Xillix' Unreasonably Critical Reviews, Y3

[Ezen Baklattan]

1 minute ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

I like how all he good writers freak out about their films when it’s a bit worse for struggling writers.

I feel like a struggling writer more than you think. 

[4815162342]

3 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

I like how all he good writers freak out about their films when it’s a bit worse for struggling writers.

 

yeah.....about that....

[Rorschach]

5 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

I like how all he good writers freak out about their films when it’s a bit worse for struggling writers.

It's just nerve-wracking. You never know how people are going to react to the film until that first review comes out. The stuff you find good, they might not like. The stuff you don't like might be something they like. It's all a game of taste when it comes down to it. 

 

Personally, I was just freaking out about The Odyssey, considering it is the only release I have this year so I had a lot more worry about its success or failure.

[Hiccup23]

Y'all are fine. I am clearly at the bottom of the list. My films are just too zany and out there for most people on here or the message I am trying to convey across isn't getting across. 

 

It honestly, is a little disheartening considering this is my 10th year (started in 2008) playing this game. I definitely saw a big jump from CAYOM 1.0 to CAYOM 2.0, but stuff that killed or would have killed in CAYOM 2.0 is getting railed this in 3.0. I am honestly baffled and unsure how to approach Year 4. I was super confident about We Are The Ants but now I am just not sure. I am starting to over analyze the film and I know I am gonna end up fucking it up so bad. It is just such a different type of film and I am not sure how digestible it is gonna be for y'all. I am not a video game, animated to live-action, or sci-fi epic guy that isn't my craft so I think that is really bringing me down in the game. 

 

Also like not to do shady or anything, but I am not a fan of this new thing of "pre-reads". Honestly, I might have a few films pre-read but I am not gonna go full out. It just isn't my style. 

 

I am not gonna lie: When the "good" writers (we know who I am talking about) freak out about their films I can't help but eye roll. Like you didn't get that 9/10 but instead got a 7/10 or 8/10? Really......You film is getting positive reviews, gonna kill in the box-office, and will be nominated and probably win at the Oscars. 

 

I am a little salty tonight.  

Edited April 25, 2018 by Hiccup23

[Xillix]

@Hiccup23 I'm not a big fan of pre-reads either honestly. I do apologize if I've actually offended you with anything I've said about your projects, I definitely didn't intend to.

[Ezen Baklattan]

I definitely understand where you’re coming from, Hiccup. I admit that sometimes I get a little carried away (if not just straight up competitive) with this and sometimes take too much stock in what other people think. Hell, I do that in the real world more than I’m willing to admit.

 

As for the pre-read thing, it wasn’t something I explicitly planned, but I definitely understand if it comes off a certain way. I’m not sure if you mean the PM-previews or just discussing reviews in the Discussion thread, but I want this to feel like a community where we can help each other improve our own writing skills.

 

All that being said, I am still kind of nervous about NFTO. The main reason being is that it’s a truly personal film for me (I definitely do have feelings of anxiety and depression), and I saw a lot of myself in Meg as I was writing her. I don’t want to get much into it now, but I’ve never really put myself out there in a film like this before.

 

But at the same time, I’ll try to keep some more perspective in all of this. 

[Hiccup23]

1 minute ago, Xillix said:

@Hiccup23 I'm not a big fan of pre-reads either honestly. I do apologize if I've actually offended you with anything I've said about your projects, I definitely didn't intend to.

 

The pre-reads just feels dirty to me and especially when people pre-read a film multiple times with multiple people. 

 

No, you are fine. You opinion is your opinion. I'm not offended at all. I go into every year thinking I am gonna kill it but then don't. I edit my films multiple times and don't see anything wrong. Idk...am I just delusional? lol

[4815162342]

Pre-reads aren't exactly a new thing. They were done by people in 2.0, and heck it happened every now and then in the old BOM land.

[Hiccup23]

Just now, 4815162342 said:

Pre-reads aren't exactly a new thing. They were done by people in 2.0, and heck it happened every now and then in the old BOM land.

As I recall they weren't has prevalent as this year's though. 

 

 

[Rorschach]

2 minutes ago, Hiccup23 said:

Y'all are fine. I am clearly at the bottom of the list. My films are just too zany and out there for most people on here or the message I am trying to convey across isn't getting across. 

 

It honestly, is a little disheartening considering this is my 10th year (started in 2008) playing this game. I definitely saw a big jump from CAYOM 1.0 to CAYOM 2.0, but stuff that killed or would have killed in CAYOM 2.0 is getting railed this in 3.0. I am honestly baffled and unsure how to approach Year 4. I was super confidently about We Are The Ants but now I am just not sure. I am starting to over analyze the film and I know I am gonna end up fucking it up so bad. It is just such a different type of film and I am not sure how digestible it is gonna be for y'all. I am not a video game, animated to live-action, or sci-fi epic guy that isn't my craft so I think that is really bringing me down in the game. 

