The AVGN Movie Outrage of the 2010s

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]James Rolf, the Angry Video Game Nerd.

[00:00:03]If you clicked on this video, you most likely know who he is. Introduction over. James was enjoying the massive popularity and success of his Angry Video Game Nerd series in the late 2000s going into the early 2010s. Over the years, he had garnered one of the biggest fan bases in internet history at that point in time. And well, whenever someone or something gains a huge fan base online, you know that means only one thing. It was time to go big. He needed to do more than just record himself in front of a camera playing video games. He needed to make his own movie.

[00:00:30]The concept of the online East Club movie had already existed at that point.

[00:00:33]Other popular people online had already had their own films made to cash in on their success and uh none of them ended up being good.

[00:00:41]>> YEAH, MY HOUSE.

[00:00:42]>> THERE WAS NO REAL PASSION with these films. They were simply made to cash in on the big name and nothing else. But this case was different as James was already into film making. He went to film school for several years. He had made dozens upon dozens of short little indie films with the budget of a ham sandwich for years up to that point. He knew the inner workings, the production, and what it took to make films. He wasn't just some kid scrimming into a camera for 5 minutes. Even in his AVGM videos, which did sort of consist of him talking to a camera for several minutes at a time, it still required lighting, scene planning, scripting, and for the more elaborate videos, timing along with some stunt work. The other ELBs, well, they weren't really directors or filmmakers, but James was different. He had some knowledge of what he was doing.

[00:01:21]So, in the year of our Lord 2010, the plans to produce an AVGM movie were officially announced, which was going to focus around the game he had been requested to review the most, ET for the Atari 2600. According to him, this thing had been in the Pipe Works for years, even before this video came out. So, obviously, this is something he's wanted to do for a while. Since 2006, when the Nerd series became popular on YouTube, one of the first thoughts on my mind was, how do I turn this into a movie? By 2007, we had an outline all finished.

[00:01:51]And by 2008, we had a script. So, you know, it's it's it's here.

[00:01:57]>> But he decided this wasn't something he wanted to make with his current salary and some friends. He wanted to go big with this. He wanted to go full independent film with it. Something with an actual budget and something that you could put on the big screen. But, as many would know, films are expensive.

[00:02:11]Even indie films can cost a pretty penny depending on the scope. And James James had quite the scope for his film. But let's save that discussion for later.

[00:02:18]This wasn't like those Channel Awesome movies where it was Doug Walker in a scabal of socially awkward internet critics walking around their suburbs or filming at a house or hotel rooms with maybe a few hundred or thousand bucks worth of a budget. This was going to be big, grand, and epic. It was going to have everything James wanted out a film making. He would give very little details and updates about where the film was headed, but nothing would really get going until around 2011. The script was finalized and the locations were set, but in order to do this, they needed money. He teamed up with his two best filmmaking pals from his childhood to help secure the funding for the film.

[00:02:48]They had talked to several investors, but none of them were willing to give him the budget they needed. And after being turned down several times, they decided the best bet was to have the film funded entirely by the online community. A crowdfunding campaign for the Angry Video Game Nerd Movie was made on October 11th, 2011. The campaign explains that they wanted this movie to be funded by the fans.

[00:03:06]>> Making movies is expensive. uh all the traveling involved and all the people and uh little special effects here and there and all that good stuff. Uh it definitely couldn't be made without all this fan support. So, if you donate a certain amount of money, you get a special thank you message or you would get to see your name in the credits, copy of the script, the typical stuff you would see on these crowdfunding campaigns for years to come. But I must address one thing to add some context to this campaign that you can't really understand by just looking at it. In 2011, the internet was more mainstream than it had ever been. But it was still a different place compared to what it is today. You see, today when someone asked for money or donations online, nobody really bats an eye. Every single artist or YouTuber or content creator online has some sort of link to ask for money.

[00:03:50]Subscribe to my Patreon because times are rough right now. Being an adult sucks. Most will take any help they can get. But back then, this action was seen a lot differently compared to how it is now. Asking for money or donations from your fans back then was very looked down upon. Hell, in some circles it was downright accused of scamming your fans.

