Calling Out Neil Lumbard Reviews

[Nevan Dove]

Neil Lumbard - the designated critic for all things anime on this site - has been at the receiving end of complaints for years, and not without cause. His reviews contain little-to-no expansion or detail regarding the specific release in question, are often riddled with erroneous information, and frequently contain the exact same review scores with no explanation as to why. The video and audio quality sections of the review describe the technical advantages of physical media over streaming, but almost never point to any specific way those factors contribute to the disc in question; reading more like an AI summary of tech specs than a review.

With the names redacted, can you easily tell which title this review pertains to? Does it offer anything about how this release stands out? The score for audio on this one was a 4.5/5, so surely there was something of note.

The release includes a selection of audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless audio provided on the release is a worthwhile element of the presentation. The lossless encoding capably preserves the soundstage of the series.

The release benefits from including both the original language version and the English dub option. Fans of ----- will find the audio presentation satisfying (with good dialogue reproduction and excellent clarity for the score and soundstage). A good effort from -----

But don't just take it from me. These are just a few of the posts from other users I was able to find within one minute of keyword searching Niel Lumbard on this site:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...d#post20042522
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...d#post20512260
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...d#post22060244
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...d#post22870092
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...t=neil+lumbard

I don't know who - if anyone - this thread will reach, but I've grown tired of waiting months (or even years) for a review only to get nothing at all. How does the Boy and the Heron look on UHD compared to the blu-ray? No clue. Any information about Arcane Season 1 on UHD compared to than the standard blu-ray? Nada. Does Godzilla Minus One leverage HDR to its fullest? Your guess is as good as mine. As a consumer, I'm often left with no choice but to buy the disc myself to see.

Whether it's a use of generative AI or just a structured template, the net result is a review that I feel offers very little of practical use. People often go to Blu-ray.com to make informed purchasing decisions; I struggle to see how these reviews help in that regard.

[Jim Purcell]

After another atrocious Neil Lumbard review (Lupin the Third the Italian Game, where he uses the full title of the release about 50 times in the write up) I had to check if anyone else had any strong negative options about his reviews. Glad someone finally started a thread about it.

I get that reviewing anime is hard, time consuming, and expensive. And don’t know what Blu-ray does in the background to source official reviews. How they are vetted. Or how they’re paid for. But surely somebody, anybody, else could be found to do them.

I don’t know if Neil uses AI to barf these out, as I’m pretty sure they’ve been this bad for years, ages before ChatGPT or similar were available to slop out puke.

It sucks, because not that long ago Blu-ray.com was a great source of anime reviews. Now every single release is blighted by these useless ‘reviews’ that might as well just be the stub.

[Kitano]

Same reviewer (Neil Lumbard) does the Shaw Brothers Classics blu-ray reviews. They mostly come across as AI writeups and I learn absolutely nothing other than the specs which I could have gotten from the press release. This is especially noticeable if you read more than one review from a film in the set. Of course some information is redundant when it comes to sets but these were bafflingly useless reviews. A real shame when it comes to such high value physical media releases too, where accurate and descriptive analysis is what many hope to be visiting this site for.

[bradnoyes]

I've only been coming here since 2016 so I don't know if things were different before then, but it became clear to me very quickly that the only valuable info regarding audio and picture quality on this site comes from the forums. The reviews are not worth the time it takes to read them. That's not to say they are all bad, but it's so rare to come across an insightful site review that I just gave up long ago.

[spf781]

What's all this about Neil "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME BECAUSE I GET IT FOR FREE!" Lumbard?

[Modren]

Originally Posted by Jim Purcell

After another atrocious Neil Lumbard review (Lupin the Third the Italian Game, where he uses the full title of the release about 50 times in the write up) I had to check if anyone else had any strong negative options about his reviews. Glad someone finally started a thread about it.

Yikes, I just read that review. It genuinely does feel like AI was involved somehow, the unhelpful and redundant descriptions of what Blu-rays are in every category smack of it. Does Blu-ray.com not have, like, a copy editor? Or an admin who's supposed to double-check the reviews before they go live? It feels so lazy that even a website which regularly publishes dreck from "Doctor" Svet should be above this.

[the-pi-guy]

Frankly current AI isn't as redundant as these reviews.

It just feels like he has a template and fills in some generic stuff.

[benricci]

AI is actually way better than this reviewer, and I'm not joking.

At least AI has made strides in the attempt to sound more human-like.

