History WebVideo / ConfusedMatthew

Be forewarned: he typically reviews fan favorites and [[SnarkBait never looks back]].

* '''Matthew's Mixed Reviews''': These are in-depth reviews of movies, sometimes requested, that he thought were [[invoked]] [[SoOkayItsAverage decent films]] but still had issues he wanted to talk about, like the Tom Cruise version of ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'', or were sequels to movies he had previously reviewed, such as ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' or ''Disney/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', comparing and contrasting them to the original films. Has also grown to include movies that Matthew loved but had enough significant problems to not be one of his favorite movies (''Film/IronMan3''), or movies that Matthew didn't like but had too much good stuff to ignore to be a full-on Confused Matthew review (''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'').

** He admits the hula scene in ''Disney/TheLionKing'' made him laugh very hard.

** His review of ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'' was glowing, and he compared it favorably to ''Film/MoulinRouge'', his favorite movie of all time.

** [[Disney/TheLionKing Simba]], [[Franchise/StarWars Anakin]], and [[Film/TheGoldenCompass Lyra]] are given this speech following their first scenes: "_____, our supposed hero and protagonist… IS AN ASSHOLE! I mean, he/she doesn't listen to anyone, he/she's not very nice, he/she treats everyone around him/her like shit, and he/she only cares about him/herself!" This was subverted, however, in his ''Simba's Pride'' review where he uses the same lead up to comment on how a character is ''not'' an asshole but instead quite nice.

* SelfDeprecation: In his ''Film/KillBill'' review he mentioned how being buried alive is a primordial fear to anyone, even if it's very unlikely to happen to him in reality "unless the ''[[Disney/TheLionKing Lion King]]'' fans catch up with me".

* Administrivia/TropesAreTools:
** Has made this point repeatedly in some reviews. For example, in his review of ''Film/MoulinRouge'', he pointed out that his problem with the easy romance in ''Disney/TheLionKing'' was not that he dislikes loves at first sight, but that (he feels) it didn't fit in or contribute to the story and he actually likes the trope too much to see it used incorrectly.
** Much of his criticism of ''2001'' was based on its interpretive nature, and he later reviewed ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' as an example of a film which (in his view) uses an interpretive conclusion very well.

** He also theorized that John Turturro's character in ''Transformers'' is an escaped mental patient.

** 2008–2010: ''Disney/TheLionKing'' was the review that got his subscription count from less than a hundred to over a thousand in a matter of hours, with a large percentage of the feedback on the review being disagreement with his stance and flames from fans of the film. In Confused Matthew's early years, no review got more attention and sparked more intense debate than this one, and even though Matthew later said he doesn't truly hate the movie and even enjoys watching it to a degree, the review couldn't help but become his signature work. In 2015, he did a re-review of the film to try to address many of the controversies while being slightly kinder to the film in hindsight.

** 2012–2016: [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse The Marvel Cinematic Universe]] was next, with Matthew quickly souring on the franchise after bad times watching ''Film/IronMan2'', ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', then being talked into seeing ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' by fans and not liking it. After realizing what Marvel Studios was trying to do, having a bunch of superhero franchises all take place in the same universe and occasionally crossing over and interacting, he spent much of the next few years railing against this strategy. With thousands of Marvel and MCU fans taking every opportunity to argue and dispute his claims, Matthew defined this era of his character by accusing Marvel Studios of making movies that made no effort to be good, only to introduce characters and put the pieces in place for the cinematic universe, as well as prioritizing fanservice over quality. In this case, however, Matthew slowly came around as Marvel began making movies he thought were excellent in Phases 2 and 3, as well as eventually building a universe that Matthew thought was interesting enough to justify all the time spent building it. Creator/WarnerBrothers mishandling of the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'' also made him look at the MCU differently, and as of 2017, he has acknowledged that the MCU is at least pretty good. He's even walked back some of his negative reviews of earlier MCU films, such as ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.

