AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Another Day Six]

The overwhelming beauty of every day things

That has always been what 'Another Day' was about in my opinion. And that is exactley why i love the series so much. Quite possibly my fav series on entire NG.

Everything about the series is unique. From the exceptional choise of music each episode, the artwork, the common themes, the characters, the details.... i can go on and on.

This episode was not the best (another day 5 still is in my opinion), but still very interesting. It wasnt emotional or surprising, it was simply fascinating. I love the way u put so much time and effort into the detail and movement of all the simple happenings. It gives the viewer a feel of the uncomplicity and complicity of life at the same time.

I hope u will continue to explore your flash abilities story and artwise and that u do not focus all your attention on 'Decline of Video Gaming' or collabs. Those are nice witty flashes, but these are flashes that grab people by the throat and leave them in awe.

Take care Dim & Tom,

AloneInTheDark

[Jeremy.]

A flash that needs to be viewed 2 times

That a story told backwards can turn out really interesting was already proved by the movie Memento. And you have just proven it to me again.

Things like this need to be watched twice to fully understand, mainly because of the weirdish concept. It starts quite abstract with some symbolism, but the story comes out quite fine in the end. Even though it is a little bit simple and perhaps a tad corny (boy likes girl, girl gets in danger, boy saves girl and pais the price).

But u still kept the thing interesting with the original artwork and the creepy suspense. I dont really like the messages that move by fast like the 'be happy'. I understand its dark irony, but I'm not sure if they are appropriate for this flash.

Still like i said, the concept is really cool and requires some thinking to be animated in a good way. And i respect u for that.

Oh and the trailer was nice also. U can draw facial feautures very nicely, but seem to have a little bit more trouble with the overall anatomy of the characters and backgrounds. Keep working on it and im looking forward to the final product!

AloneInTheDark

[Auf Achse]

A not so great animator with not so great ideas

Well i dont know how to put this.. But the flash was pretty bad. Not only on the visual aspect, but also on the entire story. I totally see what u were trying to say and what the theme was, but i think it was just poorly created. A story about love at first sight? Why approach it in such a cliche, almost immature way?

The main character came across really empty as the regular flat character who will go to all the way to see a woman he met on the station. He will even go through fights that pop outa nowhere for no good reason. The entire happenings of the flash were just an excuse to get the video in sync with the music. This flash wasnt about the animation, it was about the music.

Why not show us more personal and interesting aspects of the entire 'love at first sight' idea? Stuff like this has been done billions of times before and is still being done so many times in the hollywood movies. Dont be affraid to not make the flash for the big crowd, but to make it into something truly personal and unique that not everyone will get.

Thats my advice, maybe u will some day find it useful, maybe not.

AloneInTheDark

AligatorHead responds:

yeah, MANY things are cliccheu. AND ITS REALY TRUE, it is based on the music. But i still had a plot going on. Well i just animate for fun, and i do think of story lines. Thanks for your CRITIQUING.

[PUSTOTA]

Surrealism like it should be

I saw this movie last year. And while i was browsing the portal today i noticed it again. And how glad am i, that i have a chance to see it one more time.

Surrealism is one of the most intriguing and beautiful art styles i know. It requires such an incredible amount of imagination and creativity to create it. Creating a surrealistic painting is hard, creating a surrealistic flash is impossible. At least thats what i thought. How wrong have u proven me.

While other movies like 'across the universe' make an attempt to recreate a kind of Dali like flash, Pustota simply blows them all away. I can believe there is much symbolism in this movie and very wise lessons of which half i havent even figured out yet.

The colour tones for the movie are magnificent. The brownish/golden colours give the thing some sort of old fashioned atmosphere. And while only the locked masks are in a different colour, i think i know what ur trying to say.

But in my opinion, the absolute strongest point of this flash, was the camera movement. Absolutely incredible. U zoom in and out and the environment and situations get transformed so smoothly that the viewer hardly even notices it. Amazing. This thing really felt like 1 entire movie, instead of different scenes pasted next to each other.

The soundtrack is beautiful. Iv never heard of it, but it fits really well. Kinda like the rest of the movie. This is something so extremely well done and clever that a 10 isnt enough for the piece. Because 90% of all the other flash movies on newgrounds would simply not deserve a score higher than a 1 in comparrison with this piece.

There are a few wannabe artists here that try to make different stuff, including me. None of us can even begin to dream about creating a masterpiece of this proportions. Anyone who still isnt convinced about flash as being a serious medium for artistic talent should watch this flash. And after it, they should be really laughed out loud for their ignorant and fast judgement.

AloneInTheDark

[KERRY'S_ORDER]

lol!

Nothing is more entertaining than a subtle anti Kerry flash. Dont get me wrong, if i were american i'd vote for Kerry, seems like he has a well organized plan and isnt as warfocussed as Bush.

But politcal opinion aside, i really like this flash. Nice voiceacting and very funny dialogue. I love newgrounds since everyone can make a flash about their opinion and simply upload it. Unlike the american media, where u will be destroyed in a subtle way when u boycot Bush. Oh, and the lapdance song certainly added a nice touch to the thing.

[The Enemy Within (old)]

Good atmospheric flash

It was a very good sprite movie. The strongest point of this by far was the unique atmosphere it had. Even though the thing felt and looked alot like 'mario reloaded', the awesome backgrounds, nice light effects, nice 'camera work' and fast pace still gave it it's own identity.

