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232 Movie Reviews

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Pretty good

That was pretty cool. I am a sucker for those surreal endings. The concept was nice too, but could have been brought a little bit more detailed and more thought out though.

The first part of the flash was very good. The cafe scene in combination with the weird setting inside the box and not to mention the awesome radiohead music on the background created a nice atmosphere. I was a little bit dissapointed that you approached the flash so seriously though. Things like these are alot more powerful when approached with a bit more humor, like in movies such as Magnolia and American Beauty. Add a bit more hidden comedy to the scene man!

This especially goes for the final scene, when the flash turns out to not be an original, cool surreal piece, but a flash with a nice idea, executed with overdramatical music and an awkward semi Steven Spielberg 'you should believe in yourself' atmosphere.

I still respect things like this for at least trying to use flash in an originl and more ambitious way though. Take care man

AITD

Siard responds:

Thanks man! A review from someone who makes cool movies is always nice:) Well you know, I thought it had enough humor in it:) And Magnolia and America Beauty are awesome movies.

Thanks again!

Just timebombs :)

Man, i love your stuff. I really adore it. And im so glad that you arent dead. Your animations are one of the reasons i check out the portal every now and then.

I couldnt help but notice that this flash was alot different from the rest of your work. Usually it is very cinematic, with alot of attention going in the voiceacting and the virtual expressions of the characters. This was more artsy, but man, i loved it.

Ok, maybe my judgement is a little bit clouded here since i am such a big fan, but how come every time you make a flash you make subtle powerful statements that almost nobody else here can. Your flashwork is so humorous and light hearted while at the same time so gripping. Was this just a simple joke? a small story, an animation test or is it something much deeper. This is the question i have when i watch many of your flash movies and it is what makes you in my opinion, the best animator on newgrounds.

Even in terms of animating you improved alot. The animals moved really realistically and i was especially impressed by the way the birds came out of the plane. Even though your work isnt about sublime graphics, the style you developped fits so well with your music and ideas. The fact alone that you make your own music is fascinating alone.

Well, i am going to watch How It Will End now for the 30th time. I hope you will never stop animating flash. In the end, you are one of the few artists here who can put a smile on peoples faces without making corny and cliche jokes. And that is something very important in our lives.

:)

AloneInTheDark

Didnt like it

As much as i used to like comic books and superhero movies, it pains me to say that this was quite bad. Seemed like such a good idea to make a parody of the x-men series, but the way you presented this thing is terrible.

I dont understand why so many comedy flashes use the infamous 'legendary frog' tweening animation style, since it has so many limitations. The only thing you can do by using this style is drawing your characters frontal while tweening their heads and arms. I mean, cmon, use a little bit more cinematical skill next time and choose the camera positions more wisely. What is even worse is that with a style like this i expect very good and well drawn art, since you dont have to draw different keyframes, but the art was really mediocre.

Other negative points about this flash are the length and the humor. What i did like was the voice acting though. It saved the flash a little.

A funny detail is how you drew the oldskool costume cyclops. At least as far as i know, cause i havent read the comic for ages. Anyway, this was my advise, i still hope to see more flash from you in the future though.

AITD

So awesome

I love this. I have seen it before somewhere on this site, but even better now it is in the portal :)

Sprite animation and stickfigures are usually poor excuses for people who cant really animate to make quick use of them in their lil flash. Sometimes however, it can be used in such a refreshing and original way that they arent unoriginal overused methods of animating at all, but really refreshing and awesome. Johnny Rocketfingers, The Mario Brothers and War for example are good examples of how well these minimalistic styles can work for the flash.

Cause of the simple pixel style the viewer can easily concentrate on the other aspects. The wacky storyline, the humor and the atmosphere were really good in this flash. I like artists who dont put all their focus on the visual side of the flash, but put more effort in the concept and idea. And those things came really out wonderful in Captain Low-Rez. A true NG cult classic :)

AITD

Return of the master

I cant believe you are back man. A new drawing style, colors, voice acting.... things we havent seen done before by your hand. The macabre creepy and the sick sense of humor is something we do know from you though :)

And it turned out beautifully man. From a distance the style might be a little bit similar to 'salad fingers' but in contrary to salad fingers this flash actually has something to say.

It's quite obvious how this flash was a parody on the western society and how we are driven mad as consumers to only consume more and more. The american bubblegum popmusic worked well on the background as a subtle hint also :)

All in all a very clever piece in which you can see the author spend alot of thought in the different aspects of the movie, like it should be. Sorry i didnt write a longer review, but i am kinda tired.

Adios

AloneInTheDark

Average

Well i like the idea you came up with. At least you had a theme in mind and did not just animate randomness with 20 different people. The question here will still remain wether it was a good idea of having so many different people to do a part in this flash.

Maybe it was, because afterall that was your point. But unfortunately many of the artists didnt add anything to the quality of the flash. In collaborations like these you can really see which of the animators can actually animate. As i was impressed by Cycon's sequence. Other people who cant animate as good usually have talent in other areas like making comedy or whatever.

But this flash wasnt funny, so many of the artists couldnt add anything to the flash except for a simple drawn character consisting of a few lines and some tweened mouth movement. Whats even worse is that you didnt download a good version of the song and that it shocked at points... This in combination with the lack of backgrounds or any other form of atmosphere gave the thing some sort of amateuristic look.

Overall a good idea, but poorly executed.

AITD

Just a suggestion

It all pretty well thought out and the voice acting and music is of high quality too. One thing bothered me alot though.