[00:04:07]The mindset was you were a content creator online and you were making money by basically acting like a clown on camera while they went to their 9 to fives every day. And I can't say there isn't some need for suspicion because yes, content creation online is extremely comfortable compared to typical manual labor or retail jobs. And there were some cases where the creator in question thought they had some entitlement to your money just because they were your court jester whenever you went to lunch. But that's basically saying that you have no respect for me or my efforts to entertain you. It's a trade-off. In order to watch this video, you watch the ad. James already had donation links on his website and also was selling plushies and merchandise to make money. And now he was using this to ask for more money for a movie. A lot of people were excited, but some were skeptical. After all, this entire crowdfunding thing was new to a lot of people. This crowdfunding campaign's announcement is how I myself even knew Indiegogo and Kickstarter were a thing.

[00:04:57]And yes, those same skepticists were somewhat vindicated, seeing how many online confident campaigns turned into complete disasters and were just outright scams of the future. Not to mention, not too long after this, there was that Cheetah 2 Kickstarter scandal involving James I already made a video on. But those seeds haven't been planted yet. And no matter what people thought of it, the Indiegogo campaign absolutely smashed its goal.

[00:05:21]Over $100,000 raised with still eight more days to go.

[00:05:25]>> Thanks everybody. Your contributions are helping out a lot. You've totally exceeded our expectations.

[00:05:31]>> In fact, it would triple this number as the final amount the movie would end up getting would be $325,000.

[00:05:37]But that's not all. Combined with the donations of the website and the stuff James auctioned off to fund the movie, it's been estimated to have been around $400,000 for the film's final budget.

[00:05:45]That's a nice hefty chunk of change compared to the 75,000 they were expecting to get. James and his crew were ecstatic to get this kind of money.

[00:05:52]Now they could go above and beyond what they wanted to do with the movie. But thousands of people had just put their trust in this man to deliver a film he wanted to make. Could he deliver? James Roth having such a pull online that he was able to score well over a quarter of a million dollars was insane news. So, it quickly spread. But, as I said earlier, some were extremely skeptical.

[00:06:12]People had every right to be skeptical, but some just thought this was going to end a disaster or it was an attempted scam. There was a rumor floating around at the time James was going to use the money to buy a new house. And where this rumor started, I have no idea. But buying a house for less than 300 grand nowadays is a laugh. One example I have to bring up was I used to watch this YouTuber back in the day called Asoliaryi. And Aso was a guy who criticized a bunch of online reviewers back in the day. Dare I say he was one of my biggest influences alongside James himself. He was one of the biggest outspoken critics of the AVGM movie being crowdfunded and he constantly gotten to fight with people in his comment section about it. Asa was really adamant that there was no way James was going to use all the money for the movie. And one day, the film's IMDb page went live, which had the film's budget be that of only 185,000 estimated. And he quickly made a video to show everyone James wasn't using the entire budget.

[00:07:01]And this was his evidence. Even if we only factor in the India Go money, that's $325,927 minus $185,000.

[00:07:13]That's $140,927.

[00:07:18]What Asa failed to realize is IMDb, at least at the time, is a bit like Wikipedia and that anyone can go on there and put whatever [ __ ] they want about a film. So, this meant it's likely James wasn't the one to put this here. He got so much backlash for this video, he eventually had to remove it. I saw all this happen in real time, by the way.

[00:07:35]>> This is where MY [ __ ] CUBE IS going to go when I'm done with this review.

[00:07:39]>> Well, no matter if people were skeptical or excited, the end result was James had 400 grand to make the movie of his dreams. And not too long after the campaign ended, James packed a bunch of his stuff up and him, his pals, his wife, and his two cats started heading their way towards California to start shooting the movie. They drove across the entire continent. A 5-day journey in order to get there to start producing his dream movie.

[00:08:00]>> Day five, a short day cuz we pretty much woke up in Bsto, California, and drove to our destination, our uh temporary apartment here in Los Angeles. We made it. It's over.

[00:08:15]>> After he got to Cali and he got settled in, I think that's when it finally began to dawn on James what exactly he was getting himself into. Making cinema is really [ __ ] hard. This was not like shooting home movies or stuff in his basement with his friends like he had been so used to. This was hard-hitting and grueling film production. Even if it was just an indie film, there is so much more going on. So many people you have got to have on set to get everything right. You can direct and you can star in the film, but for every other aspect you're not an expert on, you got to hire someone who knows what they're doing to do it for you. James claims he chose Kelly because that's where a lot of his old college friends were located after graduating so he can meet up with them and catch up after so many years alongside the weather being more predictable compared to the East Coast.

