Spoony and Doug Walker apparently both possess force lightning, while Sage has super- strength (or something).

On the other hand, one can tell that a lot of effort went into making this movie. But that's the problem in many ways, because one wonders *why* they went to so much effort for such a weak screenplay. I mean, they all flew to Nevada and rented rooms at a hotel in Reno. Benzaie came all the way from France. They composed a score, stitched together a couple costumes, and even hired the "president" of a micronation to provide his home and lend his acting ... talent? The effort is all very transparent, and it's almost as though the movie tries to convince you it's good solely on account of this effort; the problem is that I cannot discern any true creative spark beneath the heaps of detritus. I don't think that Doug Walker woke up one morning to be whacked in the head by his muse with artistic inspiration, resulting in this film. Rather, it looks as though he squeezed out a corporate product with a checklist of elements, like a weird low-budget version of the Star Wars prequels. The fact that it's low budget doesn't negate that the movie is essentially a money-making vehicle and hardly an artistic product. I'm not sure whether Doug and Rob Walker ever had a coherent vision for what they wanted 'Kickassia' to be. The tone is really confused, constantly veering between light slapstick and heavy black comedy.

That said, there are some positive factors. I wouldn't go so far as to describe the tech aspects as *adequate* but obviously someone was paying attention to giving the movie at least a slight veneer of respectability. (The special effects, though, which appear to all be post-production Adobe After-Effects, look terrible. Cummon, you couldn't buy a couple firecrackers and bottle rockets in *Nevada* and done some real, tangible special effects? It's like the most lawless state in the nation!) And it was kind of a funny tone shift when Santa Christ is shot, bringing the action to a sudden halt. I would say the scene is good only because it's the only time that a physical confrontation actually has consequences.

A rebuttal; this film is hardly a movie.

[farinokv · 1/10 · 29 November 2010]

First, you are most likely curious as to why this begins with the saying "this film is hardly a movie." That's because I consider movies to be entertaining and worth the investment of time, and "Kickassia" is neither. However, given my negative opinion about ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, the website where this special little piece of cinema comes from, I will not let that get in the way of making this review as fair as possible. However, let me also clarify: to ask reviewers not to criticize a movie on IMDb is a ridiculous notion - why would it be on IMDb if it was solely meant to be fan service and not an actual movie? It will be judged like any other movie, no exception. This review will also be split into several parts to break down the movie in a critical way:

1. Story and Character: - It's incredibly flimsy. The story in Kickassia, although it was obviously not meant to be a masterpiece in cinema, is still seriously lacking. The basic gist is that cewebrity the Nostalgia Critic wants to take over a real micro-nation in Nevada, and wants to become its new leader. If you've read the review that this is in rebuttal to, then you already know the basic plot. However, while Grann-Bach is absolutely right in saying that it will leave no impact on its audience, this still doesn't forgive the fact that the plot is nonexistent. Some movies, you could argue, are character films (The Big Lebowski, Wayne's World), but you can't have a character film without characters. The biggest flaw of Kickassia is that the film is devoid of real personality; everybody is a cutout, one monotone personality distinguishing each person. Instead, we are presented with the personalities of every review show on the website, which is fine if there is actual character development, but what we get instead is a barrage of cultural references. You can't seriously expect somebody outside of the fan base to want to spend money on your DVD (and thus expand your audience) if the characters all have the distinct personality of sandpaper, right? Hardcore fans will know where the sandpaper comment came from.

2. Comedy - I'm sorry, but there isn't a single joke in this movie that is original in any way. Most of them are either references taken from the multiple review shows on the website, or are directly taken from other movies, television shows, or comics. "Family Guy" does the same with its pop-culture references, and it is vilified for not having an original bone in its body as a result. This means the comedy is really weak, and the nonexistent acting capabilities painfully emphasize this. Newer fans will even be confused if they haven't watched every single show on Channel Awesome, so they will not know that "OF COURSE!" is actually a joke. Let me rebut another review by Lloyd Markham: "Hence much of the humor and enjoyment to be had relies exclusively on the audience[']s familiarity... each with their own styles, in-jokes, memes, continuity, etc." That's the problem, memes and in-jokes aren't funny to wide audiences. An in-joke may be funny to a certain group, but as soon as you try to explain it to a stranger, they won't understand what you're saying. The humor isn't helped by the plodding comedic timing where the writers take far too long with the punchline. The fence scene is a perfect example. Overall, the humor is bone dry and poorly timed.

