WWE Wrestlemania 32

Welcome to my yearly look at last year's Wrestlemania. We are a few days shy of Wrestlemania 33 transpiring in Orlando, FL. Like last year's entry, I will be covering everything on the Wrestlemania 31 BluRay. That includes the entire WM31 card, the three kickoff show matches and the entire Hall of Fame ceremony. This is always my favorite wrestling weekend of the year because WWE floods us with an insurmountable amount of top-tier programming so I cannot help but go into wrestling super-fan mode as I anticipate Wrestlemania weekend in general, no matter what the card and lineup is.

As usual, let's start with the Hall of Fame ceremony that preceded WM31 by a couple days. The Godfather (aka Kama/Papa Shango) was the first inductee and he got inducted by the APA. Their induction had a lot of jokes riffing off of classic Godfather stories. Godfather kept his speech short and sweet and delighted the crowd by hitting his sing-a-long catch phrases and dancing with his trademark 'ho train.' The Dudleyz inducted Jacquelyn next, and much like the APA's speech it was filled with a lot of jokes and gags about how tough Miss. Jackie is and how she is like one of the boys. Jacquelyn's speech was also short and sweet and she mostly gave a ton of praise to the women's division she helped kick off during the attitude era.

Probably my favorite induction of the night was Stan Hansen getting inducted by Vader. Vader had a ton of good stories on how he feared Stan coming up in the AWA and how he had some classic tag matches with him in Japan, including the bout where Vader lost his eye. Stan came out and looked like he was speaking from the heart nonstop with no notes and he just gave a tremendous speech and came off as surprisingly genuine and endearing with his unique thanks and shoutouts to the 'carpenters' of the business and even giving props to one Rick Martel whom he noted he let beat him in nine seconds one day. Just a fantastic speech.

WWE then introduced a new feature for the HoF with their 'Legacy Inductees.' Just imagine this as passed away stars who competed before the 70s getting their long overdue recognition. The NFL and MLB have a similar induction in their HoF each year too. The Legacy Class of 2016 consisted of legendary pioneers in the business such as Gerge Hackenschmidt, Pat 'O Connor, Frank Gotch, Mildred Burke, Ed 'Strangler' Lewis, Art Thomas and Lou Thesz. There were no induction/acceptance speeches here, just a 30-60 second highlight package of each inductee. All of these people deserved something so much more (perhaps an original Network special?), but at least these true pioneers got some form of recognition in WWE's hallowed halls.

The New Day inducted Fabulous Freebirds in my second favorite induction of the night. The Freebirds had a killer highlight package introducing them. Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin danced on stage to the point they were gassed in the initial moments of their speech. They both shared a bunch of classic Freebird stories, with the best being how they escaped death after a near-fatal shootout in a bar. Crowd was totally into the Freebirds, and it is finally good to see Hayes up at the podium finally after wondering what flamboyant suit he would normally be spotted in the crowd each year.

I was ecstatic to see my childhood favorite star the Big Boss Man finally inducted into the HoF. His former manager Slick gave a decent speech, but you can tell it was written for him by a WWE writer because the verbiage consisted of the entire expected WWE lingo. Boss Man's family accepted the award, and they were understandably nervous speaking in that big stage, but they gave a great speech filled with tons of funny moments for their kids growing up about how they learned of his dad's zany attitude era endeavors. John Cena inducted Snoop Dogg into the celebrity wing of the HoF (that is in dire need of a Bob Barker induction by the way). Both Cena and Snoopy gave serious, respectful speeches. Snoop has done a ton of WWE appearances since the year 2000 and his speech seemed authentic on his love for the promotion.

Dana Warrior inducted Joan London for the HoF's philanthropy Warrior award. It was filled with the feel-good, inspirational speeches one would expect out of this award. In the headlining induction, Ric Flair inducted Sting. Flair got distracted and gave a bunch of random ramblings for the first five minutes before talking about Sting in a hilarious induction. Flair noted WWE provided him with notecards to stay on track, and Sting said as he expected, Flair did not follow the notes. Sting had a good speech with many good stories and fond memories of teaming up with Robocop, a surprise nod to 'Joker' Sting and how Seth tried to cheer him up after he got injured. Sting wrapped up his speech by officially retiring from the business. Very good speech, and it was refreshing to see a primary WCW worker headline the WWE HoF for the first time.