This is just formulaic crap with no insights, human thoughts or any semblance of a real, geniune opinion.

Here's every one of his write-ups (I refuse to call them "reviews"):

1. Read press release.
2. Cut/paste cast and crew info plus plot synopsis into template.
3. Describe in the most generic terms possible what the blu-ray format has to offer (why on earth are we still doing this in 2025?!?!?)
4. Use the phrase "action-packed" to describe literally everything.
5. Repeat.

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by bradnoyes

I've only been coming here since 2016 so I don't know if things were different before then, but it became clear to me very quickly that the only valuable info regarding audio and picture quality on this site comes from the forums. The reviews are not worth the time it takes to read them. That's not to say they are all bad, but it's so rare to come across an insightful site review that I just gave up long ago.

You'd be surprised how many people who aren't as active or well informed as us put stock in this site's, and others, reviews.

Every time I see someone bring up the StudioCanal Fifth Element release being superior to the Sony, for example, there will be another person pointing out how Sony's release got 4.5/5 in image quality on blue ray dot com.

[Matt89]

[Dave Bannion]

Originally Posted by spf781

What's all this about Neil "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME BECAUSE I GET IT FOR FREE!" Lumbard?

So many of his Kino reviews gave 4 or 4.5 stars to what were, frankly, mediocre or merely ok programmers that I stopped using his reviews as a guide for blind buys.

[Dave Bannion]

Did he seriously just give Friday the 13th Part 3 a 5/5? "One of the best horror films of all time," really?

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Dave Bannion

Did he seriously just give Friday the 13th Part 3 a 5/5? "One of the best horror films of all time," really?

Originally Posted by spawningblue

Yeah, this is definitely an AI written review.

"Jason (Richard Brooker) doesn't like living and breathing human beings. Jason prefers dead bodies. A simple life just isn't the way of living for the serial killer with a thirst for blood."

It's a classic.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Neil Lumbard

Chained Soldier: Season 1 delves into the darkness of the central protagonists. The characters play a significant role. As such, the designs of the characters are relevant, too. The character designs for the series are by Hiroyuki Yoshii (Just Because!, Tawawa on Monday) and are effective. A strong component of the anime series aesthetic. The character designs help to bring the characters to life for the series and its gothic-dark tones. The end result is a series with more effective BDSM-leaning animation and character designs. These aspects of the design approach certainly play well into the series and its undeniably kinky style.

Holy Moses! You guys aren't exaggerating.

Suddenly my jumbled writings as a novice blogger back in '04 don't feel so shameful anymore.

[sleeperbloke]

I just assumed it was AI.
Now looking again it reminds me of when I just keep pressing the next predicted word on my text messages and it comes out with weird repetitive crap.

[cochon]

I don't like this kind of public shamming. I guess I am lucky I very rarely venture into Anime. Years ago I've read Castle of Cagliostro and did not find anything objectionable about his review.
Looking at a couple of recent ones they do have the AI feel. I just hope the reviewer is not having some problem that forces him into this.

I think many people here forget that everything takes time and effort and I doubt people on this site get paid much, if anything at all, to review movies as a service for everyone visiting.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by cochon

I don't like this kind of public shamming. I guess I am lucky I very rarely venture into Anime. Years ago I've read Castle of Cagliostro and did not find anything objectionable about his review.
Looking at a couple of recent ones they do have the AI feel. I just hope the reviewer is not having some problem that forces him into this.

I think many people here forget that everything takes time and effort and I doubt people on this site get paid much, if anything at all, to review movies as a service for everyone visiting.

Agree, but there is something definitely 'off' with his reviews lately. I am getting tired of reading more and more AI-generated text (in general, not just this site) that has me convinced that we are far better off not using AI at all in Arts&Entertainment - in creation or critical reviews. imho.

[n0tredom]

Giving The Marvels 4.5 stars for the movie score should disqualify anybody from being taken seriously for future reviews.

[Mythos]

We assume that "Dr" (eye roll) Svet is the owner of this site/domain (certainly looks that way) and it's always been my additional assumption that many of the 'reviewers' on here are the same person just by how the structure and syntax of reviews are so similar.

Whatever the case, this place isn't exactly the place for quality let alone informative reviews.

I give the reviews on this site 1 out of 5.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by sleeperbloke

I just assumed it was AI.
Now looking again it reminds me of when I just keep pressing the next predicted word on my text messages

That's literally how AI works. It's just a more advanced version of the same logic.