[00:08:55]But I also think James chose to do this in California so he could get the full film making experience since this is where the majority of Hollywood films were made. This would have unforeseen consequences. Filming, like everything else in the state, is extremely expensive and painful. He specifically chose most of the film's production to take place in the Los Angeles area, which is one of the most expensive places in the entire country to produce a film on, added with the fact you need a permit to film basically anything.

[00:09:22]Choosing to make the film here was going to burn through that 400 grand very fast, alongside everything else you'll need for it. You still got to have the editing, the costume design, the extra actors, the scouting, the props, because that's another thing. This was James' dream film and he was a big believer in practical effects instead of using CGI for everything.

[00:09:37]>> Most movies today use all computerenerated effects and uh we think the effects are much more exciting when they're done in front of the camera.

[00:09:46]>> So that's going to be another thing that devours your budget, hiring people to make all the props and effects for you.

[00:09:51]And you can see that James quickly comes to the realization he was biting off more than he could chew. In some of the blogs, he says he's already having regrets on some of his decisions. I've made, you know, I've made some financial mistakes with it, I guess. Um, but you did your part.

[00:10:08]Not not really mistakes, but just sort of a sacrifice, I guess. Is that um the decision to shoot in Los Angeles.

[00:10:16]Really expensive decision because this town is [ __ ] expensive. Like, it is not made for lowbudget filmmakers like myself. This is for the big boys. And I've learned a lot about all the fees, all the restrictions, and all the little rules that apply to film making out here. Um, so the budget has just ballooned beyond what I've ever expected.

[00:10:37]>> But at this point, you're in too deep.

[00:10:39]You already have the money from your fans. You're already in LA. You really have no choice but to make what you promised your fans, or else you'll be shunned by them forever for taking their money and not delivering. But since James was over in LA suffering, that meant no one was really around making videos for his fans besides his blogs.

[00:10:53]It makes you ask the question, who exactly was in charge of the channel while James was away? Well, that would be his best friend, Mr. Tennagger himself, Mike Mate.

[00:11:03]>> Mike is the caretaker of Cinemassacre headquarters while I'm away. People weren't aware of it for many years, but Mike was basically the other half of the AVGN. He wasn't the character, but he played a huge hand in making the character who he is today. He was the one to convince James to keep making videos with the character. If it weren't for Mike, a lot of people's online careers probably wouldn't exist. Now, there's been a lot more eyes put on Mike in recent years due to people finally realizing just how much influence he had on James' online career and the fact he ran the channel for the longest time.

[00:11:31]Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hang hang on. Off topic. What does that say down there? Does that say the GameJ?

[00:11:38]Hold up. I got to see what the GameJu is about.

[00:11:43]Okay, here's his channel. Oh, it's a guy in a very Skippy Mario outfit and he makes video game songs.

[00:11:57]>> I did not expect to find this today.

[00:11:59]Mike had already started appearing in his own videos on the YouTube channel and they were pretty wellreceived. But now that takes on a different form when James is on the other side of the country and it's just him. Yeah, it took two people to make the nerd character who he was. But now one half of that was trying not to end up living in Tent City, and there's no one to really hold Mike's side back. Mike has a very specific brand of humor. It's a lot crudder, edgier, and more gross than what James could make. And now people are about to see that in full force.

[00:12:28]Well, it's a killer puppet movie, guys.

[00:12:30]You know, it's got to have that mandatory [ __ ] shot.

[00:12:32]>> Now, Mike didn't like put on the nerd out of it or try to imitate or anything.

[00:12:36]He tried to make his own reviews and videos in his own style. Some of the videos were fine. They weren't trying to be the nerd they didn't need to be. But there's a lot of questionable things in them. Mike is a very knowledgeable guy on video games, but when it comes to a lot of things, he's either a little too old school or just does [ __ ] that doesn't make any sense. In one episode where he reviews a bunch of Simpsons games on the Game Boy, the last one doesn't work. So, he attempts to crack it open to see if he can replace the battery or fix it. But, in order to get the thing opened, he needed a screwdriver he didn't have. So, instead, he attempts some weird science experiment involving melting a pen. Then I quickly stuck the tip of the pen into the hole so that the plastic would melt around the screw, thus forming my own homemade tool.