3. Technical Aspects - This portion of the film is the most shocking aspect, especially coming from a group of individuals who make their livings critiquing movies and are (supposedly) well-versed in making movies. This is not the case, as the continuity is nonexistent, the lighting is very poorly done, as it changes from scene to scene, and the overall presentation is not pleasing to the eyes in the slightest. To rebut Glenn-Bach's review where he says "hey were on a budget, they didn't have room for professional... lighting..., things get to be overly bright or dark, and there is grain in some bits) and the continuity can be all over the place", that is no excuse. There were films just as long as "Kickassia" that were made on a shoestring budget and in four days that were far superior, like Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors." They pulled off a lot in four days with what they had, so there is no excuse to say everything is sub-par, and then just say "Oops, they were on a budget!" is unacceptable. Again, if the 'movie' is on IMDb, it is sold on DVD, and the 'actors' are also on IMDb, then it can be as mercilessly reviewed as the reviewers please because it calls itself a movie.

The Verdict - "Kickassia" was horribly painful to watch, and I am honestly shocked that people would purchase this. The fans will be displeased with negative reviews, but the negative reviews are warranted when you make something as half-baked as "Kickassia."

TGWTG.com fans will be pleased

[Louis_Bacon · 17 November 2010]

It seems the last two reviewers weren't fans of the Nostalgia Critic to begin with. Kickassia is the second-anniversary collaboration of all the members of ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com. A site which has its own sense of humour, its own community. And if you're not part of that community, this movie may seem unfunny, out-of-place and bad. But really, to fans of TGWTG.com, it's incredible! It's the perfect collaboration! Everyone keep there inside jokes, most of the jokes are very funny and the acting is good for the most part. Of course, it's not going to be that Oscar-worthy nominee or the so-bad-it's-good kind of movie either, it's just people having fun filming a long funny video for their fans and nobody else. Reviewing this as a movie would be like reviewing each of Shane Dawson's videos like they were shorts! The Internet as whole other kind of humour that people should get use to. It's not immature or stupid, it's just different. And a lot of people seem to have a problem with difference these days.

If you're likely to watch this, you probably already have

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 27 November 2010]