And that was how you use the drawing tablet brush lines for the backgrounds and characters. This really gave the thing a sloppy look and took away alot from the smooth professional atmosphere. These type of lines work better for a more detailed background (i.e like in foamy or merry melony) than in a cartoony one.

I would suggest either to use the pen tool to make the thickness overall the same or by removing the outlines completely (like you did in a scene inside the castle) and only draw the character outlines with the pen tool. Really, it would look so much better this way.

AloneInTheDark

Dustball responds:

Hmm, well I disagree. I think the pen tool looks awful, unless being used for some sort of detailed architectural design, which this isn't. All of the most popular flash artists use the brush tool, not the pen. First, there is no weight to the pen so it looks like so stiff and unaesthetic. More importantly though, it takes the drawing out of drawing, in my opinion. With the brush, you just draw what you want, and let it flow out. With the pen you draw, but then have to sit and meticulously tweek and fix the lines using handles and all that jazz. I don't know, I think the beauty of Flash is the way the lines look. (The lines of the brush tool, that is) Interestingly, I didn't even draw any of those backgrounds with a tablet, that's just just the way the brush tool looks, which is more cartoony and fun, rather than detailed and precise.

Excellent

This was a very good piece. It started out a bit slow but after a while i got really involved in this. A very good example of how something can be beautiful without being too overly complicated.

The design of the bear was nice, but what was really amazing was the actual animation. The bear's emotions were really made clear with the subtle arm/head movements. Also the 'coming to life' of the different things he drew was very well done.

Another thing which helped creating the atmosphere was the sublime music. It fitted your clean style well and gave the thing the right serious tone.

But what really made me love this animation was the fact that i could identify myself so much with it. I animate alot also and i find myself pretty much like the blue bear, lol. I also draw all kinds of stuff and make them come alive in my mind. It was actually pretty touching to see this animation.

Well, keep up the good animation. I remember seeing another animation a while ago which was also pretty good. I think it was called something with 'hat'. Hope to see more from you in the future! Adios.

AloneInTheDark

Heh, great job

Very nice job. This animation really fascinated me and i went to watch your other stuff including your website. Now that i know a little bit more about you it is easier to give this thing a review.

You really have something to say and you do this with a rich background, being an artist yourself for so many years. It's nice and refreshing to see a flash told from a mature perspective for a chance instead of by a 15 year old who feel like they have a solid opinion about a difficult topic like art, without having any good arguements.

I partly agree with you and i also dont see the beauty in a movie in which a 'superior' artist smacks itself on the head with a fish, which others see as a brilliant and powerful act. But thats kind of the point here i think. Art is about opinion. Thats the only thing certain about it. All the rest can be doubted and discussed. And even though you did a great job expressing your opinion, i dont think its wise to judge other people's interpretation of art so bluntly, no matter how bizarre.

The animation itself was very well done. Especially the first 5 seconds of the 2 people walking into the gallery was impressive. The drawings were good, but it was the animation which was excellent. Its not easy to realistically animate a man fainting after holding his breath or the movement of a dead fish being slapped. People should appreciate these details and not only desperately search for exciting fight scenes and such in a flash.

The voiceacting was also top notch. I saw you learned to set the sound to 'stream' to put it in sync with the video, in contrary to 'you get what you pay for', where the video was out of sync with the music.

But the most important fact is that i found the thing funny. And since this is a comedy, thats what counts. Especially the examples of the work of the bald artist and the final scene with the baby making art for the first time, heh. Plus it got your point across really well.

Anyway, like i said before, very refreshing to see something made from a person who understands the topic and theme he animates. I wonder what kind of original project you will come up next.

AloneInTheDark

Topdrawer responds:

Thanks for you thoughtful and well-written comments.

Not my favorite

Welcome back Rodrigo! Once you can make great animations like yourself you cant just ignore that passion. You just have to animate the cool ideas in your head otherwise you will go insane, i know what thats like!

Unfortunately i didnt find this particular piece that impressive. The graphical style and animation techniques are inferior in compairison with your megaman vs quickman and the humor is less clever than in the metal gear solid parody.

Another point that i found kind of dissapointing is that the animation follows the lyrics of the flash to literally. Maybe some more personal interpretation would have been better & more original, instead of having the song dictate your work. But this was your own choice, so i cant really hold that against you.

A few minor flaws in the graphical style gave the flash a little bit an atmosphere as if it was rushed. For example, the wrong perspective of the building, the lack of shadow work and the missing of backgrounds in some scenes.

What i did like was the combination of different medias in this flash. The way you used photographs in the start and for the hand scene was pretty kool. I personally think alot of people are still not seeing the great potential of this style and there are so much more possibilities when film/photography/traditional art and vector art are combined.

Well this was my 2 cents, maybe i wrote my review a little bit too serious and i should have just seen this flash as a light hearted time waster without going to indepth on the details. Fact is however that i know, and i know you know it too, that you can do alot better (confusing?). Don't worry, I am still a fan of your work though :)

- AloneInTheDark

El-Cid responds:

Thanks for the criticism. I agree with a lot of your points. This time around, the story was told for me, and I thought it would be fun to interpret for a change. (Though I won't do this very often).

I also agree that I could have polished the visuals a bit. I concentrated more on intermixing "frame by frame" and tweens in this piece, and didn't care to shade the entire thing like I did in Mega Man. Looks like once I raise my own bar, I need to stay on level. :)

Glad you liked it though.
--Peace

The future is female

Age 39, Male

Architecture Student

TU Delft

Amsterdam

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