Vert's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Love I'm Searching 4]

...

... a step up for you, Skaijo, and a great flash movie! You've matured and improved your animation significantly from your previous animations and if you keep this up, who knows, you might soon be rivaling Adam Phillips. ^_^ . Allow me to detail my review:

- Graphics really were that good. You may recall how I once commented (well, more like created a thesis!) on how you would eventually need to adopt a more 'FPF' styled animation to go further. Well, in this movie you've taken a massive stop in that direction by increasing the number of 'intermediary' poses when you use tweens (the final dance comes to mind, for example), which means that this is by far, your smoothest movie ever! It looks really, really nice. Kudos for that!

And, of course, apart from that, your drawings are also quite rich, specially the backgrounds which are always highly detailed, even if you did use a lot of photos this time (thankfully, they fit with the overall style really well). Also, loved the use of black and white scenes! They really added a nice touch to the movie and created a nice contrast.

- Musically, well, honestly I wasn't a big fan. Not bad, by any measure, but definitely not my cup of tea either and the main reason why I didn't give you a straight ten (which is kind of mean, on my part). And did you use a few, sparse sound effects (such as a girl exclaiming), or were they a part of the movie? Also, I must say that, unlike previous movies, there didn't seem to be there enough coordination with the on-screen action and the song itself...

- Character design, as always, was pretty good, with a lot of diversity in all characteristics and a coherent design. Pretty good, in other words! Actually scratch that, your character design really shines here, sometimes I think you rival with Vinnie (from the CCC series) in this aspect!

Storywise, not the most original of stories, BUT, with your creativity shined through, as usual, with some very interesting scenes and set pieces, making things fell very fresh and interesting. I think it helped that no camera angle for a single scene lasts too long, which is a tough thing to do, requiring lots of extra work, but which payed off well. Also, the length of the movie was pretty much spot on.

So, overall, a great step up for you, with greatly improved animation (and I must give emphasis to how important and great that is!), showcasing your creativity and talent very well. My only real criticisms lie with the choice of music (a purely subjective thing) and perhaps a better use of it. I.e., great movie!

Cheer and kudos! Can't wait to see what you'll come up with next. ;]

Skaijo responds:

You didn't like the song? :/ Shame. :3 It's a goody. Your taste in music may have also increased the sense of disconnect between the tune and the on-screen action. How's that for a thesis, my friend?

>:3

I appreciate the review, I'll be working on distinguished characters. Vinnie was one of my NG Generation 1 fav authors that inspired me to start animating in the first place. Any day I can be compared with him is a good one. If you're considering this a step up from the Layton animations, you make me laugh.

Thanks for the indepth reviews on no matter what I submit, Vert. :3 I look forward to them the most.

[Parliament Deathmatch]

...

... I don't know how you do it, I really don't know Chris. But EVERY SINGLE MOVIE you've been giving us the past year has been crazy awesome, clever and funny on a whole new level. This movie is no exception. I wish I could somehow take your skills and talent, bottle it up and sell it; I'd make a fortune! But allow me detail my review:

- Graphics are great, as usual. Great, detailed facial expressions WITH perfect lip syncing (which even has chin movement, which is pretty hard!) is a trademark of your animations and, again, this movie is no exception. Sparse but precise and well done animation and nice character design (they really look like politicians) round up the positive aspects of this movie.

The only aspects of the graphics of this animation that I felt could have been slightly better would have been a more diverse range of camera angles and better 3-D animation in the beginning , though the movie doesn't suffer from either.

- Sound-wise, well, silly as hell, but in a good way. The music was utterly simple and silly, like in a old B movie (I mean, c'mon, Organs?!) but worked, somehow, beautifully, and the sound effects were even more silly (someone saying what sounded like 'Woosh!', for heavens sake!), but again, it's sufficiently campy that it's funny.

Voice acting was, as usual, spot-on. I mean, both you and Liam have very distinctive voices, so I recognize them from previous cartoons, but your both quite talented as voice actors, so that's not a big issue.

- Story-wise, well, crazy awesome as usual. But slightly too short and coming off too much like a one joke gag, without an steady increase of crazy moments which is norm in your work, such as in Don't Worry, Son, or more development of a story and/or jokes. So it's not really your best movie in this department, sadly...

... BUT, it's still very funny and 'epic funny' too, which is why even in this, one of your weaker movies, I still have huge, mad grin and clinch my fists with joy when I see the great payoff! You always seem to come up with some genuinely creative, original and funny way to turn the mundane into the awesome.

