AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[I'm the Monster]

Great artwork

Nice movie man! Love the artwork

I dont know exactley what your artwork reminds me off, but i do know that it kicks major ass. The blue monster was well drawn, as were the backgrounds and special effects. Good colourwork and nice amount of detail. It seems like u drew things with the mouse, which must have been alota work.

The concept of the movie was nice too. Some sort of failed experiment escaping from a laboratory. Nothing too complicated, but animated and presented in a refreshing way. The 'camera angles' and visual style (the sort of comic boxes at points) kept the thing really interesting and fun to watch.

U chose to base the flash on a music song, which is ok, but i still think that a background song without too much volume and hard soundeffects would have worked better. Adding sound to the things that explode, weapons shooting and the monster self could have made the thing more intense.

All in all very good job and i think im going to watch the rest of your work now. Take care!

Quimera responds:

Thanks! enjoy :)

[Fallen Angel: Teaser]

Speechless

Extremely amazing. Best flash i have seen the last months. And not only in terms of visual style and sound.

I love the entire setting, the atmosphere, the smoothly blended 3d effects, the artwork... everything.

The only reason i didnt give this flash a 10 (besides the huge filesize) was because i found the main female character a little bit boring. I mean, blonde, big boobs, lara croft attitude... Somehow it didnt fit perfectly with the postapocalyptic, dark, mad max atmosphere.

But meh, i cant bash this gem only for that reason. I hope u will also take some time to come up with a gripping plotline, besides making the next episode even more spectacular on the visual side. Keep up the good work and im looking really really really forward to seeing the end product.

-AloneInTheDark

RobsH66 responds:

The design for the main character in this episode is based on some older character designs from back when I first started work on this specific episode. Sera has evolved a lot from the version you see here; in the real episodes, she'll have a much grittier look, complete with scars and ragged clothing. Her basic design is still the same, but she definitely fits in with her surroundings much better now.

Thanks for the compliments!

[Tier]

I liked it!

I liked this musicvideo. A while ago i saw some other submissions by you and i love ur drawing style. Especially the dark mastermind in this video was really well drawn. Looks like he could be in the latest star wars movie.

I also noticed u were inspired by Rockman Neo for this. The way the robots were drawn with the big lower limps and the very thin upper limps were very similar. Also the rotating background and the use of red and black colours is something we have seen there before.

What really worked well was the straight linework u used for the machinery. Although im not a fan of this and usually rather see things handdrawn, it was well used here! A little bit less enthousiastic i was about the actual animation at some points. The dark character was very detailed and looked cool, but that made him impossible to animate. Maybe a compromise between detail and frame by frame animation would have been better.

The music isnt really my taste, but it went well with what u tried to make. Overall, very good job. I hope to see more submissions from u in the future!

- AloneInTheDark

poxpower responds:

yeah :/ But animating complex non-cartoony people is frickin mad. A challenge to me maybe :p Next music vid, we'll see I guess.
Yes indeed it was inspired by good ol' Rockman. I watched that movie and just realised how short to make it probably actualy was, and how much people loved it, so I set out to make something really fast in the same style that people would like. And it worked apparently, although I only used the FBF scenes ( empty characters, rotating BG). The use of only 3 colors isn't really inspired by Rockman though, I just wanted it that way. Its Rammstein :p

[Batman Beyond]

Hey,

Nice job. Good action video.

I read in ur author's comments that u arent a 'batman geek'. Well i am, but i do have enough life to not bash this piece cause it is not exactley like the comic.

Instead of flaming you because u drew things ur own way and concluding that u therefore 'should burn in hell', it is smarter to actually praise you that u made a cool flash about the dark knight, using ur own fantasy and creativity.

Indeed, the batmobile might looked a bit fluxy (is that even a word?) but it was animated well and pretty refreshing to see another model. There wasnt a storyline or anything, the fighting sequence dissapointed a little bit and u did a little bit halfassed work on animating the deamon at some parts, but still the atmosphere and mood u created were very good.

The soundtrack u used was perhaps the strongest point of the flash. Very cool and definately not fluxy. Im looking forward to the rest of ur work and dont throw ur trash on the street. Because thats really not cool.

