Well, this is my first one. Since I started working on this blog, I’ve wanted to create a little “Hall of Fame” to recognize the internet’s creators and performers that stand out most to me. I started with Games Sack and Iron Pineapple, and I tried to start some interesting conversations about what perhaps makes them stand out over the rest. Today, we’re meeting Oliver Harper, a creator and performer that uploads classic movie retrospectives to YouTube.
Like the previous two hall-of-famers I covered, Oliver’s videos are a product of editing, writing, and speaking, and, as before, he does it very well, naturally and concisely, and without the use of overly emotional blathering and creatively debauched and tiresome youtuber language. The experience is quite smooth, and the harmony between the writing and the editing is nice and punchy. A lot of the experience is down to Oliver’s choices, his curation of material, if you will, that reflects some thoughtful deliberation on what would be most interesting and engaging to his audience. Part of this material includes a great deal of thought-provoking context and history for each film, and this is one area where Oliver really stands out. I don’t know where he is getting all of his information, but it’s not from Wikipedia, and it’s not full of the copy-and-pasted errors and rumors repeated on so many other, similar channels. No, this is good reporting. As someone who has collected a lot from books and interviews and a variety of other published material over the years, I have to say that curating such material well is a significant skill that cannot be neglected when doing this kind of work. We should be thankful for those who have it.
One other thing that makes Oliver interesting to me is the fact that he shares my birth year. Where I grew up in the United States experiencing these movies, he grew up with them in England. The similarities and contrasts between these experiences are fascinating to me, and it truly adds to the viewing experience. The film commentaries on Oliver’s channel are also a nice bonus, but many of his recent partners are a little lacking in charm, for my tastes, that is, except for comedian Nick Helm. Nick actually had his own TV series at one point. It made me laugh, but it was a little too nihilistic for me. I’ll put their Judge Dread commentary below for you to sample. At any rate, I heartily recommend Oliver Harper for some lunch break viewing.
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