Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Street Kids - Trailer]

Some parts

+++ Logo and all looks great.

++ cool fonts. Both 'street' font and ending/beginning fonts.

++ You use blurs well.

++ text 'blurring/zooming' in looks swish.

--- The first close-up of the face looks terrible. I think you need to maybe think about adopting a new style, maybe thickening up the lines as the objects become bigger, maybe adding shading or something, varying the lines... Other people look a bit poor but not terrible.

--- Motion in grafitti spraying is very poor. Far too robotic. He wouldn't move his whole arm like that - probably mainly just the forearm and wrist.

--- What I know so far is far too generic. Some street kids know about some aliens that are landing? Hmph.

---------- I hate things that start automatically.

==
It just didn't really get me excited about the story. Some parts I liked, such as the comet falling and the angular design of the first character we see. But it left me feeling 'so what'?

Not exactly excited about it.

~Review Request Club~

[Monek]

carry on

+++ Loved the style of some of the graphics. Specially the sun and also the house and Monek's head.

+++ the first story ('finding the 360') made me chuckle at the end.

+ Story 3 ('old milk') made me smile.

-- Monek's voice is kinda squeaky, hard to understand and too fast.

-- sometimes, voices seem to overlap or are clipped.

-- I dislike the disjointed look.

-- At a few times (like when first feeding the fish) the hand and animation all moves too slowly.

-- Music at start before we press a button annoys me. I like things to stay quiet until I press 'play'.

==
Despite a few niggles, I kinda liked it, thanks to the style and some interesting environments.

I'd like to see this carry on. Sort out the voices and keep running with the crazy stylish feel.

But have better jokes than just having things blowing up.

[VT - East Park]

work into making

++ The quest for a job was mildly engaging.

++ Characters are close the South Park ones you seeked to emulate.

++ Some well-picked music.

-- The high-pitched nursery-kid voice kinda irritated me. You really need to get more emotion in the voices.

-- Having teeth and tongues didn't look too good with the characters.

-- Using thin lines on paper or background objects looks bad when compared to the no-outlines style of the characters.

-- In the 12th year classroom, the Stan clone's face almost disappears as the colour behind is almost the same.

----- I hate movies that start automatically. Keep it quiet and inactive until we press play.

==
I was bored for most of it. You put a lot of work into making such a long movie, but next time I suggest you get others to do the voice acting and maybe even have someone else read over your script to suggest improvements. I'm not a writer, but there are many in the Flash forum who claim to be.

[Declaration of Revocation]

it made me

+++ Some parts of the speech made me smile.

+ Bill Gates as Adolf Hitler was mildly amusing.

+ Rocking tune

--- Fixed-speed progress is annoying. For most of it (specially the opening screens), it was too slow, then a couple of pages flicked by before I had time to read them (the pages about french fries/beer).

-- Numbers are often missing or flash by for one frame.

==
I'd read this before and it made me smile. However, the re-packaging really added nothing to it and, on the whole, actually resulted in something worse.

Sidorio responds:

Excuse me while I cry.

[Ghost Vision]

2-3 episodes

+++ Great intro, with the scratchy lines and tune.

+++ Great design on wardrobe

+++ Great music and voice recording quality. Music and sound effects are specially great at setting the mood.

-- I don't like your style of using stickmen for some folk. It confused me for a while, thinking maybe those were the ghosts.

--- Slightly cheesy with the chinese man and whatnot.

- The way he gets the glasses seems a bit badly told. The delivery for the line where he says he needs glasses seems over-dramatic as if he's suddenly worried for his life. I reckon you should've maybe had him just casually pass by the Chinese guy, make it clearer that he didn't see the sign...

--- I never empathised with the character.

-- Some terrible English. I suggest you maybe ask someone to look over your words when you write your next script. I would be honoured to give it quick look-over and point out mistakes to you. It doesn't matter when it comes out the mouth of the Chinese seller, but coming from the main character, it just helps break down the suspension of disbelief.

==
I really liked the themes in this movie and the great ideas and sound made it enjoyable, despite some problems with the storytelling.

The end came a bit suddenly. I honestly think you could've maybe made a short series, like 2-3 episodes out of this. Maybe seeing him understand and coming to terms with the fact that he can see ghosts. Maybe allow us to get to know the character a bit better before he cops it.

[SM-Bring it all Back]

chirpy

+++++ Love the splash pic (just above the play button). Great textures.

+++ Funny little frames for the button.

++++ Joyful tone.

-- I felt that the colours' saturations were badly chosen. I reckon you should try making the characters (the main focus) MORE saturated than the rest, not less.

--- In the part where they're moving towards the screen, the flowers seem to be going in the wrong direction.