 

Also like not to do shady or anything, but I am not a fan of this new thing of "pre-reads". Honestly, I might have a few films pre-read but I am not gonna go full out. It just isn't my style. 

 

I am not gonna lie: When the "good" writers (we know who I am talking about) freak out about their films I can't help but eye roll. Like you didn't get that 9/10 but instead got a 7/10 or 8/10? Really......You film is getting positive reviews, gonna kill in the box-office, and will be nominated and probably win at the Oscars. 

 

I am a little salty tonight.  

I get it. I’m very guilty of it myself. I wish that all of films would do well but that’s never the case. When I joined in the game in 2.0, I was never happy when my films, what very few I made, would get blasted in reviews by others. I was 14 years old when I first joined this forum, specifically to participate in this game. I was pretty wide-eyed back then, pretty stupid too, and I’m pretty sure a couple of users didn’t really like me all that much back then either. 

 

I stopped participating when the game started losing steam, and then it eventually died out while I was away from the game (and the forums as a whole). Then I discovered the new iteration was starting this past summer and I got excited again. I promised myself I’d try a lot harder this time around, both in terms of being respectful to other users and with the content I was making. 

 

I don’t claim to be a good writer. I just try to put my heart and soul into everything I’m trying to make (not everything but you know what I’m getting at). Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it doesn’t. Oh well. I try to listen to all the criticisms, digest them, and work on them for my future projects. I know it’s very frustrating when what you worked so hard on gets destroyed critically. People have different tastes. I have my own  and so does everyone else in this game. That’s why I love it so much. The different personalities injected into each film by each user are so great to read, regardless of quality or not. 

 

So basically, I get where you’re coming from. Perhaps some of us (even I) get carried away when a mixed or negative review is given out to one of our own films. We all just want the best for our films, from the experienced writers to the new ones. I know you are frustrated but don’t get hung up over it. It’s a game after all. Its supposed to be fun, right?

 

Anyway, those are my (massively overlong) thoughts. XD Agree or Disagree with it. That’s just how I feel.

[Xillix]

AUGUST

 

Miraculous

"A fast, loud, incoherent blur of bright colors and bad jokes, feeling like the Cliffs Notes versions of several episodes edited together - which I assume is basically what it is. Characters show up and things happen but I'm still not sure who most of them are or if any of it means anything. I have no idea what happened, and if there's lore to be mined from the cartoon it's based on, well, all the filmmakers have brought out of the ground is dust. But I guess the really little kids won't mind, especially if they're fans of the show."

 

Notes from the Otherspace

This is the best project I've read on CAYOM so far. I don't want to go into detail but yeah it touched some nerves. Surprisingly nuanced. It doesn't address its issues perfectly but nothing ever will and it seems content in its imperfection, which in a way is part of the point.

 

Things Fall Apart

"A very good story with good performances and direction, plauged by sloppy adaptation that, again, fails to introduce some characters properly or at all."

 

The Life of a Prophet

"I can't claim to be a scholar on Islamic history or practice, so I can't really assess the accuracy of the film on a dime. As the title suggests, it's very much biographical, sometimes dry, and doesn't take much of a stance on anything, which isn't necessarily a big problem. I'm sure someone will be offended by it, but this seems like about as safe a Muhammad movie as could be made, the downside being if you're the kind of person who'd be interested you probably already know everything in it."

[Hiccup23]

8 minutes ago, Isle of Pasta said:

I admit that sometimes I get a little carried away (if not just straight up competitive) with this and sometimes take too much stock in what other people think.

 

But when you "better writers" have films that get "trashed" its a 5/10 or 6/10. They are like "We see your vision but the execution was choppy." 

 

Mine are 0/10 or 1/10. They are like "Fuck this movie. Fuck your vision. This is utter trash." or "We are only gonna give a a star or half a star because we already have dragged so many of your films we feel bad."  And its a little harder to try to correct yourself when basically your "brand" or say "genre" of film style is getting trashed and not coming across. I have literally no idea what I am doing wrong lol.

 

At least that is how I see it. 

[Ezen Baklattan]

That moment when a pre-read film gets Xillix’s very first Five star rating. Good Segway.

 

but at the same time....HOLY SHIT. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rorschach]

1 minute ago, Isle of Pasta said:

That moment when a pre-read film gets Xillix’s very first Five star rating. Good Segway.

 

but at the same time....HOLY SHIT. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Great job! Can’t wait to read it myself.

