Everything Wrong with...

While there are many reasons for comedy series to become stale, but a primary one is that when they rely on a single idea or joke for too long with no variation, the series in question becomes repetitive and boring after a while. For me that is exactly what has happened to Cinema Sins.

Before I complain, let me just say that at its inception, this was a great series. The unique idea served itself well in its early days, with interesting critiques of films with the crew finding no stone unturned when it came what is wrong with major films, both the huge (plot holes, bad writing) and the minimal (extras messing up, miscalculations involving time or science). It also helped that the series was quite funny. Now while the writers aren't the best comedians in the world, nor were they as funny as similar series around this time (Honest Trailers, How It Should Have Ended). However, the humour they managed to get from the mistakes in these movies could be at points extremely funny, mainly the ones where they delivered it via sarcasm. In short, it was a very enjoyable series initially.

But I will admit I don't watch the series much anymore. Why you may ask? This is because for me, the show has remained largely the same throughout with very little change or variation. Now I understand this can benefit sometimes, since if an idea ain't broke, don't fix it right? But for me, while the concept behind Cinemasins is still an original one, its lack of range is more of a hindrance than anything because it becomes rather boring and repetitive after a while. The occasional spanner in the works while very entertaining and enjoyable (mainly the ones with guests and the one where they mock themselves) aren't frequent enough to break this cycle up.

It doesn't help that the humour of the series is inconsistent at times, and on the whole very safe with no edge. Now, I have to say that I have found some older episodes quite funny and I don't expect every comedy series to be Frankie Boyle levels of edgy. However, the humour derived from the nitpicks can be quite poor at points, not helped by how as I said earlier, the writers aren't the best at comedy. This lack of edge doesn't help because it means the humour is very safe as a whole, something which would be fine if it funnier than it was. This can lead to episodes that while entertaining and offer insightful criticism of certain films can be very hit or miss in the laughs department & a bit of a drag as a result (their recent Alien episode is a good example of this).

So as a whole, Cinemasins for me is one gimmick stretched for longer than necessary. It's repetitive formula can get boring after a while and there are laughs, they're not as often as one would expect. So they're entertaining critiques of big films, but whose premise has had so little variation over the course of nearly 5 years of existence that there's not much to reward regular watching. Nostalgia Critic creator Doug Walker once said that one of the reasons that he initially stopped the NC was because he had felt he had run out of ways to say a film was bad. Unfortunately, while Doug's show was at least versatile enough to keep the viewer engaged and wanting more, Cinemasins has had so little change that it has led the viewer to become disengaged and turn off. The occasional episode is still entertaining and can be quite funny, but the show has now become like fast food. Fine in infrequent doses, but not rewarding in frequent ones.

This used to be one of my favourite YouTube series, no joke. It was a unique concept of pointing out little mistakes in a movie or things you really shouldn't notice and getting some great comedy out of it. It started out fine, it was funny and a little intriguing. I instantly became a fan and followed CinemaSins' "Everything Wrong with" series for a long time. Fast forward to today and most of what made it great is gone. Ever since 2016 they've been showing a gradual decline. They keep trying to tell everyone that everything they say in their videos shouldn't be taken seriously as it's all a joke and all said by their character that they put on which just so happens to be a massive ***hole. And for a while it was just like what they said, but after a while they started to point things out in movies that just seemed spiteful or really unnecessary. It could have been personal bias towards a certain actor/actress or something so insignificant and small that it really doesn't matter, pretty much past the points of nitpicks. And sometimes they just sinned things that didn't need to be sinned and also made a bunch of mistakes themselves. And the problem with some of the things they started to sin? They were their ACTUAL CRITICISMS of the movie they were talking about. This is all proven from their vlogs that they make after seeing a movie where they talk about what they thought of it. There is a moment in their "Age Of Ultron" video where they talk about a flaw that wasn't actually a real flaw and was just them not understanding something. Then if you watch their vlog that they made after they watched "Age Of Ultron" they bring up this exact critique. And there are many other examples which you can all go find yourselves. Whilst they occasionally have moments that are similar to their old videos as well as some decent chuckles, they have fallen so far from grace, it's insane. Their old videos will always have a special place in my heart, but their new videos show me that this "movie fan ***hole" character that they keep saying they portray actually reflects their genuine thoughts on movies.

Cinemasins is definitely a unique concept with a lot of promise. It's memorable as well, because it pulls it off in terms of presentation. Content is where Cinemasins falls down. While they do raise several legitimate points, it's lined with pedanticness that will go one of two ways: Jeremy will point out meaningless things that will mean nothing to the "average" cinema goer he claims to represent, or will show a lack of understanding of the source material.

It's also billed as a comedy, which would work if their jokes weren't so hit and miss. And when they do "hit" they'll milk an barely-funny joke for everything it's worth (SCENE DOES NOT CONTAIN A LAP DANCE AHAHAHAHAHAHXDDDD).

Not to mention the way they'll occasionally critique a cartoon for simply being a cartoon, or make fun of a movie for making use of basic storytelling techniques like narration. To some extent, it reeks of a screenwriter who's "unique and brilliant" screenplay got rejected one too many times.

Of course, like any series, they're going to have their hits. But their hits are overcrowded by their forgettable videos.

Someone should tell the Cinema Sins staff that nit-picking and fault-finding is only entertaining if there's actually a point to it. The original episodes had a semblance of insightful commentary because the "sins" were legitimate issues that the audience could laugh about. However, it has since devolved into pointless pedantry, non-issues and irrelevant in-jokes. Even worse, many of the so-called mistakes they uncover are actually just total misunderstandings, misinformation and fabrications. I wonder if they even watch these films anymore.

Cinema Sins is just a regular guy poking fun and poking holes in every movie that has sinned, which is every film every made. From tropes, to continuity errors, to calling out the blatantly stupid, he calls it out. His voice is somewhat monotone but I prefer it over someone that is constantly trying to "broadcast guy" his way through the presentation. Some things get boring like the "ex-machina" call-outs, "No", and his extreme bias against exposition. However, if you are looking for some community validation for/against a movie you love/hate, this is a nice vehicle for getting it. He also takes time to remove sins for awesomeness in a movie, but it's rare. If you are on youtube looking for something to watch to pass the time in 15-ish minute tidbits, there are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more boring, brain- depleting, complete-trash videos you can watch than Cinema Sins. #PrometheusSchoolOfRunningAwayFromThings