So overall, a very good movie, with all the polish you usually apply in the graphics and sound departments (which means that these are great aspects of your movie!), but slightly lacking in the story / joke department, but only slightly.

Cheers and kudos!

Sexual-Lobster responds:

thanks vert for the really detailed review!

when you wrote this i hadn't posted an explanation in the description section, but in a nutshell its an attempt to get on to a tv show here in australia that asks for 1 minute satirical videos, so this is in fact TOO long by 15 seconds, i'm hoping they'll still play it.

the comment is about leadership speculation and stuff, the snake woman deputy is considered a better politician than the leader (who was more of an experiment (in australia we have a saying where if you become someone's experiment you become their guinea pig)).

[Shards and Splinters]

...

... not your best work, HeRetiK, but interesting nevertheless. If I'm not mistaken, you attempted to make something akin to the 'Around the World' clip from Daft Punk, by associating certain images with certain sounds, right? If so, it's an interesting concept to work with, but I have misgivings with the music chosen... anyway, allow me to detail my review:

- Graphics were, well, interesting. I see clearly that you've taken some suggestive, but normal images such as masks, knives and lips, and applied generous amounts of layers and effects to produce something quite bizarre, even if we can still identify these objects.

I'm guessing you're somehow attempting to 'symbolize' the sounds via the objects you chose and I think I might have identified one or two connections (such as the knife sound being a somewhat 'cutting' sound, for the lack of better word). Even if you're not, you still managed to create some very interesting imagery and I like the way you use special effects to achieve this; it's provocative.

However, despite the illusion of movement, as you re-used your imagery constantly, it came out looking a bit lazy. And I know this might be very well against the spirit of your project, but it might have been more interesting if you attempted different effects for the images in different scenes or somehow provided us with something more unique, as the repetition comes out too strongly.

- Musically, well, I'm pretty confident that you choose this song for some reason, although I can't guess why, so this next criticism might come out completely flat, as the reason, whatever it might have been, is probably a good one.

My personal qualms with this song is that it is a very difficult song to hear/listen to/'digest', it's something so radically different that very rarely I've heard something like this before. I'm not saying it's a bad song, but its so strange and extreme that I'm not even sure how to classify it! As such, you have to a high tolerance towards 'extreme songs' (at the lack of a better word) to appreciate this project more.

For example, personally, I think I have a quite high tolerance towards non-mainstream songs (I listen to Shellac!) and I found it incredibly tough to go through the song the first time. Heck, my ears are still ringing/deaf a bit as I write this review!

So, maybe the choice of something easier on the ears, as long as it fits what ever idea made you choose this song, might have made things more accessible, which I feel would be a virtue in this case.

The coordination between the images and the song, on the plus side, was spot-on, a must in this sort of flash.

All in all, this is an interesting flash that comes out as more of an art project than anything else. It's provocative in a way, defiantly so because of it's song, but maybe too difficult for a normal person to be able to stand through. Still, major props for the guts on making something like this and kudos for your creativity and I'll look forward to seeing what you can up next. Cheers!

HeRetiK responds:

alright, first of all, thanks for this detailed review.

- yes i tried to at least partially associate certain images with certain sounds. it's just about finding the right imaginery to the right sounds.

- the reptitiveness unfortunately lies in the nature of this kinds of clips. it's more like the visuals for a show than an actual movie.

- the music - lol yeah. don't ask me why, but somehow i just love noisy, experimental, erratic electronic music. at least sometimes, that is.

as in most of my works i chose the music first and then made the according video, not the other way round. in this case i deliberately went for something extreme.

[Serial Environmentalist]

...

... as always, Matzerath, your twisted sense of humour shines through brilliantly. The graphics are also improved from previous movies, although I do have slight qualms concerning the voice acting. Allow me to detail my review:

- Graphics, as I said, are improved from previous movies, specially the animation, which has more action than usual. I mean, normally your animation is too limited, many times with just mouths moving, but in this movie there's always something moving in a way that keep things 'realistic'.

The overall style of the drawings is quite similar to your previous movies and looks pretty good, but the 'fuzzy' look that everything has when you zoom out was a letdown, as it obscured some details and just felt wrong. Still, overall, it looked good.

