u/NPRNilk

I remember this being an idea suggested a lot. Tom Cruise vs Evel Knievel kinda came out of nowhere.

Connections

idk if it's just me but I wasn't huge on Shiny on first listen. But when I listened to it a second time... yeah James wasn't lying. The song is forking incredible.

For me? It's a couple things. For one thing, dude is funny af. And not just whenever he's raging or anything like that but moreso his sarcasm and one-liners. Dude is just naturally hilarious!

I also love his director rankings (if you couldn't tell by my constant fanmade ranking thumbnails of them lol). It's always so cool seeing James discover new movies from different talented filmmakers, learning about their styles, etc. It introduces his fans to new movies via these rankings and makes it feel like we are discovering these gems with him.I hope to see more of them next year.

But I think what makes him as beloved as he is is that he's just a genuine creator. He's not fake. He states his opinions how they are and ads his own personal flair to each review. I forget he uses a script a lot of the time because it feels like his opinions are just being said on a whim in a good way. Like, whenever he's positive or praising something, it isn't in a tone of the typical critic jargon "this had a great script and superb acting"; it feeI like it came from the heart. I think the fact his thumbnails are the way they are showcase his genuineness. Kinda like with someone like Moist Critikal, the fact James never tries to make these thumbnails flashy or clickbaity like some of the big creators try to do nowadays is what makes his content feel so authentic. 2 million subscribers never changed that sincerity or how his content is! Just like what he said in his letterboxd review of the Jim Henson Idea Man documentary, "I would still be making my dumbass videos even if I only had two subscribers".

So yeah, "I make actual garbage that people mistake for quality content" my ass. Keep up the great work!

resubmitting it because it didn't submit correctly the first time