Esn's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chillz Story]

Winderfull music.

This flash is different from most of the things on Newgrounds in that it has a very well-developed storyboard, so when you are watching it you're seeing beautiful direction in addition to some great jazz music and nice drawings.

The story was really engaging. The only thing I didn't like about this was that the animation was a little too stiff - for example, when he turns his head you don't animate the in-between frames. Everything else was pretty well done, though.

I wonder, is this an original story or were you inspired by another film?

[Your Inner Pineapple]

My God, is goes on FOREVER!

Where did you get the text from? I'm pretty sure that you just copied and pasted everything into that voice program from some site on the internet.

The graphics are ok... but seriously what the hell? Make something that's worth watching at least. This is a flash that is not actually MEANT to be seen all the way through, it relies on the fact that the viewers will close it before it is done from sheer boredom. When the voice finishes, the "animation" just keeps on repeating. Is it any wonder that it has a relatively low score?

Make something that stands on its own, then maybe you'll have a chance.

Oh, and don't respond to this by saying that I haven't made any flash animations myself and that therefore my opinion is invalid. One doesn't have to be a director to know that a movie is bad.

LollerCupcake responds:

Wikipedia.

Make me.
I'm in the Glock Group, an association that was created for the purpose of pissing people off with crappy flash, of course it has a low score.

If I wanted to do that, don't you think I WOULD HAVE?

Nah, that's what you'd WANT me to do. And I hate people telling me what to do. so:
Flash by Esn:
- none -

[Mittens Episode 1]

Bwahaha!

This was quite funny. :D

Thank you for making the sound quality good - the voices didn't sound raspy or overloud like so much of the stuff on NG, and the voice-acting was also really nice. Good script.

The only thing this really needed was (maybe) some dinky background music and nicer graphics. The graphics did the job, but this would probably have gotten a higher score if more time had been spent on them.

Thanks for making me laugh. :)

[Coldplay - Spies]

Great music video.

I think that this animation captured the essence and atmosphere of the song very well. The graphics were mostly well-done, although in some of the character art his shoulders were too small compared to his head. The best part was the backgrounds, and how you mixed photographed and painted backgrounds. The way that you used the blur effect to give the impression of depth was really nice as well.

ZekeySpaceyLizard's probably right - I'm one of those stupid Newgrounds users who doesn't really understand what this film is about. It doesn't matter, though, I love it. It speaks on an emotional level, and that's enough.

...although I really WOULD like to know what the song is supposed to be about.

By the way, this is a GIGANTIC improvement from your previous submissions! Good work! :)

["Vanity"]

Funny!

An excellent example of a great idea making up for a short flash and ok (though not bad) animation. This was very funny and quite relevant too The voices were great, although the "ahm" thing is a bit too loud.

I salute you, good sir. :)

[Dr Mortales: "Sometimes"]

Wonderfull.

Despite the somewhat grisly subject matter, this is such a remarkably warm and (in a way) old-fashioned submission - it is a joy to watch it. The sound effects were what made it great, and the smooth graphical style. The editing was really nice as well. The only thing I would ask for would be a voice instead of intertitles (you had the voice at the end, so why did you not record it for those lines?), and slightly better drawing in places (it was mostly very good, but the thumb on the paper at the beginning, for example, was a bit off).

It reminded me of such Newgrounds flashes as "Nim's Winter Tale" (check it out if you haven't seen it), and it really is very different from most of the things on this website. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say that you're probably older than the vast majority of users on this website, just based on the style of your animation and the attention to detail. Most people are not nearly as good on their first animation, as you may have noticed. :P

One thing I was a bit confused about - the ending. How did it relate to the animation?

Overall, I'm eagerly looking forward to more nice things from you. This flash is going into the favourites box, and into my Top 10 for this month's voting. :)

drmortales responds:

Hi ESN,
Thanks for such wonderful words, and thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I will definitely have in mind those things you said.
Yes, I am 34 and old-school if you will, kind of grownup for being my first animation, but hey it's never too late...
Thanks again, I'm drawing episode #2 now check back in around June 2006.

