Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Trapped!]

A solid concept.

[Just a quick review as it's old work of yours. You've obviously progressed. The animation and everything are good here, but it's nothing compared to #4. I'm just watching through the series after seeing the last one.]

selected aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
(note: I'm not rating everything or trying to break the flash up into constituent parts. Just indicating how much each adds to/detracts from my enjoyment of this.)
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+++: An interesting basic concept.

-: disappearing weapons - getting thrown into thin air...

---: I don't like the ending at all. It looks as if he's doing that on purpose, which is stupid.

+++: I like the touches of personality you show through the movement, e.g. after hurting his foot.

---: no music

overall
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It's easy to compare this to the first half of #4 and pick up on all that's yet to be improved. Music made such a difference. Even more personality came across through the animation. The weapons were gotten from somewhere. Various graphic styles were used to spice it up.

But even without those developments, its an idea which intrigues and holds our interest long after the movie has ended.

Bonzerelie responds:

Nice, i respect that you have taken into account, that i have imrpoved :D

1. The weaprons disappearing, was really just because im lazy ;) also, i thought that it would look messy to have the floor cluttered with stuff.

2. I didnt put in musi simply, because i didnt know hoe then :P

3. I didnt think that the affects of personality were such a big deal, but i have been told by alot of people, that they made it more believable, and i guess they were right.

Thanks for all your reviews on the series, i just finished reading them, and they were all the most helpful ones i have evr recieved :D

[Trapped4!]

Some wonderful ideas.

[You know, for a moment there, I thought there was a new 'Trapped' game and got all excited. Then I noticed it was a movie and watched it out of curiousity.]

selected aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
(note: I'm not rating everything or trying to break the flash up into constituent parts. Just indicating how much each adds to/detracts from my enjoyment of this.)
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+++: the slapstick comedy is brilliantly timed. Even when watching it a 2nd time, you had me chuckling away at the stick hitting the stickman.

++: graphics are rather attractive. Various styles used to good effect. I like the spot where his leg breaks and the point where he 'powers up' with the stick and the kanji appears. (What does the kanji say, by the way?)

++: the fact that the 'cage' opened was a surprise.

++: the ending was satisfying and brought some thought-provoking elements to a slapstick comedy.

+++: Wasn't lengthened beyond its natural lifespan, so to speak.

++++: Music was brilliantly chosen.

-: The gun doesn't really match other graphics, with its thin fiddly outlines.

-/2: the square 'stop' symbol in the playboack thing should be a 'pause' symbol.

-/2: Whilst I'm niggling, I think the fwd/rwnd buttons should continue to advance/reverse through frames whilst the button is held down - not just on (press).

-: I'd have liked to see the whole ending explored a little bit more.

--: When we see the stickman crying, it looks strange and a little crappy.

-: The 'victim' could be more expressive. Consider using a simplified and stylised character , but one that has facial features. You do a really good job with the motion, limping and whatnot though. And maybe if you used a dude with facial features, we wouldn't be able to project our own selves onto him... maybe a stickman is better...

overall
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Really, this is brilliant. A laugh followed by a bit of thoughtful reflection. There's parts I can niggle at but this flash is going to haunt me forever.

The stickman struggled to break free of his cage. I personally thought all his attacks were being mirrored and perhaps a possible answer would lie in pulling it, so it pushed itself out, or something. In any case, the attacks were reflected, to comic effect, until the surprise ending, where he does indeed break free, but we realise that we never questioned what was beyond, just as the stickman never did.

Fucking hell, man, I've been trying to work out what to give this - 8, 9, 10... as I wrote the last paragraph, I realise.

I hope you realise I don't give out 10s lightly.

This is gonna stay with me as a concept and an image probably for the rest of my life.

Bonzerelie responds:

Blooming 'eck! not much yto go on! First off then, thanks! This is so far, the most helpful review i have got :D

1.I agree, the gun looks out of place, but i just had it as a flash file, and thought, oh what the heck, so i didnt really put much thought into that.

2. I dont know the actionscript for making fast forward buttons. Thats a good comment actually, ill try and find out.

3. I think if i had gone into so much depth at the end, it would have gotten too long, and i wouldnt have been able to synchronise the animation to the music so well, but i suppose i could have put something in the comments.

4. As for the tear, i know EXACTLY what you mean. It's too short, there's not good reflection, and it doesnt move very well. This is because my wacom tablet driver broke, and i have to get a serial port from somewere to fix it >:(
oh well.

4. Finally, the last thing i can say, is thanks for the 10, the thoughtful comments, and most importantly, im glad you enjoyed it :D

[Ball Battlefield 2]

Nicely done, though not my thing mebbe.

how I played this
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selected aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
(note: I'm not rating everything or trying to break the flash up into constituent parts. Just indicating how much each adds to/detracts from my enjoyment of this.)
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+++: lots of fast action.

++: Fairly short - not artificially lengthened.

++: humour of screaming dude.

-: 'balls' aren't very expressive. It'd be nice if they had faces, or if their eyes changed for expressions. Maybe zoom in a bit into the characters. Let us see them surprised or angry or frightened or whatever.

