squeakytoad's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Xombie Chapter 10]

I'm kind of nausiated.

You screwed over your fans so you could make more money.
We stuck with you, even back at the beginning when you were tweening characters you ripped from Balto. Because we loved it. And because you provided an entertaining experience. Because you cared about your fans.

Then you decided to try to go for a movie. We all constantly sent our encouragement. Didn't work out.
So what do you do? Well, you wrote a book and then changed all these things between two episodes so we had to purchase your book to understand what was going on.
Not making enough money still, so you KILL THE SERIES in order to make it into a comic book (which will make a lot of money)?

And the ending was horrible. This episode felt so slapped together. The art and animation was the worst we've ever seen from you.
There was no climax really.

Just an advertisement for an over-priced comic book.

I'm sorry this is coming out so bitter, but you've become one of the worst kinds of sell-outs. One who betrays their fans and compromises their earlier resolves in order to make money.

I know I won't be buying a single comic book or piece of merchandise. Which is quite a contrast to last year, when I was planning on buying the DVD when it came out and was just about to pick up a tshirt and some other merchandise just to support you.
Fortunately, chapter nine and your book came out before I made that mistake.

-st

jamesfarr responds:

Mmm. The smell of sour grapes.

[Hot Dog Eating Contest]

I actually voted five...

...on a Wonchop animation.
I liked this, man. Major props to you.

Wonchop responds:

Heh thanks.

[Pico's Time Tank]

One of the best Pico submissions I've seen so far.

Both of you, Toonimated and Swain, have always been quite talented at laying out a story, even in your randomness.

The animation and art, oh how I loved them. You both did well. Pacing was a little iffy. Character art wasn't as consistent as usual for you, but overall very polished.

Loved it.

Happy Pico Day.

The-Swain responds:

The slowest moment in the 'toon, aside from the intro and conclusion, is probably when Pico first arrives at the pirate ship. He's not fighting them off tooth and nail as he falls from the sky, but 3 minutes and 40 seconds of animating straight action is so taxing on our need to be "storytellers" that we had to slip a modicum of character development in there :) Naturally, this is out of place in an action cartoon, but hey, what can ya do?

And I'm sure you'll forgive us on the changing nature of Pico's artwork. We didn't animate the whole thing in chronological order, and as this is the first time either of us has animated this character, improvements and mistakes were to be expected over time.

Also, large investments in software come after we make the money to buy it, not before :)

Thanks for another review, ST :D I must now go and review today's other Pico submissions too.

[30 Hour Limitation]

Nice piece of work here.

Especially for a thirty hour limitation. I know what it's like trying to make decent animation in less than two days. No piece of cake.

I really enjoyed it for the most part. MetalDart's and NathanielMilburn's parts especially.

Some parts need some serious improvement. Unfortunately, in collabs like this, no matter how great the stuff around it, a poorly drawn crap of a tween really brings down the overall quality.
The only way to solve this problem is to pick your members more carefully, and that means cutting people who want to join, which is never fun.

Still though, this is quite underrated.

One more suggestion before I finish up. Next time you do one of these time-limited collabs, try to come up with a general theme, idea, or story that must be followed.
Yeah, yeah, I know the randomosity was what you were going for, and I enjoyed some of it, but be random to reason. Have a method to your chaos.
Otherwise it looks slapped together. And there's too many collabs on Newgrounds with a ton of random animations slapped together created for the sole purpose of gaining an award for all those involved.

Keep animating.

-st

yodd responds:

Hmm, a review from someone who actually knows/does flash before, someone who understands the whole system.

For bad parts, some of this is a matter of opinion, here I submitted thinking my part was utter garbage yet some say it is good, some bad :p

Your theme idea sounds great, as I do agree... there are too many submissions with no theme whatsoever. Only select people love random. I think a theme slightly limits full capabilities within a time limit of this, but I have not tried it however.

Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for the helpful review, (one that didn't just mention how you love the song).

[Good Morning!]

It earned a spot on my favorites list.

So you know it's got to be great.

