Line #16 YMMV/BrowsHeldHigh


1	* AluminumChristmasTrees: He mentions that the fox from ''Film/{{Antichrist}}'' was nominated for the Palm Dog, given out at Cannes to the best canine in a film, but lost to the dog from ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''. The Palm Dog isn't simply a pun on Palme d'Or, but is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Dog_Award an actual award]], albeit one given out by an independent entity, and that ''was'' the 2009 line-up.
2	* {{Anvilicious}}: While never one to shy away from sharing his socio-political opinions and plenty capable of being unsubtle in a way that helps his point, most of Kyle's post-2016 videos ramp up his vocalizations on social injustice, feminism, bigotry and political corruption, to the point that he'll sometimes outright stop his videos to passive-aggressively state his opinions on something.
3	* BrokenBase: Some support Kyle's current "Video Essay" format. Others preferred him back when he sat in front of the camera, had a more linear format and was more involved with the expanded [[Website/ChannelAwesome Reviewerverse]]. Kyle has often made clear [[CreatorBacklash his embarrassment towards his less professional Channel Awesome-era work]], but about any time he makes the point, it's not hard to find comments [[CriticalBacklash claiming he's too hard on himself]].
4	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
5	** Kyle's conversation with the NATO representative at the end of his review of ''Film/ASerbianFilm''. Hearing Kyle demand that NATO wipe out Serbia is a little uncomfortable at first... until you get to the "fictional bombs" part.
6	** From the same review, his stickman representations of some of the more graphic scenes.
7	** Lupa's cameo in the ''{{Film/Melancholia}}'' review. [[DespairEventHorizon Just...]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Christ...]] (Although it's worth noting Kyle and Lupa are [[TrueCompanions good friends]] in real life.)
8	** At the end of ''Mister Lonely'', the Marilyn Monroe impersonator kills herself. Ven promptly pops up and starts singing 'Candle In The Wind', while Kyle is promptly horrified. The whole scene is ''hilarious''.
9	** His crossover with Diamanda in ''Eat the Schoolgirl'' features a lot of this, being more in line with Hagan's dark comedy. In particular, Hagan starting the review having castrated him, his inappropriate use of the ''Jem'' theme song, and him having a breakdown and attempting to turn Hagan into a snail because of an InsaneTrollLogic rant where he condemned her for having a god-complex.
10	* GeniusBonus: Many of the jokes are references to non-mainstream plays, figures, and organizations.
11	** During his review of the 2006 movie ''The Exterminating Angels'', he congratulates everyone who thought this would be a review of the Luis Bunuel movie.
12	** During the ''Exterminating Angels'' review, Kyle mocks the incomprehensible radio messages by replying with what sounds like trucker slang; one of these phrases refers to "[[Film/UnChienAndalou an Andalusian doggie]]".
13	** The way he called [[Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember Goldmember]] out in Dutch is offensive enough translated literally, but he also calls him a cancer victim. "Kanker" (the Dutch word for "cancer") is the worst expletive in the language, worse than the English "fuck."
14	** In the ''{{Film/Antichrist}}'' review, he made a reference to Farinelli, a castrato singer.
15	* GrowingTheBeard:
16	** While his early reviews did plenty of analysis, they still owed much to the TGWTG style of recapping a movie's plot while riffing jokes along the way. ''Melancholia'' marked a shift in that the analysis of the film's themes began to take priority over the recapping, which subsequent episodes have been following since. Consequently there have been less BHH episodes, only 7 in 2013, but they tend to be longer and have ''a lot'' of research put into them, while still plenty funny.
17	** Kyle himself claimed that his review of ''Film/ASerbianFilm'' was a major turning point in his reviewing style, as [[ShownTheirWork he really did his research]] on the history & culture of Serbia, and managed to make a review that was equal parts entertaining and educational.
18	* HarsherInHindsight:
19	** The ''Vinyl'' review concludes its analysis by stating that the actors were probably tired, stoned, and without direction or rehearsal time. Kyle then adds: "By the way, the fourth year shoot was fun." After the public leaks in 2018 concerning Website/ChannelAwesome's numerous misconducts, this sounds ''much'' less like BitingTheHandHumor and much ''more'' like a cry for help.
20	** In his video on Omkara, he mentions India moving past the caste system is really nothing more than [[MeetTheNewBoss superficially burying]] it and that it still inspires violence, unfavorably comparing it to the idea of "postracial" America and how caste it "no longer a problem in India in the same way that race is no longer a problem in America." Eleven days later, his point was unfortunately proven beyond a shadow of a doubt when a white supremacist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting murdered nine black people]], including the minister and a state senator, at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after explicit declaration of wanting to kill black people.
21	** Among other topics in the "Kill The Mouse" song number in the ''Beauty and the Beast'' review, he criticizes Disney for getting its hands on everything, including "even Maker Studios and Blip". Later on, he adds a plea to "let producers back on Blip". Just under a year later, Disney and Maker closed the doors on Blip forever, leaving many TGWTG and former TGWTG producers (including both Kyle and Tony) searching for a viable alternative.
22	*** Also, when they were talking about the upcoming ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'', they mentioned the project with Creator/EmmaWatson and Creator/GuillermoDelToro was supposed to direct, then said that Disney was "doing some bullshit." Turns out, the version with Emma Watson was Disney's. How good that one was though is up for debate.
