AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Killer Thirst]

Jeebus!

What amazing artwork. Deeply, deeply impressed. This piece will go frontpage/top 50 in no time. Even though it still is at 3.20.

Loved the entire thing. The joke wasnt that funny though, but with drawing/animation talent like this i totally forgot about it.

2 words and a symbol: make more !

[Starwars spoof 1]

lmao

So extremely dumb and simple, yet so funny. Especially the looks on their faces and their hairdos after the electroshock were brilliant.

I have watched all your spoofs so far and they all rock. Some a lil bit more funny as the others, but they all have the same superb artwork and sound in common. I also love the one with the dark lord attacking Luke. The evil Darth Vader laugh that goes with it is brilliant.

You are an amazing artist and i wonder what kind of other stuff u did/can do besides these cool hilarious star wars spoofs. Unfortunately we have to wait until christmas next year until u can make more about episode 3 :(

Take care

- 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. ;)

[The Matrix Still Has You]

Bravo

Wow, so much to say for this episode. And i think i just will.

Lets start by stating the obvious. This flash is extremely different from the first 'matrix has you'. No big names, personal flashes and styles that differ from each other and maybe a lil more unprofesional at some points. I was sceptical at first, because i didnt really like the first one that much.

And the impossible thing happened, i really think this was a flash well done after seeing all the individual animations.

The menu didnt give me much hope: the background wassnt rightly outlined, the music didnt loop smoothly and the 'cute' lf characters didnt appeal to me.

But already at the first flash by this guy named 'Cycon' i got interested. I really like his unique drawing style. The jokes were clever and the artwork was pretty detailed. The same goes for all the other ones, although i think legendary frogs piece and the flash of the last guy were the weakest. U 2 really need to learn how to draw backgrounds, not be so scared to do some frame by frame animation at parts and make some more daring original jokes.

The flash by Joanime looked the smoothest and most profesional AND got me really laughing at points, which is pretty rare. Im glad that LF gave the artist more individual freedom this time to put together an ensemble which contains 5 unique flashes which are all interesting in their own way.

If u plan to make this a trilogy and make 1 more episode i suggest u keep following the road u took with this one. And although the flashes were different from each other i would like to see no more 'written by joseph blanchete' under each piece and let all the artists completely make their own creation. That would rule.

[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!

[I miss you Daddy]

Not good at all

Very poor flash. Extremely linear, unoriginal, not touching and corny.

Making emotional movies is more than just showing a little kid cry because her daddy died. This thing kept going on and on as she herself was presented as the common flat character that cries for pity from the audience.

Do u really think that a 'cute' childish voice and a lame popular soundtrack will do the job to reach the hearts of the viewers? Because that was all what this flash was. Perhaps this will work for the young mtv audience, but when this thing is presented to anyone a bit more mature and sophisticated, you will be laughed out very loud.

The sound was aweful. The music made the thing feel cheap and almost hilarious. As was the voiceacting. Perhaps next time u should add subtitles. So we can turn the annoying sound off and read whats happening.

Think more about the concept/story before u decide to make something like this. Uv shown us that u can make awesome stuff with the 'ray' series, but i guess that even the fastest horse can fall sometime.

[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

[YAAFM 9: Michael Moore]

ill make this short and simple

Please go back to your simple unfunny soft porn flashes. When u are trying to make a flash againt Michael Moore, u need to be coming with arguements. Something u have just proved to be not capable of.

U take quotes he said out of its context, made up things and so on, to make him look like someone who doesnt know what he is saying.

I never liked ur work and i already know i probably never will. There simply isnt enough creativity and inspiration in your brain to make something original and cool.

[Prowlies at the River]

sublime

And once again i enjoy watching one of the best, if not THE best, animated flashes from your hand.

There is so much to say about the visual style. From the magnificent choise of colours, to the cartoony disney similarities. I read that u worked for disney and i already noticed that before the interview while i looked at ur first animation some time ago. However this i do not consider an positive thing by default. I think an artist should try to invent its own style while using the best of the others. It seems like this is a little bit a disney copy in terms of visual style, rather than something really refreshing.

Still that didnt mean i didnt enjoy it. From the awesome layered backgrounds to the really clever designed creatures. Beautiful is the only word to describe them.

A wee bit less enthousiastic i was however about some parts of the actual animation. Like the other bitey flash, there could have been more frames drawn between some of the movements. Sometimes the thing comes over a little bit choppy. This is the case in more scenes as the other flash.

Other aspects like the special effects and the rare 3d animation were simply perfectly blended though. The way the water acted really had me staring in awe.

As for the sound/music i have nothing bad to say. The correct music for every scene and situation which helped to create a that 'magical' atmosphere. I wonder if u produce the sounds/music yourself?

On a final note i just wanted to say that the overall flash was entertaining. Nothing more, nothing less. Not really a story, but more a short situation that is animated in a magnificent way. I would really like to see some sort of other work from u though. Maybe next time not only deeply impressing on the visual aspect but also in substansial aspects. Because then, one of my rare tens are belong to you.

- AloneInTheDark