AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fight Club: John Raphel]

Interesting

I liked how u manage to capture the Fight Club atmosphere. I love the movie too and the director Fincher is one of my alltime favorite directors.

I was kind of hoping for a different approach though. Many people think fight club is about the fight club, but it really isnt. It is a critique on the consuming montone western society. The fight club is just a symbol of the anger growing inside Norton's mind. It would have been cooler if u took this theme and made ur own flash around it with fight club in the back of your mind.

But thats how i would approach it, u made another decision and it still came out pretty kool though. On the more obviouse aspects i found the animation a bit lacking. There was some frame by frame and fading effects and that was about it. The contrast between the daily life of the working middleclass man and the same person as he is in fight club, could have been better and stronger.

At first i wasnt too content with the music. It was a little too been there, heard that for me, but in the end i still found that it contributed greatly to the frustrated/underground atmosphere the flash had.

Maybe next time a little more thinking and experminting before releasing the flash. But maybe im just being too serious about it and u just did this thing to waste time. Either way, u did a nice job.

AloneInTheDark

nbh responds:

thank you for the first critisism that wasnt midless 13 year old sqable. your a cool guy

[*Starry Night*]

below mediocre

Simple symbolism and special effects can not hide the empty content in this one. Dont get me wrong, i am a fan of your work, but i write reviews based on movies and not based on the author.

A man gets his heart ripped out and sees it falling on the ground. Gee, i wonder what that is about? It is symbolism in its most simple form. As u can see him become a star in the end we must conclude he is still unique and there is still hope... or something. Whatever u meant by that scene, us viewers can barely relate that too the earlier happenings.

I read that u did this in 2 days, but i dont find that an excuse. Each movie is what it is and everything else that doesnt relate to the movie shouldnt matter.

Simply making serious movies isnt enough. Some may give it a 10 and say something like 'nice to see something different between all the violence' along the line, but anyone who takes serious movies actually serious shall not be too impressed with it.

This is not a personal offence or anything, im no Knox, but just some suggestions u can consider.

T0MMY responds:

The symbolism was lost on you because this movie wasn't made for you it was made for one specific person. The title and a million other images were totally lost on you so I wouldn't expect you nor anyone else here to understand it.
Oh, and the heart getting ripped out is because of the lyrics to the song. Not the symbolism you expected.

Everything matters about a movie, including time spent into it. That's what the Time Trials were all about. They're not an exception.

-T0MMY

[Incompetent Chivalry]

Ye can animate allright

Thats certainly 1 thing uv really proven with this flash. So much frame by frame... and that within 5 weeks? Oh my. Well the characters werent super detailed but it is still amazing. The most impressive animated sequence was the one of the horse shadow running. I know how much of a pain in the ass it is to make something like that. Kudos!

Another impressive thing was that this was actually a story. No halfassed 10 second dialogue as an excuse to get to the fight scenes, but really detailed in every part. Thats something i really admire and spending time into these small aspects certainly help improve the overall quality.

What they unfortunately forgot to teach u at animating class is how to make a story appealing for a wider audience. Because i assume that is what u want to achieve eventually. All good creations start with an idea. This is the fundament of the movie. If it goes wrong here it doesnt matter how well the other aspects are worked out, it will still be mediocre. Dont get me wrong, the idea wasnt that bad here, but it was all pretty standard without surprises. Think more about the scenes/flow of the movie before u start actually animating it.

However the greatest dissapointment was that i didnt find the thing funny. It was all very clever, but just not that funny. And since this was a comedy and that is what a comedy is, i wasnt too entertained by it.

I think u passed ur animation class, since this thing was superbly animated, but i think u must study more in the story class. (is that even a class?)

Skruggs responds:

Though you have given the lowest score your review is the most valid. I agree with everything you are saying, except for maybe the humor bit. I guess its a matter of opinion. I know my story wasnt very refined, I just felt like getting something out there. And this era and idea has been pent up inside me for a while. As for the broader audience stuff, well this animation was me lashing out, if you look at my other stuff its all pretty tame and the sort of thing a kid or adult could watch.
The story is incredibly predictable, it is one of the most used plots ever, revenge flicks. Such as Kill Bill which probably inspired me. I am going to try and think up something new, with proper structure and take the time to do it.
As for story class I just finished childrens literature, I made a book in flash. It was great.

