FightingSeraph's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[TOME Episode 01]

Hmm...

I know that I have been harsh on you since Parody Rangers 3 was submitted. While I do acknowledge that you have talent, my friend Zombie Pimp was right: most of your flash has been disappointing since then. It doesn't help that I have a rule against reviewing more than two or three submissions per author, but I think that something like this was needed.

Graphics: This was a case of being inconsistent in quality. While you did have some nice fights, backgrounds, poses, facial expressions, and special effects gradients; it doesn't mask the following-
1. Lack of in-between frames for the poses: I mean, this feels like a step up from Spirit Science and any flash by Chester Kwan outside of his "Totally BS" cartoons with the lip-sync and blinking.
2. No real shading and misuse of flash gradients: While gradients may be a great aid for shiny surfaces, lights, and special effects; they're a lousy-ass substitute for actual rendering UNLESS you really know what you're doing. (Example: Any flash by GoshaDole.)
3. Your walk cycles looked odd. Make sure that when doing a character walk cycle, have the characters lift their legs when they walk unless it's for a very specific part.
One more thing, when exporting vector art, use PNG instead of Jpeg unless you had to compress the backgrounds.
Sound: I also have mixed feelings to this as well. On one hand, I really liked what Kajet did in terms of music with his Super NES chiptunes. On the other, the theme song at the end was kind of annoying to listen to, akin to Hania Lee. (Whose voice annoys me to no end, although she knows how to sing.) The sound effects are good, but I'm also divided on the voices. They're distinctive, but could have been done better. Then again, what you guys had beats VG Exiles Episode 3.
Content: Another case of one step forward and two steps back. While I did laugh at the first fight, along with Nylocke's introduction; this felt like a bad case of too much dialogue, not enough things going on. Nylocke's trademark got old really fast, and a bit annoying too. Maybe instead writing your jokes on a script, try drawing them on a storyboard. In addition, I concur with Psychic Pebble's complaint on the characters' personalities. They could have been more distinctive and better developed. It didn't help that the pacing could have been a bit faster to boot. There's a lot of things that you can learn from Popeye, Bob Clampett, and Tex Avery.

The Good:
-Original characters
-Nice layouts
-Decent fight choreography
-Good music and sound effects
-Decent staging

The Bad:
-Inconsistent animation quality
-Middling voice acting
-Annoying end theme
-A better plot and actual character development would be nice.
-Improper gradient usage and no real shading

Overall: I'm going to be fair and give you a seven. However, I hope you take my advice as a means to better yourself.

Kirbopher responds:

Hey, thanks for taking the time. Chalk up the use of gradients to my streamlining the animation process for this project; I don't personally have an issue with the look of them, but I try to use them sparingly. The lack of in-betweens on the "talking" drawings also has to do with the streamlining, as it's intended to be like old video game cutscenes, although I've gotten response from people that seem to get that and it resonates with them. The walk cycles for the 5 main characters will probably be updated, as I'm not super happy with all of them. Voices I can't really help you on, as I'm pretty set on the five of them and don't plan on changing them in future episodes. Lastly, while I love Clampett and Avery...I fail to see how studying Looney Tunes for a series done in -this- style would be beneficial. I study WB animation in general, but their format is a completely different animal to what I'm doing with TOME, so maybe you might wanna send me a separate note explaining that? Sorry for not understanding that last point.

[Saving Private Pikmin]

This is not going to be easy...

...for me to explain. Video game parodies are fine, but only if the movie is good. (Example: Rambojoe's Contra Rampage) Look, I know that you and Nalem are adept at drawing and animating, but the content...

Animation: The animation is excellent, and I love your use of photo backgrounds. However, I suggest that you cut back on your use of blur effects since they can cause slow computers or connections to lag.
Sound: Nice choice of voice actors, sound effects, and music.
Content: This is the main flaw that this has. On one hand, you have an underused subject like Pikmin, and how many people have ever used that as flash material aside from the abominable $00pah Nin10Doh? On the other, it just wasn't funny. Both the punchline and the delivery were weakly done, and I think you can learn a lot more about gag cartoons from Fleischer's Popeye cartoons and Bob Clampett than Legendary Frog. Plus, try coming up with something that's sick, twisted, and DOWNRIGHT EVIL.

