Bad Movie Beatdown



""I'm Mathew Buck, beating down bad movies everywhere!""

A snarky young Brit, Mathew "Film Brain" Buck hosts "Bad Movie Beatdown" on That Guy With The Glasses. By his own admission, Buck is following the Nostalgia Critic's example, but there's nothing nostalgic about the crap he reviews. Before he became a video contributor, Buck wrote articles for the site and was (and continues to be) a moderator on the forums.

See his TGWTG page, and his blip.tv page.

See here for a list of things reviewed.

Provides examples of (including tropes he has pointed out in the movies he reviews):
""See, it's funny because it's Robert Patrick and he was the T-1000! ...Okay, I thought it was funny, so shut up.""
 * Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: His Crossover review of Sucker Punch with Jesu Otaku was a pretty dire example of this.
 * Actually Pretty Funny: Subverted, with Epic Movie: When Silas shoots Mr. Tumnus,, but then it stops being funny when he keeps shooting.
 * Played straight with a cameo by Stephen King in Monkeybone where Edgar Allan Poe mocks King for being a fraidy cat, or, to quote Mr. Poe: "King, you pussy!"
 * Twice in Night at the Museum II: one with the inch-high Roman soldier running furiously through the grass on the White House lawn, and then the camera pulls back to show a human's eye view of the lawn, which looks completely undisturbed. The second time, the inch-high Roman soldier goes into an epic, slow-motion leap clearly spoofing 300 only to come down and viciously attack a full-sized bad guy's boot.
 * Acknowledged that the head-butting scene, following the line, "nobody wins with a head-butt" in Paul Blart: Mall Cop was the only funny scene in the entire film.
 * When they make a shout-out to The Terminator in The Marine:

"Eddie: What's Nintendo?
 * Adorkable: This kid is pretty much the definition.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: States several about some of the characters in the films he reviews.
 * Film Brain thinks God from Evan Almighty is evil and Will Smith from Seven Pounds is a sociopath.
 * He also thinks Mary from All About Steve is mentally insane.
 * Steven Seagal's character in Out of Reach has Psychic Powers.
 * Anachronism Stew:
 * Film Brain points out that Albert Einstein was a child when The Time Machine takes place.
 * He also points this out in Hudson Hawk. The movie explicitly said it's set in 1981, which only makes the multiple Nintendo references confusing.

Film Brain: That's actually a good question Eddie since the NES didn't come out until 1985. Oops!"

"...And so they then take them to...THE FUCKING PYRAMIDS!?!"
 * Also in 10,000 BC, where he points out the use of boats, pulleys, scaffolding, and telescopes, all of which weren't invented until thousands of years later.

"The Rap Critic: I know why you want me to review that movie, it's because I am--
 * Anvilicious: Often pointed out by sarcastic "Subtle."
 * The Artifact: Professor Celluloid. He was going to be Mr. Exposition, giving background to the film of the episode, but when that didn't go over so well he was quickly demoted to a Drop in Character.
 * Asexuality: After he sees one of the sex scenes in Fat Slags, he says "That's it. I'm asexual."
 * Ass Pull: Film Brain snaps when he sees the nonsensical twists in the ending of The Riddle.
 * Author's Saving Throw: Knowing full and well the potential (and actually quite real) backlash reviewing Pirates of the Caribbean 3 could cause, Film Brain had Welshy do a counterpoint to the review to display some of the legitimate arguments that could be made against his, while still giving his honest opinion on the subject.
 * Awesome McCoolname: "I should mention it is directed by someone named Ace Hannah. Regardless of what I'm about to say, that name is frickin' awesome!"
 * Back to The Penis Well: But if you ask Matt, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen never took its hand out.
 * Bait and Switch: or even Discriminate and Switch, when review Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.

Film Brain A student at an arts college!

Rap Critic: Uh...yeah."