The NC has found a small nation in Nevada, entitled Molossia, and where the leader is a man named Kevin Baugh(that part is actually entirely true). He brings the rest(well, at least three fourths, they can't afford *everyone*... they did work in cameos for them, however; everyone has something to do in this, and there are arguably arcs to, well, some of the characters) of TGWTG.com(for this, their second-year anniversary) to invade it, and once they do, he turns out to be a dictator(and a remarkably lazy one at that). OK... did you follow everything I just wrote, did you understand the abbreviations, is anything other than the unique location new to you? Yes? Well, you've seen this, right? If not, what were you waiting for? This is purely made for the fans(for those who don't know, it was released in 6 parts online, for free), and if you aren't one when you sit down with this, you'll be lost. It's 91 and a half minutes, and you're meant to know everyone before you start it. If anything about this sounds appealing to you, be sure to find out who these people are first, or, well, that's what'll happen. This has great action, and an appropriate amount of it, neither too little nor is it in excess. It really keeps the energy high for the whole thing, and the pace is very good. The humor consists of slapstick, references to their reviews(and how they are in them; not everyone is the same persona we're used to in this) and the films(including Star Trek, Patton, Judge Dredd, and, *obviously*, Street Fighter: The Movie(and that costume is *awesome*) and other things that help make up pop culture of the last half a century... and yes, there *are* current things to the material, such as Sarah Palin), games and comics that they criticize(or are obsessed with), cleverness, silliness, spoofs(they also openly steal from their inspirations), countless tiny perfect moments(because everyone involved in this is a creative force in their own respect), and, well, in general as many different kinds(they were going for the Hot Fuzz effect, packing every frame with as much as they could, and they succeeded) of jokes and gags they could think of and do in a four-day shooting schedule(! no, really... and they somehow pulled it off). They were on a budget, they didn't have room for professional(so it's all ambient) lighting(and yes, it goes back and forth between cuts sometimes(with that said, this is tightly edited, and it is worth noting that this properly gets the 3 acts structure down), things get to be overly bright or dark, and there is grain in some bits) and the continuity can be all over the place. Oh, and the acting performances are at times hammy, with lots of scenery-chewing going on... this really doesn't go for all of them, and when they mean to be convincing, *they are*. This is intentionally over the top, and not meant to be taken seriously. Some people appear to have been unhappy because they came in blind(like I warned about earlier) and/or on account of thinking this was a regular independent film(as in, that these guys expect, or intend to pursue, a career in the industry... a few of them do, not the majority). Not saying everyone *will* love this, and one can make complaints. I'm not crazy about the ending, though I understand why they chose it. The FX are fine. If you ask me, the biggest issue with this is that, at its core, it really has no emotional impact, whatsoever(not a problem for Press Start, a piece that stands on its own *and* is essentially a parody), and other than making you laugh(and offering quotable lines), the hour and a half spent on this won't leave an imprint on you(easier to accept with the brawl they did the year before, that was only a third of the same length). The DVD comes with the following mostly very funny and great extras: no less than three interesting, informational and amusing commentary tracks(one with Doug, one with Rob, and one with Ma-Ti(you know what I mean) and Michaud... also exclusive to the disc are a Bum Review and a 5 minute AskThatGuy episode(...OK, I get that they got trolling comments, but is this really the best place to deal with that?)), Barghav's Vlog(38 and a half minutes), Kickassian War(a 33 minute Ken Burns style faux documentary), Bloopers(25 minutes), 5 minutes of deleted scenes, Kickassia in 5 Seconds and a trailer. This contains plenty of strong, explicit language. Also, The Nostalgia Chick is cute. I recommend this to anyone who can imagine enjoying this. 7/10

The Horror...

[griff66 · 1/10 · 6 June 2011]

Remember when Spoony and the Nostalgia Critic used to be funny? When they seemed like regular, down-to-earth guys? After witnessing 'Kickassia', that seems like something that happened in another lifetime.

There were warning signs before, of course. Their previous one year anniversary special didn't bode well, but this film takes the raging Internet egotism and desperately unfunny in-jokes to hitherto unprecedented levels. Not just a failure as a film, this is a misstep of 'Love Guru' proportions, the kind of ego-stroking embarrassment that makes you reassess their previous work and wonder if they were ever actually that funny to begin with.

Yeah, so they're just online critics making something "for the fans", but most of these people critique films for a living and really should know better. It's low budget, but many films have been made for less and managed to throw decent acting, direction and lighting into the bargain, when Kickassia fails to get even the latter right. What jokes there are come off as forced and poorly delivered, when they're not being outright lifted from other sources.

Once a keen fan, I've been losing faith in TGWTG's material for a while now, and this really seals the deal for me. A sprawling epic of compressed awfulness that only the most die-hard of fans could ever enjoy. Avoid.

A fun in-joke for the fans

[sonny_drake · 10/10 · 12 March 2011]

Many people on this site seem to miss the point completely. I pity them. This is a super low budget, tongue in cheek action movie made by the critics for their fans. If you were expecting a professionally shot epic then you clearly don't get this film. This is made purely for fun, and if you're a fan of TGWTG then you'll love it. Yes, the story is contrived but that's the point! It's an affectionate parody of bad action films (many of which Doug has reviewed in his show). Anyway the story is fun, the characters work well, and the satire and pop-culture references are handled really well. Recommended for movie-geeks.