[Angel B. Dean 03_03]

very professional

Yes, professional is the right word to describe the Angel B, Dean series. Where other flashes make pathetic attempts to mix life video footage with animation and fail miserably, u succeed in making something really coherent and visually impressive. The style along with the thought out plot is without a doubt the strongest point of the flash.
It's only too bad that not alot happened really. Even though this piece can be a missing link between the previous episode and the next one, we as spoiled newgrounds viewers, expect some sort of suspense/action.
Another minus in my eyes is that the realistic and cool drawing style, doesnt lend itself too much to be frame by framed, or even tweened. As a result, the thing looks more like a comic book, than as an animation involving 'real' with emotions. However, this can also be seen as an unique aspect of the series, so wether this is a good or negative point, i'll leave in the middle.
To conclude, i would like to make a comment on the nice blend of 3d effects with 2d drawings. Like, the real life camera footage, it makes the visual style very diverse and interesting to watch. Keep continuing this path and im sure that with each and every episode you release, the fan base will grow little by little. At least u can count me as 1 new fan to your work.

AloneInTheDark

hansdampf responds:

It's the filesize and me being so slow with my work, but you can peek into the upcoming act by following the link at the end. And yes you're right this is just a link for the final two episodes of this huge chapter, there will be much more action and also some nudity in the end. As you have already noticed, there is development, I do frame by frame and some tweening, but one image of one of the characters takes me up to two weeks (with breaks) I did the frame by frame animation in about a week with the quality being not as good as the stills though. I want to emphasise, that everything except the musik and the voices is my own creation, even the soundeffects were recorded or mixed by me. The photoshootings at night were done with a friend of mine, so nothing is ripped of, except the musik ;)

[The Prodigy - +Girls+]

Good, but

Good, but could have been better. I am a huge prodigy fan myself. I have all their cd's and been to a concert of theirs. Personally i thought their new cd (Or better: Liam's cd) 'Always outnumbered, never outgunned' was a bit dissapointing. Especially compared to 'Music for the Jilted Generation'. But on to the review.

Prodigy makes techno punk music. Raw beats, electronic sounds combined with distorted guitars. I think u did a good job visualising this style. Especially since it had the same 'retro' feel like always ountumbered.

The 3d effects worked well in the flash, even though the the first 20 seconds when the beat kicked in was animated best. Unfortunately u couldnt keep up this level of animating through the entire flash. The pace was excellent at start and it simply matched. Later on, some scenes were stretched out for too long.

But still the entire atmosphere was nice. And even though this wasnt their best song, u did a good job making a music video for it.

AloneInTheDark

Jynocide responds:

I couldn't agree more. Thanks for your advice and opinons, appreciated.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[Smiley Fairy]

Seems very familiar

Dont get me wrong, I am a fan of your work. Los dias sin dias is one of the most clever, atmospheric flashes i have ever seen.

This flash is indeed very short. Short yet effective. However the concept of this flash is totally the same as Aleksander Wasilewski's 'Smile'. (portal/view.php?id=165898) That flash blew me away last year and it is far superior in every aspect on this one.

Still that doesnt make this a bad flash. Wether u did take his idea for this flash or not, i leave in the middle. Fact is however that once something has been done almost perfectly before, it is not a good idea to try to do it again and better. It is like trying to make a new Lord Of The Rings trilogy, while the one of Peter Jackson was great in every aspect.

The people in the 10 second film festival probably have never heard of 'Smile' and to them this flash may be really original and disturbing. Just remember that this flash is a mere shadow of Wasilewski's work when u get compliments for it.

Scarydoll responds:

Well, you almost did scare me. I watched the movie right away... and just don't have a clue of what IS the "concept" you are talking about. I find nothing similar in my film and the Wasilewski's one. His "Smile!" is a social parable about individual Vs society stuff. He didn't invevt it. Remember "Cokoo's nest" or "Clockwork orange" etc. The subject was extremely popular anomg XX authors. Mine is a fairy tale about a fairy that's looking for unhappy people, collects their heads (for whatever purpose she has) and gives them happy heads in return. My question is wether she's "Good" or "Evil". You can never tell for sure. It's philosophy. Nothing social. No psychology. BTW, the strongest part of the Wasilewski's movie as I think is psychological play of the character. That was done just SOOO perfect! I like the movie but I'm positive our films are not to be compared in any way. They are different and if you don't see it, I'm affraid, you don't quite understand the idea of the "Smile!"
If I didn't satisfy you and you feel like continue the discussion, please go to my site and send me e-mail. ;)