""Now go finish that review, you magnificent bastard!""
 * Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Matt points out that the female lead of Good Luck Chuck should have had a concussion after hitting her head on an ice slide, but she only winds up with a chipped tooth.
 * Berserk Button: The movie Seven Pounds. His review is one thing, but the commentary for said review shows it even more. Mentioned by specifically by trope name in the interview/Q&A with FreyaMau.
 * Never accuse him of not doing his research, because he does.
 * He does not like disproportionately long credits.
 * Sexualized violence against women, too, judging from the disgusted tone of voice he uses when describing such scenes.
 * The Condemned seems to do it for him, as well, judging by the fact that he actually interrupts his summary of the movie to deliver a several-minutes-long rant about the film's hamfisted, hypocritical, and just plain unfortunate message.
 * Big Damn Heroes: When out of nowhere he swooped in and rescued MikeJ from severe tea deprivation.

""Of course, The Black Dude Dies First. How? He fell three feet! How did that kill him?!""
 * Big Word Shout: "SYMBOLISM!!!"
 * His forced review of Sucker Punch with Jesu Otaku gave us the power of FEMINISM OMGWTFGENIUS!!1!11"
 * Black Dude Dies First: Referenced in While She Was Out.

"Jesus, James Woods, your acting is more destructive than Stallone's bomb, you must be picking splinters out your teeth!"
 * Blown Across the Room: Notes an implausible use of the trope in The Specialist.
 * Bond Villain Stupidity: Chuckie in While She Was Out
 * Brain Bleach: Seeing a dog's nightmare of a cat holding scissors in Monkeybone (which is preceded by "THE FOLLOWING CAN'T BE UNSEEN") leads Film Brain to try and clean himself.
 * Butt Monkey: So far, he has been beaten up five times by other reviewers.
 * The Cameo:
 * He did one in Diamanda Hagan's review of Battle of the Bone.
 * Rap Critic and Critical Marine had cameos in the review of The Marine.
 * Can You Hear Me Now: In his review for While She Was Out, he called on the stupid reasons recent movies would have for not having cell phones ready.
 * Carpet of Virility: On display in Mike J's Matrix Revolutions review.
 * Catch Phrase:
 * "I'm Mathew Buck, beating down bad movies everywhere!"
 * For Projector: "I'm Mathew Buck, fading out."
 * "SYMBOLISM!!!"
 * "Oh right, because the plot says so."
 * "Are we making this up as we go along?!"
 * "This is the last time we will ever see ]. Byyye! [Waves.]"
 * "Foreshadowing!"
 * "Innuendo!" (accompanied by a somewhat suggestive-looking upward pointing motion)
 * "JUMP scare!"
 * "This MOVIE makes no sense"
 * "Where do I even begin?"
 * "That is the sound of _______ turning in their grave."
 * "Nice [insert noun here] guys!"
 * Caustic Critic
 * Celeb Crush: There's a hint of this towards Amy Adams in his Night at the Museum II review.
 * The reason he reviewed When in Rome, because he has a crush on Kristen Bell.
 * Censor Box: Has to employ it at times, sometimes with an extra joke (in Epic Movie, the boxes read "Tits" and "Twat"; in Good Luck Chuck, he covers the breasts of a Catholic with "WWJD?").
 * Character Tics: Whenever he makes a snarky comment, you can be damn sure it will be punctuated with a head-tilt, furrowed eyebrows and a nod.
 * Chewing the Scenery: James Woods in The Specialist.

