Video blogging or vlogging has made movie fan boys get up from the couch. YouTube has given them full broadcast rights for free to air their raves and rants. The joy of watching movies for free on YouTube is no longer a secret. In fact, you can catch pretty good full length movies on YouTube. Of course, you have to buy your own popcorn.
There are a lot of movie buffs on YouTube giving their two-cents worth by way of movie reviews. In fact, they have full-blown YouTube movie review channels to show-off their critical takes.
Which are the better ones out there? Just like the reviews you catch, the select ten is also taken from a list I follow. Agree or disagree, just give them a ten second glance.
Spill
Spill.com is a cool movie site in itself. Its YouTube channel allows you to miss the words and take in what Korey is yapping about on the latest movies that have come out. Catching the animated characters reviewing movies is fun and it helps to know that there are serious critics behind the fun faces. The pretty to look at Grace is also there with her human touch. Grace also has her own show Beyond the Trailer. As their tag line says - "If its crap...we'll tell you".
Reelz Channel
Reelz Channel is another good movie portal that has let loose Richard Roeper (American columnist and film critic) to tell you what’s the best and the worst being dished out by Hollywood. You get behind the sneak peeks, interviews, news, and reviews. Right now the channel is playing - Roeper's Best and Worst of 2011 (So Far)
Chris Stuckmann
His resume is interesting. His Facebook page defines him as an independent filmmaker as well as film critic and Michael Jackson impersonator. So, when he is not vlogging on movies, he can always do a jig. It’s always informative to hear a filmmaker speak on movies as more often than not they are aware of the intricacies that make a film work or fail.
Jeremy Jahns
The self-appointed ‘funniest critic in the world’ talks fast and goes through a 2 hour movie in 3 minutes or less. The humor is not over-the-top, but low key. The reviews are opinionated enough and he does a good job of even catching the trailers and constructing an entire review based on the sneak peeks.
Fury of The Film Fan
The reviews are long and detailed. For instance, the Captain America ends at seven minutes. The channel presents independent film reviews free from bias and influence. The YouTube channel has its own rating system which goes by names of The Gold Fury Award/The Silver Fury Award/The Fury Mark of Shame.
Schmoes Know Movies
A pair of snooty movie fan boys who poke fun at the movies and at themselves while reviewing movies they have watched. The refreshing thing is that they aren’t film critics but two regular guys telling it how they saw it. Their take is absolutely in your face.
Flick It Before You Pick It
Jonathan hardly smiles when he is delivering his flick picks. This channel belongs to another self-confessed ‘movie cowboy’. He does the whole hog – parodies, raves ‘n’ rants, DVD/Blu-ray collection updates, trailer reviews, top movie recommendations, impersonations etc.
Gab and Dad
Moving away from teens and twenty something film buffs, we come to a family team. In their own words - they review the latest releases, with unique dual-generation dynamics. There’s Phillip the dad, Gabrielle the daughter and mom to Max who also chips in. It’s not as if they agree on all points, but their discussion tells you a lot about what to watch and what to miss.
TomSPerkins (FilmXTRA)
If you go to the website and the YouTube channel, you will perhaps feel that this 23 year old guy is doing a good job of running both outlets single handedly. He uses a five-star rating system to gauge his (and others) interest in a movie. Somehow, if you are in the same age group, it works out quite well.
The Rough Cuts
As a YouTube movie review channel, this one is a bit different as it uses the collective wisdom of seven ‘YouTubers’ to talk about the movies. Each of them gets a day to talk and discuss movies. So, at the end of the week you get seven different views for the free price of one channel. Some are good and some are not very informative. The choice of movies is also very selective and is not always mainstream.
There are a whole lot of web apps that are trying to save you the price of a ticket; from Twitter to dedicated movie sites. Throw YouTube into the mix along with the other ways to read about movie reviews.
Do you go to YouTube for movie reviews? Which is your favorite YouTube channel on movies and films?