Galneda's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[On the John]

Great setup, smooth animation, and GREAT style btw...really efficient for animation and it looks good to the eye.

So...right, like I said, great setup. You're establishing a situation we can all relate to, one that had tons of different ways that it could go, and it was building to a punchline that unfortunately went nowhere.

The guy fidgeting with the door glumly says. "Oh, that was you? Sorry."
And our main guy just gives him an annoyed look, replying "...Yeah..."
.....lonnnng muffled sharting noise....

....ehh..."badum-tsh?" Is that the payoff? I mean, its a neat little short, but that ending kinda left me feeling a bit empty. It would've been funnier if the guy trying to get in was really pushy, and just drop-kicked the door, so we had this awkward and frantic sort of slapstick while these guys fought over who gets to shit on the throne.

But he just...he just sat there. There was a moment where he's just holding in the door handle, and then our main guy yells at this poor idiot...and that's it. Not a whole there.

You could've made the intruder a pervert.

You could've made the intruder an oblivious little boy, so he stupidly, stubbornly keeps trying for the door, and the main guy can't get too pissed at him because his father is this massive, angry looking dude just outside.

Hell, you could've made the intruder an old man, and the main guy has to waddle his way into the girls room, and MORE antics happen there and, look- the point I'm trying to make is ANYTHING could've worked to make this flash stand out more. Stick to our memories a little more solid and keep the laughs coming...everything up to that point was solid, and I really wanted to like the WHOLE flash. But I can't vote highly on it BECAUSE of the lackluster payoff.

Emrox responds:

Haha I totally see what you mean, dude. I've never been good at endings. To be honest, I changed the end maybe five times before I decided to just go with my gut and use the first idea. But maybe that was a bad choice- I dunno. Thanks for the in-depth review, though! It's awesome to see people taking time out of their day 'cause they genuinely want to help <3

[Blown Minded]

Beautiful and mesmerizing.

I'm not a fan of reusing frames for animation, though I'm way more guilty of an abuser on the practice, this is just...fascinating. Really, REALLY cool, and the music is very pleasant and nice.

Top-notch work. It would be a crime if this DIDN'T make Top 50 of all Time.

[Gamer- Turbo]

Well...that was a helluva ride.

There's clearly a lot of time invested into the environments and elements all throughout the animation. There are several scenes that are just downright impressive in their craftsmanship; the pixelated shift in lighting as the woman approaches and looks out the blinds was some particularly compelling art...probably the entire thing's strongest moment, even above the rotating gem or the trippy...things.

There's such attention to detail attributed to her face, that its actually disproportionate with the rest of the submission...the male protagonist AND antagonist have, comparatively, blank and featureless faces, whereas the woman's face has nearly every surface defined by well-placed pixel-shading. Perhaps the men represent a blank-slate for us to project whoever into whoever, while the pixel beauty remains the prize and focus.

Having said that, the facial expressions and little nuances from the two male characters are, respectively, hilariously weird. At 1:15 when the protagonist gets his first close-up, looking up at the window and grinning, it was just kinda off in some weird way...the only natural reaction is to just kinda chuckle. But that's just peanuts compared to our villainous police officer...who, right from the get go, establishes himself as an overenthusiastic wannabe cop with nothing more than his body language as he strolls up to the car in his walk cycle.

Then, I get that he's supposed to be creepy...he totally is...but the way he wears that facial expression as he LEANS IN to the convertible at 2:07 caused me to burst out laughing. That laughter elongated as the "cop" gets RIGHT UP to the protagonists ear to whisper, I guess, to get out. Now all of a sudden its a comedy...and the negative thing about that is I'm not entirely sure if its supposed to be funny...but I'm laughing every time I see it.

There's something to be said about tone. What is the tone of this flash? What is your audience supposed to feel? This music...its retro in all of its splendor, harkens back memories of arcades and fun little games that we all enjoyed as children. Inspiring our inner child with what had been established as "COOL." I understand its purpose:

"Hell yeah...living in paradise out by the beach. Palm trees every where, livin' the good life. Take out the Ferrari, top down, feel the wind in my hair. Goin' FAST in my elite machine. Custom plates (GAMER) I know how to have fun too...got the girl of my dreams, going to pick her up at her giant mansion. Life kicks ass." Right?

