By Joseph Garza
This is the first entry on Scared Stiff Reviews written by the very talented Joseph Garza, who excels in all aspects of his artistic craft.
James Rolfe has won many fans with his web series, The Angry Video Game Nerd. Some of those fans nearly packed a theater on August 14th for a showing of The Angry Video Game Nerd-The Movie at the Midtown Art Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Plenty of fans showed their enthusiasm wearing AVGN shirts. One fan wearing a Board James hat brought two games signed by Rolfe with him to show his neighbors in the auditorium.
The movie rolled and the crowd loved it. The movie starts with a brief history of Atari and ET which transitioned to a board room at Cockburn Industries where we find out that it was part of the pitch for for EEE TEE 2. Mandi (Sarah Glendening) proposes that the game can be intentionally bad because video game fans will pay to see how bad it is, especially if the company can get the game reviewed by The Angry Video Game Nerd (James Rolfe).
The opening credits shows the influence of the Nerd on game fans while a few of the Nerd’s greatest insults are not only featured, but savvier Nerd fans chanted the insults in time with the movie. All of this is underscored with an epic orchestral version of the AVGN theme by the movie’s composer, Bear McCreary.
We meet the Nerd and his buddy and nerd in training Cooper (Jeremy Suarez) as they head to work at Game Cops, a new and used game store. After being ordered to move more products, we see a Nerd bad review can still prompt a sale, much to the Nerd’s chagrin. When the promotional standee for EEE TEE 2 is put up at the store, Cooper and the customers try to convince the Nerd to review the original EEE TEE, breaking out into chants and a conga line.
Mandi, with fake glasses and Atari shirt, tracks down the Nerd and Cooper and shows them a demo for EEE TEE 2. The Nerd has a VERY visceral reaction. She comes with the proposal to shoot a documentary and go to the alleged landfill with cartridges of the original EEE TEE, hoping to get The Nerd to review the new game. The Nerd after having nightmares caused by the original decides to do the project, hoping to prove that nothing is there killing the legend of the game.
The three pack up a van with plenty of video games and music for the trip. The Nerd’s music is on vinyl and he manages to hook it up to the van’s stereo. While on the road, Cockburn decides to have a gaming Woodstock and has it running by the time Mandi, Cooper, and The Nerd arrive on the site.
Meanwhile at a nearby military base in Area 51, the electronics of all the gaming systems in the van are detected. General Dark Onward (Stephen Mendel) leads armed detail is sent to investigate. The General shows himself rather quickly to be the 21st century reincarnation of The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and has been for some time. His inclination is to shoot first and ask questions later. The Nerd, Mandi, and Cooper make a run for it.
That is about third of the movie. We’ll stop here so there is plenty to enjoy when the movie is released digitally.
Rolfe and his cast and crew are able to turn up the tension from there. Every bit of effort making the movie shows on screen. If you are a fan of AVGN, you will definitely love this movie. The film expands the show and crafts its own reality and the people living there. It makes you buy that the events are happening, no matter how insane they become. For example, clips of the games are made for the movie. The most obvious one is the home screen for original EEE TEE which is the logo and ET with a mustache rendered in 4 bit glory.
For those not familiar with the show, if you like UHF (1989) and blue humor, I think you’ll have a fun experience. There are quite a few cameos, including Lloyd Kaufman, Mike Matei and Kyle Justin. There’s even a “cameo” by the Vasquez Rocks. There are also cameos from quite a few from the internet reviewing community. I was originally going to leave this one a surprise, but IMDB lists him first in the cast credits: Robbie Rist, aka Cousin Oliver, voices a pivotal character. You’ll know him when you see him. Finally, if you’re an AVGN fan who got to play ET on the Atari 2600, this is a “they’re in my brain” movie. This movie is highly recommended.
“The most obvious one is the home screen for original EEE TEE which is the logo and ET with a mustache rendered in 4 bit glory.”
8-bit, not 4. The 2600 and other systems from it’s generation were all 8-bit machines. There were no 4-bit consoles.