What does James' future hold?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — James Rolfe
ThatMOVIENut — 11 years ago(December 02, 2014 04:57 AM)
So, now that's he's pulling back on doing regular AVGN episodes, he has a full movie under his belt and of course, he's started a family, where do you see James going next? What kind of films do think he'll make? Think he'll stay in one genre, or will he vary himself, like say, Spielberg did? Do you think he'll stay indie forever, or someday try and make a bigger break?
Whatever your thoughts, comment away people. -
avortac — 11 years ago(December 08, 2014 05:07 AM)
It's hard to predict, especially the future, especially of someone you don't really know at all.
But from the looks of things, he has been making a lot of 'easy-to-make-quickly'-type videos, and directed his focus a lot towards the YKWB. Pretty good episodes, too!
It makes me wonder, though .. it has been almost two months since the last AVGN episode, and even that episode wasn't quite up to the par. I guess there's nothing wrong with it, but I don't see myself viewing it again, like I do see myself doing to a lot of the original, classic episodes from before the movie.
In my estimation and opinion, the best-case scenario would involve making at least one AVGN episode per month. I don't think it's reasonable to expect more, since his REAL interests are elsewhere, and he has enslaved himself by chaining his soul firmly to a couple of demanding female dict.. bosses.
I think he lost a lot of enthusiasm and energy because of the whole movie flop, and because of the family (family does that to you - when you don't have those chains, you are more free and energetic to do anything you want, but they are and have big demands, every day, constantly, which limits you a lot).
But Rolfe has surprised me before - just when I thought he would never make a good AVGN episode again, he actually made a few of them. The Tiger Games episode, for example (though he could have praised SOME of the excellent Game&Watch games, like Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong, Mario's Bombs Away et cetera).
He also loves making those 'monster' things and other cr.. stuff of such nature.
So the energy, resources, time, interest and enthusiasm that is allocated for AVGN episodes seems to be quite tiny and diminishing.
Worst case scenario would probably be, from my viewpoint, that he will never make another AVGN episode.
Which is fine, we have all moved on, after waiting for awhile. No one is going to wait forever. I think most of the 'fans' and viewers that like his good AVGN episodes (not necessarily fans, please note) have packed their bags and formed the conclusion; the old episodes are great to watch from time to time, but new ones don't seem to really be coming anymore, so let's focus on something else.
It was fun, while it lasted, too bad the movie and the awful AVGN episodes had to happen.
But the old episodes still exist, and can always be viewed.. now with an added sense of nostalgy! -
shadowangel-599-184270 — 11 years ago(February 01, 2015 07:32 PM)
He will probably fade away into obscurity and then stop altogether. I would predict the same for most of the "Youtube" Generation, like Channel Awesome, Spoony, Yogscast and all the others out there.
Nothing lasts forever and it's basically like TV Shows: After some time, you just get sick and tired of it and the numbers drop, people lose interest and look for something else and the following Generation usually isn't interested in what the previous one liked, they're attracted to newer things.
I was actually surprised at how low the numbers for Channel Awesome are: Only 3100 Followers on Facebook, only 12100 on Twitter. That's very low considering how big the Nostalgia Critic alone once was. -
SuperSonicX — 11 years ago(February 03, 2015 12:44 PM)
The guy basically pioneered (retro)gaming reviews on YouTube and even got enough donations from his fanbase to make a feature length film, his lifelong dream. He doesn't have much left to prove.
Unfortunately, AVGN has been going downhill for awhile to methough I still watch new episodes. Nerd's anger seems forced, when he DOES get angry, and it's clear that James just makes new episodes for the fans. Plus, the guy is turning 35 years old this year (2015). "James and Mike Mondays", two friends just kicking it and playing/commenting on games from their youth, is his bread and butter now.
It also sucks how much control he's given to Mike towards the Cinemassacre YouTube channel, considering where the real talent lies. Yeah, Mike might've inspired James to take AVGN seriously, and has helped with episodes in the past, but he's really just riding the gravy train.
"Don't believe everything you hear on the radio." - Charles Foster Kane -
Final_Hitokiri — 10 years ago(July 14, 2015 07:08 AM)
I'd imagine he's suffering some from burnout.
I think there is still a lot of appreciation for his AVGN character, and he did a great job with most of those. I could see him taking a bit of time off and then coming back and still having a fanbase.
Like another poster said, he doesn't really have a whole lot to prove at this point. -
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lunchboxattacks — 10 years ago(December 06, 2015 01:44 PM)
I think he could easily get into more mainstream directing, if he wanted. It's strange that he hasn't gone that route already. If you look at the glut of bad movies that are released each year, direct to VOD features and the like, I don't see why a film producer wouldn't take a punt on him, particularly for a lower budget feature like a Troma film or something like that. He'd even bring his own following (or part of them) along with him, which is not something you can say for the semi-anonymous hack directors out there.
I can only think it's because he's making enough money by doing what he's doing, and doing it on his own terms. When it's time to 'get a job', he could easily move in to more mainstream directing, and which would, ironically, be less work than what he does now, given that he could just show up on set, do his bit and go home with a fatter bank account.