--: Background/grassy landscape looks a bit lousy. Spend more time on that, seeing as we're gonna be seeing it for quite a while.

+: The lava part looks fairly nice though.

+: I kinda like the way that blue 'defeated' red.

overall
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A cool movie. Way better than I expected from the starting few seconds.

I'm not too keen on these 'minimalist killfests' though. I'd like some story, expressive characters, motives...

But I respect what you've done here.

Keep at it. Keep improving.

Stay funky,
- Bez

OrigamiNugget responds:

Thats a great idea. I'll try my best to incorporate emotions into the caharacters faces. But if you read my previous reviews you would have learned that I made a full lenght cartoon of this style with hair, faces, and backgrounds and everything but it failed miserably. I keep getting better though. I'm not sure how to thank a person for giving me the lowest review score yet, but thanks for the constructive criticism and insight.

[Say Something!]

Fun. But should have been faster.

selected aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
(note: I'm not rating everything or trying to break the flash up into constituent parts. Just giving you an idea of how good/bad I consider the points I mention.)
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+++: the graphic of the guy turning red

--: the slow shot as he turned red.

+++: the above guy and the idiot-clicking section brought some story to a thing that might have otherwise seemed repetitive.

--: animation is a bit minimal e.g. above bit, part as smileys fall out of truck...

++: way the smileys multiply near to the start.

++: the flashing colours and bg patterns suit it v. well.

+++: song is very 'clever' mix and explores both the over-crowding of those smileys and the irritating aspect, whilst staying slightly funky.

+++: I like the explanation w. original samples.

overall
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I'd have liked the animation to be faster throughout. Even more multiple mc instance at once, more animated during the truck-scene and first angry scene (you could have zoomed into different parts of the dude or something, shown his throbbing vein...)

It was enjoyable though and overall it made me smile.

rtil responds:

i made it in 2 days and had no idea how big of a response it would get it was a minor project and nothing i was going to strain the details on

[Chillz Story]

Moral - I need a zippo lighter.

selected aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
(note: I'm not rating everything or trying to break the flash up into constituent parts. Just giving you an idea of how good/bad I consider the points I mention.)
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+++: Music fitted well and was well selected throughout

-: switches between songs was a little jarring at points (more fading might have been nicer).

-: the animation for the drummer at the start (tweening the height) looked a bit shitty, as did the guy you kinda skewed as he slided over to the girl.

++++: most of the animation was awesome. Clean lines. Fairly expressive. Good use of silhouettes. Nice colours.

+++++: It was a solid story I enjoyed watching multiple times.

+++: I like the way you don't use speech as a stylistic choice.

-: What was the relationship between Chillz and the hooker? Why was he paying to see her, then playing the sax? Why pay to see her when he can't pay his rent? If they love each other, can't she see him 'out of work'? In writing this, I think I understand more about the situation, but I still think that could have been explained a bit more. Also - what the hell was the boss doing telling the girl to go over to the bar? Fair enough if I'm missing something obvious or if it's meant to be uncertain. But I'd like to know what's going on in those 2 areas.

-: I think you could have better shown the time passing before Chillz has to sell his saxaphone. As it is, it looks as if he just went a day without food, which isn't long.

-: I think you could have made the saxaphone-selling a bit more emotional.

-/2: ending is slightly cheesy. Having said that, I didn't personally see it coming.

overall
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A well directed animation. Graphics and music are great. Really, all my complaints seem out of place when talking of such a beautiful piece of work..

High-Hopes responds:

Amazing review dude, thanx

[1-800-SLUTS]

'Rock' sounds provide only a fleeting novelty.

aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
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-: The 'quit' button seemed a pointless idea.

--: And when I pressed it out of curiousity (to see what it did), it did nothing I could percieve.

-: When we click to retry, it should start straight away. We shouldn't have to click 'play' again - we've already said we want to play.

++: The sounds were kinda interesting for a minute or so.

++: Basic gameplay - ignoring the fact that it's unoriginal, it's fairly solid.

+: You've made an attempt to further distinguish it by having more buttons.

-: I think the gameplay's a bit slow. I think this game should have speed options.

---: no record of our best score.

-: the graphics are dull.

overall
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It's an unoriginal concept and whilst I appreciate the changes you've made, it fails to actually improve in any way - just provide an alternative. The novelty soon wears off.

For your next game, try to do something more original. When you're making something so similar to pre-existing games, your version better have a lot of polish, which this doesn't.

Still, keep at it. You've got potential.

Stay funky,
- Bez

ThePeterMissile responds:

That sure is a lot of words.

[Cosby's Revenge]

Are all your submissions in this style?

aspects (rated from ----- to +++++)
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-----: no story or jokes. NO entertainment, really.
+: flying jello is vaguely interesting
++: the 3 tiny figures on the bottom left intrigue me slightly.

overall
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It's a piece of crap and I can't help but wonder how you get them in. Do you just submit them until some slip through?

ViceFullbuster responds:

Ya lost me.