Riley Rewind

As a long time fan of both Anna and Ray, I was expecting myself to be bias as i was awaiting the release of Riley Rewind therefore I watched it with a purely critical mind.

The concept of a high school teen that can inexplicably 'rewind' time can be misread as cheesy or cliché, but with minimal amounts of verisimilitude the narrative of this story really comes to light. Although there is the occasional cliché moment, (it is set in a high school so what can you expect) The introduction of serious hard hitting subjects negates them into creating a continuous balance throughout the film giving it a really fun yet serious feel. The story, yet being rather simple at the beginning; soon unfolds to be a great climax which had me debating my own morals somewhat.

In terms of production quality, I was impressed by how great it look aesthetically. There are blatant traits of 'semi-low-budget-independent- ness' but this is not a flaw in their film, as the special effects looked believable where placed; the camera framing was good; lighting was well coordinated. It could easily be mistaken for something on a high quality TV show. It's well paced , although scenes can feel a little jumpy at some points, as it can quickly move from scene to scene.

Regarding possible cons, there are some minor elements that could be improved upon, for example the overused repetition of the soundtrack theme; the interaction between characters in a dialogue can feel somewhat staged sometimes. But these are minor, and they will surely learn from this experience and get better and better.

In conclusion, definitely worth watching. The narrative is captivating, the production value was great, the acting was good; and it all came together for a brilliant piece of film.

I'm very impressed with Runaway Machine on their first project, and I hope to see more of them in the future!

Riley Rewind manages to merge the online culture and the television-feel perfectly. With its vlog style used as a narration tool it instantly connects with the audience, making them feel a part of the experience. And with its attention to detail and high production value, it makes it clear that it's not "just another online show".

Ray William Johnson joins the list of pioneers that includes Freddie Wong, and David Fincher, who are making top quality content for the Internet. And this being Johnson's directorial debut for a feature like this, it was an excellent job. This was Johnson's and Anna Akana's (Riley Rewind writer and Riley) baby, and it shows that they did their best to produce something worth watching.

The premise is a very well known one (time travel dilemmas), but the take on it is different enough to look passed that. The acting is a little cheesy, and so are some of the lines, but in a way it makes Riley Rewind a bit more charming, and might have been done intentionally. If not, it's something to work on for future projects, which I'm sure will happen. Because Riley Rewind's strength is its ability to connect with people, and that is one of the most valuable traits any sort of media could hope for.

I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for Runaway Machine.

Time travel movies have always been a favourite in the movie world. The Terminator, Back to the future and so on. Yes i know this is a 'web series' but they were calling this a movie for the most part and then just changed it. The story was OK, a girl tries to save multiple lives using her ability to travel back in time. But towards the end (Act 4/5) it just goes really fast and is a very rushed ending. The actors aren't the worst, but certainly aren't the best. A lot of the time it sounded and looked like they were just reciting the script rather than acting, and that took away from the story and made it feel less like a movie and more like a amateur high school drama skit.

I mean it's an indie film project, which took time, effort, and money to make. Personally, I enjoyed it! - Looking forward for Season 2 if any... Everything from the screenplay/story, (good job Anna!) acting (especially that gay dude!), Editing (Video Post was my favourite part about this film) was spot on! - also Ray (that fake and gay-homo-fag :-) ) did a good job directing, getting the most from the characters. what I didn't like though was the scoring/music - or at least the sound quality. Mix wasn't that warm, and audio didn't stand out to say the least. This may or may not be biased by personal passion in music production, scoring, and sound design, but the music in film left a lot to be desired. All in all though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, and was hooked almost immediately!

I'm no writer or critic, however I can pick out a few too many things that are simply off. Why do they all appear older than they should be? They all look older than high school students. Why do the guys in black suites and black shades wear black suites and black shades? The homosexuals of the movie behave too stereotypical and unnatural. There seems to be no apparent reason why the protagonist would be an outcast or subject to bullying. Dialogs don't always make sense, like why would her prom date randomly give her advice about what the depressed girl likes and doesn't, and why did the rejected fellow suddenly expose the other guy as homosexual and act all shocked that he was rejected when he was feeling surprised a few moments ago that he was asked out by him in the first place?

But hey, it's a start, hopefully it gets better.

I also kind of don't like the music and some other details.