AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[PsychoPlo Din Tei]

Look

Look i can summarize the failure of this flash in 1 sentence. It's not funny, cause you are not fat

[The Breakfast Club]

Great job

First of all, I am so glad you are back again Luis. I thought you died or something. And i am also glad that you still got it ;) I dont know what part Tommy LM exactley did, but the style of the flash, the music and the way it was animated, was really 'Lou'.

Also the concept was something that's really typical for you. Light hearted, clever and with an eye for detail. Like Tom wrote on the frontpage, this is indeed pretty disney :)

There are somet things that prevent me from giving this an even higher score though. I liked the concept alot, with the food that came to life. But i found it a bit a pity that also the kitchen materials came to life (the pans/blenders). I think i would have liked this flash more if only the food moved and would operate the appliances themselves. Everyone can imagine bacon walking around, lol, but it is pretty hard to imagine a pan hovering through the air and preparing the meals.

Another minor thing i wasnt too happy about were some details. The flash was very well created and alot of attention went into the frame by frame/tween effects, but details like the spoon and some parts of the kitchen itself, could have been done with a little bit more detail.

However, these are just some small points that are easily forgotten when you view the entire flash. I hope to see more projects and some sequals to great concepts (Murray the Monkey for example) in the future.

Take care, AloneInTheDark

[Paper Sky]

Magnificent

A while ago i was in an interesting discussion with someone who also studies architecture. We talked a lot about what defines good art and about some movies that were really original and examples. He told me to watch this flash.

After the first time Iv seen this i have to admit i found it pretty good, but not really brilliant. I dont know why, i guess the claustrophobic carbon atmosphere was kind of working against me.

Now i have seen this submission over 20 times and like many good things, the more you watch it, the more it grows on you. I think this is without a doubt a magnificent movie. I dont know if those were real carbon figures, or if you did it with photoshop, but that doesnt matter.

What matters, is that the extra value this media gives to the particular atmosphere, is unbelievably clever. Brown, boring, almost childish figures that symbolise a big city and the daily life of the working middle class man. The scene where he is in bed next to his wife and where you can see him with his eyes fully opened, while his wife is peacefully asleep, sais it all.

It is brilliant how the man came to discover something new and mysterious as he walked to the bathroom during the night. The disturbance of the entire carbon composition with some bright colours of a beautiful blue sky instead of the paper one is so touching. I also simply love how the man ignores this happening at first and continues to live his life in the way he is used to. The way his curiousity wins over the safety of the common household life is really well done (the same situation as for example in the matrix). And while the beautiful music gets faster and more aggresive, it is perfectly timed how he in the end decides to take the big mysterious step to break free out of his carbon life and away from the paper sky.

A simple story with a simple style, told with the sadness that only a mature person can posses. This is beautiful and without a doubt, one of my alltime favorites.

AloneInTheDark

[The Mad Scientist]

Good, but could have been better...

I know you worked a long time on this flash. I saw the 'mad scientist' sig of yours in the bbs months ago. Awesome that you got it done and congrats with the frontpage and award.

I liked many thing about this movie. The mad scientist concept was awesome. I am getting tired of all these simple flashes about flawless heroes. Nothing is cooler than to make a flash about a mad guy.

Another thing i liked was the noir style. Not just because it was noir, but because it certainly added a certain tone of darkness and insanity to the piece. I think you drew the entire flash with the mouse cause of the kinda scribbly lines. If so, then i know it costed you alot of pain in the ass work to complete the piece. (trust me i know)

What i didnt like so much was the overall presentation. It is almost like you wanted to use every possible special effect in this flash. Think more about the effect of certain scenes and about the composition of the different elements in them. Brilliant scenes like the scientist standing in front of his lab were followed by very poorly ones like a face closeup consisting of 6 different lines. This was also the case for other aspects like the shadow work. In some scenes it was simply brilliant, while in most others it was shining by absence. Try to make the thing more coherent by thinking about these things.

