The Thinning (Film)
I like the basic concept of this movie. The idea of having to cull a percentage of your population every year because of there being too many people and not enough resources. To be honest, I would have been more interested in the film if they explored exactly why America decided to make it based on a test that school kids have to take. The characters were alright. The two blonde girls I confused for one another, as they had been established but not distinguished from one another. One of them, Logan Paul's in-film girlfriend, dies due to the test and so that makes Logan angry. I can't remember what Logan's character's name is. Or any of them for that matter. Also I didn't understand why a woman, who is supposed to be a close friend of smart blonde girl's family, is so important to the whole thing. It's just jammed down your throat and you're expected to understand and care about it.
I liked the idea of Logan's character being the son of the Governor and being followed everywhere, and also the difficulties faced by his father. The backstory is more interesting than the story told by the film.
I gotta be honest about YouTube Red. It hasn't turned out much content that I would actually tell my friends about. Oh, except for Sing It. That's well written and a funny parody of typical singing competition shows.
Good Game (Show)
As much as I love Game Grumps and everything that they've built, I don't like Good Game. Maybe I'm harsh, but everything in the trailer is literally the best parts of the whole first episode. It reminded me of Deadpool, and that was well-received. Maybe "best parts" is giving it too much positivity. I didn't like any of the parts of the trailer, as they were loaded with extra stuff. Each line is a line and there are no simple conversations. Every line is loaded with heaps of information, and I feel like I needed time to connect with the characters. Maybe that should have been the first episode. I got the gist of what each character is supposed to be like, but it's so underdeveloped for each of them that they feel like pieces of paper with words on them. Arin's character Ryland is the bored one who is supposed to be awesome at esports and is very supportive of his friend Alex (played by Dan Avidan), who spends all of his time in pubs to pursue his dream of being a rock star and make some easy money. They are supposed to be stereotypes of the way Dan and Arin are in Game Grumps, but they are so paper-thin that they don't present enough for me to connect with. Again, I felt that the wrong story was being told. Too much information being provided in dialogue rather than actions.
I watched the second episode, as I'm a YouTube Red subscriber (why else would I be reviewing YT Red things?), and didn't like it much more than the first episode. I like how they're supposed to be exploring one another's traits more, but it's just hammered in too much. I could blame the amount of time given to each episode, but if the writing was done more carefully, it could have been better. I know a lot of criticism is dumped on writers for not writing the best stuff ever, but with two writers from Dan Harmon's own company, with experience in writing Rick and Morty episodes (which were all well-received), it's pretty disappointing. My hopes weren't very high. I love the idea of Game Grumps doing their own YouTube Red show because of their iBurgieBurgie commercials, but I don't think Arin got much of a say in how the whole thing panned out. Also, there is a big list of executive producers, and apparently Dan Harmon is supposed to be the main one. Another reason that my hopes weren't high for this show is because I haven't seen anything that Dan Harmon has done. I know that loads of people love Rick and Morty and that Community was very successful, but I haven't seen either of them.The only stuff of Harmon's that I've looked at is the Guest Grumps episode where they play Cat in the Hat, and a bunch of YouTube clips of him talking about various topics. I haven't seen anything made by Harmon himself.
Overall, I'm not expecting it to get much better, and I'm sure that there'll be a few good moments in episodes, but the writing is of pieces of paper talking to one another and what they say gets put into the trailers. I hope Game Grumps get another shot at a YouTube Red show, because I know that they can make quality content, however iBurgieBurgie is the only good example that I can think of.
So those are my reviews of The Thinning and Good Game. I didn't talk very much about The Thinning because I had a few main points. Good Game, I just love Game Grumps and it's fresh in my mind. I watched The Thinning a couple of nights ago.
Bye!