----- Too short. Ends with no conclusion and breaks the rhythm horribly.

==
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this submission, with its chirpy mood. Disappointed when it ended.

I suggest you keep going.

[How to submit.]

many would do well

I was really impressed how you brought a 'slideshow' to life. The simple changes do well to illustrate your points and the way it normally goes off is actually quite visually appealing.

The menu is great and the fireworks at the start/end are rather stylishly drawn.

Only criticism is its limited nature and the fact that I found it not amazingly funny. Sure, I agree with your points and some made me smile, but it's not the greatest material... I never came close to chuckling.

==
Still, it's a flash I enjoyed and many would do well to watch.

Ohls responds:

Another great review. Only thing you forgot was to comment on the elevator music hehe.

As with most of my other old stuff. I found them a lot better when they were made. I remember thinking this was hilarious. I don't think so now though.

[Textual Adventures II]

the title in the RRC

+ I like how you thank so many folk. More folk should thank 'you'. I was indirectly thanked 3 times!

++ Some well-picked music.

+++ I like the idea of using text for stuff.

--- I don't think you explore the idea much. Also, you didn't really maintin it well. I'd basically prefer it if you started off by having everything be letters, maybe in different colours... why have a badly drawn hand/knife when letters would be more stylish?

--- The story itself is pretty limited and just didn't amuse me much.

==
I was looking forward to watching this when I saw the title in the RRC, but the content disappointed.

Still, you may have helped inspire that animation that I never finished after Flash 5 crashed, so thanks for that.

|||~~~~Review Request Club~~~~|||

Frenzy responds:

Thanks!

I like the idea of using text for stuff, maybe I'll try that next time!

~ Z

[ASCII Animation]

parts, like the tractor

You should set music to stream, so the end's automatically cut off. Just now, the filesize is larger than needs be.

Congrats on getting this onto NG. I do love the idea, though it could be taken much, much further. It's obvious that it's just a test, with all the random things coming on and no real coherence. Not even any cause-and-effect flow that we see in some random flashes.

Technically, I think it'd look cool if all the letters were kept on a grid. Very possible.

Think more about the letters you use.

And definitely don't rotate stuff if you're trying to emulate the ASCII look.

==
I liked some parts, like the tractor and the fire, but it's more of a test than a real animation imo.

Still enjoyed the style.

KyleDaFox responds:

Yes, it was a test to see if people liked it. People do so I'm going to start a new one. The filesize is 340kb, that's not much, and I don't want it to just end right away when you finish the animation. I'll be getting a new ASCII animation on NG in about a month, it'll have some sort of a followable plot. Thanks for taking the time to review it:)

[A Bahamut's Xmas Tale]

perfectly normal

+++ Great text for 'play'.

+++ Some pretty colours.

-- blue text at start of animation is an overly boring font. I think you could've done well to pick something slightly more decorative.

---- The graphics are pretty bad. Not only is there only minimal animation, but the drawings themselves aren't that good. Like AS: the star's kinda drawn slightly messily but not sketchily enough to look stylish. Most stuff's like that. Better lines/some shading, maybe trying to have a crazy style: that could help.

+++ The 'I bet someone finds you funny right now' is kinda funny.

+++ Even though I didn't know the dude, some of Graham's stuff worked well.

+++ 'Naughty this year...' => chuckle.

- At the end, it's hard to tell what you mean by the 'voices' bit.

==
Overal, the script was pretty good and let me enjoy it despite all the in-jokes and bad graphics. It kinda had a 'Yellow Submarine' quality, with your accent and the random goings on. Also, the way you treat all these bizarre goings on as perfectly normal and you took it all in your stride. Reminded me of that Beatles animated film.

Question: What city are you from? Who voiced A_S?

Murray responds:

"-- blue text at start of animation is an overly boring font. I think you could've done well to pick something slightly more decorative."

I think it just needed to say the date and time, but yes, it could've been decorative. :)

"The graphics are pretty bad. "

Better than my previous flashes.

" Like AS: the star's kinda drawn slightly messily but not sketchily enough to look stylish."

I drew Afro_Stud recently and I wanted to draw Afro like that and to be honest, I think the Afro_Stud character I drew myself seems better than the one Afro did himself.

"Even though I didn't know the dude, some of Graham's stuff worked well."

Graham_Loves_Goatse is a legend on Retrogade.

"- At the end, it's hard to tell what you mean by the 'voices' bit.
"

Name of characters (Name of voice actor)

"What city are you from? Who voiced A_S?"

I'm from Merseyside. What a co-incidence, the Beatles came from there as well. Also, I did the voice for Afro_Stud. Thanks for the long and good review. :)