Of Course!

A disappointment, but still worth a laugh now and then.

[drosenblum-565-795887 · 6/10 · 26 December 2012]

David D Eval is correct. I didn't really like it, but a lot of people did. It is a film that fans of TGWTG and is worth seeing ONCE. It definitely had many good moments, but majority of the jokes fell short. After you watch it, remember the parts that made you laugh, and you will remember the film more fondly. Angry Joe was the best character by far. Nearly every thing he did landed. The concept is funny, but it really just falls flat of its true potential. If you are a fan, then watch it. If you are not, you will truly hate it. Think of it as a Pilgrimage. Personally, I do hope they have a sequel, but make sure it is done better. Angry Joe should be the main star.

Makes Uwe Boll's works look good.

[ubbersuper · 2/10 · 30 November 2014]

I have no idea how TGWTG fans can even stomach this thing. Myself included, as a die-hard follower of the team I can say it was particularly disappointing. Despite the fact they went great lengths to try and accommodate some sort of jokes which are fresh and new, most of the time we are forced to endure the same sort of rehashed jokes from respective shows and the usual gimmicks. With couple people on the team doing a decent job at keeping up an atmosphere, the script fails completely and ruins the whole thing for everyone...

This movie is a great example that what makes a short form of fast paced 'critical'-piece funny, won't really work in a longer version, tiring the audience. The goofyness and slapstick becomes boring after first 10 minutes, transforming into unbearable drag where a bunch of clearly talented and charismatic individuals are forced to humiliate themselves like some sort of circus clowns, while the "awkward moment" humour just keeps on boggling every scene with unbearable repetition. 90% of jokes are almost exactly that:

Couple people talk about some ridiculous subject or a problem, then they start coming up with ideas/solutions, suddenly someone gives an suggestion that is a joke for everyone to ridicule, painting a person who actually agrees with that as an awkward individual. That very moment someone thinks it's a really a good idea or accepts the given suggestion as a norm, thus creating an "awkward moment", where everyone pause. In the end the scene is completed with a mildly funny pun, mostly in form of cheesy one-liner. If you ever wanted to participate in a drinking game, do watch Kickassia and each time the pattern above appears, take a sip of beer, you'll be smashed alcoholic for the rest of your life after first 20 minutes.

Then it get's only worse... The plot is miserable and action on screen barely follows any coherent idea, it's neither involving, nor funny, and worse yet is the constant braking of 4th wall. I wouldn't mind it if it was applied properly, to enhance the juxtaposition of the jokes, but instead it's used in most dreadful of ways, where after almost every 'skit' characters turn towards audience and go "Hey! It was a joke! Got it?! It was a reference to one of the tropes in our show! Remember? Remember?! It was really funny! Cause it was a joke! You got it? Got it, right?!" - of course, that's to put it bluntly, but you get the idea.

This is a dreadful watch even for a fan. It retains no value and only proves that producers could take some lessons from other directors, like Uwe Boll for instance, who by comparison, looks really good now.

Not for Non-fans

[oddball_oddity-1 · 9/10 · 17 January 2011]

One reviewer exclaimed "if it's just a fan service, it wouldn't be listed as a film on this site, and must be judged as such." Pfft. I was surprised to even see it had a page, I was just randomly checking. In some ways, it is a resume builder for reviewers and crew, so why not? It's a special, but not a film. There's plenty of specials listed on IMDb. The "Golden Globe Awards Red Carpet Special" is on IMDb, you want to write a review of that in the context of a film?

If you want it to be a complete film with everything explained, that's not what you're going to get. They're going to seem like two dimensional characters because they've already been defined for the audience on their respective review shows.

It's one giant inside joke. It's a pleasure for fans, but if you're not familiar with thatguywiththeglasses.com, this will mean nothing to you.