For WM32, the kickoff show was two hours and featured three matches. We do not have to sit through two hours to see those matches as they are listed in the bonus features section and have their entrances clipped out to save on time and all three bonus matches have a total runtime of 25 minutes to make for a quicker watch. In the first kickoff match, Kallisto successfully defended the US Title against Ryback in a surprisingly good bout with both stars having several good near falls and spots throughout the match. Next up was a 5-on-5 women's tag match. This match was notable for being Brie Bella's final match and Lana's only match in the WWE so far. I was surprise there was not a single botch in this match, especially with green stars like Lana and Eva Marie in the match surprisingly hitting their moves. Brie Bella got the win for her team by making Naomi tap to the Yes-lock. The final pre-show match saw the Usos defeating the Dudleyz after D-Von got superkicked. The Usos continue their astonishing streak of only competing on the kickoff show for Wrestlemania.

The proper WM32 card officially started with a 6-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Title between Kevin Owens, Zack Ryder, Sin Cara, Sami Zayne, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Stardust. This match had the expected highspots with none that thankfully did not go awry. Kudos to Stardust for busting out the polka-dot-ladder! I was both shocked and thrilled that Ryder got his overdue Wrestlemania moment by winning the match and having a celebratory embrace with his father afterwards. AJ Styles made his Wrestlemania debut against Chris Jericho next in a really good encounter that saw Y2J win with a Codebreaker. Luckily, AJ rebounded from this and went on to have one of the best rookie years in WWE history.

The most forgettable faction is WWE history, the League of Nations (Sheamus, Del Rio & Rusev) defeated the New Day in a no-frills six man tag. Wade Barrett was ringside managing the League and it would be his final 'Mania as he was written off WWE TV the next day. Sheamus pinned Xavier Woods with a Brogue Kick and Barrett talked trash on the mic afterwards until Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels interrupted and beat the tar out of the League to the crowd's affection. Brock Lesnar defeated Dean Ambrose in a Street Fight with an F5 and 13, yes 13 German Suplexes. I know because the crowd counted along. This match was far better on second viewing because Dean went on to say in interviews how Brock was not all that cooperative in this match, but Dean had several moments of believable underdog comebacks and had the crowd popping throughout a couple nearfalls.

Next up was the triple threat, Women's title match between Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. My initial notes for this match was 'Hairrrrrrr' because all three women appeared to be rocking triple their normal hair extensions. This is probably the best Women's title match in Wrestlemania history as it got ample time, and had a ton of good moments and ambitious spots from all three ladies. It got a little messy in a few spots, but in the grand scheme of things it was an entertaining affair and the three had the crowd in the palm of their hands for the entire ride. Charlotte successfully defended the title by making Becky tap to the Figure-8.

Shane McMahon faced off against The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. The build to this match and the match itself is ridiculous on paper, but upon rewatching this Shane was surprisingly believable in nearly everything he did, minus his awful punches. There were a few really dangerous spots in this bout which really got a reaction out of me since I am not use to WWE going this far with spots nowadays. Of course I am talking about Shane's crazy dive off the top of the cell through an announcer's table. After that unbelievable moment, Undertaker carried Shane's corpse to the ring, and Tombstoned him for the win. I feel as crazy as Shane was in this match for coming around on it on second viewing, but the pacing, body language and selling all came together to create a memorable Wrestlemania spectacle, for better or worse.

The third annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was next and it was surprisingly well booked again. It had a few surprise entrants in the form of Tatanka, Diamond Dallas Page and NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille 'O Neal. Like last year, the battle royal was paced well with only minimal lulls and usually some kind of noteworthy moment or elimination happening to keep the crowd glued in. Ultimately, it was NXT star Baron Corbin winning the battle royal in his debut WWE match.

At this point in the show, WM32 took a turn for the worse. I was enjoying the show quite a bit up until this point with a well-flowing match order that had each match gradually getting better and better. WM32 advertised an appearance of The Rock, and I was surprised to see a bummer of a Rock segment on this Wrestlemania. He came out with what looked like a t-shirt gun, but was actually a flamethrower and went on to light up a custom 'Rock' sign. I would have rather seen him shoot out tshirts. He quickly got cut off in his promo by the Wyatt Family. Wyatt's usual incoherent gibberish led to Rock challenging one of them to a match on the spot. What we got was The Rock squashing Erik Rowan in six seconds to set a new record for shortest match in Wrestlemania history. This would have been OK on an episode of RAW, but to have the WWE hype up a Rock segment for several weeks and deliver this nonsense turned out to be unbelievably disappointing. The only good thing to come out of this segment was The Rock spoofed on Wyatt being the 'Eater of Worlds' by declaring him the 'Eater of Hot Pockets.'