"Film Brain: How do you survive an explosion to the face?
 * Christmas Episode: Christmas with the Kranks for 2009, While She Was Out for 2010, Little Fockers for 2011.
 * Classically-Trained Extra: He's nailed John Cleese for this at least twice.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: As opposed to his usual restraint, FB gets rather profane while reviewing The Condemned.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: The cars in Two Fast Two Furious ; or as he puts it, "neon lit for your convenience."
 * Complete Monster: Matthew seems to dislike this sort of character, as a frequent criticism he makes is that the villains in the films he reviews need more subtlety.
 * Conflict Ball: Calls on Bride Wars for what he feels are stupid reasons for the plot, which even their fiances point out.
 * Conspicuous CG: Noted in Two Fast Two Furious when compared to the original Fast and the Furious film.
 * Cough-Snark-Cough: "*cough*Rule Britannia"
 * Creator in Joke: Lampshaded in his Evan Almighty review when he sees a marquee reading "The 40 Year Old Virgin Mary". "I always like to put my in-jokes front and center" *holds up sign that says LordHebe is God*
 * Crossover:
 * During the second anniversary, he reviewed McBain with The Cinema Snob, and The Spirit with Linkara.
 * Notably during 2011, he appeared in no less than seven crossovers. Even he was surprised.
 * Lockjaw with Phelous, Sunday School Musical with Todd in the Shadows and Hercules In New York with Obscurus Lupa during the third anniversary.
 * A two-part review of Matrix Revolutions with Mike J.
 * A review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the Beginning with Welshy.
 * A review for The Incredible Hulk Returns with Nash, in the same style as the latter's crossover with Linkara.
 * Spoony and Film Brain reviewed the Tekken live-action movie together.
 * A review of Bloody Mallory with Sad Panda, Phelous, Welshy, Obscurus Lupa, Chaos D 1, Andrew Dickman and Critical Marine.
 * He opens his 2012 season reviewing Sucker Punch with JesuOtaku.
 * Then he does another one, this time with The Rap Critic for Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.
 * And now another with OanCitizen for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
 * Dan Browned: Demonstrated when Film Brain asks Critical Marine about the realism of John Cena's stunts in The Marine;

Critical Marine: ...Come again?

Film Brain: I'm reviewing the movie The Marine, and I'm just wondering, how do you survive so many explosions and be just like John Cena?

Critical Marine: That movie is an insult to Marines, Film Brat.

Film Brain: One more question... at what point in the training regime do you acquire super powers?

(Critical Marine gets up and leaves)

Film Brain: Semper fi! (Salutes, palm outward)

Critical Marine: That's the wrong salute, dumbass!"

"Film Brain: No. It doesn't deserve that."
 * Deadpan Snarker: He can actually go into deadpan mode while he's already deadpanning.
 * Defied Trope: When Film Brain discovers that Bison's evil plan in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li amounts to nothing more than property development, he cuts off the "OF COURSE!" Running Gag.

"Film Brain: Don't worry, It's not as if a giant shark is going to leap 30,000 feet out of the water for no apparent reason and kill everyone [on an airplane]. (One scene later) Oh."
 * Designated Hero: The robbers of the eponymous Money Train show no real heroic traits to Film Brain. Similarly, Slim from Steal is considered to be this
 * Designated Villain: Film Brain points this out in Meteor, where the general is a bad, bad man for not trusting the Russians... during the Cold War.
 * He also points out Patterson in Money Train would be a hero in any other action film.
 * He further points out that Anheuser is made out to the bad guy in 2012 because refuses to open the doors of the Arks for the stranded people because he knows its far too dangerous to do so.
 * Description Cut/Tempting Fate: In the review of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus:

