Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[-Play-]

Simple concept stylishly executed.

Even from the loading screen, it's apparent that this is something a little different, a little more stylish perhaps, than most.

Of course, I have been disappointed by poor movies following great preloaders before, but it's always nice to have a quality creation through and through.

The disappearing 'play' button looks swanky (although the suddenly disappearing credit less so, but that was only noticed on 3rd viewing).

The fbf outlines figures are simple but effective both in differenciating themselves from the normal filled figures seen so often (thanks to the pleasingly shaky fbf and lack of fill) and in looking like authentic human beings.

I love the way the 'light' of the doorway disappears as well.

You use instances to good effect and it does seem as if this was mostly a joy to work on.

Changing camera positions are used well to give it some nice variety. I specially liked the close-up before more players were inctoduced and the part which showed them playing all in a line.

The ending is brilliant, with more variations in exiting than is possible to appreciate in one sitting. The lone figure was a humorous touch, with - again - excellent animation. The great ending does well to leave us with a favourable view.

It's a great idea, but it could have been so tiring due to the lack of interaction usually part of such percussive experiences and the simplicity of the elementary concept.

However, thanks to your animation, your variations in 'camera angles' and the well refined organisation of the percussion, it remains visually interesting.

Other than the aforementioned sudden disappearance of the credit, I really have no complaints.

Dustball responds:

Thank you for the thoughtful review! I glad you and so many others appreciate the different aspects of what I wanted to accomplish. The only thing I don't understand though, is what you mean by the credits suddenly dissapearing. Are you reffering to the way they sort of "animate" away, or are you actaully seeing htem suddenly just vanish?? I hope not. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, it WAS a joy to work on and it's even more a joy to see it being so well received!

[The World of Abbreviation]

Nice work with some varied humour.

From the start (reviewed whilst playing a 2nd time).

- lack of play button is a serious oversight. I actually hadn't wanted to watch this straight away, knowing it would take a while to load, I wanted to click then come back to it in a minute or so. It was somewhat annoying to have it start before we're ready.

Seriously. I hate movies that start automatically and it seems inexcusable.

- the art is simple and effective. Nice colours. Although the brown skin looks a bit green

- I really liked the drink joke.

- I really like the way the bunny's hands are drawn in a simpler style.

- I like the way the music introduces a serious shift in tone, acompanied by an introduction of gradients in the graphics.

Overall, it was a great watch and the ending had me laughing away the first time. A nice idea with a brilliant screwball ending.

Please include play buttons in future though.

[Broken Saints Trailer]

Whetted my apetite

From the start (reviewed whilst watching a 2nd time)...

Lovely artwork of the female, some nice textures, nice sound effects...
voice acting great although a bit of noice,

Some nice variations in transitions

although the shape-tween towards the end is horrible and ruins the otherwise professional look.

Overall, it's a great teaser and reveals a nice amount about the nature of the plot and the medium used, without going into too many details.

Limited sound effects and ambient noise was masterful.

There was some amazing artwork and though the animation was limited and at times looked too much like 2d images skewed rather than fully formed objects, I have little to complain about.

2 of the 3 complaints I could make (slight noise and low quality settings) are preferable to having the size be stupid.

I really didn't like the shape-tween.

But overall, it's a great job. Looking forward to watching it now. :-)

[Auf Achse]

An interesting interpretation of a quality tune.

Thoughts and comments typed as the animation played a 2nd time:

The lens flare in the first shot seems totally unwarranted and at odds with the style of the remainder of the movie.

The drawings are fairly nice, and I rather like the tapping foot.

The tweened walk looks a bit dodgy. She seems to be tilting backwards.

The boy's run is a bit unconvincing.

Shapes seem to be changing all the time. When the girl is seen through the window, her waist seems ridiculously lengthened.

When we see the boy from the other side of the glass, his hands are too small.

The fight is rather well timed.

Again, the girl is totally tilting backwards.

The boy is too tall when we look up.