The final match of the show saw Roman Reigns pin Triple H to become the new WWE Champion. The crowd was not on Roman's side, and WWE did their best to mute them out by more than doubling the volume of Roman's entrance music. The match was a dull slog and the crowd was understandably burnt out at this point in the night. The crowd was not going to bite for having the WWE shove Roman down everyone's throat that night, and good on them for doing so. How did Roman say thanks to the WWE when they booked him to come out on top on WWE's biggest show of the year? He showed his gratitude by failing a drug test a couple months later and the company had to rush to get the title off him so he could serve his suspension.

If you ignore the final two segments of WM32, then this turned out to be a fantastic Wrestlemania. So just completely skip the Rock/Wyatt segment and the main event and you will be in for a far more enjoyable card than what it turned out to be.


Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
ECW Unreleased: Vol 2
ECW Unreleased: Vol 3
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History
Owen: Hart of Gold
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
RoH Supercard of Honor VIII
RoH Supercard of Honor IX
RoH Supercard of Honor X
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Sting: Into the Light
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
True Giants
Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
Wrestlemania 31
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money
Wrestlings Greatest Factions
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016

UHF

I will never forget the first time I saw Weird Al Yankovic’s cinematic debut in the classic 1989 satire, UHF (trailer). I slept over at a friend’s around 1998/99 and we walked a few blocks to a nearby Blockbuster Video and rented it along with a couple other flicks for a movie marathon that night. For some reason, it tickled all the right funny bones for me and it ended up being one of my favorite comedies. When it hit DVD a few years later I indulged in it at least a couple more times over the years.

It finally hit BluRay a couple years ago in time for the 25th anniversary of the film, and I did buy it upon initial release but it sat in my backlog until last weekend. It was not my backlog I pulled it out of to watch however (though I did for the extras over the next couple days), but at a different friend’s place instead. We were having dinner at Hu-Hot and while waiting by the grill we noticed one of the chefs must have had on a Weird Al Pandora station and we continued to nod along enthusiastically to a few of his vintage satirical songs until we nearly simultaneously blurted out, “we’re watching UHF tonight!”

Do not go into UHF expecting an original plot, since it is as slapstick as it gets and is more of a means to an end to work in all the spoofs. Weird Al says exactly that in the commentary track. Yankovic portrays one George Newman. Along with his friend, Bob (Davie Bowe, not the singer) they are both constantly between jobs until they are gifted a fringe UHF TV station on the verge of bankruptcy. Despite their attempts at original programming, the future was looking dire for channel U52 until their janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) lucks into hosting the children’s playhouse show and it becomes a smash hit. Local major network bighead RJ Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy) is the antagonist for the film and attempts to make sure that he squashes all of U52’s momentum and put them out of business for good.

Like I said, the plot is extremely basic and plays out rather predictably, and the satirical jokes during the course of the film are hit and miss. I am still a fan of the Newman’s breakfast of choice being the hotdog-Twinkie-dipped-in-milk combo. The jokes and gags that hit really hit good, and once UHF starts to insert their one-to-two minute spoofs throughout the film, I was on board with nearly all of them. Conan the Librarian and Raul’s Animal Kingdom are my two favorites of them while Spatula City and Weird Al’s version of Rambo also get high marks from me. I lost track of how many spoofs are in here, but I would estimate that of UHF’s 97 minute runtime that nearly a third of it is dedicated to about a dozen spoofs of various TV shows and movies. Almost all of them are winners and you can tell this is where the heart of the movie is, and knowing Yankovic’s style of comedy it is readily apparent where he put most of the work in this film.

