Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fap to NG acts: Pimp]

ter installments, the surre

Watched the series a while ago but never bothered to review (shame on me). Am doing now partially because apparantly folk who like my submissions also like your series. Also because you explicitly ask for reviews. Anyway:

+++++ Memorable, to say the least.

++++ It all makes me chuckle.

- In the intro, I noticed the buildings scrolling past sometimes pauses in the centre. I believe this is because the starting/ending frames of your loop are identical. Make a keyframe one frame before the end, then delete the last one, to get a seamless loop.

- Limited graphics in the thing. It'd be nice if you scrolled down when talking about the b/p points.

-- I did find myself wanting a link to the profile. Good to see you included those in later editions!

- I don't like the pixelly font that much against that background.

+ Border gives it some personality.

+ I like the radial graphic for the pre-loader. Very precisely drawn.

==
Though a lot shorter than later installments, the surreal idea and the writing carry this.

[Copy Ninja vs. Copyright]

pimp it

That's a real Naruto thing? A copying eye?

I'm sure it would be a great laugh for those who were familiar with the technique.

But I feel that for those coming to it fresh, the title basically gives away the entire plot as soon as we know about this eye-thing.

Though you make a couple of attempt at further jokes along the way, the plot failed to entertain me overall.

Animation was limited, but not much more so than most anime. The actual drawings on the other hand could have used a bit of clean-up. They did the job but were just a bit rough around the edges. And think about the way you outline stuff a bit more.

Stay funky. Hope this gets to the Naruto fans who'll appreciate it more. I think there's a Naruto club in the forums. You should pimp it there.

DannyP responds:

I tried to make the movie still entertaining for people who weren't Naruto fans (I explained the "Sharingan" before getting the movie going).
For the animation/graphics, I wasn't trying to make some exact anime thing or anything like that... I just wanted to make the characters look how they should using my normal drawing style mixed a bit with anime style. I wasn't trying to make front page or anything, just a decent Flash... like the rest of my works...
Thanks for reviewing. Good to hear from the people who know Naruto as well as those who don't know it.

[Whale On The Moon]

someone had rubbed a cheesgrater all over me

++++ I really enjoy that sample - listened to the loop for an hour or so the other night. So hearing it slowed down slightly was a nice thing, as was its later presence.

--- Crudely drawn gfx.

---- The ending made no sense and its nonsensical nature didn't amuse.

---- The sounds for all the collisions were really harsh on the ear, kinda like they were recorded on your mic and recorded badly.

- replay button didn't work.

+++ The interaction on the moon was an interesting turn of events.

+ Russian being shown kinda added to the dreamy quality at that point.

+++ Great flute bit.

==
Stopped properly watching the visuals at the start, then enjoyed the middle, which made me smile.

The ending made me feel like someone had rubbed a cheesgrater all over me though.

[DS Birth of an Island]

ld be used again fo

++++++ Teaches me stuff I didn't know before.

+++++++ Having the quiz at the end was a great idea. Only the first question actually challenged me (I'm tired). I had to kinda think for a bit before answering. The others were rather easy, but it works well to get the stuff to stick in your mind.

-/2 The 2 screens that are displayed in 2 seperate parts (penultimate and final screen) have really short pauses between the samples. It's like you're hurrying there and it kinda breaks the tempo of your speech.

-- Gfx kinda messy in the animation.

- Kinda quiet sound,

--- In the first pic of the earth, I wasn't sure what was what. I think you could've picked better colours - maybe have actual black with white spots for the bg, then the more typical red/yellow/brown for earth, with a tiny greeny-brown line round.

---- In the first pic of the lava rising, I thought the green was water. I think you could have had labels and better colours. Maybe use scanned-in textures. That'd be a lovely effect.

--- What makes the lava rise in that particular spot? I watched 3 times, but couldn't really understand what sparks it all. I think it's just kinda chaotic and no-one really understands what these convection currents will do next. Is that right?

-- I felt the 'extra info' text was vaguely confusing and pics/diagrams could have helped me understand it without having to re-read it so many times.

- No links to further info

++ As always, I love the quick intro. Nice blackletter font with a fairly sharp dragon.

==
Really enjoyed it. As I mentioned above, the animation/quiz combo is a great idea and one that can/should be used again for sure.

Don't think bgm would be a good idea.

Looking forward to #2.

