Line #315 Creator/JamesRolfe


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/untitled_526.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Not to be confused with [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd that other guy]].]]
3
4	->''"This game is ass."''
5	-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'''
6
7	A film buff born in {{UsefulNotes/Philadelphia}} and raised in UsefulNotes/NewJersey with directing aspirations, James Duncan Rolfe (born July 10, 1980) remained mostly under the radar until 2006, when he posted a couple of joke reviews he made for his friends a couple years earlier on Platform/YouTube, under the name "The Angry Nintendo Nerd". A few years of booming popularity later, he eventually evolved into ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''.
8
9	Aside from making Nerd videos, he has a large filmography dating back to 1989 registered on his website [[http://www.cinemassacre.com/ Cinemassacre]], he has two other shows -- ''WebVideo/BoardJames'' and ''[[WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit You Know What's Bullshit?]]'' -- and also established an improv series with a few friends of his called [=OverAnalyzers=].
10
11	He also often posts videos to the site with him acting as himself, either performing interviews, documentaries, or movie reviews, most notable of which is ''WebVideo/CinemassacresMonsterMadness'', an event that he has taken part in every October since 2007 where he reviews one horror film every day of the month, whether it be an old classic or an obscure treasure, often in keeping with some sort of theme (SoBadItsGood films one year, the entire ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' series another).
12
13	He is affiliates with both Website/ScrewAttack and Website/ChannelAwesome (despite, or perhaps due to, the Nerd's eternal conflict with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic).
14	----
15	!!Works created by James Rolfe:
16	* ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''
17	* ''WebVideo/BoardJames''
18	* ''WebVideo/CinemassacresMonsterMadness''
19	* ''WebVideo/CinemassacreVideo''
20	* ''Film/CurseOfTheCatLoversGrave''
21	* ''WebVideo/DrJekyllAndMrHydeTheGameTheMovie''
22	* ''WebVideo/JamesAndMikeMondays''
23	* ''WebAnimation/MunkyCheez''
24	* ''Film/{{Snix}}''
25	* ''WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit''
26	----
27	!!James Rolfe and his work provide examples of:
28	* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: James tends to emphasize the "re" in "review". According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBUzngDUOnk YKWBS: Word Pronunciations]], he does it to be more consistent with other words with the "re" prefix.
29	* ArchivePanic: Invoked; James never watched ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' as a kid, and decided to play catch-up so he wouldn't go in blind to review the [[Film/PowerRangers2017 reboot film]]. But he freaked out when he learned how long the series is, and that's not even counting the original Japanese series that it takes footage from. Even limiting himself to just the first season, he had to binge watch ''sixty episodes''.
30	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In his Top 10 Shitty Shatner Movies, he ended the list with Incubus at #1, and talked about how the film was lost until it turned up with France, and ended with this dark sentence...
31	--> "There was a lot of bad luck associated with Incubus and came with the reputation as one of those films with a curse. [Milos Milos] killed his girlfriend and committed suicide. [Ann Atmar] has also committed suicide a few weeks after the film wrapped. [Eloise Hardt's daughter] was kidnapped and murdered. Director Leslie Steven's production company went bankrupt, and his marriage ended in divorce. And Creator/WilliamShatner ended up being in a lot of shitty films."
32	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Has more than once said he has ADD. It is unclear if he has been clinically diagnosed as having it or if he's just using it as shorthand for saying he is easily distracted. During the ''Cinemassacre Rental'' about ''WesternAnimation/MortalKombatTheJourneyBegins'', he mentioned that he hates watching movies on his computer because he immediately starts clicking around and can't stay focused on the film.
33	* AuthorAppeal:
34	** Horror movies, especially monster movies.
35	** References to shit. Sorry, that was meant to be, references to '''''SHIT!'''''
36	** Urban legends and conspiracy theories, especially those regarding supernatural phenomena or extraterrestrial life.
37	** Inverted with sports. He has shown a few times how he dislikes sports.
38	* BadassBoast: From the "Contra Memories" video: "I beat Contra before breakfast."
39	* BerserkButton:
40	** James ''hates'' iTunes, and is of the opinion that it gets worse with every release, especially changing the interface and removing options (he elaborates on this during the iTunes episode of YKWBS). He also hates waiting for it to update. He spent a good several minutes during the "James and Mike Mondays" episode ''VideoGame/StarFox'' complaining about it. He admitted the only reason he still bothers with it is because he tried the competition, and somehow, they actually had ''less'' features to offer than iTunes, so he feels stuck with it.