The BluRay carries over all the extras from the DVD release, and adds in a new feature that is a 51 minute panel from a recent ComiCon. Al is joined by fellow comic Jonah Ray, and the two mesh well together as they reminisce over Al’s career and answer questions from the fans. They only touch on UHF briefly for a couple of times in the panel as they spend a lot more time talking about Al’s many musical endeavors over the years. It is an entertaining panel and well worth checking out. There are only a few other extras, but do not miss out on them as UHF has one of the best takes on a deleted scenes feature I have ever seen. Instead of playing them all individually, Al introduces a 19 minute feature where he admits all the deleted scenes are miserable to watch in their entirety and he plays clips of them while narrating in between why they were so abysmal and had to be cut. It is very well done so do not miss it!

Aside from a music video and a poster gallery there is a commentary track that is required viewing. Like the deleted scenes, this is one of my all time favorite takes on a home video audio commentary track! Al is joined by director Jay Levey throughout the feature, but Jay is noticeably quiet throughout and Al pokes fun at him and eventually gives him the mic to have his say as Jay stumbles through some choice words a couple of times in one of the best moments of the commentary. Al came to the commentary with his research and has a ton of facts about the cast and crew and constantly cracked me up at what they had to do to cut costs since they were so under budget. Michael Richards joins them on commentary for about 15 minutes before suddenly leaving in a moment that I am still shaking my head over, and a couple other minor characters make brief appearances in the commentary too. Of the three plus years of doing this blog I do not believe I have raved this much about a commentary track before, so believe me when I say there is rarely a lull and that you absolutely have to check out UHF’s commentary track.

There was a small part of me going into watching this again thinking this film would not hold up since it was probably over 10 years since I last seen it and some satires do not stand the test of time, but I was glad to be proven wrong. If satires/spoofs are not your thing you probably will not get that much out of this, but if you are a fan of that style of comedy then this is right up your alley and you will not be disappointed. And once again to hammer home the point, make sure to check out the deleted scenes and commentary track!

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Creed
Dirty Work
Faster
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
Interstellar
Jobs
Man of Steel
Marine 3 & 4
Mortal Kombat
The Replacements
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
Veronica Mars
Wild
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Interstellar

As of this writing, we are about two and a half years removed from when Interstellar (trailer) first hit theaters in 2014. I remember eagerly anticipating this film as I am a big fan of the director, Christopher Nolan. His previous few non-Batman films like The Prestige and Inception were quite the mind-benders that warranted repeat viewings so I could pay attention to catch all the little details I missed the first time around. When I saw the initial teasers for Interstellar I knew I would be in for a treat when Nolan would finally unleash a sci-fi epic!

Interstellar has an unusual mini-documentary style opening where elderly are being interviewed about what led to a mysterious blight on Earth, with frequent dust storms and the rapid extermination of crops until the only crop left is corn. Interstellar vaguely gives clues about what caused this calamity, but disappointingly never flatout says what happened to bring on the blight. Instead, the grander mystery at play is trying to find an exit plan to save Earth. That is done by having NASA’s Professor Brand (Michael Caine) recruit Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to join his team of astronauts at scouting several potential planets in distant solar systems that show signs of being able to sustain human life.

It is not as simple as that plot synopsis. If you are use to Nolan films, get ready for his standard three hour feature. That is not to the film’s detriment however, because like previous Nolan films, there is so much at play, and so much to take in that the lengthy runtime is over before you know it. Cooper is not instantly on board with NASA however, as the film’s first act is about everyday life for Cooper and his two kids, Murph (Jessica Chastain/Mackenzie Joy) & Tom (Timothée Chalamet/Casey Affleck). The production company went to great lengths with practical effects to give a glimpse of what living in a rotting world is like. While Interstellar has impeccable visual effects for all of its breathtaking scenes in space, its combined use of practical effects for the scenes on Earth made it a shoe-in for an Oscar win for best visual effects.

When Cooper eventually joins up with NASA, the film takes a different turn as a space survival/rescue mission that I had no idea how it would play out. Professor Brand and his daughter (Anne Hathaway) lay Earth’s survival plan out there in a way that spells out the science in simplistic ways for the rest of us scientifically-challenged folks. There are occasions where the astronauts will have brief moments of getting into the nuts and bolts of the science to explain various plot points, but it is never for any lengthy duration and they provide ample context so it did not blindly fly over my head.

