Kickassia (2010)

Very Cool!!!

Powerful

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I thought this film wouldn't be too great. But when I saw it, I actually thought it was INCREDIBLE! I love films about made up countries, and this is set in a REAL LIFE micro nation! I thought the comedy was very funny and it made me laugh a lot, and the rest of my friends were crying of laughter in many scenes of this film.However, it does have a couple of issues. Some of them being a few predictable jokes, an unsatisfying ending and many plot holes and story inconsistencies, but that last thing is one of the things that makes it funny.The Nostalgia Critic was fantastic in it, Cinema Snob, the late JewWario and several other actors all perform excellently in the film. But some characters were a bit over the top, but nothing too big to worry about.

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.

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.

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."