[The Fujis]

Whoah, I love this!

That's an excellent claymation style that you've got over there. You're not a member of stopmotionanimation dot com by any chance, are you? ;)

Excellent style, excellent execution and some really nice humour too. I marked this down really only because the sound quality was rather bad and the video quality was also not too stellar.

GagaMan responds:

Blame this site's file size limit for the video quality. Actually, this was my first main attempt at stop-motion.

[Just a Thought]

Whoah!

This... this is just amazing! Please tell us: how did you do it? Is there some kind of community specifically for sand animations where I could see more things like this?

The graphics are amazing. The sound, however, is... not right. It sounds like somebody talking underwater and trying to sound like Darth Vader at the same time. Really, slowing your voice down just made it sound absolutely ridiculous (and hard to understand what was being said).

I also think that for all of the excellent artistry, some of the scenes in this just struck me as crude. Granted, the audience for this was probably intended to be art snobs who wouldn't mind such things at all, but it never hurts to widen your potential viewership, you know?

This is possibly why the score for this one is lower than the review average - maybe some people just get to one of those points and go "ugh! Gross!" and close the window.

So in closing, I'm looking forward to whatever you create next. Come back soon! :)

[Metal Gear Awesome]

Well...

All I can say is that people have strange tastes. I've been baffled by Newgrounds users' decisions before, but never so much as now. For this flash to get such a high score must either mean that

A) it's funny even to people who haven't played MGS, or
B) most people have played MGS

I've never played MGS, and I can't for the life of me see how A) can be true because the humour seems to require a familiarity with the game. A lot of the humour is also somewhat crude. As for B), I never thought that Metal Gear Solid was THAT popular. Seriously, a 4.45/5.00 batting average and a 9.40/10 review average are simply astonishing. Congratulations, I suppose - I have no idea how so many people find this appealing but you deserve credit for making something that nearly everyone (except me) seems to enjoy.

To anyone reading this review - watch the flash, you'll probably love it. I'm honestly baffled as to WHY you would, though... I guess it's just one of the mysteries of the universe.

Egoraptor responds:

I dunno, really. I didn't really intend for this movie to do that well, people just suggested I submit it for the hell of it.

I just made something that made ME laugh, so in turn I guess it makes a lot of other people laugh too. I didn't gratuitously reach for laughter or something, I tried to make things that I think are actually funny and that I laughed at being played back.

I mean, that'd be my best guess as to why it got so big. I didn't create it for the sake of getting a high score or getting daily newgrounds.. whatever score, I created it to be funny.

And you can't please everyone I guess... lol I'm sorry you didn't like it. I figure, you know, even if something's stupid, the people who like it are better off 'cause heay, you know, it's just one more thing to like and to be entertained by.

[EgoCity Chap V disk2]

Long, confusing, and excellent.

This is the first episode of this series that I have seen - probably not a great way to start, considering that this is the final one. I often found the story and what was happening rather confusing, but I'll chalk that up to not watching the previous episodes and not downgrade you for it.

The sheer scope of this flash, however, is amazing. This thing is LONG. And I mean REALLY LONG - I thought it was going to end several times, but it just kept on going. It is also very well animated and choreagraphed.

I'll admit that your animation style isn't one of my favourites (it's a bit too angular for my liking), but you do an EXCELLENT job of animating your characters with a minimum number of frames in just the right places. I was very impressed by the graphics - the style, the colours, and how well you animated the fight scenes, camera pans, and all manner of other effects.

The music was also appropriately chosen. The one thing that brought this flash down was the quality of the voice-acting. The script isn't bad (although as a previous reviewer pointed out, the grammar is sketchy in places), but the delivery is cringe-worthy. If I were you I would've found people who could actually act somewhat well to record the voices. I could see that the voice-actors were trying to be good, but the majority of the time it ended up sounding unnatural and forced.

You should really consider a career in either directing or animation, because this flash was great. A tip for next time would be to maybe choose a more straightforward and easier-to-understand story line. I didn't mark you down for that, but I did have a (perhaps inaccurate) impression that this story might've been a little too complicated for its own good.