Riley Rewind

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.

This "movie" is (at the time of reviewing) ranked on IMDb with the same score as Citizen Kane, which is obviously a travesty. From reading some of the reviews it seems that this is thanks to the overzealous support of their preexisting fan base.

On YouTube it might get a thumbs up for effort, but when you're running with the big boys, this doesn't cut it I'm afraid. I might have given it a 2 or 3 if it wasn't for the arrogance of the writer getting herself cast as the female lead (Riley). She is upstaged in just about every scene, mostly due to the fact that the other people in it can act at least slightly.

If you're like me, and use IMDb to try to find great films via their ratings on here, then please do not bother with this. I understand that their fans want to support them. However, I believe that IMDb should be a level playing field, and Citizen Kane this is not.

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!

Fist off, I didn't really like the format: five videos of about 10 minutes. I would have enjoyed it better (and taken it more seriously) if it was a 1-hour movie watched in one shot. The mini- series format works when the episodes are published gradually to keep us waiting, or when each episode is long. But 5 times 10 minutes - doesn't make sense to me.

Also it was really over-hyped by RWJ.

The acting gave a very amateur vibe, although Lamar Legend ("Jay") and Christina Marie Leonard ("Angela") were kinda good.

The story pitch is good. Seen before (Butterfly Effect), but pretty good still.

I really liked the effects and overall video editing.

Overall, I think it's got potential. Everyone involved in the movie has potential if set with more experienced professionals surrounding them.

I would love to see a comedy from RWJ.

Good luck on your future projects!

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!