41	** He's also not a fan of Blu-ray; while he praises the picture quality, he detests the continued practice of unskippable warning screens carried over from DVD, and is less inclined to upgrade his DVD collection than he was from VHS to DVD. He considers streaming to be superior solely for the fact that the movie starts right up.
42	* BulletTime: One of his choices for the Top 10 Worst Movie Cliches.
43	* TheCameo:
44	** He appeared in different commercials (one of the earliest being a Budweiser commercial), other online shows, and even independent works (like the Sonic fan film).
45	** At one point he even assists in special effects works with other works, like blood work and all.
46	* CloudCuckoolander:
47	** [[http://cinemassacre.com/2010/11/23/top-10-movie-moments-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-the-scene-from-frankenstein-where-the-monster-throws-the-girl-into-the-pond/ Top 10 Movie Moments That Have Nothing To Do With The Scene From Frankenstein Where The Monster Throws The Girl Into The Pond]] is a whole video of him listing moments from various movies that have nothing to do with the scene from the 1931 ''Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}}'' when the Monster throws the girl into a pond.
48	---> (Scene from the movie ''Film/TheFury'' where [[spoiler:PopGoesTheHuman]])
49	---> "HOLY SHIT! Well, I'm not thinking of Frankenstein. Are you?"
50	** And speaking of Top 10s, he made another one called [[http://cinemassacre.com/2013/12/12/top-10-worst-top-10s/ Top 10 Worst Top 10s]], and #1 on the list is ''Top 10 Times Johnny Depp Says "Then."'' Dude sure does love his unconventional Top 10 lists.
51	* {{Corpsing}}:
52	** Seven words -- "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmSXEF4OzNU Live like a windrammer as you fuck.]]"
53	** Anyone watching the episodes of AVGN with Creator/LloydKaufman and the Guitar Guy with keen ears and eyes can notice James losing his composure with some of the things they say.
54	** And of course, the one part in his review of ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII'' where he stressed that the "Help I'm a turtle and I can't get up" gag is not funny, but burst out laughing anyway.
55	* {{Crossover}}: James and his high school friends came up with a proposed crossover of ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek'' called ''Trek Wars'', but they didn't flesh it out very much; the most they came up with was Luke Skywalker and Captain Kirk shaking hands.
56	--> '''James''': That's the best we could come up with; like, "Hey, how ya doin'?" ''(Mike Matei laughs)'' That was really stupid.\
57	'''Mike''': I think you can come up with better at this point.
58	* DeadpanSnarker: A trademark of his videos, espeically his review videos.
59	* DeliberateVHSQuality: Used on various projects of his, most notably on ''Cinemassacre Rental Reviews''.
60	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
61	** He has admitted to this being one of his weaknesses while writing. He noted that in the ''Ninja Gaiden'' review, he had to use a thesaurus because he had overused the word "impossible" in the original script. The trope has been invoked a couple of episodes before he managed to catch it, such as in the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' review:
62	---> "Every time you fall down, you have to walk through the entire stage all over again. All of the enemies come back, so you have to fight everybody all over again."
63	** He also has a habit of saying "head decapitation," as if there's any other kind of decapitation.
64	* TheDitherer: "What Will I Watch? (Netflix browsing)", since he can't make a decision.
65	* DudeNotFunny: In his review of ''Film/GameOfDeath'', James already finds the 1978 cut of the movie and its attempts to work around the fact they only had 11 minutes of footage of the real Creator/BruceLee awkward and strange, but he really doesn't mince words describing how disrespectful and tasteless the film is for -- as part of the new plot, where Lee's character [[FakingTheDead fakes his own death]] -- using stock footage of ''Bruce Lee's real funeral.''
66	-->'''James:''' ''(freezing on a shot of Lee's open casket)'' And there he is, acting in death. [[SarcasmMode Wouldn't he be proud]]? [[TranquilFury It's a fucking disgrace]].
67	* EarlyBirdCameo: Ryan Schott briefly showed up in the background of James's CED player video in 2010, a full five years before he was actually introduced as member of Cinemassacre and started appearing alongside James and Mike more often.
68	* EasilyOverheardConversation: One of his choices for the Top 10 Worst Movie Cliches.
69	* {{Engrish}}: He gets an email filled to the brim with this in Mailbag #3, which introduces the "Live like a windrammer as you fuck" quote.
70	* FadeToBlack: One of his choices for the Top 10 Worst Movie Cliches. He says it's especially bad in modern trailers, as it's annoying when you're trying to find a seat and the theater keeps going pitch black every other second.