All to the tune of this soundtrack thats just kinda there. If it were sex, its just a dead fish laying there and taking it, indifferent, but begrudgingly going with the motions. It ain't dynamic, and a problem with that is the animation has no choice but to use it as its tempo. So when it repeats, the scene repeats. We've already seen these shots...overhead of the Ferrari...front bumper close up...over the shoulder medium shot...over the shoulder establishing shot, focused rear-mirror/environment... "Well lets see it again, only this time the girl is with you."

At that point, I felt like my time was being wasted...and if it happened a third time, I probably would've closed it early...because, we get it. He's driving. He drives. She rides with him...that's all we know. If that's what these two do, why did she stare at him from her window for like, thirty seconds, awe-struck... was she SURPRISED that he was there? Is she going to invite him inside, or do they have this mutual agreement where he props up next to his Ferrari in the driveway for a few minutes while she stares out at him, mouth agape. What am I supposed to feel!? What is the tone?

Well, as far as I'm concerned, it just went into a dark comedy once the police officer strolls up with his best "Haters Gonna Hate" walk, LEANS IN and invades his personal space to tell him to step out of his vehicle. By this point, I'm still grinning as the cop is PUSHING his head down like he's trying to get a quick blow...and once again, the soundtrack disrupts the pace of whats going down. So now the cop is pulling out his gun, but she has to react slow to it, he has to draw the gun from his holster slowly, all because of the now predictable pace of the music that has honestly outstayed its welcome with its repetitiveness.

I would've been fine if the animation kept on being goofy. Eyeball of the Ferrari Gamer dude popped out, his head is spewin' pixel juice everywhere, and the antagonist has a facial expression like "U MAD?" and thats great, I would've been alright if the rest of the animation just followed this awful cop and the rest of his criminal shenanigans in this bright retro world. He even keeps up the goofiness right up to when he's getting Dragonball Z punched in the face and then shot. But shit gets weird, it looks interesting, but its fuckin' weird, and now I don't know what to feel anymore. The music is basically the same as its always been, therefore I now know what to expect from the pace, and neon skulls, glowing energy, three-eyed, what is...what is even happening, I don't know...it just made me not care anymore.

But it made me care enough to let you know that. THIS is whats going through my mind, and probably a lot of other minds when they watch this. There's clearly skill involved in the construction of this animation, but a lot of details fell short, were underdeveloped, and with the meaning or the tone or any kind of memorable impact lost on the viewer, so too will this animation be lost on our memories. You want people to remember your work, to remember what it made them feel or what thoughts it provoked.

What conversations could I have with people if I wanted to show them this. How would I describe it, and make them want to see it? What is the moral of this story, don't speed? Don't drop acid during a traffic stop? Never ever trust dudes in Ferraris? That's my review. I'm happy that you took the time to read it. I mean no disrespect, this wasn't an attack, but its my critique and take it for however you deem its worth. I, personally was impressed by a couple of visuals, I admire the time it took to finish and build this, but it was missing quite a lot. With that in mind, I look forward to what you'll do next because you totally have what it takes to make something badass. So do it!

spacefader responds:

Ha ha, wow, thanks for the extensive review. Yeah it's a mixed bag alright.

[The Crawler]

Very interesting, the hook is almost instant, and I'm mighty satisfied after watching it.

The animation is top-notch. Unabashed professional grade living art...the kind of stuff that as you're watching and you're engrossed with the story and the characters in it, my jaw just slacks open from the quality of their movements. The smooth seamlessness of the frame by frame is enough to drive me to study it and learn from it, because holy shit, I want to make something like that!

The still art, in all of its sophistication and details were wonderful as well. Every frame, it seemed, had evident hours devoted to it, and I loved it!

The voice acting was kinda lacking, though...both voice talents seemed like they were just reading a script. Not to mention the more forgivable sub-par recording quality, the main dialogue that set up the plot kinda took me out of the story a little bit. I wished it sounded better and I wished the voice actors were more believable as they spoke their lines...if that was up to par, this animation would be perfect to me.