"Film: Big fucking gun.
 * Don't Try This At Home: Sucking on a battery to give it a few more minutes' juice, as seen in Mega Piranha
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): Sarcastically lampshaded in his review of Money Train.
 * Drop in Character: Celluloid again, although unlike other Video Review Show versions of this character he is not played by Buck, but by producer and co-writer Christopher "Lordhebe" Barnard.
 * Dude, Not Funny: Pointed out in-universe, often with the phrase "That's not funny!".
 * His reaction to The Ugly Truth and All About Steve overall. Most of the comedies reviewed have at least one Dude Not Funny moment pointed out; Hudson Hawk having several.
 * He made a joke about Michael Jackson being an alien in Men in Black II and was immediately called out on it by his sock puppet.
 * Dumbass Has a Point: He agrees with one of the gangsters in While She Was Out that they should have fled the city after killing a security guard instead of chasing the protagonist, whose only fault was annoying them.
 * DVD Commentary: He was one of the first reviewers to release a Kickassia commentary. He also releases commentaries on his past episodes.
 * Embarrassing First Name: Notes that Cobra's first name, Marion, is akin to a gay porn star.
 * Enemy Mine/Mid-Battle Tea Break: He and Braeden stop in mid-battle to punch out the room service at their hotel and drag him into their room during Haunted Mansion.
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: He notes the gang in While She Was Out is implausibly diverse.
 * Even Caustic Critics Love Their Parents: Calls out the narrator of Diary of the Dead when she implies that most people resent their parents, stating that he has a good relationship with his folks.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": During Seagal Month, he doesn't even bother learning the names of Steven Seagal's characters, just referring to each of them as Seagal.
 * Even before that, in the Seraphim Falls review, he refers to Pierce Brosnan's and Liam Neeson's characters as "Pierce" and "Liam."
 * Family-Unfriendly Aesop: He personally takes some from several films he reviews. Some of the messages he's pointed out include...
 * "Men are incapable of thinking of anything but sex and women should just accept that." (The Ugly Truth)
 * "Due process is for pussies." (Cobra)
 * "Christmas is all about the material trappings, and not conforming to this is selfish." (Christmas with the Kranks)
 * "Beating people to a bloody pulp makes them gain wisdom." (On Deadly Ground)
 * "Suicide is a noble act if you donate your organs." (Seven Pounds.) Film Brain was not happy about this one. Also strikes a chord when he did that review as he lost someone to suicide, and genuinely hated the movie unlike most others he reviews.
 * "It's okay to go around killing people you don't like, as long as they're jerks. (Parting Shots) "I think I found a film even more morally reprehensible than Seven Pounds."
 * "Murder is empowering for women, and if you have an abusive spouse you should kill them." (While She Was Out)
 * Fan Disservice: Tim Allen in a speedo.
 * Fetish Fuel: Specifically mentions it in an interview that "You know you've made it on That Guy With The Glasses when you're on the TVTropes Fetish Fuel page."
 * Fight Scene Failure: Film Brain describes one of Mega Piranha's fight scenes as being "choreographed by a blind man".
 * Foregone Conclusion: Film Brain points out that this is the biggest problem of the opening of Seven Pounds.
 * Foreshadowing: Loves to call out the really obvious ones.
 * At the end of his On Deadly Ground review, Buck alludes that he will review another Steven Seagal movie, "Shadow Man", in the future. Two years later, and he finally has reviewed it.
 * After reviewing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, he replaces his poster of the first Transformers and puts up a poster for the maligned film Gamer, which he the later reviews.
 * Freudian Slip: In the Van Helsing review: "…and get confronted by the last of Dracula's breasts— I mean, brides. Heh heh, seriously. With cleavage like that, you can't blame me for the odd nip slip — slip — SHIT!"
 * Funny Afro:
 * Prof. Celluloid has an orange one.
 * When Ludacris show up with one in Two Fast Two Furious , Film Brain says that he was named after his hair.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: Describes the scene with the Japanese family in "2012" as unintentionally funny, but admits showing anything from the scene would be tacky after Japan got hit with a tsunami in real life like in the movie.
 * Fun with Acronyms: From "Doom:",

Mathew(cheerily): BIG FRIENDLY GIANT!"

"The day I put a To Catch a Predator reference in a video and this happens. Oh, the irony."
 * Gratuitous German: Prof. Celluloid again.
 * Gratuitous Rape: This, above all else, truly pissed him off when reviewing The Condemned.
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: He was intensely disappointed when they cut away from a girl-on-girl kissing scene in Transmorphers, saying that the lesbianism was the only interesting part of the film.
 * Groin Attack: Points out how often Steven Seagal does it in On Deadly Ground.
 * Ham and Cheese: To Mat, the saving grace of The Specialist was James Woods hamming it up.
 * Harsher in Hindsight: Noting the opening of the movie Live Wire pointing out that terrorism hadn't come to America "Until Now".
 * He Panned It, Now He Sucks: Has fully acknowledged the negative reaction to his review of Equilibrium, and admits he would not have done it that way now.
 * Herr Doktor: Prof. Celluloid.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight

