Alter-native's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[SS Christmas Collab 2022]

I Am Very Merry to See That You Guys Are Still Around

You guys are such funny little trouble makers. And yet, you guys got hearts of gold, for giving users with smaller fanbases a chance. Well, except SevenStar, he's on the permanent naughty list for the, you know, the incident.

PowerRangerYellow/Mightydein always gives his all despite his limitations. Maybe he cuts a few corners every now and then. His drawing ability might not be perfect, and he might need to learn how to break up his actions with key frames depicting pivotal actions, and then use the inbetweens to connect said pivotal key actions, but I always loved his fluid framerate and it's the perfect trade off for any short comings. Drawing On-model is tought, but I appreciate him drawing Bart from different angles.

I was a little disappointed with RTIL's short, but I forgive. He's a very busy man and he needs that boobie commission money.

My Favorite short is the one at 2:00
There seems to be a run-on gag with SixStar getting bomb from SevenStar every Christmas. Can anyone clue me into this run-on joke? I bet it's really funny.

Merry Christmas Eve everybody!

And a 6th day Happy Channukah to you GrandfatherClock.

ThreeStar responds:

dont talk about mightydein like that he is canada’s greatest treasure and he is perfect ,bitch

[Piconjo: Sick is Missing!!1]

For those who need help on the in joke. “Sicksexfiend” was the alternate moniker of Sickdeathfiend, an NG user who is renowned for his bloody zombie animations and games.

There was a time when he use to join up with the notorious Star Syndicate, a trolling and spamming group known for making “swell flash” and self referential stuff like this. A lot of users in that group did what they did to get back at NG for giving prestigious awards to really popular artists and animators that didn’t put much effort into work. Said artists and animators are the ones in this movie. The frog in the crown is Legendary Frog; the guy that did the Final Fantasy song animation and these motion tween comedy shorts with ray man style alien characters), the squirrel is Foamy; the ranting star of Illwillpress’s Neurotically Yours, the human head on the blue clay body is Knox; who did clay animations about blob people getting hurt, and the fat guy is Pikanjo; who did Perfect Kirby.

Often the Star Syndicate would utilize the “Piconjo” character, a poorly drawn rip off of NG mascot Pico, and claim him to be the ultimate fighter and other such nonsense.
I don’t remember who the guy with the R on his shirt is...

I guess SickDeath/SexFiend once posed as a girl or something to evade connection to his original account or something.

Anyway, I found the use of audio of the Care Bears Alice in Wonderland movie to be quite silly and fun. And the use of these often mocked targets in a relatively wholesome scenario is a little enjoyable. I only rate 3 stars due to animation quality. But otherwise, thanks for the swell flash.

ProsciuttoMan responds:

You right now: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_yhjE8XYAAqo7D.jpg

[Have A Heart!]

Incredible Super Smooth Animation... But...

It’s not a good message to send. There are plenty of people out there who are decent enough who are insecure about their looks and others who try to please and simp for a person who has no interest in them other than their body. The magical girl transformation is funny enough, but the fact that our protagonist is essentially expanding her breasts and thighs to attract her love is far cry from old tried and true wisdom like “it’s the inside that counts”.

It would have been smarter to show the girl going on a date with the guy, only to realize that all he cares about is her sexy body, and to discover the disillusionment that comes when the one you love only sees you as a trophy or object and not a person.

tansau responds:

I wasn't trying to send a message. I'm all about tits and asses, my dude. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

[Cuphead Song!]

First, the Positives:

I can recognize all the locations and characters on screen from Cuphead. They are least drawn well enough to be recognizable.

Also that chiptune music is pretty awesome. Sounds like Tim Follins.

Now The Negatives:

While the artwork does represent cuphead, it needs work on some fundamentals. Golden Age cartoon art is actually quite well constructed with it's inky rubber hose people and bouncy vibrancy with characters always bouncing to some kind of beat, despite some simplistic aspects. Here, every thing seems to be a little stiff. I have I hard time at this kind of stuff too, adding a realistic sense of weight and proportion to objects. There's other little details missing too.

The animation is kind of lack luster, and there's not enough action. Cuphead is the only character I see in this animation. When I think of cuphead, I usually think of him zipping about, somersaulting over projectiles and and zapping enemies with the rapid snapping of his fingers.

And finally the autotune. Every true and professional musician I know advises against autotune, because it is not a good substitute for vocal due to a lackluster singing ability. It can only cover it up so much. You should practice your own vocal talent with rehearsals to make sure you hit each note, pitch, tone, and key. I also noticed the lyrics don't quite fit the music because there's either not enough words to hit each note in a melodic measure, or the words are not spaced out enough to fill the measure.