[Xillix]

@Hiccup23 If I could offer some really quick, hopefully constructive criticism - you talk a lot about how a certain tone or message is what you were going for, and that's good. You know what you want and I like a lot of your ideas. I think part of the reaction, certainly from myself, is that your writeups often press so hard into that theme or message that it becomes one-note or offputting, or sometimes, to certain people, unintentionally humorous. It's not that your ideas aren't getting across, it's that they're SO STRONG and so single-minded it, again, for me, drowns out everything else in the work. To use a really dumb analogy from watching too much Food Network it's like putting too much hot pepper in a dish? Some people love that and do those 1,000 hot wings challenges, but for most people it's just unpleasant, and it doesn't have the nuances or layers of flavor of a less-peppery dish. I hope that doesn't sound condescending it's just the best I can come up with at midnight >.>

 

Some of it's definitely because it's hard or impossible to communicate some of the stylistic and tonal stuff movies can use to make this all work through text, especially a relatively short summary. Generally I'd say I look for more of a balance between story and character and message, and I react better to stories that either examine or deliver the same message/theme in several unique ways, or present more than one interpretation of the issue or theme at hand. A lot of people thought Public Eye didn't do enough of that but I gave that a good review because I definitely felt some of that was there.

 

Anyway hope that's not a bunch of insensitive rambling.

Edited April 25, 2018 by Xillix

[Ezen Baklattan]

Just now, Hiccup23 said:

 

But when you "better writers" have films that get "trashed" its a 5/10 or 6/10. They are like "We see your vision but the execution was choppy." 

 

Mine are 0/10 or 1/10. They are like "Fuck this movie. Fuck your vision. This is utter trash." or "We are only gonna give a a star or half a star because we already have dragged so many of your films we feel bad."  And its a little harder to try to correct yourself when basically your "brand" or say "genre" of film style is getting trashed and not coming across. I have literally no idea what I am doing wrong lol.

 

At least that is how I see it. 

No, I definitely understand. And honestly I’m really sorry if a lot of my reviews have been coming off as more mean spirited.

 

I’m going to make it more of a resolution to work in constructive criticism into reviews rather than a simple: “It was good/bad.” Like, I definitely get that horror movies are what you like to write, and I feel like honestly I’m not the best person to review horror stuff because the genre simply isn’t my cup of tea. 

 

As terrible as Redeeming Love was, it was a wiki C&P so it isn’t even your fault.

 

I liked a LOT of your 2.0 stuff. Remember the movie Society? I’ve actually grown quite fond of it and I hope to see it get released in 3.0 at some point. I haven’t read the Chrysallids but I do legitimately look forward to it.

[Xillix]

Wait Redeeming Love is a real thing?

[Ezen Baklattan]

Just now, Xillix said:

Wait Redeeming Love is a real thing?

It’s based on a 1991 novel by Francine Rivers. I’m not joking.

[Hiccup23]

2 minutes ago, Isle of Pasta said:

No, I definitely understand. And honestly I’m really sorry if a lot of my reviews have been coming off as more mean spirited.

 

I’m going to make it more of a resolution to work in constructive criticism into reviews rather than a simple: “It was good/bad.” Like, I definitely get that horror movies are what you like to write, and I feel like honestly I’m not the best person to review horror stuff because the genre simply isn’t my cup of tea. 

 

As terrible as Redeeming Love was, it was a wiki C&P so it isn’t even your fault.

 

I liked a LOT of your 2.0 stuff. Remember the movie Society? I’ve actually grown quite fond of it and I hope to see it get released in 3.0 at some point. I haven’t read the Chrysallids but I do legitimately look forward to it.

 

 

Oh I am not talking about Redeeming Love. Have at that film lol

 

With the mean spirited reviews, I don't think it is intentional but I have noticed since starting CAYOM 3.0 people seem to almost compete for who can be the most aggressive or harsh reviewer. In Year 1 and Year 2, I tried not to do that but Year 3 is a different game fyi. If y'all wanna play, I'll play. 

 

Unfortunately, I lost Society and it will never see the CAYOM again  I also think it would do poorly in CAYOM 3.0 especially since the cultural climate has changed so drastically. 

 

Also, I am not trying to come after anybody. I am just trying to say what I have been feeling about this game for a while. This was my opportunity to vent so I did.  

[Hiccup23]

1 minute ago, Xillix said:

Wait Redeeming Love is a real thing?

 

Yes, it is one of those "books" you see on the shelf at Walmart that you know is complete trash. 

 

The only reason I released it was because in CAYOM 1.0 it opens with $25 and ended up earning $180Mish. In CAYOM 2.0, it got decent reviews and made something like $74M.