- Sound effects, although limited, were effectively used. The voice acting, however, was a bit problematic. I mean, you're an effective voice actor, with a good delivery for your jokes and the recording quality of it is very good, the problem lies with the fact you opted to do both characters yourself.

Now, some people have a wide range of voices they can pull off, see egoraptor for one, but I feel that you sadly don't belong in this group. What I mean is that you have a quite unique voice and when you play two different characters, it becomes far to obvious that it's a single person doing them. I'd recommend, for your next movie, if you are going to have two or0 more main male characters, to try and find a good voice actor to do one of the voices (try searching the audio forum, there are a few topics there that'd help you).

- Storywise, pretty funny throughout. I didn't quite bust my gut laughing or anything, but I did chuckle a lot and was genuinely pleased with it, as I usually am. You have a pretty bleak and unique sense of humor that works pretty well, no small part due to your execution. The pacing of the movie was pretty good and the overall length too. Oh, and I loved the satirical edge of the movie too, you really know how to make clever humor! This is probably the best part of this flash.

So, overall, a fine and funny movie that could have used a second voice actor (and a zoom effect that didn't produce fuzziness), but was funny, clever and satirical. Kudos!

Matzerath responds:

Thank you for your in depth review!
Yes, I realize that my range of voices is limited - unfortunately I've always thought it was funny to do all the voices in a cartoon, even (especially) when there's four or more characters. It's a personal problem, I'm afraid.

[Apples.]

...

... cute, sweet and fun, I remember watching this movie when it first came out and wanting to leave a review... I guess its better to be late than never! Allow me to detail my review:

- Graphically, its pretty good. I love the character design in this movie, love it to death. Who'd thought a guy with a sack on his head and a purple thingy could look so darned adorable and fun? Not just that, backgrounds and everything else have a pretty unique and interesting look, which makes for a movie that's a joy to watch, specially given the level of polish you've incorporated into the drawings, making sure everything looks good.

Animation, while sparse, is used precisely (you know how to create excellent lulls in the action!) and is very well done too, being fluid when necessary. When its not (i.e., the truck), it looks even better!

- Music is awesome. I mean, it really gives life to the movie, and the combination of kazoo and acoustic guitar is just perfect for giving the movie a rural, child's game and fun feeling. I'd honestly say that this is the movie's greatest strength.

Sound effects were spot on, no complaints from me! In fact, I actually really liked that the airplane engine sound was done by humming, it sounded slightly silly, which is perfect for a movie like this. =]

- Storywise, well, it's not the most complex movie ever made, obviously, but fun to watch. I get the feeling that you had a very specific objective that you wanted to accomplish, to make a simple, short, but fun story, and I think you accomplished it well.

The length is probably right, neither too long, nor too short, the pacing is excellent (again, great use of short lulls!) and the scenes are appropriately fun/funny.

So, overall, a short, simple movie that's polished like hell/very well made, with a great soundtrack, very good animation and drawings, in a very simple storyline. Kudos!

SWiTCH responds:

Awesome, thanks for coming back with an in depth critique and some kudos. :)

[Ultra Sheriff - Nemesis]

...

... style, style and style! The emphasis of this flash is all on making things look stylish, no matter how over the top and exaggerated it makes things, and it works. Allow me to detail my review:

- Graphically, that was excellent. Animations were very well done, for the most part, drawings were very polished and, well, stylish, with good use of colours as themes for both sides. Character design was interesting, although somewhat derivative, and the backgrounds were pretty good too, because although their faded look didn't fit the action that well, they are very well done and I loved the 'moving parts' of them!

It wasn't all perfect, though. While character animation was excellent, a few times it was evident that you cut corners a bit and re-utilized an animation or two (but it was no biggie), and I felt that the main ship could have used more 'movement'.

- Music was good and fit the movie very well, the timing of the on-screen action with the tempo and movements of the music being spot-on. Sound effects were very effective and sounded right, I particularly loved the scream of anger the 'boss'. Overall, top notch in this aspect.

- Storywise, well, it's a very simple story, but this is more of a movie video, so no biggie really. The length of the movie was very good, neither too short, nor too long, and the overall pacing was probably right too.

So overall, a great movie, fun to watch and polished. The only real criticism is that maybe, just maybe, it could have been a little more original and ambitious. I mean, I really liked this movie, but I get the feeling that it could have been something extraordinary, instead of 'just' great, had you tried to be more creative and ambitious storywise, although would require a longer song, probably.

