The Onion AV Club Review

www.avclub.com

Overall 5.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

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jmdobies
Austin, TX

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The Onion's Arts & Entertainment Section is Very Entertaining

a pop culture fan, TV Personality, a cult film connoisseur, psychotronic genius, Lover of quirky, unique films, a man, Every day computer user, a music lover

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Pros

Funny, No Fluff, Commentary Tracks of the Damned

MAY

2008

I am a longtime fan of both the print and online editions of The Onion, whose consistently funny fake news items are augmented by the AV Club, a very opinionated, and often very funny, arts & entertainment section. Music and Film are the primary focus, hence the name.

There are a core of talented staff writers on The AV Club team, notably editor Keith Phipps, whose current "Box of Paperbacks" series offers capsule descriptions of 75 sci-fi, crime, and adventure novels he bought at a flea market; Scott Tobias, currently writing a regular feature called The New Cult Canon); and Nathan Rabin, who has continued his "My Year of Flops" blog past its original 52-week run, probably because he has so many films from which to choose.

Other columns that never fail to entertain include "Commentary Tracks of the Damned," which describes the rationalizations and justifications of the makers of really bad movies, when they are forced to confront the cinematic garbage they have produced while they record commentary for the DVD. Another long-running feature is "Films That Time Forgot," which revisits justifiably obscure films, often to hilarious effect. Recently, the AV Club has gussied things up with embedded video to illustrate the various FTTF, which saves the writer the effort of describing particularly absurd passages.

The reviews of film and music are generally well-written and up-to-the-minute, although there are times when a 20-something reviewer will reveal their 20-somethingness, if you know what I mean.

The online version of the AV Club is content-rich, a good read, and an excellent diversion for stolen moments during the workday.

Last edited on May 09, 2008