The music wasnt really what i would use. Even though the video was brilliantly in sync with the song, i found the song too distracting. Sometimes it can be much better by choosing soundtracks that you wont even notice, but that contribute greatly to the atmosphere. The song you used worked very well for the beginning and the end, but didnt fit in for the scenes in between.

But the points i mentioned arent just things i can say for this particular flash, but it goes for ninety percent of all the flashes on newgrounds. I said them to you, because in the other areas the flash was very good and solid and if u can improve for part 2 then without a doubt i will see that flash in the top 10 in the future.

AloneInTheDark

Afro-Ninja responds:

I agree wholeheartedly. But I have plenty of time for refinement in future movies. Thanks for the thought-out review : )

[A Simple Line 7]

impressive

I think you guys perfectly achieved what you wanted to achieve: Make an awesome frame by frame animation. I am jealous of the special effects i see in the flash, especially since i am starting to use more frame by frame in my new flashes.

A simple line, a simple concept, but some pretty interesting twists from each author. The main reason why i am not giving this flash a 8 or higher is not because of the superb animation. It is because none of the authors did anything really impressive conceptwise with the given subject of the line. Now i am not expecting any Dali flashes or anything, but maybe some more interesting twists that will surprise the viewer. It seems like this was just a bunch of great special effects.

What i do have to compliment you on is how the series is getting better and better with each episode. I checked simple line part 1 and saw it ranked with a pityful 2 score and look where you are now. Kudos for the discipline and focus to keep working on your own series. That, plus the awesome frame by frame make this thing more than worth to watch

AloneInTheDark

[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

[metro]

I understand it

I just wanted to say i understand it. This is the best example i have ever seen of how to achieve maximum atmosphere with minimal material. Such a pity that everyone seems to hate this. This is not a flash, it is an animated painting. Im so glad u made this, it seriously brought a tear to my eye...

This is also so personal for me. Every day i take the metro and train to university and every day i am fascinated by the montone and highspeed composition that forms when the train moves by with highspeed. This is exactley the same here.

I kinda hate the word art.. Its so categorising. But to me this is art in its purest form. I watched this flash for about 20 minutes and i still cant get over how touching this is for me. The music is perfect, the animating is perfect, the pose of the two people standing is perfect, the colour tones are perfect, the background is perfect, the flash is perfect. I dont know what else to say. I feel like i can write a book about my personal happenings every day at the station and relate them to this piece.

One little flaw in the thing though. Which is the logo u put in the upper right and the text in the lower left. When u make something like this u must realise that EVERYTHING has affect the composition. And even though unintentional, it is not fitting. It takes away some of the pureness and simpleness of the flash. I am begging u to remove these things and upload it again.

Still i love this so much that i oversee these things and give it a perfect score. Simply because it is so true and personal to me. So simple and still so wonderful...

Im crazy i know. Im not smarter than anybody else or more talented, but just as unique. And this wonderful thing u made reached my heart. I dont think i ever wrote such an enthousiastic review for a flash. Its kinda silly.

But hey, everything we do in this modern, organised material life is kinda silly anyway.

I love you, AloneInTheDark.

[Menya zovut Shnur]

Astounding

Super Awesome. What the hell is up with you Russian animators? Almost every time a new animation comes from kol, flashcafe or scarydoll entire ng trembles. U are definately in that list now too.

It seems like it is a flash about tiranny. I love how i couldnt understand one word of what the guy was saying, but how the visuals still made the concept clear.

In terms of animation this is a masterpiece. Every frame something is moving and again you use flash in the awesome collage transition way between the scenes, which is becoming so unique for Russian pieces. I think we can call this 'doing a flash the russian way' now lol

What i also love is that the thing is funny, but also full of anger. Trying to make a statement with humor is something that can either work out extremely well or fail miserably. I dont think i have to say which of the two is the case here

AloneInTheDark