71	* FanEdit: James made one for ''Film/KillBill'' vol. 1 & 2; unfortunately, due to copyright, he's not allowed to post it online.
72	* GodNeverSaidThat: His refusal to watch ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' had nothing to do with the female cast[[labelnote:*]]his only mention of the female cast was pointing out how people referred to the movie as "the female Ghostbusters" due to being titled "Ghostbusters" just like the original film, and having little else to differentiate it[[/labelnote]], and was more due to how it calls itself "Ghostbusters" but doesn't build on the established lore of the franchise, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen despite having gotten the three surviving original Ghostbusters to appear in the movie]]. He even outright states that it may end up being a ''good'' movie in its own right.
73	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: After his ''Top 1 Shark Movies'', which is basically him praising ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and being unable to come up with any other good shark films, he would go ''crazy'' over the collection of terrible shark movies he has, leading to the '''Top 40 Shitty Shark Movies!'''
74	--> "[[MadnessMantra Shark movies, shark movies, shark movies, SHARK MOVIES, SHARK MOVIES,]] '''[[MadnessMantra SHARK MOVIES]]''', '''[[LaughingMad AHHHHHHahhhhhh]]'''[[LaughingMad ahhhhhh!]]"
75	--> crazy laugh Shark movies. '''Shark movies!'''
76	* GoKartingWithBowser: ''James and Mike Mondays''. Mike has played enemies of the Nerd such as [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees.]] Another example in the episodes where James plays with Creator/DougWalker, whose [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Nostalgia Critic]] persona was the Nerd's SitcomArchNemesis.
77	* {{Gorn}}: He's known for making really gory short horror movies like ''The Deader The Better''.
78	* HappilyMarried: To April, A.K.A. Mrs Nerd.
79	* HopeSpot: When he decided to play ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7BbVep9rTQ with various other internet personalities]], one player had the idea to ''duck'' to avoid taking damage from the bomb. It seemed to have worked, only for it to have been pure coincidence when they attempt it again and take damage anyway.
80	* JumpScare: At the end of [[http://cinemassacre.com/2014/05/09/nostalgic-scary-books this video]], after talking about how scary the illustrations from Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark are, he suddenly shows [[NightmareFace one of them]], amplified so that it covers the whole screen, with a ScareChord to top.
81	* KensingtonGore: Many of James's films make use of extremely bright, cheesy blood, likely in honor of the classic B-movies he draws so much inspiration from. He has noted using Kool-aid, ketchup, water with red food coloring, and corn syrup with red food coloring in various commentaries and documentaries.
82	* KindheartedCatLover: Had a black cat named Boo who appeared in some AVGN episodes (most famously as "Death Kitty" in the Atari Jaguar episode), plus a white cat named Yeti.
83	* LetsPlay: Sort of. He does the ''WebVideo/JamesAndMikeMondays'' series with his best friend: Mike Matei.
84	* MadnessMantra: During his ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' marathon...
85	-->"Oh, Go Go Power Rangers... GO GO POWER RANGERS!!! '''GO GO POWER RANGERS!!!'''"
86	* MetalHead: He is a huge fan of heavy metal and hard rock occasionally name checking them in a video. He especially seems to like {{Music/ACDC}}. He very often wears metal band T-shirts when not in character. In Mailbag #3 he is wearing a Music/LedZeppelin hat and in the ''You Know What's Bullshit'' episode on iTunes, his music library consists mostly of hard rock and heavy metal bands. He even started a series podcasts called "Audio Slaughter" with his wife. He talks a great deal about his longtime love for heavy metal, particularly in the episodes on Music/{{Metallica}} and Music/BlackSabbath. In his "'Making of An Angry Video Game Nerd Episode" video, he mentions that one time, while editing an exceptionally difficult and time-consuming project, he managed to listen to the entire Music/IronMaiden discography. He's also mentioned in several videos that he likes the cult British DoomMetal band Witchfinder General, who no doubt [[ColbertBump received much more attention thanks to this.]]
87	** James started his own hard rock band called "Rex Viper" with some of his friends, complete with him on rhythm guitar!
88	* MondegreenGag: Invoked: In the second part of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' retrospective, he plays various clips and thinks the characters are swearing.
89	* MyCarHatesMe: One of his choices for the Top 10 Worst Movie Cliches (specifically, when the car doesn't start).
90	* NerdGlasses: Possibly the king of this trope.
