MRat's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mastermind 3]

I've got hand it to you.

You've really got that red colour scheme down. Looks really nice. I also enjoy the jokes too. I guess I should mention that.

My tip on what to work on? Make the lipsync a little more exaggerated and try experimenting with some unqiue mouth shapes and stuff to give even the little details like that some flair.

The-Swain responds:

I save the FBF synching for Blockhead, with Mastermind I mostly use symbol frames. If I hadn't done it this way, we might have seen this cartoon done some time next week :(

BTW anyone who votes this as a helpful review will earn my undying appreciation <3 Thx guys, I do agree with MRat on this.

[The TV Commercial]

Another ConAir masterpiece.

Wow, first off, I get special thanks? Haha that's awesome. It's great to finally see this reach fruition. I've been waiting, as you kow.

It may be weird, because your jokes are so simple, but think your probably the most hands down hilarious guy on NewGrounds. Just like Small Talk, this is the essence of life captured, and it's funnier than you'd think.

Anyway, it was brilliant. The fish eye view was off, but it wasn't bad enough to detract from the film.

Great work, my friend.

ConAir responds:

Yeah I've heard that about the fisheye type shot, guess I'll have to put a little more work into those in the future. I think my problem was that the ceiling seemed a little low over the speakers head and it felt really enclosed. Anyways, (special) thanks for the review.

[Orange Rhymes]

Pure Genius!

As short as it is, it shouldn't be a second longer. This is absolutely perfect in every way. Not a single complaint from me. NOT ONE.

This is possibly the most positive review I've ever written. This is up there with the genius of ConAir!

AlmightyHans responds:

omg.... too much honor! I THANK YOU!!!

[NGTTXII Failed Edition]

Pretty cool!

I enjoyed it quite a bit. Neat, trippy, strange, weird and fun. There were alot of good entries for that Trial, so it was tough, but this is awesome all the same.

Topcatyo responds:

Thanks :D

[[fishes]]

Flawed, but very engaging.

There are alot of tiny details that I got wrapped up in/were distracted by, but in the grand scheme of things this was a fantastic attempt at breaking the mold and you succeeded in making something very atmosphere heavy.

I'll start with what I loved. T
he music and your voice overs were the top of my list with this. So brilliant and the were definitely the basis for the world I stepped into when I watched this.

Second is the colour palette. It's perfect. The colours are pastel and dreamy, and at moments border nightmarish and layered on your video they make reality seem spaced farther apart.

Third would be your poetry/text. It was cryptic, and yet entirely self-fulfilling without the need for advanced analysis. The word choice was awkward at bits, and splendidly spot on for the majority. It told a bleak tale of what it is the wake up to yesterday. As someone who writes alot of poetry myself, it was nice to see someone present some of my own thoughts in their own unique way.

What I liked least was the art. Rotoscoping is a fine technique that was deliver some fantastic effects, but it is a specific talent of it's own, and I just don't think you you're quite practiced enough at it. The wobbly lines are nice, but the volume of the subjects varied in strange way that might have been surreal but sadly weren't. You're drawings, though the got the point across, lack technical knowledge enough to really stand out. I did like their simplicity though.

The big issues: Sometimes the text blended to well with the rest of what was in frame and ended up being too hard to read. This suddenly snapped me awake a couple times and killed the mood, which is why I can't quite give this a ten.

Overall, I loved it though. Keep up the fantastic work.

notorious responds:

well there's no way to get better at rotoscoping if ya don't practice sillY!

thanks for the good review

[Small Talk]

Hey there Connor Flemming.

This was quite awesome, I have to say. I really enjoyed it. Like the rest of your work it had such a simple elegance and the timing was perfect. Great pace.

Looking forward to more from you, haha. Been I while since I even acknowledged your existence, and I was talking to Luis and I remembered you were friends with him, long story short I just watched all your movies.

Fives all around!

ConAir responds:

Thanks Ryan!

[A cap opener man comes.]

This was so lovely!

I'm quite impressed with this. Works of monochrome are always a treat, to be sure, and moreover, this one was simple, to the point, and utterly bizzare.

Your framerate was probably too fast for your animation; you could see your lines going berserk. Despite this though, the movements themselves were fantastic! Really quite good, to be sure.

The overall effect of this was great. The music was very suiting and the sound effects were both funny and unsettling.

Can't wait for more from you!

NOBU777 responds:

It is a portion to lengthen since there is a prejudice in a line. I would like to improve about sound.

[Home Invasion]

Haha!

Despite the terrible art, animation, and direction, this made me laugh so damn hard. That little music loop made this totally worthwhile.

Just, please work really hard to improve your art, and animation, and mix up some camera angles man. No one wants profiles for the whole length.

crazyWHACKO69 responds:

Hey,,well i know my art is terrible on here,,but i been working on it haha,,but yeah man,if you can tell me how to make/or use a cam,,that would be awesome,i would really appreciate it,,because im still really new to this flash stuff :P

Nick

[XXXI 1 : Outcast]

I admire the ambition here...

.. but I'm afraid the actual animation chops just weren't there to make the story compelling and real. Also the voice actors pretty well blew, but I won't focus in on that.

The breakdown:

The art, though decent, was far too bland and uninspired to match a fantasy universe. You've obviously put a whole lot of thuoght into this project, and thoroughly stretched your imagination to its limits. So if you're going to ride the ways of high fantasy and make something extravagant in plot and idea, the art and direction should match. What I saw was some browns and greens making vague shapes. Really get in their and design unique and interesting characters who are distinct and relfect your own flavour and match the universe they live in. Whatever you do though, don't pull a Jazza and make the most generic fantasy characters ever.

The animation was tweenfilled, which is fine I guess as a beginner, but if you're going to take animation seriously I reccomend going out and grabbing The Animators Survival Kit by Richard Williams. It's a fantastic book that goes into great detail outlining the principles of tradition and frame-by-frame animation. If you start learning from the classical formats you'll pick up how to make gravity and weight and balance feel truly real in your animations. Then you can learn the tricks and gizmos of Flash such as easing and shape tweens and you'll be able to really grasp tweens as their own art form. As is you have a few symbols getting dragged around in motions that barely resemble the actions they represent.

The direction was the biggest problem for me. You angles were just flat on and didn't really ever change. We never get close ups, or tracking shots, or any such things. Try and really mix things up and give up some shots that aren't pedestrian and textbook. As is this looks like a bad John Singleton attempt at directing. The "camera work" fails to generate any interest and just leaves the viewer staring blankly and a couple of side-scrolling characters from a distance where you can hardly learn anything about them at all. I know you aren't Rtil, but take a look at his work, especially GUM if you want to see a great example of how you can use simple view angles to really spice up your work.

Keep at it, and massive kudos for the effort you put into this. Great to see that even if this isn't the best, at least your producing unique and original content. Work hard and you'll go far!

Blakant responds:

I making my own sprites, so ppl in NG somehow do their own, rather than take some Nintendo sprite & get the credit from other ppl work!
I know its not perfect, but at least make it fair, 4/10 is too shitty for this project, dude!

How bout next time, review more postively like the bonus features & NOT advertise some book.