Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[.GiD.]

God is Dead. Or is he?

From the start:

The opening voice-over isn't totally clear, and does seem a bit too quite in comparison to the voices.

The animation is a bit shaky. I like the sort of cell-shaded semi-realistic parts, like the opressor's face, but David's didn't look nearly as nice.

Some argue that the acts are meaningless for a movie this short. I personally thought it added a little bit of emphasis to the various points.

There was nothing new here that hasn't been said billions of times before, with some corny lines, but it was a good spiritual message.

Personally, I don't agree with the feelings behind the animation, and I was half-hoping you'd explore some things more fully, but it was an interesting... presentation.

The subtitles are definitely needed. I suggest you have them on as default.

The special features are good and links seem well chosen. However, I found the 'special features' button a bit hard to find. Unless you had stated their presence, I wouldn't have looked until I found them.

Also, you maybe should have given credits for the photography.

It's the first spiritual thing I've seen on NG and in a way, it warms my heart to see so many people express themselves through Flash.

inevitability responds:

First off, Thanks for reviewing. You have valid points in your review. I shall keep those in mind in the future (further movies). I'm glad that overall you liked the movie. Even if you dont share the message.

Thanks for watching.

[-Obsolete-]

Slightly predictable, but excellent direction here

From the start:

The intro is interesting, with thick lines forming an abstract representation of static, with 3 images of the robot fading in and out to nice effect.

The creation of the robot is all excellently timed to the beat of the music and the font goes well with the interesting style of the graphics - thick fills and shadows with no outlines.

The story did seem a bit predictable - from the time I saw the grey robot running along, I sort of realised what the rest of the plot would involve.

Yet, it was a pleasure to see it work out.

The mood of the music seems to reflect the emotions you intend to portray with your animation well.

The ending was - I think - almost as horrific as you intended it to be, largely helped by the reactionary shots of the witness and the excellent way in which you emphasised the blows.

I really enjoyed the whole animation and there's little I would criticise about it.

I do like the style of your graphics, mainly as it's a change from most work and it is animated fairly well, but it could be improved without losing your style I think.

Also, you never seemed sure how to draw hands, whether to have them a solid colour, have small shadows as with the grey robot, or darker outlines, as with the blue one. Obviously I'm not saying everything should be drawn the same way. It's just something I noticed on 3rd watch. And it's one of the only criticisms I can make.

The direction is great but the story just seems a bit predictable. Still, with your excellent storytelling, it's a joy to watch and I applaud you.

Matt-Merrill responds:

wow, thanks for the detailed review. haha, and about the hands... yeah I wasn't very consistent there. Probably cuz the movie was stretched out over 5 months and I didn't even think about it when I went to draw the next characters hands.
Anyway, glad you liked it, and again, thanks for the real review and critism instead of just the one sentence reviews most people give.

["Shame"]

A nice wee chuckle

Animation is limited but effective.

Voice synching is fairly nice and the sound is great.

I love the little introduction of that classic ad music.

The joke is set up then delivered quickly without any faff or chaff and there's a bit of well placed visual variety with the photos.

It wasn't hilarious but it made me chuckle a little and I thank you for getting straight to the point.

I would point out that the photos are ridiculously low quality and it wouldn't raise the filesize /that/ much to have them actually look reasonable.

No real complaints though.

["Megaman" (1/3) -Short-]

The toilet scene lasts far too long for my liking.

The animation, though minimalistic, is reasonable and the artwork rather nice.

However, I just don't like the plot of this. The intro was mildly interesting, but the toilet humour went on far, far too long.

The ending was indeed rather unexpected and mildly funny.

I thought the menu seemed decent too (although the forum should open in a new window).

But it wasn't worth the excessively long run of farting.

[Kupa's Comics: Passport]

Could have had more to it.

The setup was interesting, and the result was unexpected for me. However, it could have been much more amusing if some short payoff had been added at the end. Perhaps the doorman-type dude could have then turned to another and said 'didn't have his passport', to which the other might say 'again? Fucking idiots. [pause] what are they thinking?'

Or something like that.

It did make me chuckle. There's no denying that. I just feel that it could have used more of an 'ending'.