91	* OlderThanHeLooks: He still looks to be in his twenties when he's actually in his ''forties''. It really shows in the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' episode of AVGN, when the Nerd goes back in time and meets his earlier incarnations (which are first shown through StockFootage, then played by himself). He hardly looked different than his decade-earlier videos, save for the hairline.
92	* OrbitalShot: One of his choices for the Top 10 Worst Movie Cliches.
93	* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: His satirical "Top 10 Worst Top 10s" list is all this, getting excited about some of the most mundane things in cinema, like top 10 foreground bushes, top 10 dogs in the background, top 10 times where "a person's hat falls off and you can see inside the hat".
94	* PetPeeveTrope: James briefly goes over these in his [[https://youtu.be/Z9eGCIcNDSg?si=UVFLHj9UI1KOHby1 "Top 10 Worst Movie Clichés" video]]
95	** 10: DramaticSlip
96	** 9: MyCarHatesMe
97	** 8: OrbitalShot
98	** 7: EasilyOverheardConversation
99	** 6: "The Classroom Bell," that is, when the school bell rings right in the middle of the teacher's lecture.
100	---> '''James:''' "Why are these teachers so unorganized? As soon as the bell rings, everybody goes running."
101	** 5: {{Parody}}ing ''Film/TheMatrix'' (via use of the {{Bullet Time}} trope).
102	** 4: {{Cat Scare}}s in horror movies, usually whenever there's a lot of suspense buildup. Especially when it ends up being something walking up to them.
103	---> '''James:''' "Is ''that'' how you greet somebody? By sneaking up on them and grabbing their shoulder? ...Is that the ''only'' way you can get their attention? How about a simple hello?"
104	** 3: A combination {{record needle scratch}} with {{sudden soundtrack stop}} in movie trailers.
105	---> '''James:''' "Like the jokes are so stupid they need the music to help accentuate them."
106	** 2: Excessive use of {{fade to black}} in trailers. This really ires him when they do this while playing in theatres, forcing him to play a game of red light, green light while trying to find a seat as the room goes from bright to dark.
107	** 1: BondVillainStupidity[=/=]WhyDontYouJustShootHim
108	* PlayingAgainstType: Known for the directing variant with making gory horror movies and gross out comedies. However, he made a short psychological mystery film called "The Jersey Odysseys: Legend of the Blue Hole" which doesn't include any gore or gross out stuff.
109	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: Parodied. As the Bullshit Man, he mentioned that people complained about having to say "Happy Holidays" out of respect for other beliefs when they ''insist'' on saying "Merry Christmas." So he coined a new term called '''HAPPY SHUT THE FUCK UP!''' and has proceeded to use this in some of his Christmas specials, including the AVGN Winter Games, and even as himself at the end of his TMNT Christmas review.
110	* ThePrankster: Once pranked his New Year's Eve party on 1999 by shutting off the circuit breakers at midnight so it looked like [=Y2K=] actually happened as people feared. His sister didn't fall for it and just got upset with him.
111	* {{Pun}}: His "Top 15 Movies Where People FUCKING Burn to Death" is full of fire-based puns, such as "That really burns me up", "Don't get too hot to trot", "You gotta strike while the iron is hot", "Uh-oh, this chick is TOAST!", "NOW we're cookin' with gas", "It's one hell of a hot mess!" Not only that, but the video uses samples from a bunch of songs that have the word "fire" or "burn" in them.
112	* RedOniBlueOni: Usually Blue to Mike's Red. Even while they're acting, Mike's hyperactive characters make even the nerd look reserved.
113	* RoadTripEpisode:
114	** An entire series of them in the form of the "Cinemassacre Movie Location Tours", where James travels to different parts of the States to seek out real life locations used in famous films. Such locations include the mall from ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'', the town of Phoenixville as seen in ''Film/TheBlob1958'', and several ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' landmarks in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
115	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJc3X6wzW1A Visiting the Last Blockbuster Video]] has James and his [[WebVideo/CinemassacreVideo Rental Reviews]] pals Justin and Kiernan traveling from Portland to Bend to visit the "Last Blockbuster on Earth".
116	* SelfDeprecation:
117	** In the video where Inspector Gadget explains how to use Cinemassacre:
118	---> '''Gadget''': I wonder when the fuck there will be a new WebVideo/BoardJames!
119	** In the tenth anniversary video of "[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1989 You Can Just Walk Over It?]]", James made fun of his [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment repetitive writing]] in that AVGN episode.
120	---> '''James''': But the craziest thing about this is, it's really a shortcut now, because if you can jump up there, you don't have to worry about every time you fall down, you have to walk through the room all over again. So every time you fall down, you have to fight everybody all over again. You gotta do it all over again. All over again.
