Miggs's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Alex Seryoua: Episode I]

Not bad, but not good, either.

The animation was a bit on the flat and uninteresting side. The art itself was great, but since you didn't open anything up to multiple shots, or animate things in full 3D, much of it seemed a bit rigid.

The story was a bit cliche, and I think way too simplified (and the narrative was rushed) to really have the effect you wanted. The end shot with Earth in the sky was very cool, and a great note to end on. But the rest of the piece seemed to be an excuse to get the audience to that moment.

Some of it didn't seem to make sense. I know everything is supposed to be odd and confusing, and there is supposed to be a level of mystery behind everything, but, really... some of it was a bit silly. You may imbed an excuse (or "explianation") for this later, but it really seems silly for aliens to abduct someone and then not only give them weaponry that could kill them, but not supply the proper security to prevent that from happening.

I do like the idea of throwing the everywoman into an odd scenario, but it did seem rushed. I'd have liked to get to know the character a bit more, and I think there should have been a little more tension leading up to the abduction, or atleast a better abduction scene than the age old radio fritz cliche.

The shaky camerawork added alot to the piece, especially early on in the car. I think later the shaky camera thing became a little overused and annoying, but if you fleshed a scene out to have more than one angled shot it could have worked much better.

The voice acting seemed a bit staged and lackluster, for both the main character and who we're lead to believe is her boyfriend (or x-boyfriend now, I suppose). I think you needed better voice acting in situations like these, because they're very intimate and rely on subtleties.

Overall the piece was barely below good. I want to give you more credit, because the art is nice and I like where you want to go with the story, but I don't think any of the elements in the film get you there. Great moment to leave us with at the end there with the Earth in the sky, but other than that this piece is a bit underdeveloped.

Good luck on the next one.

danomano65 responds:

yeah, it's pretty unrealistic. with the aliens and all. i know im supposed to be all, Oh thanks for the constructive criticism and shit but i've heard this over 300 times now and it's getting a little old. I'm really frustrated with the turnout, ppl would suck my balls dry if I made another Halomen, but I try to make something decent and original and everyone has tackled it and beat the shit out of it because it's different and new. You say Underdeveloped as if I'm a freaking production company. I'm one dude, I have a life, school is stressful.. I'm trying to make this along the way. And I have two other guys putting in ideas for the scripts and action. Other than that, i'm out here on my own being crucified because I don't live up to other people's standards. Don't take yourself too seriously. I'm trying to have fun. I like making this stuff. But I'm tired of being hounded for not being Adam Phillips or any other Wizard God of the Flash. How the hell are any of you supposed to know if what happens in the cartoon makes sense? What are you basing your opinions on? You've seen 3 minutes of a really complex story. I've given you clues, but you're too dense to see them. I know that reviews like this are not going to stop. The next couple of episodes are out there and they raise more questions, so if that's not your thing.. don't bother watching it.

[Life's about sk8boarding]

Someone told a story for once!

The animation was a bit sketchy and unpolished, but I must give you a good score because, well, you told a good story! And that's something not easy to find on Newgrounds.

The piece had great humor. I personally would have tweaked the gags a little, but they were all very amusing, and effectively furthered the tone of the story.

The accent of the narrator was the most endearing element to the story, and while it may have simply been an impression of the tour guide from Everything Is Illuminated (also the lead singer of Gogol Bordello, by the way), it reflected very well this feeling of a starving European lifestyle, that of one for an artist, and fit just beautifully for a skateboarder. Not many other flash artists would even think to do something as interesting as that. It made me feel as if I were watching a foriegn film. Great touch.

Other parts of the films, the surrealist gags, reminded me alot of a Michel Gondry film, which scores you points in my book because he's probably my favorite modern director.

Using a track as good and classic as "Only You" is a touch virtually never made by a flash artist, and gives a nice intimate feeling of nostalgia, and works as a great montage for he and his board. Again, this is something that transcends the piece from being just another flash project. It gave the piece some real emotional tone, which is rare in the flash medium. I also liked the use of the introductory music, which sounds like it were taken from an Italian film. Good stuff all around.

Nothing about this piece is underdeveloped or bad. Some of it may not be optimus-developmentus, but it is all great none the less. My only criticism is that the ending gives a small impression of disclosure. I think it could have used a closing sequence, something intimate and personal between he and his board... like the end of Before Sunset.

Thank you for telling a story. It was a great flash experience, and I'd love to see more!

hamesu responds:

i'm one of those who always try to tell original storys! im glad you like it .!

[omg! your right about the song only you! i apologize for that]

wait for a seguel !

[[fishes]]

Odd

To Grind29: I hope you know that's irrelevant.

To the Author: I'd like to see you reduce the poetry to the best of the best lines, and craft something around that. I think this might be left a little too bloated with content, some of which may be unecessary, or not do much for the piece. Good luck.

notorious responds:

thanks for the helpful review

[Mastermind 2]

Hirariousch!