"Linkara: Holy crap, Frank Miller makes worse puns than you, Film Brain!
 * Hostile Show Takeover: Professor Celluloid attempts this at the beginning of the Ratatoing review, by doing a scathing review of Die Hard. When this is cut off, he responds by convincingly disguising his copy of "Ratatoing" as one of "Ratatouille."
 * Hypocrisy: He calls out Gamer for railing against glorifying violence, but the film itself glorifies it with no sense of irony.
 * Hypocrisy Nod: Knocked the usage of shaky camera in one of his reviews, then quickly lampshades that his early videos were annoying because of it.
 * On Twitter, Buck asked if reviewing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on Bad Movie Beatdown would make him a hypocrite, since he gave the film a decent review when it came out in 2009.
 * I Am Not Leonard Nimoy: During Steven Seagal movies, FB doesn't refer to the lead by character name, just as Seagal.
 * I Am Not Spock: While he generally names a character by their name rather than by the actor, he simply refers to an auctioneer in Hudson Hawk by "Fred from Coronation Street".
 * He also refers to John C. McGinley's character in On Deadly Ground as "Dr. Cox".
 * In Paul Blart: Mall Cop, he calls a minor character played by Erick Avari "the curator from The Mummy 1999."
 * Idiot Plot: Has his own catchphrase to describe this trope: "Why don't they just (insert smarter course of action here)? Oh right, because we wouldn't have a movie!"
 * Alternatively: "Oh right, because the plot says so!"
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Linkara suffers throughout the review of The Spirit:

Film Brain: I never thought such a thing could be accomplished."

"Film Brain: Did he just break the fourth wall?
 * Not that Linkara is blameless there either:

Linkara: Don't worry - we're atop it!

Audience: [Collective Groan]

Caption: Channel Awesome would like to apologise for that pun. The writer has been flogged for his sins."

"Remember, Sly always gets a lot of pussy. [Audience Groan]"
 * In his review of The Specialist:

"Good luck with that!"
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: After reviewing Seven Pounds, he signs off saying that he needs a stiff drink.
 * Inferred Holocaust: Film Brain points out that Forrest blowing up an oil rig in On Deadly Ground will cause more environmental damage than letting it run normally.
 * Invincible Hero: Film Brain considers On Deadly Ground's Forrest Taft this.
 * In his review of Ultraviolet Film Brain calls both Violet and Preston from Equilibrium this.
 * He also points out that Jackson Curtis of 2012 is this, actually comparing him to Jesus later on in the review.
 * Jittercam: Mocked more than a couple of times, though his early episodes also tried (and failed) at a guerilla-style shoot.
 * Keet: Many people thought Buck was acting out of character in Kickassia because of what he's like during "Bad Movie Beatdown", but he has said himself that his real-life personality is usually closer to the Kickassia persona, and that Kickassia had enough Deadpan Snarker characters already, and another would have been redundant.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: When he reviews on enthusiastic mode along with someone a little more ill-tempered, such as The Cinema Snob and Jesu Otaku.
 * Large Ham: Whenever Matthew isn't doing regular snark, he gets really enthustiastic.
 * Let Me Get This Straight...: Film Brain recapping the ludicrous plan to stab a man-eating piranha in the eyes.