[00:13:14]>> Mike, why in God's name are you doing this? You couldn't get a hold of a screwdriver in time, so you did this?

[00:13:20]>> It didn't work. The plastic started to chip away and it just wouldn't unscrew the game.

[00:13:25]>> Just just order the damn screwdriver online, you know, where you post your content. It wasn't just game reviews, either. Mike actually went out of his way to review some movies as well. So, you were getting both your gaming and movie reviewing content from him. He was attempting to fill both voids James was leaving in his absence. And I should say there was still an AVG episode here and there that were already produced before James left, but it was still Mike doing most of the grunt work during this period. As time went on, people were really starting to sour on Mike and his behavior as some of his reviews and videos were not very good. Nothing proves this better than his video on Elmo and Grouchand, >> but I just thought we'd check it out.

[00:14:00]It's Elmo. Maybe it'll be good. Maybe it'll be bad. Probably gonna be bad because it's freaking Elmo.

[00:14:06]>> This isn't really a review and it's more like a riff on the movie. Him just watching it and commenting on what he sees. A really bad riff. It's just him making scratchy and irritating impressions of the characters while constantly making edgy jokes the entire time.

[00:14:21]>> Elmo want my blanket. I want my blanket.

[00:14:25]You can't have my blanket. You're not my friend any like [ __ ] you. Elmo. Elmo doesn't have a blanket. I have to slit my [ __ ] ELMO WRIST. NOW, >> this is funny for like really young teenagers trying to rebel against kid shows they grew up with. It's like watching the video equivalent of those flash games where you murder Barney.

[00:14:42]>> I do think there is a really good purpose why he wanted the blanket back.

[00:14:46]I think it's because the blanket is his rag.

[00:14:49]>> This showcases Mike at his absolute worst when he's got no one to bounce off of and is just spouting gross jokes at a movie made for four-year-olds.

[00:14:56]>> Look at that guy's eyebrows. Look at how bushy his eyebrows are.

[00:15:02]>> If his eyebrows are that bushy, can you imagine >> what his ass crack looks like?

[00:15:07]>> No, Mike. No one else is wondering that.

[00:15:09]Not a single soul on this godforsaken planet was looking at that guy's eyebrows and immediately started thinking about how hairy his ass was.

[00:15:16]Except Mike Pate. I assure you, this video got flanked pretty bad back in the day. And when it did, it showed you another side of Mike that was very apparent back then. And that's the fact whenever something from him on the channel isn't received well, he'll remove comments. He'll lock the comments, lock the ratings, and if the backlash is bad enough, he'll just delete the entire video. And if you try to re-upload it, you're getting a copyright strike. Yep, that's what a ton of people did back in the day when they didn't want embarrassing stuff getting out to the public. The Stryen effect hadn't dawned on a lot of people back then. That is the hundreds upon hundreds of people that left the James Nintendo Nerd channel. Those are the people that left that channel in droves because they were so pissed over the censorship and the shitty review that was being thrown in their face. So Mike was burning a lot of goodwill with the fans of the channel while James was out. Speaking of which, why don't we check up on him? They are busy with casting calls, scutting locations, and getting permits on where to film. A big part of the movie James really wanted to do was he really wanted to get a bunch of his fans involved with the film. Not only did they fund it, but he was constantly getting a bunch of fans to be extras in the film. And when you think about it, it was a sweet sentiment. But a sweet sentiment doesn't always translate to a good product. All this and I've forgotten to even mention Kevin Finn, which is one of James' best friends, who was also the other director of the movie and the other half the reason it even exists, who probably had to step up in a lot of places that James didn't have the ability to do since he was the main star of the movie. The script James and Kevin wrote had a bunch of locations to shoot at since it was so stuffed. And one of those places was a desert. Imagine getting the casting call to come be in a grand motion picture of one of your icons and then you're told to come to a hot ass dusty desert.

[00:16:49]>> I've had the fans come out as extras to to come out into the the desert in the hot sun and that showed to me how committed you really are.

[00:16:57]>> Well, while James and his fans were sweating their balls off, Mike was out here posting the greatest video in the history of YouTube.