What's Good:
-Great animation
-Nice voice acting
-Good music and sound effects
-Underused subject

What's Bad:
-Not funny

Overall: Laura, if you ever do anymore game skits, I would also recommend that you team up with someone who can do something funny. Here's a seven from me.

[A Pre-History Lesson]

Hmm...

For a first, this isn't bad aside from the graphic glitches at the end. Here's what I think...

Graphics: I really like the style that was used here, but the dinosaurs could have been animated better. I suggest that you study up on movement for a bit. Plus, at the end when the Predator was sinking into the ground; the ground layer wasn't in sync with the bottom of the stage, which was really jarring and you could have added an extra graphic layer at the very bottom to fix that.
Sound: I really liked the music in this so no problems here.
Content: It's original and it made me chuckle for a bit. Sure, it's simple, but not everything needs to be complex in order to be enjoyable. Plus, at least it has a small filesize.

{+}
-Nice style
-Small filesize
-Good music
-Mildly amusing

{-}
-The animation and comedic timing could have been done better.

Overall: Here's a seven from me.

[VG Exiles - Episode 3]

Mixed feelings

As much as I liked the first two episodes of this series; this one and the one before it have left me with mixed feelings. To Ce-Rap: Good job on the stills, but I never saw the appeal of video comics. I found them to be too static for my taste.
Aside from that, let's get started...

Animation: I liked the use of custom sprites even though most of them are just recolors. Plus, The stills looked better than episode two. Unfortunately, due to the comic approach, there wasn't much animation aside from the sprite segments and makes this very inconsistent in style and quality. I mean, the comic parts seem to be better imported than the sprites. Are you sure that you're importing and resizing them properly? For future episodes, I second Dark Karate's suggestion on making sprites completely from scratch.
Sound: Great usage of various videogame sound effects (finding "free for everyone to use" sound effects that are just as good as professionally made ones is hard as hell) and clever music selection. Bonus for not using some stale/overhyped mainstream song like MaelstormM or the All Fads Die game. That and using Audacity to edit the sound. However, I think you should get Xarnor, Hades, or Xenogenocide to make some music for this because you can only go so far on music taken from various games and bands. By contrast, the voice acting is horrible with almost all characters having no emotion or specific traits aside from Tomamoto's parts, especially his Ron Perlman* impersonation. (*He was Stryker in MK: Defenders of the Realm.) Plus, why did you have Rina-Chan in this considering that it was going to piss off the Street Fighter Chode guys?
Content: Last, but not least, the content of this is one step in the right direction, and two steps in the wrong direction. On one hand, I enjoy your fight choreography and timing. One thing that sprite movies usually get right is staging, something that people here should study. On the other, the plot, the pace, and the dialog are just execrable. The story, is not very cohesive, needlessly slow/drawn out, and littered with plot holes. Plus, the script is unintentionally funny due to how badly written it was. (Why would Stryker use internet slang? It's never a good sign when people use internet slang as character dialog.) May I also recommend that you get a co-writer/editor? By contrast, SMBZ, Rick's Adventure-Legends, and Final Fighting Fantasy were better written and directed.

The Good:
-Nice drawings
-Great fight choreography
-Fitting music and sound
-Not another SMBZ clone

The Bad:
-Not much animation aside from the sprite segments, and they could have used more polish.
-Horrible voice acting except from Tomamoto
-Badly written and directed
-Needlessly slow (Slow pacing is fine, but only when it's done right.)
-Inconsistent in style

Overall: R1665, CE-Rap, here's a seven for both of you and I hope you take these (mostly) constructive crits to improve on this so you don't end up like certain has-beens on this site.

[R.I.P. Steve Jobs]

I did not expect this from...

...the guy who animated Rehab For Fictional Characters.

Animation: It wasn't much, but a nice mix between cutout and frame-by-frame. Plus, I like the style that you drew this in.
Sound: I liked the voice acting, but Oney seems to be an odd choice for Mr. Jobs. You could expand your voice actor roster by looking up Crystal-Jawz, Malamite-Ltd., Psyguy, and Xalkie.
Content: It's nice to see something that doesn't have a massive filesize while being well done at the same time. This is a nicer take on the whole take the piss out of somebody After they died, and I got a laugh out of it unlike Miss Dynamite 19 or any of those other mock the 2005 hurricanes that hit Louisiana cartoons. Sure it may be short, but not everything needs to be long. (Just look at VG Exiles Episode 3.)