"They can kill as many men as they like. But women, children, and puppies? Those motherf]ers."
 * Love It or Hate It: He describes Hudson Hawk as this in the review.
 * The Mean Brit: Buck's on-screen persona has shades of this. He's stated Screenwipe as an influence on his show.
 * Mean Character, Nice Actor: Much like his coworker Brad Jones, he's definitely not as much of a snob as he acts on-screen. Most notable in Kickassia where he plays a very different character to his usual style. Most of the other critic cameos that appear along with Film Brain have them verbally eviscerating each other, but, obviously, they wouldn't cross over in the first place if they didn't like each other in real life.
 * Medium Awareness: In his review of The Specialist, he acts in shock at a subtitle revealing an unsubtle foreshadowing.
 * Men Are the Expendable Gender: Noting a Kick the Dog moment in his Equilibrium review:

"I am a mentor. I'm supposed to die. For reals this time."
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard: Lampshaded in 10,000 B.C.

"People are freaking out because I have stubble in [The Projector episode on the film "Mother's Day. It's almost like I went through puberty or something!"]"
 * Mis Blamed: In response to fan complaints, Film Brain and Lordhebe said in an interview that the first review with Professor Celluloid was filmed the week before Spoony unveiled Dr Insano, but not released until the week after, making this inevitable. Coincidentally, they also filmed the review for Transmorphers the same week Spoony reviewed its sequel on a whim.
 * Mood Whiplash: Points this out in the Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End review, contrasting the dark subject matter with the amount of Slapstick aimed at kids.
 * Narm: In the remake of The Time Machine, the protagonist saves his original love interest from dying in the first timeline but then she gets killed anyway, proving that You Can't Fight Fate. Unfortunately, the way it happened makes Film Brain burst out laughing over how silly he thought it was.
 * Film Brain laughs at the ridiculous CG fish in Mega Piranha twice.
 * Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize: Lampshaded in the review of The Riddle, where he calls it the Murder, She Wrote principle.
 * Never Live It Down: Noted to the reaction to his Equilibrium review.
 * In a couple of skits, Film Brain wrote The Nostalgia Critic addressing him as "Equilibrium douchebag".
 * Lampshaded in his 50th episode (The Riddle), where he expresses surprise at having made it past the Equilibrium episode.
 * The whole point of Spoony's guest appearance in his video review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is to berate him for giving it a 3.5/5 in his written review.
 * No OSHA Compliance: Film Brain points out the camcorder in Final Destination 3 should have been confiscated.
 * He notes the understaffed Smoke and Fire Factory in Cobra.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up:

"Morgan Freeman: I now issue a new commandment.
 * Not Making This Up Disclaimer: He states that he's not making up that Urkel from Family Matters (Jaleel White) starred in an Asylum movie while he was in the middle of editing a review of another movie starring 80s pop star Tiffany.
 * He also didn't make up the teacup and saucer explosives from The Specialist.
 * In the crossover with Obscurus Lupa, he states that Arnold Schwarzenegger choking a bear sounds like a joke, but really happens.
 * Oh Crap: At the end of his Evan Almighty review:

Film Brain: Wait, what the...

Morgan Freeman: Thou Shalt Do the Dance.

Film Brain: OH GOD NO!


 * commence dance montage*"

"Film Brain: Don't you need these to see?
 * Offscreen Teleportation: He alludes to this in the While She Was Out and Mega Piranha reviews. Notably, in Mega Piranha, the hero did this.
 * Oop North: Sarcastically mentioned by name in Fat Slags.
 * Orbital Shot: One Egregious use of these in Mega Piranha makes Film Brain queasy.
 * Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: Film Brain will often start the show with a text screen voluntarily advising viewers with a warning of Epileptic Flashing Lights and other possibly sickening visual effects within a film if it contains them.
 * Out of Focus: Prof. Celluloid has largely been absent since season one and has even disappeared from the opening sequence as of the post-Suburban Knights version of the season three opening. This only made it more surprising when he shows up to give Film Brain 3D glasses in the Spy Kids 3D review.
 * Papa Wolf: Wondered if the parents of the child actors in Good Luck Chuck even read the script and clearly showed discomfort in reviewing those scenes.
 * Politically-Correct History: He Lampshades this when the little black boys goes back to New York in The Time Machine.
 * POV Cam: In the Spy Kids 3D review, after Prof. Celluloid gives Film Brain his 3D glasses.