[00:17:02]>> I don't know what the block does. Do you?

[00:17:04]>> I don't know.

[00:17:05]>> I don't know. Hey everybody, I'm here with my good friend Inspector Gadget.

[00:17:08]Uh, how you doing, Inspector Gadget? I'm having a lot of fun.

[00:17:13]>> It was only a matter of time before I had to bring this video up. You all know this one. It's become a certified classic. You can quote this video until the cows come home.

[00:17:22]>> I love building bricks with Minecraft.

[00:17:25]Building bricks with Minecraft is the best thing and the most amount of fun you can have while playing an app.

[00:17:31]>> Whenever Mike's content is talked about, no doubt this is considered his greatest work. But you have to remember what I said earlier about this time being a different climate online. It's hard to imagine now, but back when this video first came out, people [ __ ] hated it.

[00:17:45]Not only did they hate this video, this video is what convinced a lot of people Mike was a type of cancer that was slowly killing the channel. And they desperately wanted James to come back.

[00:17:55]So, the review you guys probably most expect me to talk about is his infamous Minecraft or Miny Craftera review, which pretty much speaks volumes about his lack of creativity and a little about how badly he wants to be the AVGN. Allow me to sum up this video for you. He has an out of character and possibly the worst voiced Inspector Gadget ever. Say this a lot.

[00:18:17]>> Minecraft.

[00:18:18]>> And of course, when Mike didn't get the reaction he was expecting, he locked the comments and the ratings and then deleted the video entirely. And any re-uploads would get a very quick copyright claim. But you know, as the years went by, it got me'd and parodyied. See if Garner Only Place played a huge part in that.

[00:18:34]>> Can you go to the house? It won't even let me open this [ __ ] brown door.

[00:18:37]>> You need a key. There we go.

[00:18:38]>> Chris, >> what?

[00:18:39]>> Chris, >> what?

[00:18:40]>> We didn't run into any locked things.

[00:18:42]>> Couldn't he just say go gadget key? Go gadget brown.

[00:18:46]>> He's not a >> And after seeing enough edits that actually made Michael laugh, he finally accepted the video for what it was. Now he's fully embraced it. You can even buy Brown Bricks t-shirts off of his website. I'll take five. But one question remains. Why did Mike make this video in the first place? Well, according to him, this was supposed to be a parody of those channels like Annoying Orange, having an obstac character with the same joke over and over and over again, and the fact that Minecraft was quickly taking over YouTube, but he claims he put no effort into it to get the full effect. Hey, Mike, go gadget knife. Well, that is of course complete [ __ ] I was shocked to find out a lot of people don't know this entire video is actually a bit carried over from a video him and James did a few years before where he and Mike looked at a murder with a super show DVD where the main menu had Inspector Gadget in the dead middle of it for no reason and clicking on him gave you a guide on how to navigate the menu narrated by someone doing a terrible impression of Inspector Gadget.

[00:19:38]>> Gadget here. Welcome to the main menu of this disc. For you firsttime users of DVD, I'd like to take a moment and show you how to use this disc to move to these buttons by pushing the arrow buttons. The button you're on will glow.

[00:19:55]>> Whatever button you want to press, just move the glow to it and press the select or enter button on your remote.

[00:20:03]>> Put your finger in my butthole.

[00:20:09]That's what he should say. That's where this entire video got its inspiration from. And if you didn't see the original video, the whole joke probably wouldn't land for you. And even if you did see it, it probably still didn't land for you. James and Mike really got a kick out of this Inspector Gadget bit. A lot of people don't even know James made his own version where he told you how to use the Cinemas website using Inspector Gadget from this. But if you click on the board James on top, you will see all the videos on one single page. I wonder when the [ __ ] there'll be a new board, James. But yeah, you may find Minecraft and Gadget funny now, but back in 2012, this was the turning point. A good amount of people were absolutely sick of Mike and wanted him to just stop making content for the channel at this point.

[00:20:51]Until finally, James finally made the trip back home to start making content for the channel again. But he also needed to continue more work on the film while he was back home. So, he still had his hands full.

[00:21:00]>> I haven't been in this room for about 4 months. I'm very happy to be back. I was on a Hollywood adventure and I've made it out alive.