I know there are some software out there that can help.

I used to use a software called "Singing Coach." It's 19.99 on amazon. I suggest it because it is a little like a toned down version of Kareoke Revolution, and it's cheap readily available. There's also "Singing Method" which is more expensive, but might be better.

Back in the day, I used to play Kareoke Revolution on the Ps2, that helped me sing a little better(I used sing really terribly, now, I'm not that good, but definitely better than as a child). A more current game called "Rock Band" has a vocal mode where you can sing a song and you are scored based on performance.

SuperLucas responds:

Dude, I'm just a boy that wants to do animation for fun. People expect kids to be talented but not too talented.

[first animation by using grease pencil in blender 2.80]

Gosh This Looks Good.

It's like I'm watching the rough animation for a real television anime. I guess the only thing I can criticize about it is that 1. It's just a test and thus obviously unfinished and 2. The background needs more work though rough of the soccer net is off to a good start.

pushpendrasingh2719 responds:

yaa I am just testing blender grease pencil. next, I will remembering your advice.

[SLIPSTREAM - ANIMATED SHORT]

The Finishing Line

I do have some mixed feelings on the character designs, which I feel are crude, angular, inconsistent, imitations of anime designs, but though they lack qualities from professional manga art, but they are surprisingly animated very well. Everything is at least animated well in this short with a smooth framerate and proper use of light and shadow. The CGI is actually quite good and on model. And everything else such as the rain and lighting effects are incredibly top notch.

It almost reminds me of Initial D, except with Formula 1 style racing cars instead of ricer mod Hondas and Civics.

AshIshaq responds:

Thanks for the feedback. I definitely agree with the inconsistency of the character designs.

[Yuki : Rise above the Deaths [ 2012 Motioncomic ]]

This Scene You Are Plotting Out Looks Cool!

Maybe, you should consider turning into a fully animated scene... Maybe.

airman4 responds:

You mean continuing it afterwards ?

[Snow Hare]

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptence.

1. Denial. The black spot that manifests on the top of the rabbits head, and continues to grow is a manifestation of rabbit's emotions and memory of what happened. The rabbit tries to shake it all off, remembering the good times with his chubby friend, pretending and trying to believe it isn't there, that his tragedy didn't happen, and it does recede for a little bit, but it is still there. When the rabbit steps outside to take a look at the snowman, he puts the scarf onto the snowman, as if to project the memory and image of his friend onto the effigy, But once again, pretending that he is still alive does not get rid of the problem. For reality is what it is, and you can not deny that which obviously exists. Reality is, the chubby rabbit friend was swiftly killed by a hawk, for he could not outrun it, and now what remains of his corpse is being picked by crows.

2. Anger. After experiencing a horrible nightmare, the rabbits emotions swell into intensity, as the black spot grows, almost covering his entire body, giving him a beast like appearance, and manifesting as his anger. The rabbit lashes out at a crow sitting atop his snowman, the straw that breaks the camels back. The rabbit attacks with a subconscious to tear apart the crows, and make them suffer like his friend did. Yet in the wake of his hate filled trance of aggression, he come to realization that he has committed a horrible deed out of his aggression, he destroyed the effigy of his chubby rabbit friend, and that brings us to...

3. Bargaining. When people are dealt with grief, they could go in either two directions from here. They could either go back to denial, and shift the of blame their actions onto their instigators, and continuing suffering great hardships only to keep coming back to this point and going back to denial again, and let the black spot become their persona... Or they could realize at this point that they are, or at least would be no better than the adversaries or happenings that brought this grief upon them in the first place. The rabbit chooses the latter option, as now his emotional manifestation is sprouting wings, reminding him that in his actions, he has become not unlike the birds that took his friends away. This scene also has some Judeo-Christian religion metaphoric symbolism to it too, because the act of bargaining in some people is praying to God, pouring your soul out to Him, asking Him to relieve themselves of grief. So the wings can also be taken as angel wings, and the crow coming out of the rabbit can be seen as a form of exorcism. Regardless, after his bout of fury, the rabbit is kneeling down for some inner atonement for his out burst, and is now relieved of the power that has taken over him, but now he is powerless and that leads us to...

4. Depression. The ultimate feeling in sadness. It consists of combination self loathing, helplessness, but overall, a lack of motivation and empowerment. However, since the rabbit let go of the scarf, that means he overcame this stage, and that brings us to...

5. Acceptance. In the end, we might make mistakes, or bad things wll happen despite how prepared we are. One things for certain, bad things will happen, and it is up to us to overcome the grief, lest we become shadows of our former selves.