Very amusing. The animation was superb, though you did keep reusing the same angles over and over again.

Great use of color and "lighting", it adds to the guy's brooding nature. Also, the ins and outs of office life is a great setup for comedy involving a character such as this.

However, while the characters were very diverse and funny, I believe you're late to the Gaylord joke. It's been done.

But good job, none the less! I would like to see some story next time.

The-Swain responds:

By definition, it would be difficult to reuse different angles rather than the same ones :)

As for the 'Gaylord' joke, the encounter here was making fun of the humor people find in it, and not so much tapping from the humor itself. Much like the "A little to the left" trapdoor parody. Mastermind as a whole is just a parody series if anything, which cracks jokes about the whole supervillain genre as well as taking currently existing gags just a little bit further (dare I say, too far).

Ahh well, maybe I'll work in some kind of plot, but I have more...INTERACTIVE plans for this series :D

[Confinement +]

Intruiging, which is the point, I suppose :D

The flick does make me wonder as to its meaning. Though I think the term "confinement" comes off a little intellectually abrasive, as if it were a short film for a college course.

I would also shy away from defining your animation as being "metaphoric" and "meaningful", for it makes one sound pretentious. Not that being pretentious is a bad thing, narrative film is inherently pretentious if it's not a documentary. But it does make one sound as if they think their shit doesn't stink.

Overall it is a very well animated piece that displays some believable emotion through the character's physical performance and manerisms. I have to say I enjoyed it, though I feel that the title raises its nose above the audience a bit.

Liquidsword responds:

"atleast to me"
The description on the front page was changed from what I originally put. Which wouldve made even less sense (mainly because I never thought it would be put up there). lol

Thanks.

[TANKMEN .5]

Okay.

Okay.

That world pretty much sums it up. Nothing was particularly amusing. The deliveries are all confident and well done but elicited little amusement. The writing isn't too bad, with the reference to Darkman and the unease of the fact that he had no lips.

I've seen the series before, and these are pretty much the same feelings I've had towards the others. The Tankmen are confident, crass, ignorant, moody, but there is an attempt to imply some wry humanity. Unfortunately the voice acting is the same for each character, which may be the point, but even the extras don't seem to have any more identity to them than the soldiers, in either voice, dialogue, or action. And in the end they all just end up being more or less clones of Zapp Brannigan from Futurama, minus the great writing.

What you have here seems to be, in my opinion, a great frame for a show. The setup is perfect, the angle on the character is funny. But unfortunately nothing else about the show aside from the concepts are genuinely funny. There are some textbook references to movies and pop culture, and then obscure pop culture, as outlined in the Family Guy playbook, but the end result is simply not that funny. Not to say this formula can't work, but in this particular case, it isn't.

Some may say I may be asking too much of you to offer a show as good or better than those on television. Some may say it is just a flash cartoon, and it should be expected to not be as good. But so many artists exist in this world writing amazing stories, shooting amazing photography, and creating amazing low-budget films. And most of the time it is better than comissioned art. Since we have the freedom as flash artists to create something totally uncompromised then it should be expected that we create better work. I don't think most of us know the magnitude of opporitunity we have. We have everything we need in this stupid little program to create some of the most meaningful, visceral, funny, poigniant, what have you, work in existance. It's cheap. It's power is nearly unlimited. Our power as artists is then nearly unlimited.

Don't get me wrong. The animation here is fantastic. The art is top notch, the animation and visual nuance of the characters is great. But that's technique. Without a really good gag it's just a utility. It's superficial, unless you have something more to it.

I feel you're creating out of necessity, not because you have something cool to show. The writing comes more from your obligation to release a new flash cartoon than it does from the desire to exibit something you've tooled around in your head for a while that you think is funny. That may have been how the series started. It may not have. I don't know.

It may be confident, but that doesn't make it effective. It may look great, but that doesn't give it substance. It may be popular, but that doesn't make it good. I think they've been voting on the potential the work exibits, not the work itself. What we have here isn't bad by any means, but it's not really that great, either.

Raise the bar, Johnny. You have it in you, bro.

Much love :)

JohnnyUtah responds:

"I feel you're creating out of necessity, not because you have something cool to show. The writing comes more from your obligation to release a new flash cartoon than it does from the desire to exibit something you've tooled around in your head for a while that you think is funny. That may have been how the series started. It may not have. I don't know."

huh?

"It may be confident, but that doesn't make it effective. It may look great, but that doesn't give it substance. It may be popular, but that doesn't make it good. I think they've been voting on the potential the work exibits, not the work itself. What we have here isn't bad by any means, but it's not really that great, either."

what?

and please don't compare me to family guy

[Wheelman trailer]

NICE

NICE, did you get this concept from the PS and PC game DRIVER? I love that game...

MindChamber responds:

heheh Lil' bit;)

thanks for the compliments!!