Proportions are sometimes dodgy.

I really like the timing on the tray throw/run over.

As the guy is looking backwards it looks as if he's going to hit the side of the tunnel!

The timing again is really nice.

I rather like the semi-open-ended ending.

I hate the shot of the buildings coming up again.

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Overall, I rather like the story, even if it does seem a bit almost naive with the big grin at the end. I liked the way you've tied it in with the song and provided an interesting take on it.

The drawings weren't perfect but there were many ambitious shots. The graphics were certainly nice enough to get the story across, even if some changing proportions did occasionally irritate.

But it was enjoyable to watch.

And I wish you the best of luck improving your skills further.

Hope my criticism was of some use.

Stay funky,
Bez

AligatorHead responds:

wow, i like the way you review . You review as you watch it for a second time. That's really helpful to me. Yes i've improved, all the stuff you said i realized by now hahh. thaks for review im glad you liked it. Yes, body proportions are realy important, goondight.

[Valentine's Day Special]

Manages to be fresh

Somehow, even though I should know your style by now, the 2nd half came as a real surprise to me.

The hilarity is increased by the way the protagonist is so nonchalant about the whole thing.

The burning had me wincing a bit, and it is a bit of an over-used formula, but somehow it manages to be fairly fresh.

I'm worried you may be corrupting my soul.

[Alex Kidd]

A couple of amusing jokes.

The piss-take of the rps sub-game was very much warranted and I enjoyed the somewhat unexpected ending.

The 2 motorcycle jokes were nice and the only part that I thought should have been excluded was the slow text that came on-screen at the same annoying pace as the original game.

Fair enough. Have it come on in the same style. That's a nice touch. But maybe speed up the process a bit. Maybe even have it so that we can click on-screen to advance, but if we don't it fades away after a few seconds as it currently does. That way, impatient folk like myself could just see the jokes faster.

They do come at a decent pace as it is though.

Music and everything was top-notch and I also liked the credits.

Good work, if only because you've used a game I haven't seen parodied before.

[Evil Josh & Billy]

interesting idea...

The thing seemed fairly well thought out with a mixture of various forms of humour and a fair amount of plot progression.

The intro was interesting and the graphics were pleasing to the eye.

Although I couldn't make out every single word, the audio was fairly clear.

However, the jokes didn't ever result in a laugh from me. They always seemed to almost announce each punchline before it arrived, giving us too many clues about what was going to happen.

The ending was something of a surprise. However, maybe due to poor timing or imperfect voice-acting, it didn't really pan out either.

[Searching For Souls]

Went on a bit too long for my liking.

The basic concept had merit, but after a while, the skit got far too predictable and lacked any new angles.

The animation and art was pretty nice. You certainly added some visual interest, although having him switch location and phones was just confusing at first.

Maybe we could have seen the store attendant for more variety?

A play button at the beginning would have been nice.

[Magical Trevor2]

Too over-familiar and not as good as the first.

The formula is basically just the same as the previous, but now the grocery isn't a surprise and the whole thing is just a tad over-familiar.

And whereas the other had a joke about his leather whip with some nice reaction shots from the audience at various stages, this simply has a pigeon shitting.

Not as good as the original and no attempt to offer anything new.

Really nice graphics and nicely composed music though.

[Mega Man & Pompous Robots]

Nice work.

I really liked the basic idea. I've only played 1/4 and bits of megaman, but I'm familiar with the mythos, and that was enough to make this fairly amusing.

Some sections could be edited to deliver the same jokes in less time mebbe.

Also, the combination of the pencil/circle/line tool and the sketchy brush tool doesn't look too appealing to the eye. Next time try to have it all in a more similar style.

the animation was adequate though, the concept amusing and amusing extra skits are always nice. I didn't understand the first one, but they seemed nice gags.

Sound and voice acting seemed really good to me.

Overall - top work. Just work on the style of the artwork a bit. If I knew Megaman well, it's possible I'd have enjoyed this even more.