AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Across The Universe]

great flash

A flash like i havent seen before.

The greatest thing about this is that u really let your imagination speak for itself and created a surreal, almost Dali like experience.

The drawings (both characters as backgrounds)were all ok, not too detailed, but good enough for its purpose. Same goes for the animation.

The music was wellpicked and kind of hypnotizing in a way. It gave the piece the right atmosphere and kept the viewer interested while watching

As for the most important aspect, the concept of this flash, i must say i liked it, although there are some points that i think could have worked out better. As we see the main character begin his journey flying out of his house and commencing his journey i wasnt quite sure why this happened. I think it are the last moments before his suicide and this is how u imagine that time would be like. Its hard to say what i didnt really like about the surreal aspect, but i think it could have all done a little bit more convincing. Maybe more abstract. Everything that happened i couldnt relate in a way to the character or myself and that kept the flash a little bit too far away and unpersonal. For me it was just nice fantasy with a nice tune on the background..

But i still like the flash. Only for its originality alone it belongs in the top 100. Take care!

[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.

[Spring Drawn]

A true work of art..

Like the title sais. This is art. It looks like a compromise between a classic painting but combined with the modern flash technique that slowly reveals the picture.

Something like this the general newgrounds audience doesnt really like. It is too abstract and too unpersonal for them. However for anyone who is willing to watch it closely and dares to dream a little bit this can really mean something.

This piece personally gave me a happy feeling as it shows a good summerday. A friendly atmosphere around people well known and just enjoying the moment. Something many of us experience as a 'very nice day'. Very simple and common, but also something we should be really fortunate of to be able to experience. Since not everyone is able, for whatever the reason may be, to enjoy a nice warm day with others.

The music was also one of the strong points. Actually i considered it to be perfect for this piece. Very fitting and simply beautiful.

I also saw your other submission 'expecting', although i like this one more. I think the other one is a little bit too complicated. U see someone thinking but i couldnt really tell what he was thinking or worrying about, since the environment and atmosphere wasnt really in connection with his thoughts. Its too hard to relate to that one. But perhaps some of us recognize themselves in it.

Thanks for sharing this and take care!

[The 10 Second Showcase]

Not bad, but there is a problem

Im sure the idea of this flash was formed with the best intentions. Some of the greatest ng artists worked on this flash including you (T0mmy) and the superflashbros.

But i would like to point out a problem and tell you why i personally didnt think this was that great. First of all it is nearly impossible to create something with substance in 10 seconds. When given an asignment like this you only have 2 options:
1. Stun the viewer with some real fast and good looking special effect scene.
2. Make a hilarious short joke.

Some of you tried to make something more abstract and deeper in the given 10 seconds, but none of them really came out well i think. There simply isnt enough time to touch/inspire the viewer.

Another problem was that everything was so different from each other and had in no way a connection with the previous thing. The flash looked like i was watching tv and zapping over 30 channels really fast. Perhaps it was your intention to create this.

The music was kind of annoying, since it skipped everytime when the next scene came. 1 song would perhaps be a better choise?

A solution to the problem would be to make a central theme. Not only will you have 30 different cool points of view on the subject, also u will see how diverse an artist can approach something. Kind of like Luis is doing with his time trial.

Anyway i would prefer to see a good original flash with substance from one of the particular artists above a 10 second piece from 30 different ones any day. Quantity doesnt always guarantee quality.

[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.

["Waterman" Ep. VI]

no, not really that great.

Im sorry, but i didnt find this animation piece that great at all. Before im going to explain to you why, ill make some comments about the technical aspect first.

The drawings were pretty nice, but nothing spectacular. A little bit too simple and standard, and this in combination with the very monotone backgrounds, made the entire thing come over a little bit boring. U used the oldskool black and white look, since it fitted the situation of the flash, but by doing this you took away the strongest point of the visual aspect of waterman, which simply are the colours. They are always light and bright and give the serie its own personality.

The voices i found extremely annoying. Yes, maybe to some the weird accent and poshy words may be funny, but i bet it also annoys a whole group of other viewers. Perhaps the entire old videotape theme just wasnt such a great idea.

The biggest flaw in this flash however, is the humor. U use (like other artists, e.g LegendaryFrog, Supersmashbros) the same type of humor, which should come across mainly in the dialogue. However, unlike the previous mentioned artists, this flash simply wasnt funny. No strong punchlines, comical situations or oneliners, just uniteresting dialogue with weird accent. And this is ofcourse really bad, because flashes like this stand or fall based on the humor. I cant give u any magical advice that will make the thing funny, u just have to find that out for yourself.

I know this is just an opinion and the entire thing may be hilarious in your eyes, but i just wanted to explain to you why it may be considered boring to others. Take care!