Thank You, RedLetterMedia

For turning me into an even bigger hack fraud.

The gang of RedLetterMedia is the closest thing to Nietzsche’s Übermensch in the modern world. They represent everything holy and sacred in today’s internet culture, the very best it has to offer. For more than a decade they have entertained and inspired a generation of moviegoers to expand their horizons by providing fun and creative reviews of movies they’re particularly interested in. The gimmick has resulted in an avid following willing to support and defend everything they stand for. The world is a better place for their existence, and their success is proof of an actual chance that smart and thought provoking commentary is possible in an era where everything is stale and packaged together.

YouTube is a cesspool of frauds, with very few exceptions. I am well-aware of some of these people, and you can smell the awful stench they leave by the way people regurgitate their half-baked ideas all the time as if striking gold at the narrow mines. There’s really no way to tell who is a hack at first; it is only until getting a few years of experience watching content that you start to see the ripples. My best advice for those who are looking to weed out the crabgrass is to watch out for people who complain about the mood or feel of a film without giving much substance into what the actual plot is about or how it relates to what it’s trying to do. You can pretty much tell the difference by the way they talk about films they don’t like; there’s a special condescension to the way they discuss them.

With the current state of hot takes and over-exasperated attitudes towards the film industry, it’s hard to have a good source of information unaffected by current sensibilities to the point of turning everything into a bigger deal than what it actually is. Everything has to be political or divisive instead of educational and light-hearted. And while I’m sure that there may be a perception that the people I wish to highlight on this piece may perhaps have a long and historical reputation of being nothing more than hack frauds, I am here to tell you all that this is not the case.

RedLetterMedia is a YouTube film review channel created by Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman. Joining them is their close friend Rich Evans to complete a trio of…