23	** His own changing opinions about racism and social injustice, as well as judging others for their taste in art and entertainment, made the title of the show awkward once he discovered that the term "highbrow" has racist origins.[[note]]It's rooted in phrenology, an oft-debunked pseudoscience which claims that the shape of one's skull is directly related to their intelligence, basically as a way to "prove" that white people are intellectually superior.[[/note]]
24	** In his review of ''A Serbian Film'', Kyle closes with a joke scene of him demanding [[DisproportionateRetribution Serbia be bombed for the film]] ([[WhatTheHellHero to the horror and refusal]] of the NATO official hearing his order.) In his review for ''Franchise/StarshipTroopers'', [[OldShame when expressing regret for that joke]], Kyle revealed that his father was a military engineer for {{UsefulNotes/NATO}} and was involved in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia their 1999 campaign bombing Serbia]] ([[{{UsefulNotes/Serbia}} then-part of Yugoslavia]].)
25	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: ''Melancholia.'' For both Kyle and his emotional turmoil and Ven as his {{Foil}} at the end.
26	* HilariousInHindsight:
27	** In the ''Between the Lines'' video on Franchise/{{Batman}}, Kyle ends it by concluding that Bruce is forever doomed to be Batman or die. A clip of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' is the final shot in the video. When the film came out, [[spoiler: Bruce actually retires as Batman without any incident (besides faking his death)]].
28	** His review of ''Film/TheDevils'' has him test if Creator/OliverReed is really so enticing to women by testing it on WebVideo/JesuOtaku. In 2015, JO came out as a trans man.
29	*** He also tried the same thing on {{Psycho\|Lesbian}} ButchLesbian WebVideo/DiamandaHagan and got the ''same'' reaction, so it might be a case of [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Even The Guys Want Oliver Reed]].
30	*** The most interesting thing about the gag? He asks WebVideo/ObscurusLupa and Hagan if they're really women (Lupa glares at him while Diamanda wonders why people keep asking her that), but doesn't ask JO the same question.
31	*** This may have been a reference to the then common RunningGag of JO being considered one of the (if not THE) most attractive women on the site, whom most of the straight male creators had a crush on (some for real)...which arguably makes it ''even funnier'' now.
32	** His decision to review ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' as a MusicalEpisode is funny in light of the play ''Lazarus'', a sequel to the movie that's an actual Music/DavidBowie JukeboxMusical.
33	** In his first take on ''Film/{{Gerry}}'', Kyle refers to Creator/CaseyAffleck as "[[Creator/BenAffleck in a relationship to an Academy Award-winning actor]]". Years later, Casey would get his own Best Actor win for ''Film/ManchesterByTheSea''.
34	** In his reviews of ''Sebastiane'' he claims that the homoerotic content bores him because he doesn't feel attracted to men. Flashforward to 2018 and he came out as bisexual.
35	** His video "From [[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari Caligari]] to [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]: Imagining the Tyrant" ends with a lengthy montage of popular works from contemporary American pop culture, demonstrating that authoritarian themes and imagery are surprisingly common in popular American works. One of the many characters shown in the montage is Daenerys Targaryen from ''Series/GameOfThrones''. After the infamous ending of the final season, it now looks like she was a more fitting choice than most fans would have imagined.
36	* MemeticMutation: Escargoancitizen. Part of a weird minific series on Tumblr, Kyle is a snail, and other people on the site are other woodland animals (or plants, or inanimate objects). Eventually he and his title card artist Ven filmed a live action version of the OriginStory of Escargoancitizen; a pastiche of ''Manga/{{Uzumaki}}''. Escargoancitizen fanart is also popular on Tumblr.
37	* {{Moe}}: The drawn title cards has his character as rather "moe"-like, particularly in the ''Sebastiane'' review.
38	* NeverLiveItDown: His Website/IMDb page erroneously naming him as "Ralph Oancitizen", which WebVideo/{{Phelous}}, [[Creator/AllisonPregler Obscurus Lupa]] and [[WebVideo/SadPandaQAndA Sad Panda]] turned into a RunningGag.
39	* NightmareFuel:
40	** Many of the films Kyle has reviewed are immensely disturbing, even if he doesn't show most of the more graphic scenes. The fact that Kyle provides more insight and far fewer jokes in his reviews compared to other TGWTG contributors doesn't help.
41	** His video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndFysO2JunE From Caligari to Hitler]], released within a month of the 2016 US election result, discusses how popular Weimar-era cinema may have accidentally laid the groundwork for the fascists, and ends in a venomously ironic monologue about how us modern audiences will never let it happen again... played out over clips of popular Western blockbusters and shows. The final shot is of [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 Gozer choosing an avatar]] and Venkmann angrily demanding who imagined something, used to surprisingly chilling effect.
42	---> '''Stantz:''' ... I couldn't help it! It just popped in there...
43	* SpecialEffectFailure: The lip-syncing during the musical portions of his ''Beauty and the Beast'' reviews are done ''excellently''. During the talking interludes? Not so much.
44	* {{Squick}}: A vast majority of the films he's reviewed tend to be full of this. And he endures all of it... up to a point.

Context YMMV / BrowsHeldHigh