There is a point during the space mission where things take a noticeable change in trajectory and leads to a thrilling final act. Coop & Brand are faced with many hurdles that they must overcome in their mission, and even on this repeat viewing I forgot about many little moments that impacted them along the way that were just as engaging to relive. While Coop & Brand are off in space, the film has a vital side story playing out back at home on Earth with Professor Brand and Coop’s children. For the final act Interstellar is constantly bouncing back between both Earth and Coop to show how while both scenes are taking place light years away, they are still having a instantaneous impact on one another in a way that I am not even going to attempt to explain. All I can say is that I am glad I finally got around to rewatching this because there are so many little factors at play that made it more convenient to piece the film together the second time around.

I would be lying if I said I did not have any qualms with this movie. I understand the direction Nolan wanted to go in with the documentary-interviews in the film, but they felt too ham-fisted and in-your-face. There were a few other too sudden moments that did not sit well with me. Professor Brand’s final scene took a turn for the sake of a turn that I was not a fan of. I also did not particularly care for Coop and Murph’s final scene together in the film and how dismissive Murph was of Coop. It kind of felt a little more justified on my second viewing, but the way it all went down comes off as absurdly rushed. In the end though, I am splitting hairs as these gripes do not take a lot out of how much I enjoyed Interstellar overall.

The BluRay I have came with a second disc of extra features adding up to roughly two and a half hours of bonus materials. I will give props to Warner Bros. for having subtitles on the extras since it is not that common among most movies. The primary bonus feature is The Science of Interstellar, a 50 minute showcase on the current technology from NASA that is already out there trying to achieve what Interstellar showed, but on a smaller scale. It is very well put together, and presents the possibilities of time travel with modern tech and how the Kepler telescope is out there already scouting planets that can sustain human life.

On top of that there are 13 much shorter features available ranging from 2 to 13 minutes in length. Many of these go deep into the nuts and bolts of the production and special effects processes and can be a bit much to take in if you are not into those fields. If I were to recommend just two of those 13 however then check out Life on Cooper’s Farm and Shooting in Iceland. The former shows how the filmmakers lucked out in picking the only spot in Alberta capable of growing corn for the film and how it did not cost them a thing since they made their money back selling it. The latter presents the many different environments of Iceland and why it worked for shooting scenes that take place on other planets.

I am still as high on Interstellar as I was after my initial viewing when it hit theaters. It appears to be a divisive film whenever I bring it up to people in recent months with people both loving it and knocking it. If you are a sci-fi fan and need a break from Star Trek and Star Wars, then grab a six pack and a bowl of popcorn and marathon through this, Gravity and Arrival for three of my personal picks for top shelf recent sci-fi.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Creed
Dirty Work
Faster
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
Jobs
Man of Steel
Marine 3 & 4
Mortal Kombat
The Replacements
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
Veronica Mars
Wild
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Angry VideoGame Nerd Volume 9

It has been a couple years, but I am back with a blog on Cinemassacre’s latest collection of game videos from James Rolfe reprising his persona of the affable “Nerd” in Angry VideoGame Nerd: Volume 9.

James has been significantly dialing back the output of his AVGN videos in recent years, which is why it took more than two years to release his latest DVD collection when before he was releasing them on a near annual basis. If you are unaware of the AVGN character, James Rolfe has been portraying him since 2004 and the persona is rather self-explanatory as he spends each episode bashing notoriously awful videogames. Most episodes are straightforward reviews, but some Rolfe has done his share of indie filmmaking and will get ambitious with some episodes. Usually his Halloween and Christmas themed episodes will mix in guest characters and an over-arching plot. As I have stated on previous AVGN blogs, you can find all previous AVGN episodes streaming for free on the AVGN website, but I appreciate having the option to get them on DVD too.

AVGN Volume 9 is a 2-DVD set that has 17 episodes on disc one, and two and a half hours of bonus features on disc two. The first 12 of the 17 AVGN episodes consist of the ‘12 Days of Shitsmas’ special Rolfe ran a couple years ago. He pumped out a new AVGN episode each day for 12 days straight, which seems miraculous considering his rate of releases since. It is worth noting that about the first 8 of these 12 shows are more like mini-episodes that average around three or four minutes in length. That is probably for the best as most of these shorter reviews are mostly garbage licensed games worthy of only a few minutes of coverage like a SNES Ren & Stimpy game, Alf….in Master System form and yes, even a Mary Kate & Ashley title for the GameBoy Color. I was surprised at how detailed Rolfe got with his video for a 2600 game based on the adult comedy, Porky’s so do not overlook that one thinking it is simply a shallow Atari game James is getting in some easy jabs with.

