AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Ghost Crush.]

I loved every single frame of it

This was simply amazing. So effective in style, idea and animation. The way you handled all the aspects with care, but never lost focus on the movie as a whole is really commendable.

I was surprised when i saw that you are the same artist who made the flashvideo for All I Need from radiohead. I didn't like that one so much, i felt it lacked focus and it had way too many special effects for no good reason. You are kind of pushing it here too at moments with the special effects, but since the world is so unique and the characters so magnificently designed it didn't distract. It must have been awesome to create such strange Burton-esque creatures. What i love even more is how they move around and aren't trying too hard to make a funny or scary impression on the viewer. Maybe with some resemblance in approach to the stopmotion The Nightmare Before Christmas, but in a smaller scope.

Which brings me to the animation, which was simply splendid. When the giant walked passed the camera i was in awe. Drawing walkcycles from the side is one thing, making them from a low diagonal perspective in pretty hard. Also the part where the little froglike creatures jumped towards the token was really impressive.

I like how it remains an extremely simple love story in the end. All the characters, the halloween theme, the cool setting or even the sick brain icecream couldn't hide the flash's golden heart. This is a rare gem in it's kind which i can watch over and over, thanks for making it.

AITD

[John McCain]

Lol, It's been a while, aye?

I didn't know you were around anymore, but then outa nowhere this John McCain flash lol.

I thought it was hilarious. As an european i've been following the news and debates between McCain and Obama also. They are both great characters to be spoofed. A very random observation how John McCain sais my friends so many times. I didn't even realise it, but now that you made me aware, i can sort of remember. It's pretty hilarious actually. In fact i find John McCain really hilarious to look at and listen to even though he isn't really trying to be funny, I can't really explain why.

Comes across as a pretty nice guy, but i doubt he really knows whats going on about economy and major issues.

I really missed the trademark McCain greeting though. With his arms half raised, because he isn't able to lift them higher after his war antics. Maybe some Sarah Palin in the flash wouldnt hurt either. I assume you made the song also.. I always respect people who can do that, since i cant make shit, even though id love to make some songs.

Anyway, great to hear from you again. I noticed you improved a bit in the special effects and animation department as well.. Keep it up!

AITD

[All I Need]

Trapped in your hot car..

Thanks, for making a music video to one of my favorite In Rainbows songs. I have to say that i quite liked it. But because I am a long time radiohead fan of their music, video clips and the artwork created by Stanley Donwood, it makes me a tough critic when it comes to judging any videos that use their music.

The flash contained some experimentation with pictures of people combined with textures and flash vector, which i quite liked. It was a good decision to keep most of it in dark sober tones to keep the different elements in a coherent form. The colored essence of the characters was a nice focus, probably very much inspired by the in rainbows theme.

There were a couple of things that kinda killed the flash for me though. From my own experience, i found out that it's best to refrain from having characters literally sing the lyrics of the song in a music video. It simply makes it look a little bit corny. Also, the disney like style of some of the characters and the bluntness of the scene where you see a woman abused by her husband is in my opinion not really that fitting for a very introspective Radiohead song.

Most importantly, my advise would be to think of a concept first in the future and then to try to fit it to the music. If you just draw a flash from scene to scene in sync with the song, it comes across as a bit uninspired to me. I know that a lot of people disagree with me on this and that they love videos that are completely in sync with the music, so in the end it remains a matter in taste. I just think that a music video comes across with more originality, power and vision, when there is a concept that is loosely based on the mood of the song and interpreted in an original way by the artist. If you saw the 4 awesome finalists of the Radiohead animation contest you can maybe see what i mean.

Well that's enough crap written by now, I hope you understand where I'm coming from. Keep it up

AITD

[Asilos Magdalena]

Really enjoyed it

I admit that i didn't expect the movie to be very interesting after i read the entire 'small boy, hope, depression' description. But now that i have seen it i must say i really enjoyed it.

The thing that i immediately liked was the visual style of the movie. Simple and effective, drawn in a children's book style that works really well. Just enough detail to keep the shots interesting, but without any unnecessary information that might distract from the story. The design of the kid was a little weird.. somehow he looked more like a senile old man to me, but since the entire movie was a little weird it somehow worked well.

I like the dreamy part and the surreal atmosphere of the unconscious part. I'm not sure if there is any symbolism in the drawings used, nor do i understand why the kid loved that world so much, but i really like the concept.

Last but not least was the magnificent soundtrack. I imagine it would be a bit strange for a someone who speaks spanish to watch this movie, since the song about prostitution has nothing to do with the movie, but frankly who cares. It's commendable enough that you thought up your own story and didn't literally animate the lyrics of some song.

I hope to see more of your work in the future. I'll add this one to my favs so i can check out from time to time if you have anything new!

AITD

solidblur responds:

Thanks for taking the time of day to write such a long review. The part about boy/old man made me laugh. I guess he does look a bit weird. But I'll take that as a compliment! And you can't go wrong with The Mars Volta.

[Hard Boiled Egg]

'Already been done, already been done, already..'

I love that part in the movie. It's the sort of criticism that a lot of artists get when they strive to complete an original concept and thus very recognizable.

What i find interesting and somewhat ironic is that the animations/movies where you show your critical take on the opinion/influence of art teachers and critics are among the best ones you've done. Like your other movie 'emulation' you made a very direct and effective movie that manages to take a subtle piss with the so called intellectual opinion on art.