That's the only thing I can really nitpick on. I loved the creature design, I loved the way everything moved. The way it was shot, the premise, I just love love love it. Going to bother some people by subjecting them to it. Please keep up the great work, and if you don't mind, I totally invite a conversation with you as to how it was made, how long did it take to make it, I wanna grill and prod your brain about this...it REALLY IS that fascinating to me. Great job, voted five, will remain in favorites forever.

SethBrady responds:

I'll be posting a How-to soon, keep your eyes open.

[Obsolete]

Damn! Just when it was gettin' even better, it abruptly ends!

I'm in love with the style of this...the textures and grit, the lighting all lends to an overall experience with this little robot. The design of which adds quite a bit of emotional weight...curse you, Disney, and your manipulative law with oversized heads and oversized eyes! Making our hearts all mushy.

I'm kinda miffed, because I wanted to see where it was going. I loved the music, the sound effects were wonderful, I was MESMERIZED by the atmosphere; the smoky light and the industrial settings...I really really hope there's a continuation to this, or rather, an expansion...I felt like I watched the introduction to a feature film and now I'm jonesin' for the rest of the arc!

I cannot vote anything lower than a five for this. Easiest vote today.

[Incident:111a]

I love the idea of the Madness series reinventing itself with more of a horror theme. It's got everything established up to this point where that could REALLY work well with what's been going on lately in the story...you already have zombies, super soldiers, genetic mutations, and a mysterious dark entity that can manipulate all kinds of bullshit. The frantic, fluid action of gunkata has been well established and flexed...I'm excited to see suspense and horrors in this setting.

...speaking of horrors...what the hell happened to Crabclaw Hank?

I won't believe for a second that Jesus is dead, (looool I realize what you're making me type) because nobody seems to stay dead in this series. But with the dark bosses "brain-fuck" abilities well established, and apparently maiming Jebus, I would like to see the opportunity for the series to assume a different role.

The only problem I had with this is

A) It's obscenely short
B) None of the soldiers seemed to react to the (delayed) gunfire from the rifle. Well, and by none, I mean the only one that could've or would've...the third guy is excusable, what-with being possessed. But its the other two that bother me...even if it takes a while for the sound of the shot to reach him after the guy on the roof was dropped, the grunt still walks up to the window and is like "hmm?"

Though, I dunno...maybe the guy on the roof would've heard it clearer, been startled, and promptly hid himself. I'm overthinking it.

Hope to see more, lengthier animations from you, Krinkles. Voted 4.

[A Ride in the Park]

It's not very clear what that thing at the end is. What is he holding up, his wallet? The cell phone battery?

The ambient noise only really seemed to be there to keep it from being dead silent. While I appreciate a style that lets the mood breathe without having a constant stream of noise or music, the sound seems a little lacking after watching it twice. I felt like it could've used a voice over...something to punctuate an agonizing ordeal, or a weakened, fearful breath to engross the audience into getting a fuller idea to the pain. A gurgled wheeze as he chokes back blood and puke...a voice actor could've helped this thing, for as short as it was.

It looked great! The movement was very nice, it was really interesting to watch (in some morbid way.) I appreciate the tone that was set, the contrast from the beginning to end...though the cause of it all was kind of underwhelming, the reveal of his dire predicament lent the shock necessary to keep this baby strong in our memories. The more memorable it is, the better.

Keep up the great work, buddy!

[SegwayOfTheDead - Reviews]

Pepul may think this review is worthless.....GO AHEAD. I DON'T CARE!!!

BL*M THIS PIECE OF joy! I'm glad you did a follow-up to the AMAZING spectacle of butt-hurt that came in the wake of a pretty awesome April Fools joke. Shit will go down into the annals (anals?) of NG history.

10/10 would watch again.

[DR. BEES]

I'm living the filter effect to give it that awesome cel-shaded look! ...Or did you actually cel shade an animation?

How did you do it?

This was just what I needed when I came to peruse Newgrounds and vent the pressures of a stressed mind preparing for finals! I knew I could always depend on you, HappyHarry, to deliver :D Great work as always! I'm looking forward to your next submission with a wide grin on my face.

[12 waffles]

It's not really an animation...its a slideshow of what appears to be watercolors, to the tune of really grainy...uh...soundtrack to some pre-made skit. If there was more of an animation, that would be cool. If the content that made it a comedy was funnier, that would've prompted a higher score...even the quality of the audio could've increased this flash's score.