The last three Shitsmas videos are the best however, and they are closer in length to a standard AVGN episode. I was completely unaware of the Hyperscan before witnessing the ‘Nerd’s take on it, and coming out of it I am now in the camp that it looks like we have a contender that could give the R-Zone a run for its money. Universal Theme Park Adventures is the first GameCube title to get the AVGN treatment, and it was a delightful experience to see a lot of classic Universal properties get showcased in an awful GCN launch game. Finally, LGN Video Art is an awful TV-art studio accessory that hit in the 80s from the ‘Nerds favorite videogame publisher, LJN, and the ‘Nerd makes sure it gets the proper LJN treatment.

The final five episodes are standard full-length AVGN episodes and consist of somewhat newer games than what we are accustomed to the ‘Nerd covering. There are a couple exceptions. There is a previously unreleased Super Famicom game, Hong Kong ‘97 that is so awful and shallow that I am aghast that Rolfe was able to get an enjoyable full-length episode out of it. The forgotten 16-bit platform, the TurboGrafX gets its first coverage from the AVGN with an episode dedicated to its poor rendition of Darkwing Duck. Seaman gets the honor of being the first Dreamcast game to get reviewed by the AVGN, and this Leonard Nimoy-narrated adventure made for a one-of-a-kind episode that was quite a hoot to see how it threw the ‘Nerd for a loop unlike any game he played before.

I have played both The Crow and Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, and I can attest to how truly godawful both games are, especially Sub-Zero. I have seen commentaries from Rolfe before where he admits he will occasionally embellish on some games for a more entertaining episode, but I can vouch he is not pulling any punches on either of these. His experience with Sub-Zero brought back many evil memories of that game, and that episode in particular features some of the loudest gamer rage from the ‘Nerd yet! The episodes on disc one wrap-up with a mammoth half hour production on a smattering of Mega Man games for the AVGN’s 10th anniversary special. This episode features the ‘Nerd time traveling to past episodes forewarning himself not to play anymore Mega Man games, only to see the episode culminate with him popping in Mega Man Soccer (yes, this happened!). Rolfe said in this volume’s commentary that it eclipsed the ROB episode as the single episode that he invested the most production hours in and it shows since it is easily the best episode on this volume.

Disc two features two bonus mini-AVGN episodes that debuted as an exclusive during fellow character reviewer, Pat the NES Punk’s annual NES marathon. The reviews in question are for Adventure Island and Danny Sullivan’s Indy Heat. Nerdy Challenges is James Rolfe and fellow producer/guest star Mike Matei commentating for a half hour on all the AVGN episodes in this volume. They have a ton of production facts, especially when it came to detailing the toils they persevered through in order to pull off the special effects in the Mega Man episode. There is plenty to take in from the duo here as they go out of their way to explain why they went with some shorter episodes on this volume, and how they took longer AVGN hiatuses so Cinemassacre could take a break from AVGN and focus on side projects like Board James.

James has a couple recurring extra features that I always enjoy returning here such as his latest TV/console setup that features a contraption of wires that I do not dare attempt and a montage of outtakes. A new feature that is divided in three parts that lasts about an hour and a half combined is the AVGN Script Collections. These are essentially Mike & James revisiting scripts for older AVGN episodes they have not seen in year as the two reminisce over memories and production facts on the early episodes. I am glad it is split up into three parts, as it seems indulging these in half hour chunks is the way to go.

Volume 9 is a big step up from Volume 8 with a ton of quality episodes on here that were better then I remembered the first time around. I thought a lot of those early Christmas episodes were going to be easily skip-worthy, but while shorter they are still as entertaining as the standard-length episodes. The full-length episodes on here are some of the best yet in the AVGN catalog with the Mega Man and Sub-Zero episodes getting the highest marks from me on this DVD. If you are into the behind-the-scenes process like I am then you will get a lot out of bonus features disc as the Nerdy Challenges feature and the three-part Script Collections feature combine for roughly two hours of engaging production commentary. You can check out all the AVGN episodes on this DVD on the Cinemassacre website, or you can head on over to Amazon and order the DVD to round off your AVGN collection.

Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 8
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 7
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld Final Season
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television