What's Good:
-Funny without being hateful
-Nice animation
-Good voice acting
-Small Filesize

What's Bad:
-Not everyone will appreciate the length

Overall: Here's a nine for both of you.

psychicpebbles responds:

Thanks for the review dude!

[Social Assassin]

That was pretty damned funny!

Even though I have a Facebook account (my friend Zombie-Pimp invited me), I hardly use it, and will NEVER use Twitter. (Why use it when we ALREADY have MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, Skype, and Trillian?) Truth is, I hate those types of websites and would love to see more people satirizing them.

Animation: It may be just tweened cutouts, but I really like the dry-erase style that was used. All in all, not the best animation, but it gets the point across.
Audio: Great job on the voices, music selection, and sound effects. I don't have much else to comment on this really.
Content: This was very well written and directed. The satirical aspect of this had a lot of thought put into this and it paid off. I was laughing at how he was posting his mission status, photographing classified shit, and added his target to his friends obliviously. However, the only gripe with this is that it's not the first flash on here to mock social network sites, but since when do flash movies have to be 100 percent original?

[+]
-Funny
-Well written and poignant
-Good direction
-Nice drawing style
-Good audio

[-]
-Not the best animation, but not the worst.
-Wasn't the first Social Network parody.

Overall: Here's a nice nine from me.

[The Sugar Claws: F.C.]

A compelling tale!

I have to admit that upon first reading this before I read Cooljaw: Dreaming Darkly, I was quite bewildered and impressed. I also liked Cooljaw's "Vector Game From Hell" style. Why isn't this rated as highly as that is beyond my control, but it's still worth the fives that I gave it.

When it comes to the visuals, I really like the Americana style with selective colors. Plus, I really liked the animated parts that were included in this. I have no problem with people using the rotoscope in order to get what needs to be done, but while I did like the vector game look; the way you animated that looked all jittery. (I heard from the Hollywood Animation Archive is that Rotoscoping is usually done on twos.) I also noticed that the downshots looked rather odd, but considering the surreal nature of this; I'll let it slide. As for the color selection, I think the use of pink--along the occasional use of blue and purple--was nice, but be careful that your linework doesn't blend in with that background gradient.
Audio: Clever use of doornob1's Spring Lullaby for the intro and Magisterial's As Autumn Passes for the credits. As said before, I may have liked Ism-Kidd's Waiting For Tomorrow, but it got repetitive after a while. Of course, I am appreciative of you including a stop music button.
Content: This is what makes or breaks a flash, this makes it. You definitely have the eyes, ears, and mind of a story writer/creator. The story is easy to follow, well-written, and actually makes people care about the characters. There are only a scant few on here that have this sort of talent (rpgsrok and Lazy Mode Comics) and it's not easy to make something that's going be remembered fondly, let alone iconic. The dialogue is excellent and shows that a lot of thought went into this. This is a sign that you have a lot of influences; most notably Kaori Yuki, Alan Moore, and Ralph Bakshi.

[+]
-Well-written story and dialogue
-Original
-Good animation for the intro and credits.
-Nice color selection
-Fitting music

[-]
-The fact that this is a flash comic
-Waiting For Tomorrow can get repetitive after a while.

Overall: Celx, I hope that your abilities as a writer, artist, and director don't end up like Frank Miller. Here's your ten for this type of excellence, and I hope a lot of people on here learn something from you.

Celx-Requin responds:

I feel if you're going to spend a significant amount of time working on anything it should carry some sort of message, what's the point of using your time to create something soulless, one's time is valuable you can't buy it back, so at least in my case I work on stuff I feel carries some significance.

I can't say I know Kaori Yuki, and while I'm Familiar with some of Alan Moore's stuff I can't say I've ever read his comics. Ralph Bakshi on the other hand I am very familiar with, his work while flawed holds a certain reverence to me because it was unique, and pure in it's execution. Coonskin is on my top 10 list of best films, Bakshi had major balls to do the things he did at the time he did them, I respect the man immensely and I can only hope he can find financing to finish "Last days of Coney Island".