Prof. Celluloid: No, I see in 3D already.

POV Cam shows Celluloid suddenly seeing everything with 3D-red-and-blue outlines"

"Film Brain: HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I DID EVERY REVIEW LIKE THIS? HAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"
 * Precision F-Strike: From All About Steve, Sandra Bullock was doing a monologue about curse words and the right time to use them. FB's response is a simple "Shut the fuck up".
 * Before that, and probably his most effective use of this trope, in his Seven Pounds review: "The movie is literally telling us that suicide is okay as long as you donate your organs. What the fuck kind of message is that?"
 * And again during his review of Ultraviolet, when reacting to the chasm-sized plot holes created by the reveal of
 * And again in his 2012 review: "If Yellowstone erupted, we'd be fucked. Really, REALLY fucked."
 * Pretty Fly for a White Guy: He tries to use to urban slang at the start of his crossover review with The Rap Critic, who is just as impressed as one would expect an African-American rap music critic faced with a white English guy trying to be "street" would be.
 * Put on a Bus: The end of his The Jazz Singer review seems to be this way with him "going on a vacation". He came back a few months later when Real Life slowed down a bit for him.
 * Real Song Theme Tune: "Ready to Roll" by Jet Black Stare.
 * Played epically on the piano by Todd in the Shadows for the opening of their joint review of "Sunday School Musical".
 * Recycled in Space: Notes that the original The Fast and the Furious is Point Break
 * Recycled Script: Claims Mega Piranha is this to Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus in-universe.
 * Running Gag:
 * "SYMBOLISM!!!"
 * Replaced with "FEMINISM!" in Sucker Punch.
 * "ACTINGGASM!"
 * "Exposition! Do your duty!"
 * Whenever the audio is poorly synced in a scene, he replies by saying "I'm a ventriloquist!" (or "[Actor name] is a ventriloquist!") - complete with deliberately out of sync lip movements (or none at all).
 * "Because when you need to add substance to your shitty movie, just add Nazis"
 * "BLEURGH! BLEURGH!"
 * "InnuENDO!"
 * Seagal Month gave us "Seagal Body Double Count" and "Seagal Voice Double Count"
 * Whenever he runs across a movie that uses text to introduce characters, he does the same with a bit of Self-Deprecation.
 * Sarcasm Failure: The giant piranhas jumping like dolphins in Mega Piranha.
 * Self-Deprecation: In the scene he wrote, in which he discusses his lack of success with the Powers-That-Be, he has Doug refer to him as "the Equilibrium Douchebag".
 * In a scene parodying the freeze-frame character descriptions in Mega Piranha, his description is "Mathew Buck: Whiny British Douchebag".
 * Shout-Out: He used, "I'm acting" in a mocking tone similar to The Nostalgia Critic in his review of Mega Piranha.
 * Several Doctor Who elements in the review of The Spirit.
 * Shown Their Work: Film Brain clearly puts tons of research into the movies he reviews for his Bad Movie Beatdowns. In fact, when he was the guest for Transmission Awesome, he was asked a few questions about film trivia by the hosts and answered all of them correctly, save for a rather obscure question about the 2007 Transformers film.
 * Slasher Smile:
 * An incredibly psychotic looking expression in his Darkness Falls review when he says "I'm a ventriloquist too!".
 * And if possible, an even creepier one in his crossover with Nash and Linkara for the Wonder woman pilot.
 * He also does this in his Hudson Hawk review to point out how ridiculous all the mugging for the camera in the movie is.

