FightingSeraph's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[//Necropolis Xenophobe]

Your series is what...

...Arrogancy should have been. (Try watching that series yourself) It has an overall coolness factor that I just tapped into last year. With that out of the way; onto the review...

In terms of art and animation, you've came a looooooong way since Magic Crack Rocks and the mix between full-body animation, segmented parts (the handgun), shaded-solid colors, and gradients was excellent. It may not be up to par with Don Bluth or Adam Philips; but it works. Second, excellent music selection from the audio portal which fit the situations that you were trying to convey. Plus, you and the actors you chose did a great job on the voices. Although this was based off of Shut Up and Evolve, that doesn't hurt your score when I saw what came after it. Plus, the directing and choreography is top notch. However, the filters that you used caused this to lag in parts, but since you made an excellent cartoon; I won't take the score down.

What I liked:
-Excellent voice acting
-Great art and animation
-Proper implementation of gradients
-Nice music selection
-Excellent directing and choreography

What I didn't like:
-Lag in some parts
-Not everyone will like the fact that this is an expansion of Shut Up and Evolve.

Overall: Yungjazz, you have just won a ten for making something worthy of such a score. Now if only RTil continued with his Project Freetown instead of that insult flash/daily day shtick.

[Portal Detour]

Still enjoyable nine years after its release.

It's surprising that almost all of the people who have seen How to Succeed on NG and How to be A NG Animator God have never seen this and therefore, this (along with NG Sticks) don't feel as special as they were because of those aforementioned knock-offs. However, unlike Combat Instinct, the technical presentation hasn't aged very well. The voice acting, while good for the time, was very monotone and could have been more audible. Plus, the graphics may not be the best, but they got the point across.

What I do like:
-Enjoyable
-Helpful
-Adressed tacky flash trends in an optimistic way.

What I didn't like:
-The main character could have been animated and voiced better. However, seeing that this was made in 2000, I won't take this down.
-The fact that Biff The Timid ripped off this and NG Sticks.

Overall: For something that hasn't stood up to the test of time; I still enjoyed it. Here's an eight.

[Over There: Segment 5]

I think you took Knox down a few pegs...

Dustball, Gel, I think that you guys are what original cartoonists on this site should be. If there is one thing that I like about you guys is that you never complain about too many parodies unlike RTil, ZekeySpaceyLizard, Notorious, etc. With that out of the way, onto the actual review.

I'm going to cover this series as a whole rather than this particular installment. First, there is the animation, which was well-rendered and detailed (odd to say for claymation, but it's true). Whereas Knox uses bloblike characters, you guys actually made every one of the characters unique for this series. Plus, I liked how you used live footage in this. I would also like to add that the image quality is great. Soundwise, I liked the music that you did Dustball and it kind of reminded me of Doug TenNapel's Neverhood. The voices, on the other hand, aren't the best, but they get the job done for something like this. As for the humor, I laughed in the previous episodes, but not this one. However, that won't knock your score down.

What I liked about this:
-Excellent clay modelling
-Excellent animation and image quality
-Nice use of live footage
-Original, even though that doesn't matter much.
-Great music and sound quality
-Decent voice acting

What I didn't like:
-Previous episodes were funnier.

Overall: Here's a ten out of ten, goddammit! I would just wish that the frame-by-frame/hand-drawn animation zealots would shut the hell up and learn something from you guys.

[Madness Experimentation]

Not bad for something so short.

As for people who hate rotoscoping; it is pretty obvious that they have never seen the 2007 Daniel Craig movie Renaissance (which was done in rotoscoped CG and it looked excellent). Animation wise, it was good, seeing that you have great drawing and animating skills. I personally think that you should stick with action instead of comedy.

What I liked about this:
-Good art and animation

What I don't like:
-The fact that It was short, but that was intentional.

Overall: Here's a seven; not bad, but not great.

[Madness: Rising]

Worthy of the best Madness day entry.

Proxicide, You have truly outdone yourself again. It makes you wonder why most cartoonists (sprite and otherwise) lack the directing, choreography, cinematography skills that you have. So what if this uses sprites, all of them are custom made and put to astonishing use. It looks like Alvin-Earthworm is going to have to try assloads harder to come close to this. For something done at sixty frames per second; the animation was fucking smooth and the additional angles you implemented add to the badassery of this damned fine movie. Plus, the music you used was also great; even if it stopped playing before the movie ended.

What I do like:
-Excellent Spritework
-Great music choice
-Phenomenal pacing, directing, choreography, and cinematography
-Proper use of a high framerate

What I didn't like:
-Music finished before the movie

Overall: You are still the best sprite cartoonist around, if not one of the best overall cartoonists. Here is your ten, and I would like to see more from you.

[Rock and Soul]

Not Bad for a Promo

I'm going to be honest here, I enjoyed it for what it was. While the animation may not be the best, it gets the point across (and that's the way it should be on NG). You did an excellent job in the timing/pacing department, which helps this by a lot. Even though it could have been longer, the length was sufficient enough.