Also, maybe 2 seconds used as an establishing shot to give it some sense in reality? We have no idea where he is, or what he's doing, and knowing he was in the middle of a busy street just attempting to walk past a guy could add to the hilarity.

Nice animation though and the sound effects were.... brutal.

Also, at least you don't put on a load of excess padding, such as a stupidly long intro or such as some folk do.

KupaMan responds:

Thank you for reviewing. I had plans for a leass crappy ending, but I decided against it as it would be tim consuming and effortful for such a corner cutting man as myself. To be honest, I don't really know where I had them at. A lot of people think they're in an airport, but that's the only place it wouldn't be. I just tossed on a background of brick so it wouldn't be bland and white. Don't think too much into this. I didn't. A change in perpective on videos such as this make it seem like it's a bigger, better video than it truly is. I didn't want to brain wash people with fancy shmancy camera angles. And, again; I am a very procrastinative and lazy person. I won't even take the time to check and see if procrastinative is even a word by simply dropping it in the Google box in the corner. I'm glad I made you chuckle as this was its only purpose. I don't really think this should have won anything, but I don't complain about the food I'm given. I like food. I really like chocolate and pasteries. Mmm... I really like donuts. Soft ones like Krispy Kremes. I love those. They're like liquidy goodness pouring down your throat topped off with gooie delicious glazing on top. It reminds me of the Van Wilder donuts... and now I'll never eat a Krispy Kreme again. Thanks a lot, asshole!

[Bunnykill 2]

The kill-count detracted from the action for me.

From the start...

Nice pre-loader screen. Maybe not as great as some amusing text to read, but it sets the mood nicely and is simple enough to load quickly.

'rabbitt of his talents'? I thought it was a female rabbit. Ah well. By the way, 'rabbit' is spelt with only one 't'.

The mispellings continue. 'Taking the change to pay back old depts to his employers rival...' should be 'Taking the chance to pay back old debts to his employer's rival...'.

I don't think anyone paid much attention though.

From the start, the animation is amazing. The mation on his ears as he turns, the blur as he jumps...

I don't know if I'm too keen on the big 'kills' sign distracting us from the main action. It'd be much nicer if we had the chance to turn it either on or off before playing.

The flashes when the final shot or blow is delivered are really nice and add emphasis to the blows. I'm confused why you didn't use them for every kill though. It wouldn't have really detracted from those that exist and would have ensured they were all noticed without us having to look at a number, which takes something away from the main part.

The start for some reason I can't put my finger on didn't seem quite as hyperactive as I remember the first being. Sorry to bang on an old drum, but maybe it was partially thanks to the kills number not letting me get as immersed.

I really liked the shadows on the close-up of Snowball, with a brow appearing. There are some lines that don't seem to connect totally though (not that most would notice).

I liked the way that Snowball discards the gun so callously before the real rampage begins. The final onslaught before the Dustball arrived was incredible and the swordplay was well choreographed.

The character designs at the end did look awsome, but I couldn't help noticing how different the mafioso-type bodyguards looked.

Overall, it was incredible, with the gun-stealing and more action than I ever could make out on my first watch. But that really was partially thanks to the killcount meter. I seriously think had that not existed I would have enjoyed it more.

The background music should have been streamed and the action maybe properly timed to the rhythm of the music I feel. It didn't detract not having it timed, but it would certainly add.

It was incredible and there are several shots I really love. The mostly black shot of Snowball as he jumps just in front of the camera right at the start, the gun-stealing, the sword reflected in his eyes...

The animation and choreography are brilliant and it's heads, shoulders and waist above any of my creations. Don't get me wrong.

But the bgm not being set to 'stream' and the on-screen kill-count did detract from the enjoyment for me.

Had the latter not existed, I would have been more able to give the action my full attention as it deserved.

[Non-Canonical Joke Minute]

Slightly disappointed.

I was actually slightly disappointed as, partially thanks to the title, I thought it was going to be an avalanche of unltra-short skits taking up a minute. Like at least 3 or 4.

Ah well. From the start:

I really liked the title screen. Nice presentation.

The coding for playback control was tip top and doesn't get in the way as on-screen versions do.

The graphics and animation instantly impressed. All the colours went well together and the animation was really smooth.

But 'Swa you'? What's that meant to mean?

I like the way you've omitted the black outlines for bg objects and the highlights on pepper's hair look rather nice.

