Somehow, one of the most popular pages on Films Fatale is the slaughtering I did of Nostalgia Critic’s The Wall, which was Doug Walker’s attempt at parodying the iconic film (rest in peace to director Sir Alan Parker, who just passed away July 31st. Your film deserves much better). Back on topic, I couldn’t tell you why this review took off. I feel badly that it did, actually. I grew up on Walker’s Nostalgia Critic show as a late teenager first discovering a love for film, and his reviews of terrible ‘80s and ‘90s films brought me many laughs back then. I may find these videos a bit juvenile now, but they really spoke to me at that age, and I’d be lying if I said this didn’t help encourage me to do my own reviews (which I’ve been doing on various sites since 2009). I’ve already spent up space on the internet bashing Walker’s skull, and I think this could be the time to at least discuss why I was so relentless in that review: because I believe Doug Walker is capable of so much better.

Doug Walker has been doing the Nostalgia Critic series since 2007, when he was still churning the 5 Second Movies clips out. Then came ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, which was his opportunity to make whatever he wanted. He did more than just the Nostalgia Critic. He had a variety of characters that delivered reviews or parodies in their own different ways. There was Bum Reviews, where a homeless person is paid to see a film and is academically inept and loves (almost) every movie he sees (a joke that may not fly so well today); the character (Chester A. Bum) would accidentally point out flaws in the film he watched while gushing, which was part of the gag and it usually landed critical points pretty well. Walker would then pair these “reviews” up with actual honest reviews that would go on for much longer, and this was a side of Walker that I value: honest criticism. There was “Ask That Guy With the Glasses” which was a joke question and answer format which occasionally repurposed previous videos and allowed Walker to address finer points on previous discussions (somewhat). There were many others, but on the topic of his critiquing, that’s about it. Walker was an impersonator before, and his (frankly not too shabby) caricatures of famous people could be seen on his home page.

But, of course, there’s the Nostalgia Critic: an irritable man who exemplified all of the rage one would feel in two cinematic instances: watching a terrible film and having to finish it, and seeing one’s childhood be destroyed. This character came about in a time when pissed off online ranting was all the craze, particularly with the Angry Video Game Nerd. Despite the similarities, Walker seemed to hold his own, and actually had something going for a few years. Focusing on what he did as an actual critic, Walker actually used some of the time of each video to discuss these works as films and not just entertainment pieces, and that is where things got a little special. There were the obvious points of narratives that lacked character development or jokes that were terrible that he would touch upon, but he would also get into pacing, editing, camerawork, and other cinematic fundamentals that exceeded past the painfully obvious. When people get mad about Walker now, this is what I’d like for them to know. Walker does know a thing or two about cinema, and he understands how films are made. He may not show it anymore, but he does.

Doug Walker as his character the Nostalgia Critic.

ThatGuyWithTheGlasses was doing well, and it became a part of Channel Awesome, which is now known for its insanely problematic work environment that may make Ellen Degeneres’ company seem wholesome. Doug Walker himself didn’t always seem to be linked to this type of toxicity, though. He employed his brother Rob in many different ways, as well as helped progress the online careers of a number of notable names, including Lindsay Ellis (who is doing really great on her own currently, actually, and we will be spotlighting her one day). Before Channel Awesome was blatantly not-so-awesome, there came a turning point in Nostalgia Critic’s reign. Walker was the most popular guy affiliated with Channel Awesome, and Nostalgia Critic was one of the internet’s biggest names attached to movies at a certain point. Walker, who left his previous job as a janitor to continue his online ventures (and was also an illustrator, as he showcased on his own works time and time again), was doing alright financially. He had done the angry guy shtick for a number of years, and he felt like he was now beating a dead horse. He wanted to move onto greener pastures, and do what he really wanted to do most of all: variety sketches. This was made clear with the occasional review, including his Moulin Rouge! episode that was made into a fully blown musical. There’s also To Boldly Flee, which was a Channel Awesome cooperative effort that lasts three and a half hours and is absolutely excruciating to anyone that isn’t in love with the website (the other films, including Suburban Knights and Kickassia are also not great if you’re not a Channel Awesome fanatic, but they’re at least tolerable).