Nah, forget it, I'm being silly. As it is, this is a great movie and you can hold your head up high! Cheers and kudos!

UltraSheriff responds:

whoa, thats what I call a review! thanks for taking the time to write in such detail, it is very flattering and very helpful!
i absolutely agree with you regarding the weaknesses of my film, so dont say ur being silly:) I was hoping it would be less evident where i`d cut corners to save time, but I guess the contrast between the shots I really put my heart into, and the more static ones, is too big. and its true that one cannot compensate for a weak storyline with pretty lights and explosions, like so many hollywod movies should have taught me:)
Thanks again, it is feedback like this that helps me improve my skills, and it is infinitely helpful and hugely rewarding to get these kinds of responses from people! Cheers!
-torjus

[Don't Worry, Son]

...

... that was stagerring brilhant. You never, ever stop amazing me with the sheer raw crazy awesome of your work. Let me detail my review:

- Graphics were, as always extremely good! In particular, the faces of your characters are really detailed, can't think of any other flash with that much detail, and are very well drawn, with excellent animation and oozing expression. When a character of yours smiles, we can really see him/her/it smiling! That has always been the high point of your technique.

But its not just that, your character design is creative and interesting, each looking unique but fitiing in well. Your overall animation, sans faces, though usually somewhat sparse, is smooth and well done. And everything is polished and looks great!

- Sound wise, well, just fantastic as usual. Your voice actors are great, with really expressionate voices, and its all very well recorded. Music too is just excellent, the Greasy Moose band knows how to make great music, that fits so dammed well! Finally, sound effects are spot on. Top notch in every aspect, really.

- Storywise, well, its so dammed crazy awesome, so random, so epic, that it works magnificiently... I mean, where else are you going to find a crazy scientist and son duo experimenting with elephant DNA? And the horrific/awesome/OMG consequences of their actions?

Also, as in all your movies, the pacing of the jokes are great. Since your jokes are usually centered around dialogue, it's important to pace them well and to make sure that the punch/non-sequitur happens at the right time, which is the case of this movie.

What else can I say? I mean, I should provide some criticism now, but I'm not sure if I have any. Honestly, I'm such a huge fan of your work, and this movie fits in so well, that its hard for me to see anything that could be improved. Not even the movie's lenght, really. I mean, its short, and leaves me wanting more, but it also allows you to concentrate everything and avoids the movie losing steam.

So, in short, this movie is a worthy addition to the Greasy Moose series, with pretty much everything just right and I can't really provide any relevant criticisms.

Cheers and kudos for this (and the other) great, great movies you've created. I dare say that you might very well be my favourite flash artist, you're just that good.

Sexual-Lobster responds:

thanks a lot Vert for taking the time to write a detailed review, and I'm glad you liked it!

[These Pancakes Are Tiny]

...

... this going to seem harsh, so please don't hate me for it. I think that was, well, technically awesome, but lacking in the story department. Allow me to detail my analyses:

- Graphics were fantastic, topnotch stuff that's really, really good stuff! I mean, your drawings are detailed, interesting and pretty stylish and I really like your drawing style! Your backgrounds, in particular, have tons of details (something that so few animations have) and the lip-voice synching was among the very best I've seen.

Oh, and your animation is fluid and pertty much excellent (face animation is great and the large faces allow for some really expressionate faces). Overall, this is your strongest point in the movie by far, although I do have a slight criticism regarding the placement of the character's elbows and food on the table at the end of the animation (I doubt most people will notice it, however).

- Voice acting was pretty good, being quite expressive and well recorded, nice use of sound effects, aboce all the videogame sound effects, and the (sparse) music was ok. No real criticisms here.

- The story, well, that's where things get a little complicated. I imagine that you intended this to be a humorous piece, right? Well, that's the thing, I didn't really laugh, nor find it really that funny (I guess I did crack a smile). Maybe it's me and you'll receive accolades for the script of the movie, but it just seemed to lack substence and/or 'the funnies', making the movie feel slightly pointless.

On the other hand, I do have to give you a lot of credit on making something pretty original, which is something that should always be praised, above all in a place like NG.

So, overall, this is a movie that is excellent technically, with great animations and drawings, lots of polish overall, good sound work, but feels lacking in the story department, even if it does have a nice dose of originality. Nevertheless, kudos for a pretty good movie!

sexysexybicycle responds:

Great review man. Good points. The way I see it, humor is a funny thing. It's completely subjective and different for everyone. For this movie, I chose to focus on the characterization and relationship between these two brothers rather than set out to tell an epic story on some grand scale or write a bunch of Family Guyesque jokes. But it definitely isn't punchline funny. Instead of jokes, I tried to highlight and present the humor found in everyday life situations.