What I did like:
-Nice song
-Good animation
-Good pace

What I didn't like:
-The fact that this is a promo.

Overall: Here's an eight, Gerkinman. Don't get too pissed off if this gets overlooked; there's a fair share of crap that gets overlooked.

[Press Start: Mirror Match]

Excellent as always, Ed

Although I haven't seen the actual Press Start movie, the cartoons you have are a blast to watch. I noticed that Morgan La Slay not only parodies Morrigan Aensland in the arcade game, but also in the much maligned Darkstalkers cartoon. Visually, the drawings are not the best, and neither is the animation; however, the do get the point across and that is the way that it ought to be here on NG. The voice acting is excellent as usual, but I'd like to see what those minor characters like Kao Shan and the Psycho Mantis clone would sound like (I'm willing to bet that the PM clone would sound like Cutman from the mid-'90s Mega Man). This may not be as funny as earlier episodes, I still enjoyed it.

What I liked about this:
-Proper use of anticlimatic humor.
-Excellent voice acting
-Good continuity
-The cameos from the first season.
-Great lipsyncing

What I did not like:
-Repetitive visuals, but that doesn't matter when compared to the content.

Overall: Dark Maze studios, I am giving this episode a nine out of ten. However, I think it is time that you do something different when you get the chance.

[Crotchless Chaps]

I thought it was pretty funny.

While this cartoon had its dry moments, I laughed half the time. Plus, you made great use of various Audio portal songs. The graphics were good, but you could have made your characters blink once in a while to add to it. While this cartoon doesn't have any fancy hand-drawn animation, but it was enough to get the point across. The voice acting was excellent, but I think that you should've got one of your female friends to do some of the women. However, you still did a good job in the sound department.

What I liked:
-Well-drawn and sufficient animation
-Funny
-Great soundtrack
-Good voice acting
-Different from other comedy flash

What I didn't like:
-Some parts could have been funnier
-Not everyone will like your female voices

Overall: For proving that you can do (somewhat) original comedy; here's a nine out of ten.

BiffTheTimid responds:

Thanks for the well thought out review man. I appreciate the time you took to make it, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I didn't really feel like having to direct other voice actors at the time, but my next projects will have other voice actors.

[tWHYlight]

An excellent parody that also satirizes...

...at the same time. Even though I never saw Twilight (or Buffy the Vampire Slayer for that matter), I understand where you're coming from. I saw an anime called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and was boring & stupid as hell. As for the actual parody:

The animation, while not up to par with what you see on TV or in theaters, is enough to get the point across (the way it should be on NG). I also commend your lip synchronization skills, which were better that what you usually see here. Truth is, I'm getting sick of frame-by-frame/hand-drawn animation zealots who think they run the portal and would like to see them get lampooned. Plus, those gag posters were pretty damned witty although they could have used some more variation such as "Another Scary Movie Sequel/Knockoff" and "Popular Anime Movie That Is Boring As Hell Yet Gets Rave Reviews." The sound is another one of this parody's high points with excellent voice acting and enjoyable outro song. However, there's no sound effects, but you didn't need them for that would drown out the diologue. Speaking of which, it was really funny and made good use of the actual movie quotes.

What I liked:
-Witty
-Good art and animation
-Good voice acting
-Sums up my thoughts about Teeny-bopper flicks in a succinct and funny way.

What I didn't like:
-Posters could have used more variation.
-The easter eggs are superfluous, but those are just minor nitpicks.

Overall: Like Baron von Brunk, you are one of the pioneers of parody. Here's your ten for your sharp wit and smart writing.

Bobert-Rob responds:

Thank you for the compliments, good sir, I appreciate you taking your time to write all that! Glad you enjoy my work!

And yeah, I agree that the posters could've had more to them. But that was more of a background joke anyway, so I figured it'd be okay to only have three. Thanks again for watching!

[Like a Brother]

Excellent and stylish!

This reminds me of the following:
A: Robot on Robot
B: 50s and 60s cartoons (in a good way)
I'm surprised that this hasn't made the top 50, but the score that it has is still worthy of celebration. Now with that out of the way, onto the review:
Artwise, it is well done and very stylish. To quote Bruce Lee (I don't know if he actually said that): "When one has no style, one can fit in with any style." Even though Hans Van Harken has a similar drawing style; the style in this video was much better due to the character designs used in it. Then there is the actual animation, which is a great blend of tweening and frame-by-frame. Reminds me of the earlier frame by frame stuff in the portal (2000-2002). So, there are no complaints from me in that department. I also loved that song you guys used; it matched the cartoon so well that it would rival the likes of Thriller.

What I liked about this:
-Great song
-Stylish
-Great animation
-Cool-looking robot

What I didn't like:
-People will accuse you of copying off of Baron von Brunk and Hans Van Harken.
-No subtitles.

Overall: For doing an excellent music video for a band I never heard of (and a kick ass one at that); here's a ten.

ZekeySpaceyLizard responds:

hans is a good friend of mine, i've animated once for him on a game he was making