He retired the Nostalgia Critic’s show in 2012, and started Demo Reel. He signed a full cast, blew a big budget, and was left with mixed to negative reactions by viewers. He aimed to make parody films about, well, feature films, and his attempts were honest yet misguided. His ongoing story as a director who was questioning life itself while he and his crew worked on various films and homages just didn’t land the way he had hoped. Outside of the fact that he missed the mark with every episode, fans wanted the Nostalgia Critic back. It isn’t fair to criticize him here. If he genuinely felt finished with the series, then that’s entirely up to him to feel, even if it is bad news to everyone else. If Bill Watterson could stick to his guns and never return or capitalize on Calvin and Hobbes, why couldn’t Walker do the same? That thought isn’t meant to compare Watterson and Walker, mind you.

So, there posed a big problem. If Walker was to bring his original show back, what’s he going to do with his cast and crew who are now signed under contract to work for him? Well, he brings them along with, I suppose. This also helped promote the idea that the Nostalgia Critic could now be its own sketch show, which mixed elements of the previous iteration and Demo Reel. Reviews were longer, and devoted more to parodying these films than simply just reviewing them plain and simple. This is where the dark ages of Nostalgia Critic started, and they have led up to The Wall: the empty shell of an online critic/comedian who was still clinging to the same jokes, and obsessed with the same terrible habits.

The biggest problem is that Channel Awesome is a country of its own, and Doug Walker and friends haven’t really left it (unless they are strictly no longer affiliated with the website). Their running jokes, same stream of ideas, and identical sense of parody are beyond stale thirteen years after Nostalgia Critic even started, let alone the toot-one’s-own-horn years when the series was a sketch show first and foremost. Now, toss in the whole terrible history of the website, where workplace ethics are now coming into question. That doesn’t play into Walker’s favour either, as he is either a condoner of terrible behaviour, an enabler of said behaviour, or a bystander who prioritized money and work over his coworkers’ wellbeing. That would look bad even if Nostalgia Critic was doing really well. Tie that to something like The Wall, and you’ve got a very, very bad reputation.

This saddens me, because I honestly believe Doug Walker had something at his impasse seven years ago. He could bring the Nostalgia Critic back but wanted to do things differently. He favoured the sketch show idea, and it ended up poorly. However, I will always remember the critical side of things. His more candid videos where he would discuss his favourite films, or his dissection of works (in character or out of character) is something that could have benefited many viewers. I honestly don’t even think he was too shabby, either. If he kept going down this road, who knows. Maybe he could have been a fairly respectable critic or film academic. This is the exact same road Lindsay Ellis took, and other Channel Awesome members have begun to take once they disassociated themselves with the website (including Joe Vargas, aka Angry Joe, and Lewis Lovhaug, aka Linkara, who does comic book reviews).

Walker looked up to Roger Ebert and discussed his influence many times (Ebert once complimented Walker’s tribute to At The Movies as well). That should have been the moment right there and then where Walker should have ventured forth and become that aspect of himself: a sillier aspiring Ebert (well maybe not as good, but better than what he’s doing now). It may be easy to mock Walker now, especially because of The Wall, but his recent output hasn’t helped one iota either. If he was tired of doing Nostalgia Critic, he had access to something greater all along: the ability to educate the masses about film analysis, and share his love of cinema on a critical level (even negatively if he so chose to do). I can’t even begin to describe what his series is like now. Believe me. I already tried. What I can do is implore Doug Walker to realize he does have something to say; it’s just elsewhere. He quit one job before. Maybe it’s time he does it again, and enter a new reality where Doug Walker is now a respectable voice about cinema plain and simple. His statements on The Wall were incredibly misguided, but imagine if he wasn’t feeling forced to parody the film and simply just discussed his views. It would be much less difficult to swallow. There is something to Doug Walker, but everyone, including himself, has lost sight of it long ago. It’s a shame.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

A Critic's Critique of Critics: Doug Walker