What i like about this movie is that you made a great visualization of the different stages that give shape to the formation of an idea and then rewind the process after the motivation has been destroyed by people who give the usual criticism. What i do not like so much is the conclusion of the movie. You seem to take their criticism for granted and start completely over from scratch, making something entirely different. Oftentimes it is more interesting to adjust your initial idea and improve on some of the aspects of the given critique rather than making something new and custom tailored for that will satisfy the critics. Or: to make the train go into a new direction and change it's destination, but to not completely change the means of transportation (to put it in a metaphor like the one used in the movie, lol). This is my take on the situation though so i can't really hold that against the movie.

The filmed scenes were beautifully incorporated with the entire movie and the special effects were very nice. I wasn't too fond of the voice-acting, because it sounded a bit too played out and acted. A more neutral tone would have worked better.

Anyway I'm glad that you are still making these shorts (unlike me) and it's good to see that you are improving a lot from when i first saw your stuff. Keep it up!

AITD

Fierras responds:

I asked about you to Andie two days ago. It really seems like you vanished from the face of the world (wide web).

well this is the story of how an idea can be derailed based on my own experience. Iit's true that I started over, but that's not always the case. I think it's important to listen to others opinion and do something with it. In my case I started over because they said my 16min animation wasn't gonna get done by the end of the schoolyear. I didn't want to believe it at first but it was true. Even with all the help that I was currently getting, the animation wouldn't get finished.
And this is just one of the problems that can cause a project to be put aside.

When I was making hard boiled egg, there were things that they thought should be changed. like the 'it's already been done' for example. I totally disagreed because this kind of critic it's something that we all not just hear about our own work ,but sometimes feel ourselves when watching other peoples work.

I'm glad I got the hear from you again. It's been too long.
Take care mistor alone in the dark.

[Alex Seryoua: Episode I]

Going a bit too fast

It's always commendable when an animator attempts to create his own original series. For this alone and the time and effort you put into it, I'll give it a good rating.

The main character Alex looks like a great foundation to build a series upon. I don't know how you came up with that crazy last name, but the viewer can already get a good grasp of her personality. She seems cool and down to earth without any exaggerated personality traits.

However i felt that after a very good opening of her driving in her car arguing with her boyfriend that things started to move a bit too fast from there. I'd suggest to take more time to build the atmosphere, instead of trying to put as much information as you can in 3 minutes. For example, the part where she got abducted could have been much more exciting and tenser if it was built up in a more detailed way. You could have even ended the first episode there. Her waking up in a strange environment to add to the mystery and confusion of the sci fi plot. As it is now i feel you are going too fast through the plot, leaving the viewer with a lot of questions.

The visual style of the movie is great by the way, i especially like the colour schemes you are using. The tweened walk cycles are a bit strange at points, but nothing that distracts too much from the plot. I also want to give you kudos for the sound effects, they were simply amazing.

Anyway, i hope you continue this series, because i really am eager to see what happens next and how you'll approach the future episodes. Treat certain aspects with a bit more care and this can become a very good series.

AITD

[Pork]

Good heavens...

my gosh, that ruled

AITD

[Leftovers]

Best of 2007

We have a saying in hollland that goes like 'The one's dead is the other's bread'. I guess it sums up the concept of this film very nicely.

Big ambitions, different plans, fallen dreams, making compromises... This movie has it all. Everything packed in a flash animation that consists out of 1 background and very little sound effects. Yet there is still enough detail in the animation to keep the viewer entertained for the entire 6 minutes and the content goes deeper than a 2 hour hollywood movie.

The balance between humor and drama is perfect and each follows up in a really subtle way after the other. It's really interesting to see how each of the characters have their own views on how to handle the situation and how every time the dream gets brutally disrupted by other characters, forcing them to compromise. I like how there isn't a moral and how the viewer gets left with the question 'what was the use of it all?' The strength of this short lies in the fact that it manages to bring a comedic note to these seemingly serious questions with trivial actions from the wonderfully drawn characters.

Highly inspirational and as you said in your comments, this is really festival material. I'm sure it will win alot of prizes. With this you have set the bar for yourself really high though and I'm eagerly awaiting to see what you can come up with next.

AITD

FREELENS responds:

wow, thanks!

[A Canvas And A Struggle]

Started really well

I liked how this short started. It had a very mellow atmosphere, the style is awesome and the music was superb. It was really cool how he turned it off in the movie. The smoke effect was also great.

I was hoping that the rest would be as cool as the beginning, but then it suddenly became dramatic in a couple of seconds. The concept itself was ok and i thought it had potential, but I don't understand why the abrupt change of mood was necessary. It's fine if you want to take a piss with modern art, but it couldve been done in a more subtle, maybe more mellow manner.

It is great how you got people to think about the subject in the reviews though. I'm a big fan of modern art myself and it's interesting to see how people are so hung up about this classifying as art or not. The entire conclusion of modern art is that everything is art. I much rather see art as an open conceptual way of thinking, however bizarre it sometimes may be, than as a boring 'who can draw this landscape/human in the most realistic manner' contest.

AITD

[Cuboy Ep.2]

Frickin awesome man

Frickin awesome, no other words for it. And i'm not just saying that cause it's Andy frickin Dennis and Will frickin Arbuckle, but because it simply IS fantastic. Very original, great art, sublime voice acting/sound effects/music and very funny. It's tv quality if you ask me. Take care lads!

AITD