** His initial impression of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens'' based off of the first trailers were very negative. He thought the trailer made the movie look nothing like Star Wars, and acknowledged that at least the prequels felt like Star Wars (just with terrible writing).
** Despite finding ''Film/RogueOne'' to be a decent film and acknowledging that it was mostly fine, it actually caused him to say some fond things about the prequels, as the prequels managed to make him feel something (rage) and at least added (bad) things to Star Wars, while Rogue One made him feel nothing and added nothing.

* DevelopmentHell: Planned on doing a review of ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderman2'' immediately after watching it in the theater to explain why he thought the movie was decent, as a majority of viewers hated the film. After the film was released on blu-ray, the review was repeatedly pushed back and delayed, with him uploading other smaller reviews to fill the time while acknowledging and mocking himself for the extended delay the review people were really waiting for was stuck in.
* DevilInPlainSight: One of his biggest problems with ''Disney/TheLionKing'' is how the characters trust Scar even though he's openly malevolent to nearly every character from his very first scene.

* TheFaceless: That cartoon face was once all the visual reference we got on what Matthew looks like. Then Stan started posting live action videos and told us that despite them being identical twins, they still don't look the same (most notably, Stan highlights that he has put on weight). Finally, Matthew showed his face in a recent video but took it back down. In January 2014, Matthew posted a live video of himself to his Facebook fan page, asking fans about their own opinions on ''Series/BreakingBad''.
* FakeOutOpening: In his review of ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', he opened by spending several minutes heavily criticizing the first Thor film, the MCU, and Marvel Studios in general...then after getting that out of his system, went on to say he liked The Dark World and gave a fairly positive review of it.

* FauxlosophicNarration: Matthew is a philosophy student and put his education to use picking apart the second and third ''Matrix'' movies to demonstrate that they fit this trope. Especially Neo's conversations with the Oracle and the Architect.
* LeFilmArtistique: He despise these kinds of films, and spoofed it with Purple Monkey Dishwasher, which is just two hours of nothing but a picture of a guy sitting in a chair.

* GoldenAge: For the first several years of his run, Matthew was notorious for being extremely hard to please when it came to superhero films. Very few of them earned unabashed praise, with a few more getting a thumbs up and scattered others being considered passable. Most were downright disliked or despised, including many beloved, popular films. Things took a sharp turn starting in 2016, however, with Matthew offering very high praise towards ''Film/Deadpool2016'', ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', ''Film/Logan'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', and ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', while also approving of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', ''Film/SpidermanHomecoming'', and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. The only major superhero films released from 2016-2017 that Matt DIDN'T like, it seems, were ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.

* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: A post on Facebook mentioned a quote from Craig Ferguson saying that critics were usually stupid and drunk. Matthew wrote "I am NOT usually drunk!".

** Similarly, after criticising Creator/RogerEbert in the same review, he praised Ebert's take on ''Film/BladeRunner''’s two different cuts (they're both good, and you should watch both and make up your own mind).

** After savaging ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'' as the new worst movie he's ever seen, he makes sure to start the final video on it by telling Creator/TheCoenBrothers how much he loves their other work.
** Matthew isn't a huge fan of both the movies and the ideas of Creator/TerryGilliam, as can be seen in his ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' review and in ''[[http://blip.tv/confused-matthew/terry-gilliam-a-smug-odyssey-5396503 Terry Gilliam: A Smug Odyssey]]''. However, he spoke rather favorably of ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', and his enthusiasm for ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' prompted him to end his review by saying:

** He starts off his re-review of ''Disney/TheLionKing'' with a list of things he actually liked about the film, namely the animation, the soundtrack, the strong opening, and the fact that the film defied the studio's expectations by making a lot of money despite limited marketing. He also re-assesses his opinion on some of the characters, admitting that Pumbaa is decent and that Timon was actually [[JerkassHasAPoint justified in his reluctance to save Simba from buzzards]].