"Film Brain: WE KNOW!"
 * Slave to PR: Film Brain describes himself this way, complete with reference to this site.
 * Sound Effect Bleep: As an homage to Screenwipe, only he's bleeped out, and the films themselves keep their colourful language.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: In his review of Parting Shots, Film Brain is incredibly unimpressed by the use of "quirky" music in a black comedy.
 * The Southpaw: As seen in Bride Wars, when he starts checking off the film's many clichés.
 * Special Effect Failure: Several examples pointed out in-universe:
 * Film Brain points out a wire holding up one of the characters in The Fast and the Furious.
 * Street Fighter the Legend of Chun Li: "I'M ON A BLUE-SCREEN!"
 * All of The Asylum's films.
 * The fat suits for Fat Slags.
 * He also points out the fake-looking CGI in Driven
 * Spin-Off: Projector. A neutral series covering new releases. Definitely not a replacement for BMB.
 * Suckiness Is Painful:The Adventures of Pluto Nash packs one hell of a right hook.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: His opinion on X Men Origins Wolverine. Particularly storylines used throughout the first minutes (early life, fighting in several wars, joining and leaving Team X).
 * This Trope Is Bleep: He bleeps out F-bombs. When something really pisses him off, he leaves them uncensored.
 * Too Soon: Delayed the release of the 2012 review in light of the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, as well as slightly editing the review and adding a disclaimer in relation to the events.
 * Torture Porn: Calls The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the Beginning this and considers it disgusting and perverse.
 * Troper Critical Mass: Examples from his new videos start to show up here mere minutes after they're uploaded.
 * Trope Telegraphing: "I love being able to guess plot points before they happen! It reminds me of how creative we really are."
 * Unfortunate Implications: In his crossover review of "Sunday School Musical" with Todd in the Shadows, they point out that the film seems to indicate "the blacker you are, the better you sing". Case in point, the rival choir is all black and the Crossroads choir is all white and sucked before Zack (who is black) was forced to join them.
 * He rails quite hard on Michael Bay over Skids and Mudflap, claiming their portrayal to be tantamount to blackface.
 * Unusual Euphemism: "Jennifer Lopez's Giglis".
 * Values Dissonance: Film Brain points out in the remake of The Jazz Singer that Neil Diamond in blackface in is incredibly racist in the 1980s film, as opposed to the 1920s original.
 * Verbal Tic: Mat likes to extend the ends of his wooooords.
 * Video Review Show
 * Viewers Are Goldfish: In his Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus review, Film Brain gets annoyed that the film insists on reminding us that the naval base is a naval base almost every time we see it.

"Biggest. Cop-out. Ever. It's not funny."
 * Villain Ball: Film Brain's interpetation of the actions of the Colonel Diaz in Mega Piranha. And indeed it seems very odd that he'd follow them to the U.S. and shoot down a U.S. navy helicopter just so he can try to capture the heroes after they killed the piranhas.
 * The Watson: The rest of his cast, but usually forum moderator Lordhebe.
 * What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: He points this out frequently in his Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End review, with the rampant amount of death and innuendo, especially the hanging of a child in the beginning of a film marketed towards children.
 * Worst Whatever Ever: The remote from Click at the climax of Epic Movie.

"Dom: I'm in your face.
 * WTH? Casting Agency: In-universe he notes every The Asylum movie has at least one weird casting choice.
 * Writers Cannot Do Math: Adding up the years in Hudson Hawk put the movie ten years before it was supposed to take place.
 * Also in Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, he takes note that while five Decepticons went down to the ocean floor to revive Megatron, one had to be torn apart for pieces and yet over the radio, a solider claims that six Decepticons are at the bottom floor.
 * X Meets Y: He calls While She Was Out a Lifetime movie crossed with an Exploitation Film.
 * You Put the X In XY: Regarding the rival choir's decision in Sunday School Musical: "Way to put the deus in Deus Ex Machina".
 * Your Head Asplode: He was actually impressed by such an occurrence in Mega Piranha.
 * Your Mom: Twice in his review of The Fast and the Furious.

Film Brain: Yeah, and my face was in your mum last night. Ohhhh!

Film Brain: What is with that crowd? (imitating Dom) Hey everyone, yo momma's so fat, she made love to a whale at SEA WORLD! Ohhh!"


 * Youtube Poop: Referenced during the Epic Movie review, along with a short clip.