However the thing had too many flaws to become really great. First of all, the plot or story or whatever was very poor. Mario sees Luigi in a dream and feels Luigi needs help. When Mario arrives some kind of dark Mario comes outa nowhere to kill Luigi for an unexplained reason. The story was obviously just an excuse to animate the fighting scene.

But what annoyed me more was the sudden switch of style between the animated sprites to the weird combination of sprites with tweened limbs. During the fighting scene the 2 characters looked really weird. And why did u have to put a 3d scene in it like Mario Reloaded? I dont think that a sprite movie can be combined well with 3d effects.

The matrix music worked surprisingly well i have to admit. Still i would have liked to see some voiceacting for the silent dialogue. But i can imagine that wouldnt fit cause the thing is already over 6 megs.

The end of the thing was really rushed. Mario, all weakened and defeated suddenly manage to kill his stronger brother. It was pretty cheap if u ask me.

But overall the thing wasnt bad. Just try to perfect it more next time, especially since u consider this your masterpiece.

[Castle II]

Not too shabby

Watching ur flash felt like watching a John Woo movie, with the awesome slow motion effects and the insane attention for the weapons.

Good special effects, smooth animation and much gore...what more could the audience ask for? Well i for one, would have liked to see at least some form of worked out plot and conversation. U basically made a good looking smooth videoclip.

And especially since this is a stick video, i just am not impressed anymore by a simple action sequence, no matter how well animated. The thing lacked identity. Something for example Johnny Rocketfingers or the newgrounds versus do have.

But anyway, if this is ur cup of tea, then have ur own stick tea party every time again i guess.

Get-lost responds:

Indeed there's no story. YET. It will be in part 3
Thanks

[SAR in Dr.BO Episode 2]

So fucking clever

Damn, u are one good artist, lol. I was already deeply impressed by the flash u submitted to the time trial. It had an awesome script and everything simply matched.

And that is exactley the case in this flash too. Superb voiceacting, very clever scenes and simply fucking hilarious.

At first i thought i was going to hate this thing, cause i assumed it would be a 6 meg piece of crap which would be somewhat similar to a legendaryfrog cartoon. How foolish was i. Not only is James Bond the ultimate subject to parody, also you managed to give the cartoon such an unique and twisted style.

I laughed more during the minutes that i watched ur cartoon than that i do watching a hollywood movie. Yes i even consider this short funnier than the entire Austin Powers movie. The goldeneye remake and the subtle sexual tinted conversations were brilliant. And man, the final scene really knocked me off my chair, when SecrentAgentRege continued his job after the nurses passed out lol. Ur sick!

Did u really work 7 months on this? Well all i can say is that it was all worth it. I love you man, i love you.

SecretAgentRege responds:

Wow, umm, i don't know what to say. Thanks a lot. I love you too, man. I did work a looong time on it. I started right after the success of the first episode, which was in January and slowly worked on it from there. I really started in May working on it hardcore.

Thanks alot for the great review!

[Frame by frame movie]

Good

A lil short, but good, nonetheless. Wasnt sure if u were trying to get a message across or if u just wanted to make a kinda depressing video.

Well in both cases, the composition moonlight sonata of beethoven worked really well. I was planning to use it in one of my own flashes too, but i wont anymore. Thanx for spoiling it for me! Nah just kiddin, the song is still awesome.

Perhaps make backgrounds for the next one. They add so much more atmosphere to the thing. And maybe some gray tones too, so that the visual style itself will have more depth.

But i have a weakness for fbf movies and especialy for fbf movies with a good atmosphere, so 5 for you ;)

[The Cuttlefish that Could]

Good but extremely cliche

Like the artwork on the movie. It was good. Not awesomely good, but good. A lil too undetailed at points (especially the plane and backgrounds, yet the main character was designed well.

And thats about everything i liked. The rest was so predictable and nonsense. A situation without any kind of motives and a character without any goals. Yes he wanted to fly a plane, but why? It was very unclear. The thing could just as good have been about a carrot having a dream about making car engines.

Also the music was so extremely corny. There are so many greater and more original soundtracks u can use than the ones that have been used 1000 times. Or make ur own music, then it will at least become more personal.

But the thing that really killed it for me was the moral of it... What the hell? Anything is possible if you believe in it? Lol, i dont know what kind of world you are living in, but why dont u tell that to the 100's of parents who lost their children last month is bestan. Dont preach such nonsense morals like disney does, because the world is not like that. Or at least make the moral less obvious.

U got the artwork but lack the inspiration

Darunio responds:

I apologise if my commentary spelled everything out to obviously for you. Feel free to find your own meaning. I think this might be a good chance to explain more about this animation. It was a uni project, I was asked to do an animation that could inspire people to study in a country town in South Australia known as Whyalla. The cuttlefish is actually Whyalla's "mascot" animal. At the university campus there in a huge mass of land that is baron and alien-like, hence the alienlike shadow Cuddly makes at one point. Apparently, a pilot in Whyalla left the propellor on once and the plane damaged other planes in the hanger. Also in another event a plane crashed into the sea. The group of houses is actually student accomdomation. I have translated these real events and settings and turned them into (hopefully) an inspiring story of a cuttlefish. There are still things the Cuttlefish must learn, and in that sense we are all like the Cuttlefish... always wanting to learn new things.
Thankyou for this opportunity, AloneInTheDark.