*** Consistently referring to Padmé Amidala as "Queen Oobadooba", Count Dooku as "Count Dracula", and Darth Maul as "Darth Time-Filler".

** Matt didn't care for the rebooted Star Trek franchise, finding both ''Film/StarTrek2009'' and ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' to be below average and forgettable. He did, however, find ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' to be a competent, respectable, enjoyable summer action film, giving it higher marks than the first two.
* TakeThat: Matthew's sarcastic comments on the differences between ''2001'' and ''2010'' in the latter's review.

[[caption-width-right:300:You clicked, not me.]]

Confused Matthew (Real name: Dan) is a film critic who made his name making reviews consisting of pointing out why he doesn't like the story and/or characters in films that were generally well-received by the public. Many of his earlier reviews were for science fiction films, which led to comparisons (and a forum share) with Website/SFDebris. His twin brother, "Stand in Stan", does infrequent reviews of his own. Stan composed the original theme song for Confused Matthew, as well as his own theme song.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: He admits the hula scene in ''Disney/TheLionKing'' made him laugh very hard.

* GoldenAge: For the first several years of his run, Matthew was notorious for being extremely hard to please when it came to superhero films. Very few of them earned unabashed praise, with a few more getting a thumbs up and scattered others being considered passable. Most were downright disliked or despised, including many beloved, popular films. Things took a sharp turn starting in 2016, however, with Matthew offering very high praise towards ''Film/Deadpool'', ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', ''Film/Logan'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', and ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', while also approving of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', ''Film/SpidermanHomecoming'', and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. The only major superhero films released from 2016-2017 that Matt DIDN'T like, it seems, were ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.

* GoldenAge: For the first several years of his run, Matthew was notorious for being extremely hard to please when it came to superhero films. Very few of them earned unabashed praise, with a few more getting a thumbs up and scattered others being considered passable. Most were downright disliked or despised, including many beloved, popular films. Things took a sharp turn starting in 2016, however, with Matthew offering very high praise towards ''Film/Deadpool'', ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', ''Film/Logan'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', and ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', while also approving of ''Film/SuicideSquad'', ''Film/SpidermanHomecoming'', and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. The only major superhero films released from 2016-2017 that Matt DIDN'T like, it seems, were ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.

* TropesAreTools:

* {{Asexual}}: Both he and his girlfriend have absolutely zero interest in sex, and he even once said on a livestream that watching a porno would likely give him as much pleasure as simply watching a cooking show.

** Much of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' falls under this category for him. Matthew thought the Thor franchise made significant improvements with each release (from [[Film/{{Thor}} bad]] to [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld good]] to [[Film/ThorRagnarok great]]), thought ''Film/IronMan3'' was a clear step up on the merely good ''Film/IronMan'' and terrible ''Film/IronMan2'', praised ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' for being much better than it's predecessor ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', and even thought ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' improved on ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.

** Child Simba being an asshole and Adult Simba being a blank slate.

* EightPointEight:
** Matthew has said on various platforms (facebook, youtube, twitch) that he dislikes numerical rating systems for films, as they're arbitrary and it's far more interesting for him to discuss what made the film good or bad rather than just slapping a number on it. Nevertheless, he did eventually start utilizing a number rating system for many of the films he discussed, and some of his ratings were a point of contention from his viewers, as they often seemed disconnected from his actual review of the film. He encourages his viewers to mentally swap out any rating that he gives that they don't like with whichever number they want him to give it, since he finds the number to be so meaningless it may as well be anything.
** Matthew's review of ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' was basically completely positive, with him praising basically every aspect of the film he bothered to discuss. He finished the review by giving it a six out of ten score. His reasoning being that, while there wasn't really much in the film he thought was bad, there were many other films in the same genre, universe, and even starring the same main character, that were clearly better.
** Most fans of Matthew were shocked when he reported that, not only did he love ''Film/SuicideSquad'', but he gave it a nine out of ten score on facebook. Eventually walked back the level of his praise, admitting it was just an average film that he found enjoyable.
** Matt insists on using a rating scale where a five is average and a six is good. So, while his score of five for a movie like ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' or a six for ''Film/IronMan'' makes it sound as if he thought the movie was bad, he insists that he considers both films to be fine and that the score reflects that.