If you want to know my influences in terms of comics I would cite Guido Crepax, Brain Azzarello/Eduardo Risso, and Sam Keith as major influences.

I like Frank Miller, he got a really bad rap after making "The Spirit", but I feel the man can recover.

Thanks for the detailed and fantastic review!
Sincerely,
- Celx

P.S. I'm gonna look up Kaori Yuki right this instant!

[Pussy Game]

Same Great Music Video,...

...Same great Gosha! You are a master of music videos on this site with your unique style, clever mix between tweening & Frame-by-frame, and excellent direction. It's surprising that you aren't up there with Egoraptor, Adam Phillips, and Krinkels in the most popular artists section.

When it comes to the visuals, I really love your style. It shows that you have:
-A strong grasp of basic drawing skills.
-Multiple influences
-Knowledge of color theory
-A bonafide sense of originality
You are one of the few people who not only mixes tweened segments with frame-by-frame in a brilliant fashion, but also knows how to use flash gradients.
As for the sound, it may not have sound effects, but this is a music video and the music you selected is badass! Plus, it was really nice of Disko Warp to let you use their music unlike the rest of the music industry, which is mostly comprised of bands who are either stale or weren't good to begin with. Then there's the content, which shows that you still have the eye of a director. Your clever selection between perspective shots and simple staging is definitely top-tier and the story that went with the song is well put together. I bet that you do your plots on a storyboard rather than a script.

What's Good:
-Great music
-Excellent direction
-Stylish animation
-Nice story
-Original

What's Bad:
-Could have used subtitles

Overall: James, How would you like another ten? Plus, I would like for you to broaden your horizons aside from music videos.

GoshaDole responds:

Thanks for the really good review/critiques! I really apprieciate it. If you need the lyrics, they can be found here too..

http://diskowarp.bandcamp.com/track/p ussy-game-disko-warp-2011-speedy-mix

I'd like to get into making shorts/series in the near future, just always busy with non-side project work, heh. It's something I'd really like to do though.

[Micmadness]

Easily your best flash to date!

As much as I love your stick cartoons, along with what Sunny GOES and Ferguson Winston have made; this has proven that you have potential beyond stick animation. Plus, it's about time you used music from the Audio Portal. (Note: I don't have a problem with commercial music, but that song that you used in Micwizard just didn't fit.) Now, on with the review...

When it comes down to the animation, I really like the color selection along with the 3D tweening effect. (Something that only a few others have discovered.) Of course, that wouldn't matter if the animation wasn't up to snuff. The character animation in this is just fucking amazing, and that's no understatement. I know plenty of people that could use that. (Try Omegafinal) Nothing else needs to be said about this. Secondly, kudos for using NT's Psy-Kaliber 2097. That song enhanced the kind of badassery that you were aiming for, and the sound effects also fit. Last, but not least, the content was excellent. Your direction, choreography, and pacing show that all that time with stick figures has finally paid off. This definitely would have made Ben Spurgin and Doug Sauncy proud.

[+]
-Magnificent art and animation
-Clever use of tweening
-Great audio
-It's nice to see you do something other than stick fights

[-]
-The fact that it's a Madness Fan-flash.

Overall: Mike, I'm giving you a ten and keep kicking ass!

[Beauty]

Definitely spectacular!

This is easily one of the most original and creative cartoons that I have seen this year. Allow me to explain...

Graphics: I see that you were influenced by Disney, and there's nothing wrong with that provided that you have the skill to back it up. Seeing that you did a great job on the art and animation, you get my seal of approval. Of course, I think you could study other types of drawing styles when possible. However, I noticed in one scene that the goose wasn't properly filled in. When doing a dry-erase style, make sure to turn the grid on.
Music: Nice decision on the non use of sound effects, and Franz' music fit perfectly.
Content: This is one of the best directed and written submissions for this week so far. Plus, it's also original, which is a plus. (Note: I don't have anything against parody/skit cartoons, but some variety would be nice.) I really like how the painter finds himself competing with two types of cameramen and a writer. This is the kind of unique that flourishes in internet animation.

What I liked:
-Original
-Great animation
-Nice music selection
-Praiseworthy direction and story.

What I didn't like:
-The goose wasn't filled in during the feeding scene.
-The filesize is a bit big for something like this.

Overall: Here's your ten, Pepijn.