(Spoilers for The Cabin in the Woods.)
We all love to pick apart and pore over the things we love—either as a joke, or for serious discussion and theorizing. That level of dedication is one of the great things about being a geek, but one doesn’t work without the other. Without a deep love and understanding of the things we’re dissecting, that nitpicking becomes a joyless exercise that can quickly veer off course into willful misunderstanding. Such is the case of Cinema Sins.
To be perfectly honest, a few years back, I posted a Cinema Sins “Everything Wrong With” video or two on this very website, probably because nothing more interesting was going on at the time (yep, the “slow news day” accusation is pretty dead-on sometimes). Before long, we all kind of gave up on them, and it seems they’ve only gotten longer and more obtuse since. More recently, over the summer, Kong: Skull Island Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, whatever you think of that movie, went on some pretty long and detailed rants on why the videos fall flat:
Because it’s inaccessible by boat and thus only discovered when we launched satellites in the 70’s with cameras looking down at the earth. pic.twitter.com/VY54NIeO7F
— Jordan Vogt-Roberts (@VogtRoberts) August 15, 2017
1) 1. Not a real critique NOR a joke but just saying something mean regardless of whether it’s true. pic.twitter.com/SUxxHQu8iJ
— Jordan Vogt-Roberts (@VogtRoberts) August 16, 2017
2) A critique that has nothing to do with the narrative being told & isn’t relevant but is a mean spirited way to act smarter than the film. pic.twitter.com/Qmqn8Cac4l
— Jordan Vogt-Roberts (@VogtRoberts) August 16, 2017
Everything Wrong with Cinema Sins, According to ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Director Jordan … https://t.co/VNLYWipM9z pic.twitter.com/2djsgHErDp
— Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) August 17, 2017
If you’re wondering why Vogt-Roberts brought Looper into things specifically, it’s because Director Rian Johnson pointed out way back in 2013 that the “Everything Wrong With Looper” video, though he’d normally like to be able to take a joke, just seemed off-base and mean for the sake of it. Vogt-Roberts pointed out that very same difference between good-natured, humorous criticism and what Cinema Sins does, even going so far as to be involved in the “Honest Trailer” for Kong: Skull Island to demonstrate the disparity.
All of this brings us to the video at the top this post, wherein creator Bobvids has taken down a Cinema Sins video, thoughtfully, point by point. It’s extremely cathartic for anyone who’s watched these videos circulate the internet for years and wondered what the appeal could possibly be.
(image: screengrab)
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