I like the way you used camera angles to subtly cut down on the animation needed. What we see is tip top.

The final joke seems a bit old and failed to really amuse me. And in the end, that's the main thrust of it.

But I stress - the animation is awesome. Even disregarding animation time, it's really great. I find the speed you did it at incredible.

[Storybook 2: gel]

Not as funny as #1.

The photoshop work was really brilliant here, from the strangulation, to the various injuries and attacks.

The various easter eggs were interesting, but don't add as much as the effort may have been to make them (if you follow my meaning).

Still, it never hurts.

I found the way you dealt with folk saying Priscilla is 'hot' rather amusing. I would say 'I'm not surprised, with all those clothes! And it looks nice outside too!' but then I'd be being cheesy.

Oh, I just did anyway. Whoops.

Seriously though, this just seemed to derive amusement from the various ludicrous attacks and random violence, whereas I just preferred the original's light-hearted humour, the fact that the audio taken in isolation seemed so innocent and the favt that it was actually something of a story, whereas this one just seemed an excuse to fight.

I really liked some of the sound effects though - I'm amazed by how much trouble you've gone to to include all those strums, farts and alternate pictures - and I liked the cartoony 'wink' sfx.

Still a mildly enjoyable piece taken in isolation, but I can't help but feel slightly disappointed.

However, I personally preferred the story and presentation of #1.

[Storybook 1: Synj]

Very nice story.

It's a great marriage of crazy photos perverting the innocent-sounding narration.

The guitar adds well to the audio and although it maybe detracts on the 3rd viewing, I doubt many would listen to it that many times in a row.

I really like the way the b+w photo on the cover of the book is replaced by a colour version. Everyone's expressions are great, and carrying Synj and the bed made me really laugh.

I specially like everyone's expressions when playing games.

The continued throwing of people had me chuckling away the first couple of times I saw it and Priscilla's expression is again brilliant at the end.

The photos themselves are nicely take, being fairly sharp with good exposure and colour reproduction. No poor jpg compression here, which might have ruined the pict5ures. The audio is clear and the bar at the bottom is great, though I don't know if that's a new feature of Flash or your work.

I also liked the disclaimer at the start. I know many might have otherwise complained about that fact, and it's nice to know in advance what we're gonna see in any case.

Sorry, but try as I might, I can't think of any suggestions or complaints. Believe me, I tried.

The one thing I might say if really pressed was that not all the 'acting' was as brilliant as it could be. It was all good and funny and I'd be proud of it - don't get me wrong. But a couple of expressions or poses could have been even better.

Also, in the photo where you're carrying Synj, it looks as if the focus was set a little further back than where you are, with the door more in focus than Sunj's face.

Also, Flash seems to have been used a bit more than totally necessary.

But these are minor complaints and don't detract at all from the entertainment value. It is practically flawless.

Who was taking the photos?

I was thinking about doing something along these lines for my next project. I suppose now I have a high benchmark to aim for...

It looks as if it was great fun to make.

Really, really great work.

Dustball responds:

Thanssk you again for the thoughtful review! It was indeed fun to make, as it was stressful! Which may address some of the complaints regarding acting and some of the focus: we had about 5 or 10 minutes to shoot the entire thing, and did it in around 15! Luckily I had written it all out, but when it came time to do it we had to just plow through without even checking the pictures on the camera! Mostly I would line up the shot, then hand the camera to Winona. Glad you liked it.

[16 Color Showcase]

A few amusing jokes.

A couple of the gags made me chuckle, but disragarding the creative process, most of these are mediocre at best in terms of story and presentation.

The graphics were rather excellent, considering your limitations, but that didn't really increase my final enjoyment of it.

The comments and info were really nice and I did like the stop button, which faded away after a second or so.

Though a few stories amused, some seemed a bit hard to follow or a bit too random for my tastes.

And the beeping got a bit annoying after a while... :-/

Sorry. I know it took you dudes ages and loads of effort, but the format detracts from the enjoyment value a bit for me and the stories aren't great enough to make it really shine overall.

Dustball responds:

Ya, we took a gamble deciding to throw these all together for NG to see. We know they aren't spectacular, but at least now they can be seen by someone other than ourselves! Thanks for the thoughtful review.