LogFish responds:

Thanks a lot for a well thought out useful review! This movie is under 'music video', and that's really all I intended it to be - I loved the track when I heard it and thought I could put something together to go with it. The Batman character is interesting but like I said I don't really know anything about him. Might stick to unknown things in future to avoid this stuff huh? heh. Not too sure about what you mean by throwing my trash out on the street - unless you're referring to some of my responses to reviews, I was hungover, but that's no excuse really.

Thanks again, reviews like this inspire rather than rubbish.

[City of Robots Teaser]

deeply impressed...

Deeply impressed..and this is only a preview!

U have something really original and stylish here. Please dont screw up!

What i loved most about your movie was the entire style and atmosphere. The blue and dark tones you used for the movie worked extremely well and gave the thing the entire futuristic look. The animation was well done too. I really saw robots moving there, instead of human beings. How did u animate them anyway? With tweens or a 3d program?..I really cant tell.

The music was well chosen and helped me take the entire thing serious. It was kinda weird and i didnt really knew what was going on, but i could tell that i definately am gonna love it, once it's done!

The most important thing is though that u have something unique. Ofcourse there are other sci fi creations about the future involving robots, still i think this has its own cool identity. Keep up the good work and im looking forward to the finished project!

fukinCR1M1N4L responds:

we love your review!!!!!!!!!!!
other than that:
FINALLY A BELIEVER
you are one of the few who dont think this is from i, robot
it isnt

[Zombie Child [short]]

Im sorry,

Hi, JB_cubed2

It's time for your daily dosis constructive critisism!

At the beginning of the loading screen i noticed that u tried to create some form of plot. Although it was pretty poor, with weird grammar, it still managed to get me into the mood of the animation a little bit.

The first big flaw of this movie is its size. Cmon, 4,5 megs for 30 seconds of animation? Compress the song next time with a program, optimize the curves and im sure it will be all lowered to about 2,5...

The next thing i noticed was that u didnt center the backgrounds perfectly, leaving a white line on the left side of the flash. Kinda annoying, although not extremely unforgivable.

Another weak point in my eyes was the speed of the flash. It went all a little bit too slow. Try to fasten it up a little bit with more different scenes. It will make the action come across much smoother!

I saw u had some problems with the perspective too. In the scene where the guy was flying up, the trees were still front view. Just like the uncentered backgrounds, this gives the flash that little amateuristic atmosphere.

The music was average, although the animation seriously lacked soundeffects. I know u didnt use them because of the filesize, but that still isnt an excuse.. If u compressed things a little bit more, it would have been smaller AND with sounds!
I also think some voices would do the flash really good....

And last but not least, the entire thing was way too short... It basically was a small fighting scene. For something like this a plot wasnt even nescesairy. All these little things together, made it kind of unpleasant for me to watch. Work on it on the next animation and put some more details in it. Im sure it will be much better next time, because the art was pretty cool! However good art is only a fraction of what makes a good animation...Still it seemd to be enough for the viewers to give u a very good score. Take care!

jb-cubed3 responds:

Hi AloneInTheDark,

Thanks for taking the time to produce your constructive criticism, I'll take that on board with future movies.

I know whilst graphically its quite strong I know where you're coming from regarding size and sound details. It's odd, becuase without the sound it still amounts to 4MB+ and the size is compressed also, which is quite strange.

Regardless, thanks again for taking the time to watch and really review my submission in depth.

All the best,
~ jb :)

[Manga-Gaga 100 Omake]

much potential

And by much potential, i mean you as a drawer. Good drawers are pretty rare on newgrounds and i love to see stuff from people who can actually draw.

There is one big problem though. Normally i would have given this flash an 8. Awesome soundtrack, nice drawings etc. But about 6 months ago there was another superfastpaced flash using this song. And it was by far more superior than this. Maybe its a little bit unfair of me, but i cant help but think of the other much better version when im watching ur flash. Its like seeing a pretty good action movie with texas faggot...U cant help but think that Rockman Neo is much better.

