Esn's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Midnight Snack]

Really funny, but the pacing seems a bit off.

This flash has a really high number of things which made me choke up with laughter, but unfortunately the pacing is often not that great - it didn't give me any time to finish laughing about one thing before it went on to the next thing, which is fine when you have a LOT of not-so-funny jokes but not so great when practically every joke in the flash makes me laugh so hard that I can't focus on anything for a few seconds after. Major kudos to you guys for your sense of humour, but a point off for timing (for example, after the joke with the gasoline and the match, it would have been quite nice if you'd given us some breathing room by having a 2-second shot of the blanket on fire, instead of going straight to the next scene).

Other'n that, excellent graphics and great voices (it had no music, so that's why it's an 8 and not a 9). Although I really enjoyed this flash, I get the feeling that if the pacing of the jokes had been just a little better I would've enjoyed it a lot more. To anyone reading this who hasn't watched it yet: do so, it's hilarious!

[38 Hours Of My Life!]

Only 38 hours?

It seems like it should've taken more... but I guess if you know what the heck you're doing, you can speed the process up a lot.

I quite liked this - it was all frame-by-frame pretty much, and it had some really good art, most of which looked really natural. Usually when you see something frame-by-frame in Newgrounds the art quality suffers, but not here!

I'm not sure about a "deeper meaning", but it was fun to watch, so you get my 5! :) "4" for humour because I liked that little windows loading bar that you had at the beginning.

Have you considered sending this to the makers of the song? I think it's good enough to be an official music video, personally.

[Over Under Sideways Down.]

Quite good.

Though I can't say that I loved the concept (although it was a bit funny), it was still animated really well and innovative enough for me to like it. I loved the look and colouring of the main character, and the scene where he was running up those endless stairs - some really creative bits there. Good choice of music, too.

[life: a sticky note]

I can honestly say

that this made me smile all the way through. It's a very nice flash, with good music and nice graphics. Nothing laugh-out-loud funny, but more like constantly amusing. This seems to me like an internet card that you might send to somebody, especially someone who's overworked - it might've worked a little better if you didn't refer to the viewer, though, because some of the people who're viewing this flash are lazy and DON'T need a break! ;)

Anyway, good job, and definitely keep at it!

[The Good and The Evil]

A fairly good movie, not sure about the message...

The animation was a bit simplistic at times, I'd say - when he was "walking" along the path, for example, it was still frames instead of animation. I guess it WOULD have taken a long time to do, though. The music fit the flash fairly well.

The other reason I didn't give it a higher score is that I don't agree with it, and since this is a message animation I think that that is a valid reason to take a point or two off; after all its purpose should be to make as many people as possible agree with its message.

As other people have said, your definitions of "right" and "wrong" choices are based on your own opinions. Not taking drugs and not smoking - ok, so that is destructive behaviour - it slowly kills your organism. But how is it actually wrong? You cannot live your life without ever engaging in some sort of 'destructive' behaviour, whether it's not getting enough sleep, not eating the best possible foods for your metabolism, not doing your job as well as you should, etc. It becomes very complicated, because to nearly every 'destructive' behaviour there is also a positive pay-off, and the question is if that pay-off justifies the means.

It seems to me that this is what you're really getting at - this will affect you in life (cost vs benefit), but I do not see how any of those things will impact the afterlife. After all, the Bible says nothing about not smoking. Now, I hate smoking/smokers, but I made that decision without any religious justification for it - I decided that the payoff in life wasn't worth it. Your attempt to tie it in with religion falls flat; I just do not see the connection.

Another thing that really bugs me about that sequence is the "look how good I am" vibe that I get from the flash when his heart begins to glow after he tells off the druggie/smoker. And also at the end when he's the one who gets into heaven and the rest of them are on Earth beating each other up. What kind of a message is that? That because you found something at fault in them, because according to you they did some evil, then that means that they are completely bad people? IMO, too many religious folk look down on others who they perceive are "worse" then them, and because of a lifetime of believing this some of them become complete assholes (see Fred Phelps and his many hate websites - it'll blow your mind).

The final line, I guess, is that I disagree with you - in my opinion, right and wrong are personal opinions distinct to every person (although peer pressure does play a role), and the only reason that you act the way that you act (doing good deeds included) is because it is of benefit to you. Why would I help a homeless man? Because it makes me feel good to do it. That is also why, I am guessing, you are religious - it brings a certain fulfillment to your life. Again, however altruistic the motives, it all comes down to you (I think, therefore I am). If you're doing these things because you want to get into heaven, then it's still about you; if you don't care about getting into heaven, then it's STILL about you because it gives you satisfaction to think in that way. You really can't escape this, but I think it's best to be aware of it.

That's why we have laws, I guess - to try to please as many people as possible so that society as a whole will prosper, because it's impossible to please EVERYONE's ideas of how things should work. What we can do is (generally) please the majority and restrain the minority. Every culture and country does this, although some (eg. North Korea) are a lot more restrictive than others (eg. The... I was about to say the USA, but I guess Sweden is probably a slightly better example nowadays, for better or for worse ;).

[Belong to everyone]

Oh, that was wonderfull!

A simple yet beautiful style, and very well-animated and well paced!

Excellent music, very good story, and funny too. I honestly didn't see the end coming. :)

I wonder what else you've made... I guess I'll have to check it out!

[Green Lights]

Subtitles?

This was really good in terms of animation, character design & storyboarding, but I have no idea what the song was supposed to be about since most of it is in another language. Could you possibly also add English subtitles alongside the Chinese (?) ones, so that the song will be translated? Even if the translation isn't that great, it'll be far better than nothing.

[Space Monkay Halloween]

Quite good.

This is an excellent thing to watch before Halloween! I especially like the Ray Noble song "Haunted House" at the end, and how you impersonated Orson Welles. And the appearance of Death. A long of things actually.

Fun flash!

[Captain Capitalism]

The storyboarding could use some polish...

It may be a little unfair to rate this a "6" when this is in fact aiming at something much higher than most NG movies that I would give this rating to, but it's all a matter of context. The thing is, the excellent graphics, style and sound of this flash led me to expect something extraordinary, but aside from a few well-timed jokes (anything that had to do with Dick Cheney was good), I could say that as far as the story is concerned this wasn't very interesting. All style and little substance.

My biggest criticism is that Captain Capitalism doesn't actually DO anything that would make him worthy of his name (aside from talking in a superhero voice) - you could've substituted a school principal for his character and the effect would've been the same. So overall, there is some potential here, but I would really like it if your next animation was more original - this one just feels like a rehash of countless other things that I've seen before. Unlike Adam Firth's "Burnt Face Man" or humbleego's "Holiday Super Friends", this flash doesn't really do anything fresh with the superhero stereotype - it's very by-the-book, and it suffers for it.