121	* SequelNumberSnarl: One of his biggest pet peeves when it comes to movies. He's brought it up not only in certain ''AVGN'' episodes but in non-''AVGN'' movie reviews. His contention is that when you make a lot of sequels, it's even ''more'' necessary to number them all so newcomers to the series won't be confused about the order.
122	* ShoutOut: James has said that he quotes the film ''Film/AmericanMovie'' on a regular basis, and has put countless quotes in the Angry Video Game Nerd episodes. In a documentary about the making of the special effects in ''Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie'', after filming a failed attempt to have Death Mwauthzyx punch through a pane of glass, he spontaneously says:
123	--> '''James''': I'm sorry I tried to put your hand through this, man!
124	* ShownTheirWork: Invoked in his comparison of {{Dracula}}'s film adaptations with the [[Literature/{{Dracula}} book]]. He dissects each movie (at least the ones that are straight adaptations, anyway, which reduces the field to 12 films) in search of the book's plot points and character translations. In the end, ''Film/CountDracula1977'' and ''Film/BramStokersDracula'' were the closest ones he found (the former winning out by a tiny margin), even with the creative liberties each work took (such as, the former making Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris a CompositeCharacter, and the latter explicitly connecting Dracula to UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler).
125	* SirSwearsALot: Surprisingly averted in most of his films (exceptions include "Kill for Thrill" and obviously "Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie"). The most you'll here is the occasional "hell" or "shit".
126	* SoBadItsGood: Invoked; there are quite a few films that he readily admits are terrible but loves because of it. Just one example: ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation''.
127	* SpitTake: He does an absolutely epic one when he realises that the [=IndieGoGo=] donations for the movie have just hit [=100k=]. He even does it in slow-motion, no less!
128	* StopMotion: James is a big fan of this practice.
129	* StoppedNumberingSequels: One of his biggest pet peeves, claiming it creates needless confusion since, if anything, making a lot of sequels means that numbers are ''more'' necessary to tell the movies apart.
130	* TemptingFate: In his ''Top 1 Shark Movies'', he said that there were some good ones. The only movie he can think of is ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', which he pretty much talks about for almost the entire video. See GoMadFromTheRevelation above for more.
131	* VulgarHumor:
132	** He's known for doing this in AVGN, such as the Nerd defecating on the games (and Bugs Bunny).
133	** Also the characteristic of the Bullshit Man, Shit Pickle, and the Nerdy Turd.
134	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
135	** James intended the Angry Nintendo Nerd to be a trilogy series of videos he only made for his friends. [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd Then YouTube entered his life!]] As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGFqdCeyBS4 one of the podcasts]] reveals, James was highly reluctant to make another AVGN video outside of original trilogy, and it took some persuasion from Mike to convince him that it's an idea worth trying.
136	** James apparently intended the Angry Video Game Nerd to have a spin off series called the Angry Movie Nerd, where he would cover bad movies, beginning with the ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII''. Despite being one of his most memorable videos, ranting about movie sequels in an earlier episode, and even implying to talk about the Friday the 13th movies in the game review, this spin off never happened. Instead, he's only done movie reviews as himself since.
137	** He, at some early point, planned on doing an AVGN episode focusing on the Super Mario Bros. movie (or he planned on it being an entry for the abandoned Angry Movie Nerd series). However, after Nostalgia Critic reviewed it, he felt he couldn't really add much to it with his own review so he held off. He eventually reviewed the film as himself for the film's 20th anniversary.
138	** {{Invoked\|Trope}} in his video on why he would not watch ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' over the decision to make the movie a complete ContinuityReboot, particularly as they were able to get many members of the original cast to appear in the movie... but just as [[TheCameo random characters]] rather than reprising their original roles.
139	* WhosOnFirst: Utilized in the "What's the Movie?" video.
140	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: His #1 pick for the Top 10 Worst Movie Cliches.
141	-->'''[[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly Tuco]]''': When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.
142	* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: Is a big fan of this practice, and is concerned that modern audiences feel the need to nitpick anything that isn't 100% logical.
143	--> '''James''': The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movies are all entitled to some dumb moments. They recapture the spirit of the old adventure serials that came out during the Great Depression and World War II. Audiences were looking to escape the real world and forget their troubles. And that's what movies are all about: Entertainment. But today, audiences are far more critical, have less imagination, and aren't as willing to suspend their disbelief. And that is the death of cinema.

Context Creator / JamesRolfe