A major disappointment

[leadcastle · 1/10 · 19 October 2011]

I've been a big fan of Doug Walker's comedy ever since his original youtube videos were up, and was more than happy to hear that the entire Channel Awesome crew was making a feature film. I sat through every single part and even as a big time fan, I found this film very unfunny, forced, and it relied way too much on fan-service. Many jokes were dated and didn't lead anywhere. It was poorly handled and tried to fit too much without enough entertaining content.

Many say that the site has decreased in quality, which is something I wholeheartedly agree with. Granted, good stuff is produced regularly and has good entertainment value, but people new to the site at this point would have trouble understanding most of the jokes and running gags mentioned throughout the film.

Don't watch it, it's a waste of time, yadda yadda yadda.

over the top unbearable fan-service

[dianavontease · 1/10 · 3 March 2011]

There was a lot of potential given that the individuals involved seemed to have some sort of talent to them. Unfortunately, smash them all together all at once with a plot and script that was apparently rushed tarnished their individual shine.

It almost seemed that everyone was practically pushing and shoving one another for just a line in front of the camera trying to out do one another for a little one liner here and there.

I almost feel bad for not being able to enjoy the movie and don't know what is more offensive the fact my boyfriend spent 25 dollars for a film I could have easily found online or the fact that we wasted an hour or so watching this awkwardly arranged pseudo "movie"

Crapassia.

[patrick-green · 1/10 · 8 March 2011]

I used to enjoy the Nostalgia Critic, back when he was just starting out and all that. But as his site amassed a legion of lackluster and untalented reviewers and hordes of fawning fans, I was left wondering where all the funny had gone. Kickassia is the last thing I watched from That Guy with the Glasses, and with good reason: the "movie" (if you want to call it that) is a monstrous, bloated and desperately unfunny mess.

The "film" has the following premise: the Critic, his ego swelled by the thousands of fans who worship him day and night, suddenly comes upon a micro-nation called Molossia. Hungry for attention, and, apparently, power, the Critic decides to oust the country's leader with a violent and "hilarious" take over with the help of his fellow reviewers. After conquering the damn place, the Critic and his goons set up a government, and promptly fall into infighting and poor acting.

Every joke in this festival of crap feels forced, and is of course not in the least bit funny. And evidently, the ear rape is top-notch, since Kickassia involves levels of screaming, shouting and yelling never before reached by Humanity. The "movie" also features the entire cast (I think? Or rather, do I even care?) of talentless and unfunny reviewers from That Guy With the Glasses. Only the most fanatical of fan boys/girls will actually recognise the more obscure members of the cast, because frankly, only they would care about those annoying, faceless drones. One of the more horrible and recurring "jokes" you will see if you ever watch Kickassia is Spoony's struggle with his "evil self". Spoony is of course, a terrible actor, and his performance reeks of massive egotism.

The Critic is of course present throughout the "movie" and is dressed up as Bison, from the Street Fighter movie. I suppose some would find that costume funny, but the average, sane viewer would only see it as totally ludicrous. Not content with looking like a first grade idiot, the Critic also made Kickassia into a massive and horrible tribute to himself and his site. In fact, Kickassia is nothing more than a tribute to the cast of his site and himself. Evidently, rabid fans will drool and over it, but others...not so much.

Just to underline the sheer money-grabbing monstrosity of Kickassia, the damn thing is now for sale on DVD. Pretty damn pointless when the entire thing was put on line and is viewable for free, or maybe some want to see deleted footage of the Critic making love to himself while his goons look on in wonder and repressed lust? Or maybe they wanted insightful commentary such as "oh look at that, I'm so awesome"? Evidently, screaming hordes of fans probably bought boat loads of the DVD version, thus filling the pockets of the Critic, and possibly his clueless minions.

All in all, Kickassia is a terrible piece of film. The idea is terrible, the acting is annoying, the participants are all annoying, and all in all, Kickassia is bloody annoying. Evidently, if you're a hardcore fan, you're welcome to watch out, otherwise just plain avoid the damn thing unless you enjoy having male genitalia rammed into your ears while having your eyes gouged out with a rusty ice cream scoop.