[00:21:09]>> On top of trying to make content for the channel and also on top of the fact his wife was now pregnant and had a baby on the way >> because you're going to find out eventually. Uh I'm going to be a dad.

[00:21:26]So he had all of this on his plate, but Mike was still uploading content as well to try and help get some weight off his shoulders. Also in that time period, Mike became aware of a pretty massive French YouTuber by the name of Zuyo Dr and how similar he is to James. And Mike decided to let the fans on Facebook know, comparing him to the IR gamer and potentially starting a [ __ ] storm online over this. Hey James, I know you're busy with your movie and your content and your upcoming kid. But uh do you mind if I start a [ __ ] war with this French guy? Not too long after this, however, in one of Mike's future videos, when he's looking at Homebrew Games, the same guy makes a brief cameo appearance, which would probably mean the two were on good terms. So, that would mean either this entire thing was a publicity stunt or the army Mike was rallying was so strong he immediately submitted, which wouldn't be too surprising. He is French after all.

[00:22:13]>> I surrender.

[00:22:14]>> But now James is back home and the movie was his top priority. He had a ton of work to do on it with him and his crew doing all that editing and getting the effects just right. But now is when we talk about the major problem of the film, the scope creep. This was James' passion project above everything else.

[00:22:29]Everything he loved as a kid and everything he ever wanted in his own film. He had to stuff in an hour and 55 minutes. It's not just a movie about the angry video game nerd. It has action and adventure. It has sci-fi. It has romance. It has video games. It has puppetry. It has kaijus. It is absolutely crammed full. And he did all this on a $400,000 budget. All those practical effects and costumes were not cheap. Running vehicles up the wazoo, including tanks. Not to mention, that's not even including the actress they had to pay. By the way, did you know that Cooper in the film? Duh. This guy was the voice of Kota and Brother Bear. I didn't know that until very recently. He was even able to get Howard Scott Warfaw in the film, which if you don't know, was the guy who made the original ET Atar game, which the film was based around. And speaking of ET, they ran the licensing issues regarding it. As they found out to use the name of the game, they would have to go all the way to Spielberg himself to be able to use it.

[00:23:22]So they quickly pivoted from that and just made a parody name instead. Even stuff you wouldn't even think about costing a fortune. You see this fence?

[00:23:29]This fence wasn't here beforehand. It was a prop. They had to rent it. They had to rent a fence. But not only that, when they got the shot they wanted, they found out the fence wasn't long enough to fit the entire frame like they wanted. So they had to pay someone to edit it and post to digitally alter the fence to make it fit in the frame. This one fence probably costed a couple hundred bucks alone. Now figure that into every single thing in the movie.

[00:23:51]That starts to add up. People thought at first he was just going to make a prettier version of his web videos and pocket most of the cash. But in reality, it seems like every single penny of that crowdfunding money was used to make this film. It was just so crammed full of stuff it hindered the film. And they knew it, too. watching behind the scenes at least twice it's brought up that just reading the script someone was like you can't make this once by the composer of the film >> and I had read it and I thought it was utterly impossible to shoot >> and then again by James himself >> when it came time to shoot it we realized that it's a little bit too epic uh and ambitious to feasibly shoot and that's where the fans came in to make it possible >> well maybe you should have listened to your gut feeling and just dialed the scope back some. I feel as if that would have helped things majorly, but I wasn't on the production of this. I don't feel my input matters in the grand scheme of things. Eventually, the movie got to a state where James would start showing off his trailer in different theaters around the country, and most of the fan reaction was positive. But the film's production would drag on throughout all of 2013 and eventually 2014, where in the same year, the movie would get a free publicity boost when it was found out the entire rumor about Atari burying copies of ET in the New Mexico desert was true after all. And a few months later, the film came out on July 21st.

[00:25:06]So, how's the movie? Well, it exists. I mean, yeah, it is indeed a film starring the angry video game nerd. It has everything James had out of film making, but the final product could have been way better than what it ended up being.

[00:25:20]The most disappointing thing about the film is it's supposed to be a comedy, but I don't remember a single scene in the film that ended up giving me more than a smirk. When James was alone reviewing a bad game, it was just him and what the game gave him to work with.

[00:25:33]And that could be comedy gold.