I 5'd this. I rarely give out five stars, but overall this movie was well though out, and had some theatrical style animation, which if you consider the standards of this site in general, is a rarity. Plus, it's been a while since a movie inspired me to sit down and make me give my two cents in a review.

For all intents and purposes, this movie is flawless, made straight from the soul too as evidenced by the dedication to the Author's irl friend who tragically died. This was a sincere effort.

Now I might comment on the design of the character and how they might fall into "Cal Arts style" as John K. puts it, but that's a really superficial aspect. When you get down to it, some good movies have come out of Cal Arts style, one of them being the Iron Giant, so even if the design does fit into the criteria asymmetrical appeal or might "same face" a bit at times it doesn't matter, because I felt real emotion from this. Plus, the rabbits despite looking half humanoid in appearance do have truly rabbit characteristics that I don't see in other rabbit cartoons. Like those slope like snouts. They are like a cross between a human snout, and a rabbit's actual snout, which if you look at rabbit, you notice that their nose really go down like that from their nose bridge towards their mouth. Their ears though, are certainly tinier than real rabbits but again this is superficial stuff, for the backgrounds were beautifully painted, and animation was absolutely top notch. If the animation was standardized like if characters moved like they do in Franklin or Cailou, I might raise a complaint about the design, but the animation was full of life and subtle movements, just like in a traditionally animated Disney film, making the design of characters irrelevant in that regard.

Once again, it's rare we see theatrical quality animation on Newgrounds. I recommend people take their time to check this one out.

As for the author, thank you for your these heavy 4 minutes, may your friend rest in piece, and good luck on your next entry...

ShawnBranden responds:

Wow. Thank you! I really appeciate the thought you put in to this! I did a lot of research on the stages of grief for the project which in turn helped me to better understand what i was going through when I lost my friend. The stages don't all happen in one particular order. Many happen concurrently and repeat throughout the process. Also thank you for the critique. Additionally the Snowshoe hare's fur changes color seasonally and it was that change that attracted me to use the hare as my subject. I'm glad you got a clear understanding of what I was going for. I'll do my best to add to the quality for the next.

[Omnislash FAIL]

Presentation Is Important

First things first, I usually say "don't draw sticks" because that was advice that my mother had given me ever since I was young. To this day, I still find it sound because as an artist, you can't improve on the human figure if you stick to sticks.

There are exceptions to this rule, like Krinkels and his madness animations, and some other stick artists like the fluidanims guys, and xiao xiao, but those guys are the exception because they have a good "directional sense". Like either they set their movies up like a cinematic production, or that they have so much going on that it doesn't matter that they use stick figures, because everything else is detailed or there's just a lot action or the animation so smooth that nobody cares.

Still sticks are good for roughs, but usually what I do with roughs is take the rough and draw over them(draw a more solid 3 dimensional figure in place of the stick figure)

This is not to shabby for a first run, but it needs some overhaul.

The stick fight at the begining was not well centered, and wasn't well coreographed.

However the moment where that stick on the right jumps up into the air to deliver a final strike was actually pretty cool, interesting, and partially well done. "Cloud" was pretty well drawn too. What I liked the most was how you implemented perspective. When we see these two fight as stick figures, we are seeing them from a far away point of view in context of the movie. Then, the "camera" zooms in on cloud, revealing the obscured stick figure to actually be more 3 dimensional and detailed in close up. That was really neat.

Finally the joke, the punchline.

A basic slapstick parody punchline. Cloud jumps high up to do his Omnislash, except he jumps so high he breaks gravity and enters orbit. The final scene with cloud crashing into the moon, is drawn pretty rudimentary, but... I'll let it pass because I've drawn like that too at times.

So far, it's a pretty solid idea, but the movie needs some retouching, I would suggest centering the figures, or just adding a background, and also removing those box like frames which I assume you used to guide your frame of action. Cloud should be colored in, and... I think that just about all the advice I can give.

As always, thank you for your efforts, and good luck on your next entry.

originalhobodeadfish responds:

As I do appreciate the critism, I honestly do. As I am taking everything with a grain of salt, I will improve my work for next time. The stick figure fighting was actually so I could get used to motion a bit more, though I was attempting to frame by frame the actual omnislash when I was creating it, animation is a beast that needs more finnese than I was giving it - I see that now. Thank you for your input and I will work my damndest to improve my work.

By the way, not bad for not ever using Flash right?

[3DScratch]

Here's a Tip!

Use the stylus, and you won't scratch your screen!

Otherwise, thanks for the laugh.

Imagine23 responds:

I actually use the stylus all the time (it's the culprit of my scratched screen). I've resorted to using my fingertip now.

The reason I made it my finger in the video was because i was lazy.