Thanks for the good review my friend.

[Professor Layton pt. 3]

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... funny, but does it go a bit to far? I mean, I certainly laughed, specially in the beggining, but I feel that the movie comes dangerously close to crossing the line, sometimes. Let's get detailed:

- Graphicly, well, it was pretty much on par with your previous Layton series, which I feel that isn't your best work, mostly because of the backgrounds and because the animations aren't the best you've done either. However, the camera work is, again, pretty nifty and the details such as how the woman reacts even when she's not in frame or the great subtitles, are top notch.

- Voice acting is over the top as always and has some pretty brilhant lines (I won't say which so as to not ruin it for others), even if Luke's voice does become somewhat grating. The sound effects (i.e., the sound of stuff breaking), is adequate and well used. I also think I'm getting more used to the whole "two voices and the same time" thing and, in fact, I'm beggining to like / see it's merits!

- Humour wise, that was pretty dark, but also pretty funny. It's strange, really, the previous Layton movies have all been as such, but this one somehow feels even more over the top and almost cruel, somehow. Maybe it's the violence towards Luke, or the reaction of the woman (still haven't played the game, so I have to call her a "woman"), but it one or twice I nearly cringed.

But, there is some pretty funny stuff going on here too, be it in the 'clues' portion, some of the wonderful lines and the subtitles. I do, however, feel that's it's quite similar to the Layton 2, so I'd recommend trying to mix things up a bit more for the next movie.

Overall, the movie is quite funny, if dark and close to crossing the line, with good voice acting and good, if not your best, graphics. Cheers! And good luck with your exams (as per your news post).

Skaijo responds:

Thanks for the indepth review. :3

Humor:

I figure that I'm pretty well capable of stupid humor--so the Layton series is me trying stretch my dark comedy skills a bit. My two goals so far has been to make sure the main character always ends up in a worse situation than when the animation began, and to make the process as uncomfortable as possible. I hope I made you squirm a bit. :3

I'll watch the line more carefully. I'd honestly not want to see Luke get hurt either.

Graphics:

I didn't put much effort into the graphics just to keep the project light and straightforward. It allows for quicker work sessions around my schedule and keeps me finishing animations while the jokes are still fresh in my head.

VA:

I really wanted to improve the VA this time, which was bit static-ridden in the last part. Also, with some editing, I think it's a bit easier to pick out lines more clearly than in the last. I think I need to work a bit more on a consistent volume--as well as increase my SFX library a bit more. (Typically--I just use my own mouth sounds for SFX's I didn't have, but it didn't sound right this time around).

If I make a 4th, I'd like it to be more similar to pt 1 in that I use characters I've made up instead of just parodies of characters in the original game.

[Stickman Inside]

...

... not bad, but could be much better, making for a pretty mediocre movie, sadly. Allow me to explain.

- The overall animation and drawings were just about adequate, although you did have one or two 'special effects' (such as the 'grey circle things') that were slightly better than average. But the lack of polish was horribly evident. I mean, the stairs weren't even properly drawn, they had 'extra lines' that were both distracting and could have been easily removed.

- The music was slightly better, but still pretty much average. I mean, it's apropriate for this sort of movie (and a step up from the horrible cliched music you normally hear), but it could have been slightly more interesting.

- The utter unoriginality of the movie was what really let's it down. Not a single element that you used has been done before, many, many times before in fact, up to and including that sort of dialogue. Try to be more creative, please! Use some original elements. Even the cake wasn't a particulary clever idea.

So, in short, not bad, but could have used a lot more polish (XiaoXiao 3, that's from more than 6 years ago, is more polished than this...) and desperatly needs more original and creative ideas.

Darkwind28 responds:

And that's what I like! To see what has been done correctly, and what hasn't. About that unoriginality- you see... I made myself some kind of... Stickman Bible or something. You can see it's "elements" in my History of Stickmen series. And that contains this way of talking. I mean... it was always fun for me. And somehow fitted my idea of Stickman. Well, about that cake- I know xD. I just wanted to make it simply, with no special thinking about originality, but I promise- the next one will be better. Thank you for your comment. ;)