* GoldenAge: For the first several years of his run, Matthew was notorious for being extremely hard to please when it came to superhero films. Very few of them earned unabashed praise, with a few more getting a thumbs up and scattered others being considered passable. Most were downright disliked or despised, including many beloved, popular films. Things took a sharp turn starting in 2016, however, with Matthew offering very high praise towards ''Film/Deadpool'', ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', ''Film/Logan'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', and ''Film/WonderWoman'', while also approving of ''Film/SuicideSquad'', ''Film/SpidermanHomecoming'', and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. The only major superhero films released from 2016-2017 that Matt DIDN'T like, it seems, were ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.

* SellOut: Some accused him of selling out in 2017, due to some pretty significant changes in his takes on superhero films.
** In 2013, he had so little interest in superheroes that he actually had to use google to look up what the difference was between Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Three years later, Matt became a bonafide fan of DC Comics, reading their comic books and watching their televisions shows regularly, obtaining a better-than-average grasp of the characters and stories, as well as an actual investment in the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'' being good.
** A 2013 review had him claim that superhero movies weren't for him and, with a few exceptions, he just couldn't get into them. Fast forward three years, and superhero movies have become seemingly 90% of what he reviews/talks about, with the original statement clearly being far, far removed from the truth.
** His bashing of the MCU has given way for him having almost entirely positive things about later MCU outings, as well as backtracking his criticisms of earlier MCU films (he's gone as far as saying he now only considers ''Iron Man 2'' to be a truly bad film.)

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments: He's discussed some InUniverse. When talking about "Let It Go" in ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'' as a great moment, he also said that he felt "Circle of Life" from ''Disney/TheLionKing'' was a wonderful scene (despite how he felt about the rest of the movie).

** "Matthew's Favorite Movies", a new segment devoted to SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike. He was concerned that only talking about what he disliked meant his critical position could not be fully appreciated.

** Matt didn't care for the rebooted Star Trek franchise, finding both ''Film/StarTrek'' and ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' to be below average and forgettable. He did, however, find ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' to be a competent, respectable, enjoyable summer action film, giving it higher marks than the first two.

** 2012–2016: [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse The Marvel Cinematic Universe]] was next, with Matthew quickly souring on the franchise after bad times watching ''Film/IronMan2'', ''Film/Thor'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', then being talked into seeing ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' by fans and not liking it. After realizing what Marvel Studios was trying to do, having a bunch of superhero franchises all take place in the same universe and occasionally crossing over and interacting, he spent much of the next few years railing against this strategy. With thousands of Marvel and MCU fans taking every opportunity to argue and dispute his claims, Matthew defined this era of his character by accusing Marvel Studios of making movies that made no effort to be good, only to introduce characters and put the pieces in place for the cinematic universe, as well as prioritizing fanservice over quality. In this case, however, Matthew slowly came around as Marvel began making movies he thought were excellent in Phases 2 and 3, as well as eventually building a universe that Matthew thought was interesting enough to justify all the time spent building it. Creator/WarnerBrothers mishandling of the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'' also made him look at the MCU differently, and as of 2017, he has acknowledged that the MCU is at least pretty good. He's even walked back some of his negative reviews of earlier MCU films, such as ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.