As it started up, I sat there, slightly bored. The visuals were great, but not enough to keep me entertained. After all, you were just panning around.
The song started up and you through in a few bits of humor, and I was getting more into it.
I was just starting to think "Hey, this is pretty good" when all of a sudden he gets hit by a car.
Then I cracked up. Man I cracked up. The crew member rushing out to check on him. The mic dangling in front of the screen. Worried voices. All complemented by my laughter.

It was great, cause most people don't put so much time into the art for a quick joke like that, but the fact that you led up to that end with so much made it all the better.

Loved it.

-st

ConAir responds:

Haha! Thank you so much - A few people thought putting so much effort into a short like this would be a waste but I'm glad you understand where I was coming from. Thanks for a great review!

[Castle III part D]

Wow.

IT'S OVER!?!
Thousands of fans around the world just rose up and cried a "Noooooooo!" that would put Darth Vader to shame.

You've got a cinematic quality series here. Incredible work.
Keep it going.

I want more. Give it to me.

Get-lost responds:

It's not over. Just takes a while for next part ;)

Thanks

[Not Now]

Tons of cheese, lots of ketchup, but no burger.

Well it was certainly emo and blood-filled. Of course, that's what you were going for.
However, rather than making me feel the "despair" and "depression", it just bored me to death.

The dialouge was incredibly cheesy.
"Would it be cliche, if I told you I loved you?"
No, but that question was pretty retarded.
The whole conversation was incredibly lame.
The acting was also sub-par.
I suggest you work on that.

For constructive criticism on the art, work on it.
Spend more time on your drawings.
Smooth things out a little. This was really rough.
I'd also recommend working on your colors. Often, a dull gray palette can convey incredible feeling, if done correctly. This wasn't the case here.

Most of all, I'd recommend CUTTING THE EMO.
Not actually cutting them. No, we got enough of that. SCENE AFTER SCENE of people cutting themselves. Lots of blood. Not fun.
Cut the emo from the movie. You can express a tragedy in a relationship caused by death without having to go THAT EXTREME.

Though the movie is pretty freaky, and I'm personally not a big fan, I'd recommend you check out "Hanged Man's Elegy".
That movie does this sort of thing best.
The animator captures the darkness and tragedy, keeps it feeling twisted and bizarre, while providing something that doesn't feel like the 2007 LA Emo-Cutters Convention.

And try to add a little more actual animation.

-st

Filmpiegang responds:

This wasn't really meant to be emo, since that's not my thing at all but I get why people think it is. In fact I was afraid that alot of people would not like it because they thought it was emo.
It's true that I might have overdone certain parts since I was really experimenting with style and ways to express the darkness of the storyline.
I myself really like the Hanged Man Elegancy movie, it was one of the reasons I started experimenting with a darker style.
Anyway, thanks for the review.

[Wrong Hate, My Reply 2 U]

Oh brilliant.

This made me burst with delight. Seriously.
Wow. Brilliant.
This a new trend now is it? I gotta do this if the SS ever decides to parody a series of mine.
Man, I'm still loving this. Especially since I contributed to the mass amount of TooF mockeries (another account).

-st

Gotta also add that the Pheonix Wrong series is starting to grow on me. Despite finding it lacking at first, I've begun grinning and even laughing out loud once as I watch through them.
Keep it up.

AshfordPride responds:

I'm glad you could appreciate the simplicity of it all. I think the reason it's so popular is because people who are generally new at flash can easily produce a good quality flash using the Phoenix Wrong formula.

Thanks for the review. :)

[Turkeys]

It was clean and polished animation. I enjoyed it.
A short and simple cartoon, and a good one.

RWappin responds:

Thanks, toady man!

[Mario and The Lost Coin]

You guys did great. It was excellent.
One of those nice little things you watch during your break.
Excellently parodied Mario.
Usually, I'm very much against the usage of sprites in flash movies. However, in this case, it wasn't just some animators wanting to get out of having to do real work- it was part of the whole effect.
Great job.

CIA responds:

ahha thanks. This means good coming from someone as good as you.