I would want to point out that the transitions were not smooth everywhere. There were some small gaps in the music and sometimes the drawings were a little bit too simple.

Still i would love to see some manga projects coming from your hand in the future. I truly havent seen any mangaflash on newgrounds that really impressed me. Perhaps final fantasy a+ a little bit, although it was more because of its humor.

The skill and talent is definately there. Im sure that when u get to know flash a little bit more and better ur visual style will improve even more. I hope u can make something original and cool too.

Take care

GagaMan responds:

Yeah, I know about the 4 or 5 other videos using thisw music, and I'll admit some of the scenes are vagley based on those from some of those videos, but really was just me testing out what I could do with flash. And I tried hard to get the music to play right but it just wouldn't listen. Thanks for the informative review, btw.

[Ravencross Teaser]

We'll see

'U talk the talk, but do u walk the walk?'

Its pretty riduclous to have planned the upcoming three years for a single project. Not even professional moviemakers spend that much time into a project. And even the fuckin Lord Of The Rings trilogy took a little bit less than 3 years.

And thats where i definately see the inspiration for this project coming from. U can deny it and tell me im wrong a thousand times, but i bet that without LOTR u wouldnt have made this piece. Okay, some minor differences involving Gods or whatever but the entire fantasy world/fantasy creature concept is the same. As is the sort of epical music/atmosphere/ambition. I can even tell u got inspiration out of Mordor by the way u draw the backgrounds.

No matter how big your team is or how long you plan it, if you will not manage to make something original with an identity then all the high aimed ambitions will melt as snow in front of the sun.

If ur aspirations are really that big and want to shock the entire world, then i suggest u step outa the hobbymedium flash and go to film school. Maybe some day i will buy a ticket then to see 'Ravencross' in the theater next to Peter Jacksons latest creation.

[The Supermarket]

holy shit

That was so awesome, I cant believe i almost overlooked this. Im still kinda speechless.

The second i saw ur artwork i knew i was gonna love this animation. Ur a great drawer! The choppy animation was understandable since everything was frame by frame, but the cool thing is that it didnt became annoying and even added to the mood and style....

I also love the topic of this animation. It is so every day life. A supermarket... only with lots of firearms. It is this that really conquered my heart. A thing that i also have to mention, was that the entire thing was total unpredictable. I really didnt know where it was going untill i saw the end. It also shows you are a very creative person and that u have original concepts to animate. Only <3 here.

The music and sound were perfect. No fancy overplayed moviesoundtrack, just a catchy tune that fits perfectly with what u were intending to make.

The only thing was that it was a little bit short. Still, in the given time you achieved exactley what u intended to achieve to the audience. U really show the emotion fear in a very original and cool situation.

Im going to watch your other submissions now and i just wanted to say: Keep up the good work!

dilosh responds:

:) thanks.

[Jackson visits Livecorpse]

deeper than the first impression makes u think...

Well done! A very original and cool tribute to Adam Fulton.

It was all a little bit weird though. Im sure it wasnt your intention and that u truly wanted to make a descent tribute to livecorpse, but i cant help but feel it came across as some sort of parody. The happy music with the motivating lyrics in combination with the very serious and tragic event that occured Adam Fulton.

However, the perhaps unintended mood it created was brilliant. Maybe it comes across a little bit ironic to some viewers, it also comes across like a truly honest and good lesson. Yes, always look on the bright side of life indeed. And although livecorpse didnt manage to do this, in the very tragic circumstances, it should inspire all the viewers to not make the same mistake and take lessons out of this.

On a short note i wanted to say that the technical aspect of this movie was quite average. The drawings and animation were not very impressive, yet the music was extremely well picked.

And perhaps the drawings and animation may not be the best, the atmosphere, mood, moral and emotional value of this flash were all very impressive.... And that is something that goes beyond creating simple, entertaining flash and goes into creative and good film making.

dookiemoole responds:

thanks! yeah most of the tributes aren't entertaining and that's why i made mine like this. AND it was supposed to be happy i intened everything you said. ALL MY FLASHES MUST HAVE A TWIST! AH HA HA