* EightPointEight: Matthew has said on various platforms (facebook, youtube, twitch) that he dislikes numerical rating systems for films, as they're arbitrary and it's far more interesting for him to discuss what made the film good or bad rather than just slapping a number on it. Nevertheless, he did eventually start utilizing a number rating system for many of the films he discussed, and some of his ratings were a point of contention from his viewers, as they often seemed disconnected from his actual review of the film. He encourages his viewers to mentally swap out any rating that he gives that they don't like with whichever number they want him to give it, since he finds the number to be so meaningless it may as well be anything.

* BackhandedCompliment: Has paid a handful to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Prequel trilogy over the years.

He announced he would stop producing videos in 2015, as he felt that most of his original work hasn't held up, as well as having many of his reviews taken down due to copyright claims. However, he announced in March 2017 that he would be returning due to popular demand, with a new format. He is open to re-reviewing the things he previously reviewed as long as no-one asks him to re-post the originals. The first of these new reviews arrived in April 2017, with his review of ''Film/BatmanVsSuperman''. He also gives thoughts on newly released trailers, and the thoughts and talking points they inspire, called Trailer Re-Matt-tions.

* Phase 3: The comeback, from March 2017 onwards, where he has a new, focused style (rather than plot run-throughs) and a lighter, more self-depricating tone.

** "Matthew's Favorite Movies", a new segment devoted to GushingAboutShowsYouLike. He was concerned that only talking about what he disliked meant his critical position could not be fully appreciated.

** 2012–2016: [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse The Marvel Cinematic Universe]] was next, with Matthew quickly souring on the franchise after bad times watching ''Film/IronMan2'', ''Film/Thor'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', then being talked into seeing ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' by fans and not liking it. After realizing what Marvel Studios was trying to do, having a bunch of superhero franchises all take place in the same universe and occasionally crossing over and interacting, he spent much of the next few years railing against this strategy. With thousands of Marvel and MCU fans taking every opportunity to argue and dispute his claims, Matthew defined this era of his character by accusing Marvel Studios of making movies that made no effort to be good, only to introduce characters and put the pieces in place for the cinematic universe, as well as prioritizing fanservice over quality. In this case, however, Matthew slowly came around as Marvel began making movies he thought were excellent in Phases 2 and 3, as well as eventually building a universe that Matthew thought was interesting enough to justify all the time spent building it. Creator/WarnerBrothers mishandling of the ''Film/DCExtendedUniverse'' also made him look at the MCU differently, and as of 2017, he has acknowledged that the MCU is at least pretty good. He's even walked back some of his negative reviews of earlier MCU films, such as ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.

** In 2013, he had so little interest in superheroes that he actually had to use google to look up what the difference was between Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Three years later, Matt became a bonafide fan of DC Comics, reading their comic books and watching their televisions shows regularly, obtaining a better-than-average grasp of the characters and stories, as well as an actual investment in the ''DCExtendedUniverse'' being good.

** His last video before his temporary retirement from Confused Matthew was a short review of ''Film/InsideOut'', immediately crowning it as a masterpiece and saying he was likely going to hold off on his planned retirement to do a full review of the film after it came out on blu-ray. This review was never made, and is likely permanently canceled.

* GoldenAge: For the first several years of his run, Matthew was notorious for being extremely hard to please when it came to superhero films. Very few of them earned unabashed praise, with a few more getting a thumbs up and scattered others being considered passable. Most were downright disliked or despised, including many beloved, popular films. Things took a sharp turn starting in 2016, however, with Matthew offering very high praise towards ''Film/Deadpool'', ''Film/DoctorStrange'', ''Film/Logan'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', and ''Film/WonderWoman'', while also approving of ''Film/SuicideSquad'', ''Film/SpidermanHomecoming'', and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. The only major superhero films released from 2016-2017 that Matt DIDN'T like, it seems, were ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.

** On some occasions, YouTube has targeted Matthew for copyright violations (having clips of movies, and in some cases just still images, in his videos) and taken his work down. This has lead to Matthew altering his plans for some releases, as certain film studios seemed far more protective of their films than others, and making a review that would inevitably be taken down would be a waste of time.