It seemed to have potential... but then it all went wrong

[overthoughtideas · 2/10 · 16 November 2010]

Words can't correctly explain how bad this movie is. Reading the snippets of quotes from the movie on IMDb, I thought it might be a worthwhile film to see. The dialog seemed quirky and looked to have a fair bit of humor behind it. Plus I'm easily a sucker for checking out films made by the average Joe with a camera, some friends, and too much time on their hands. The Gamers, Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising, and more popular films like Clerks are classic examples of when this concept works. Unfortunately for me and the hour and a half of my life that I will never get back, "Kickassia" is a true example of what happens when the concept fails miserably.

Though there are elements of humor to some of the dialog, the delivery quickly shows that none of the "actors" (and I use the term rather loosely) really have any business getting in front of a camera again. Writing...maybe, acting...never. I've seen better performances (and more believable sfx) by kids on YouTube with a camcorder and After Effects. If given to individuals that could actually act their way into the paper bag to begin with, there's enough humorous bits to make a rather amusing 15-20 minute short film.

To make matters worse, I did some checking and it turns out that most of the people attached to this film critique movies for a living (under the forum style names that their characters are named after). It boggles the mind that a group that analyzes movies and points out the idiosyncrasies and errors in them, could watch this waste of celluloid upon completion and think that it's good enough to unleash on the general public.

The only reason I give this two stars instead of one is due to the brief glimpses of humor within this mind-numbingly bad film and the fact that Lindsay Ellis (Nostalia Chick) is kind of cute.

In summary, if your thinking of watching this, pouring bleach in your eyes, watching linoleum peel, or banging your head into a wall repetitively would all be better uses of your time.

Fan's of TGWTG than you will LOVE this!

[smithtncc1701 · 8/10 · 8 June 2011]

First off...let me say that I am a fan of everyone on TGWTG. I try to watch every new video that comes out of the site but alas it can be daunting at times. The Nostalgia critic, Cinema Snob, Spoony One and so on.

That being said here is what I think - - -

This is a film made for the fans of the site and reviewers. The comedy, Jokes and writing in general is great for what it is. Cameos, dialog and so on! The cinematography for the budget and camera is great (not that I even have a camera even close to that) and the music really fits the scenes!

There are people here on IMDb who are rating this like its a Hollywood film or something made for a general audience...WHY!!! Obviously your not going to get all the jokes and cameos if your not familiar with the characters and in jokes from TGWTG. The plot of the film works quit well and how the characters execute it is priceless. All of the individual actors get enough time to develop there rolls, and show off there "powers". The editing and sound design I feel could have been a little better done but I guess in order to avoid that stupid not cool (insert swear here) copyright crap! what Mr. Walker did use worked good. In the end...the story is fun and funny and there are plenty of jokes for the fans. I can see if you are not a big fan of TGWTG not liking the film but don't discredit the film if you don't get it. Watch some episodes and get to know the people behind TGWTG because I have to tell you...they care about what they do, film, and make more than most Hollywood people and directors out there that make millions of $.

It is what it is, but it isn't what my it is....

[burgh55 · 2/10 · 15 November 2010]

Most of the time I like the low budget, average Joe trying to make it flicks. Usually they are the birthplace of good original stories. Finding those hidden gem movies like, Clercks, Orgasmo, and Moon is fun. Unfortunately you have to see 10 bad movies to get to those. This movie was pretty much a waste of 1:31:31. I do like, and respect what the makers were trying to do. It is an original(ish) idea, but it reminds me of a horribly written Mel Brooks movie. Too many "trying to be funny" lines, there was no flow to the story. Actually, there was no point to the story, just a revolving door of subplots I guess you would call it. I really don't see many people who are going to like Kickassia, other than these people's families and friends. To each his own, I'm sure someone will dig it, and who knows, maybe someone gets noticed and goes on to write or act in something better, you could only hope.

Awesome

[comedymovies123 · 10/10 · 26 August 2011]

I'm a big fan of That Guy With The Glassess, and this was one kick-ass special, I enjoyed every minute of it and the story was very well written.

