My rant about spill.com

My rant about Spill.com

Spill.com is a movie review site that features four or five hosts talking about films. They started as the Reel Deal then they became Spill.com. I like listening to them because they did the same thing the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did as far as talking about the movie, joking around, and giving their rating, but expanded on it. Their video reviews are more entertaining than reviewing the movies. What makes these videos work is that they're animated. It's like watching a stand-up comedy for films, even if I don't find all the jokes funny. I like how they are having fun in their videos. Despite their disagreement with the films and ratings, they don't make each other feel stupid about it, it's too bad that certain people online don't know how to do that. I'm fond of their rating system because it's similar to mine. On their website, they have podcasts giving their full review of movies, plus spoilers. They also respond to fan comments and talk about geek culture on their site.      

Now I notice some changes with the reviews and the website; these changes are not for the better. for example, when they're reviewing a movie, they do it in 20 seconds, and they tell us to go on their website to hear their podcast of their movie reviews. Look, I don't have a problem with them promoting their site; however, if doing that comes at the expense of the review, then what's the point in making these videos? Plus, we might not have time to listen to a half-hour podcast of a review, that's why we watch your video reviews. The reason why I prefer the videos over the podcast is because the videos add context to what they say and the jokes they make. What makes these videos worse is that there's a timer on the screen to remind us how much time they have; we're not focusing on what they say about the movie, but on how much time they have. They even waste time in their 20 seconds by making jokes, their videos use to be 5 or 6 minutes long, and the movie reviews doesn't seem to be their main focus. 

                     

This is how they started doing their videos

This is how they use to do their videos

  

This is how they do their videos now 

This is not the best example of art thriving on limitations. If I didn't know better, I would say that they are making these videos bad on purpose so that we can go and listen to their podcast. Also, what's the point of promoting your website if it's not what it use to be? They got rid of some of the content on that site. I understand that was done because of budget reasons; however, that doesn't make it less annoying. Also, one of the hosts left the site to work on a movie called Sinister. Due to how they're doing their videos now, I don't watch them as much as I use to. I don't know what caused this change, but they need to go back to how they use to review films in their videos. Well, they won't have a chance to do that because we learn that this site will shut down later on this month. Yes! hearing this is a letdown, but I don't think this is the end for the people behind this site. They could move on to a different platform if they do well. Spill.com was fun while it lasted.