IceDragon64 responds:

Glad you liked it.
- One of the D&S suggested the quiz, I will pit in two more questions when I do the major rework in 2007.
-i will review all the naration in the rework.
-what is gfx?
-I am new to sound and I will get the D&S to help me improve it.
-I will improve the graphics of the diagrams.
-Most volcanoes are the result of friction heat from the sliding of techtonic plates past each other, but volcanic islands are usually caused by movement further down. The established description of 'hotspots' in the mantle is being questioned lately, but the way i see it, you are more or less right- its like trying to guess where the bubbles come up in boiling soup!
-I will check out the extra info text. I didn't know if people would read it, but now i understand that the kind of people I attract DO want to know more and more!
-I still dont know how to put in hyperlinks or I would! Please let me know someone? sometime!
-Very proud of our dragon
-thaks for the warning about bgm
SO glad you were kind enough to review me and take such trouble. I am determined to make improvements and I will reread all my reviews in detail when the time comes.
Humour 4? I cant offhand guess what you found funny, but I will look again!

[Tank_Sm.gif]

flash about such an

+++ The little animation you repeated was rather effective, with good manipulation on the big tank.

+ Music's tempo is fitting.

- though maybe a heavier bassline would have upped the drama?

-- I think it could have all been more dramatic with big exclamation marks.

--- Maybe have screenshots to pinpoint the actual location. As it is, it took a wee bit of searching to see what you're talking about.

++++ Crazy subject matter

==
It's all rather bizarre, making a flash about such an insignificant thing. The very fact that you made this kinda amuses me.

Maybe you could have mentioned all the good things that the icon has done. Maybe started it with a little bit of text saying something like, "Always ready to greet us to the forums... even unnoticed, it will do its work without hesitation."

"Bringing a new style to the logo and one of the smallest tanks on the internet, this is a vehicle that deserves to be awarded with medals".

Anyway. To be honest, I really don't care about this icon. Plus ca change.

Not-Stuff4u2kno responds:

Thanks for the support and the suggestions/feedback. ^^

[Random Weekend Project#1]

ques and not

+++ Cool music.

+++ Some nicely drawn vectors/shapes. In particular, I liked the car (specially when shown larger at the end), the birds, sea, lobster thing...

---- The shape-tweening sections (man to fire, that kinda stuff) looked horrible).

- When you got the car to follow the path, you should've tried to get the path to be around the line, so the wheels would be on the line rather than the centre of the car.

---------- Starts automatically. Seriously, don't do that. Have a play/replay button.

--- The thick brush 'shapes' in the boxes, with the default gradients doesn't look too good. Solid colours or custom gradients could've been much better.

+++ Constant change.

++ cool wee thing in bottom-left.

==
Kept me amused. Some simple techniques and nothing too fancy, but put it all together and it made me smile.

I'll dock a point for the auto-start though.

baomon responds:

Thanks for the review. I'll keep in mind the point about the auto-start for next time.

[Orlando's Joint #6]

am actually kinda

+++ Great sound/voices

++ The list made me smile

++ As did the camp music video thing

++ Certainly piques my curiousity, with the questions it raises.

- the straight lines around the bug's head look wierd and incongruous with the other brushed lines

-- I hate the final pic of the joint.

--- A lot of the movie didn't really make me feel anything

==
Though some of it was kinda 'enh' (like the intro), I kinda enjoyed it and am actually kinda looking forward to the next episode!

[Orlando's Joint #5]

in that detached way

++ All characters are totally identifiable

++ Nice drawings

+++ The booty rap made me chuckle a bit

---- Nothing else did

+++ Cool voices

++ Great fonts

-- Some choppy changes in character movement. Often, joints will jump from one place to another... could have more in-between frames

--- I really dislike the straight lines on the buildings you use.

- The geek in me cringed at the music that supposedly came from the cello.

==
Not the funniest show, but I kinda enjoyed it and I find myself vaguely wondering what'll happen next in that detached way. I wouldn't say I care about the story, but it's gotten me vaguely interested.

[Zelda: Sneaking In]

lot of sh

Watched movie, read comic, watched movie again.

I found it interesting to compare the two - a lot of the graphics are shared, but the jokes seem to work better with the animation. Perhaps partially because the computerised lettering isn't as good at getting the emotion across? (You should maybe do hand lettering) Also, in the comic, you seem inclined to use exactly one panel per scene, not varying the size. Maybe vary the number or size to help set the pacing?

Anyway, the movie:

+++ Initial reveal of what they were gonna sneak into made me chuckle.

+++ I like the direct translation of the pictorial speech bubbles.

-- Terrible colours on title screen. Green text on a green bg? Dark green on dark brown?

- Crappy 2-frame lip movement

--- When Link's looking down, that bit goes on too long. The sound is too long and maybe could/should have been cut just a tad.

-- crappy tweens (for right at start and link's head)

+++ Transvestitism amused.

++++ The ending made me chuckle on both occassions I watched.

+++ Lively voice-acting.

==
Despite a lot of shortcuts taken with the graphics, I really enjoyed watching.

LilDwarf responds:

Ok :)