I loved the scenes with Spoony, Linkara and Cinema Snob as well as (now there's going to be some spoilers here) the transformation of Spoony into his Insano persona which was epic.

The whole thing was awesome from start to finish and I would watch it more than once because it is that awesome.

I recommend going onto thatguywiththeglassess.com and checking it out for yourself.

This film is an embarrassment to cinema

[timic83 · 1/10 · 21 September 2011]

How could this pile of crap even be sold? It isn't funny, just reuses old jokes and worst of all was a waste of everyones time working on the project. If the Nostalgia Critic bashes so called bad movies so much, why isn't his film any better? Look at the Busy Street review for a more in-depth look at this film that is sure to appeal to no-one. This film is a dirty, stuck-up, sadistic, crap house of a movie. By the way Also if you manage to actually watch this movie I salute you. It's just plain... RUBBISH! Really bad, acting not good, every character is the same, not funny, fail on all levels, an insult to the early nostalgia critic episodes just don't ever watch it! Watch the busy street commentaries instead.

Why?

[harybobjoebob · 3/10 · 10 October 2020]

Why did I do this to myself? I cant stand the nostalgia critic, one of my friends just wanted to watch this as a joke, and what a joke it is. The only redeeming quality is probably angry Joe, idk why he makes me laugh in this, I guess I was just searching for any kind of release from this torture and latched onto him.

Why?

[Coolerjohn23 · 5/10 · 26 May 2014]

Only one word describes this and that word is garbage. I don't have a lot to save since others here have already said it so this will be brief. If people like this are not actors at all they should not act in something that clearly they have no talent for. One question I have is why film brains character was changed at all. I mean in his reviews he is always serious and barley makes any jokes yet here he is a spa-zing annoying kid here. If someone who is not an insane tgwtg can explain please let me know. in truth this is not worth watching especially on DVD since youtube already has it all for free. Thank you for your time and hopefully you know a better movie to watch on a Friday night.

A Great Start, But Then It Crashed (Spoilers)

[TheFlyingMustache · 4/10 · 26 September 2011]

{THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS}

When I saw the trailer for this, I got pretty hyped. The first TGWTG anniversary video was hilarious and I expected something just as good for their sequel (and first feature-length film). Sadly, I found myself only liking certain portions of it.

It started out pretty cool with the entire gang getting together and attacking this tiny micro-nation called Molossia and the invasion was actually extremely entertaining. However, as soon as they take over the place and rename it Kickassia, the plot sort-of stops and then...well, that's about it. The character of Doctor Insano pops up later on to fight the Nostalgia Critic and eventually they just give Molossia back to its original owner but the Insano/Critic fight is pretty much the last good moment in the entire film.

It's a film that succeeds in hooking the audience but doesn't know how to continue after that.

4/10

I laughed out loud, therefore it kicked ass.

[metabogy · 10/10 · 28 May 2011]

This isn't a major movie production. This was a special episode on That Guy With The Glasses featuring most of the members of the website. It doesn't even belong on IMDb, so not sure why it's here.

If you don't understand the inside jokes, you won't like it. But I laughed out loud almost continuously. Some of the acting is horrendous, but, again, it's a parody, and most of the time it's on purpose.

That said, Brad Jones steals the show with this movie. I could see him starring in an actual bigger budget movie. He is made of rule and epicness.

I give this movie a 9, because I rate comedies on how much they make me laugh, and this one gets a 9. I 'got' almost every joke, having watched pretty much everything on the website, and it was almost always well done.

Win!

Just awful.

[davewithstevens · 1/10 · 18 August 2021]

What do you get when bunch of talentless YouTube hack content reviewers get together for a "movie"? Surprisingly a gigantic steaming failure that has the visual quality of a highschool drama project(and that's being generous). It's so tastefully ironic that these self proclaimed critics got their following by taking pot shots at other movies only to make something that doesn't measure up to the movies shown on mystery science theater. It's not funny, it's not entertaining, I really have no idea why this exists other than to stroke the ego of it's creators.