[00:25:34]>> There's dogs clapping. I didn't even know that dogs were [ __ ] watching.

[00:25:40]And maybe he has Mike there and make up for some funny slapstick. But now he had to write and give other characters personality and backgrounds, other people to bounce off of that weren't Mike, and it just doesn't have the same effect. The film could have been way better. But considering this was from an amateur director that didn't know what he was getting himself into, it could have been way worse. But at the end of the day, he delivered. All things considered, the Indiegogo campaign was a success. It was used to fund the movie.

[00:26:04]All the funds went to the movie, and the movie did end up coming out. A product was delivered to the people who backed it. Whether the backers were satisfied with the final product, however, is entirely up to them. I think by the end of this, James was just finally happy to be able to get back down to his basement to go back to doing what he was best at.

[00:26:20]So, after this, I'll probably go back to doing it cheap cinemassacre style, the way that I know best. Um, but I'll also be equipped with some newfound knowledge. Next chance I get, I'll work on another AVGN episode, which would be a nice break, actually. So, expect that sometime later this summer.

[00:26:38]>> This movie's production more than likely sucked the life out of him. I have no doubt in my mind, this movie permanently changed James' view on film making once he actually got in the director seat and made his own film. and went out to do what every other director did. He probably wanted it out as soon as possible, but he had to deliver. He was using other people's money for this. He couldn't let them down. And it really does feel after this film was made, there was some sort of vibe shift in his content, especially since not too long after the film was made, he brought in Screamwave. The passion was starting to leak out and well, now it was a job more than anything. Still the best job you could possibly have, but it feels like that all went away after this movie. So, the AVG movie came and went, and it's just seen as a footnote in James Ralph's history as an online content creator, and also spawned a bunch of jokes and theories about how the romance of the film is secretly an allegory for his marriage. The TV board had a field day with that one. I wouldn't call the film worth the wait, as this movie had been in development for years leading up to it, but it still has that passion of a movie maker wanting to put everything he wanted in his film. It's still better than any soulless garbage that other Unless Liberties had made because he actually wanted to make this. He premiered it at the theaters. His favorite films were premiered and shown off at.

[00:27:47]>> One of the most famous monster movies of all time was filmed right up there on that balcony. And uh part of your ticket goes to uh restoring this historic theater. Um and that's what I'm all about is preserving film history.

[00:28:01]>> That's what all this was about. Pursuing the dream. He got it, but at a cost.

[00:28:06]It's been 12 years, and yes, that hurts to say, but that part of his life is over. You can tell James is more comfortable making AVGM videos now more than ever now that he saw firsthand just how cruel the film making industry actually was. He saw how much just living and filming in Los Angeles was and it was nothing more than a money pit. And I, you know, I keep saying that like, oh, LA is expensive, but it's like they make it as expensive as they possibly can. They want your money. They want as much money from you as they can.

[00:28:39]So, there's a very greedy business side to the whole thing.

[00:28:42]>> He even said in his announcement video, he had all these ideas of films he wanted to make.

[00:28:47]>> I hope that it opens up a lot of doors and then after this I'll be able to make all kinds of movies there cuz there's like just a huge backlog in my head of like all these movies I want to make.

[00:28:57]>> But since then, he has never made another full-length film. And maybe it's a little too early to say it. He's only 45 years young, but I think he might have realized the world of big production film making just wasn't for him. So, he's probably going to stick to smaller scale productions with his family and friends for the foreseeable future. And well, can you really blame the man? Even if the film didn't end up being what we wanted, the fact he made damn sure to deliver on this promise of that film is what matters most. And while the film may be a footnote, James's influence on online content creation will never be forgotten. It's still being felt to this very day. And that's really what's more important here. He didn't need to make a film. He wanted to, but most of his fans were satisfied with the stuff he had already put out.

[00:29:38]>> You know, you got to understand that making movies has been my life mission.

[00:29:43]And that the Nerd series was a side project, or at least at the time it was.

[00:29:48]And what do you know? It exploded and it took on a life of its own.

[00:29:51]>> And even if James thought he could do better than his reviews, that will never change how much we love them. God bless.

[00:29:57]Like and subscribe and good night.

[00:29:59]Remember my friends, sometimes it's better to shoot for the clouds than to shoot for the stars.