Coop's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Big Pop!]

Creationist joy!

Well, this certainly puts a different spin on things - I hope that Richard Dawkins is watching, though his denial of any possibility of a god-like being is so deep rooted, that it makes me look like I'm preaching that there is a god and we should stop what we're doing to worship him. This is not the case, I don't know what's out there and quite like it that way.

On to the animation - yes, it's got some good quirks and adds a very different outlook to Felix Mendelssohn's music, but in a similar way to Fantasia, by Disney, this almost gives us a darker parody of Rite of Spring, by Stravinsky, if you're willing to expand upon that metaphor for a moment.

The bubbles were the genius behind this piece, with the way that they changed colour in their infancy, then started to become developed and more industrialised, before descending through the tragic downward spiral of war and their ultimate destruction. I love how the "god alien" blows a new batch of bubbles, then fades into the background, so no-one can really know it it's there, a poignant metaphor for humans and faith.

I look forward to seeing more of your work

Macchia responds:

hey, thank you really for your fantastic review,
Now I'm feeling something like Tim Burton mixed with Michio Kaku!

p.s.
Theoretical physics, latest multiverse hypothesis prove i'm right:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/news/universe-bubble-lets-check

ok, I'm joking, thanks again!
:D

[Animator vs. Animation IV]

Oh. My. God.

Wow, I remember when this project was just a tiny little brianstorm - a few moments of someone's day and we were all quite a bit younger. Oh, how it has flourished and now that you've been taught to animate better, I'm sure you can go on to make even bigger and better things.

Alan, you're an inspiration, that something good can come from lots of hard work, plus someone trying to end the senseless destruction that we saw had become so apparent in the pieces of old. Yes, there was a great joy to be had from Flash getting completely gutted and essentially the whole computer being made FUBAR by a stick figure. It's also interesting to see how the technology has moved on, bringing your own hands and voice into the piece, with some nifty video technology. AIM has been replaced with Facebook Messenger, firefox has been replaced by Chrome, the Chosen One Reborn gets into your iPhone and still, the havoc continues.

A lovely idea, built upon continually within the series. Will there be an episode V, or is this the culmination of the series? I suspect that this might not be the end, with some sort of dark agent seeking to wrest control of the computer and defeat Stick, to bring in a new reign of terror. I'd love to see how you took to that challenge and how you managed to make this even more fantastic.

I salute you and your efforts.

[Versus.076]

Cruise, Tom Cruise!

Simply the funniest one of the whole series that I have seen so far. Seriously, these are the sort of things that make coming to Newgrounds every day worthwhile. Simple, hilarious and rather well animated, considering it's just black and white lines, with an occasional attitude to other colours being thrown around there.

The plot is simple, though at some stage, I would like to see you set up a series and have the competitors move on to the next round in some sort of bizarre version of the MTV claymation "Celebrity Deathmatch" The end of the series would of course have someone crowned as the overall winner and therefore I would assume king of the world, until the next series of Versus rolls around.

You've clearly thought a lot about the plot and from the more humble beginnings, you now have a very saleable product, one which will keep people laughing and also keep producing these fine cartoons for weeks, if not months to come.

I'll have to go back and review the other 75, but I feel it will be worth it, from start to finish.

[One Girl ; One Sandwich]

Surreal.

I loved the way that I was just expecting sex puns by your tag line "she just wants a meaty twelve-incher" and then I get slapped with a carnivorous cheese, bolony and mayo sub, chewwing off the main protagonist's head.

Yes, you were very clever with the fact that you appealed to the perverts, by giving them boobs and gratuitous nipple shots. Judging by the setting and the clothing she wore, I could see why the lycra was stretched over her ample bosom, but that's beside the point. Cracking the glass was quite amusing as well.

It could have stood to be a little longer, perhaps with more dialogue - make her be over the top enthusiastic and the guy behind the counter somewhat less than amused by her puns, innuendos and whatever else she decides to throw his way.

Keep up the good work, I expect that you'll be able to achieve yet another daily feature, even if it was just a little piece like this.

[Zelda Chicken March]

Short and simple.

The Pied Piper of Kentucky is working hard and wearing some ridiculous mask... *looks away* Hmm? Oh, it's a beard is it? - And as a result, there are plenty of deep fried pieces of poultry in the bucket, having been coated with special Tri-Force sauce and everyone is happy.

I liked this piece, as I was amused by the whole way that things panned out, but the mask that Link had to wear to get the chickens to follow him. My dad keeps a few chickens and I've never had to wear any sort of mask to get the buggers to follow me around - just show up with something that looks tasty, such as a mug full of corn and they will love you forever. Ever seen the "Piece of Candy" sketch in Family Guy, where they trap James Woods? Basically the same principle.

You could have done something similar for St. Patrick's Day, as this is allegedly how St. Paddy rid the Emerald Isle of snakes and also Link does look a little like a Leprechaun, don't you think?

The other question that I'd have to ask about this is how would the Burger King go about his business, or Ronald McDonald? Do they recruit other video game stalwarts, like Mario, Sonic or those sprites from Metal Slug, perchance?

[Review Request Club]

[iPhone 5 Ad Parody]

While this cleverly draws attention to the shortcomings of Apple and the idea that because they don't like a company or get along with it (Flash, for example), that they turn their back on it and it dies out. Sure, there may be more to it than that, but it's hardly a lone example, if I'm honest.

The lack of backgrounds is what gets on my nerves here. I'd rather see something there, to make the picture more complete and give us a sense that the guy belongs where he is, rather than have him framed in white.

Still, quality jokes, decent animation, which is improving with time and overall a very nice production. Given that this is current affairs, you've made it in good time and have capitalised on the laughs that will come from this being cutting edge.

[Review Request Club]

[Dr Who - BlaBlaBla Daleks]

Awesome!

You even suggested reversing the polarity of the neutron flow! Classic!

I may not be the world's biggest fan (Though I did email a link of this to someone who may be approaching that level), but this piece shows a lot of foresight for the writing of Doctor Who at the present. It used to be sci-fi drama, but now it clearly appears to be dumbing down and aiming more at the kid's audience demographic. That's not your problem, but you've lampooned it quite well, one has to say.

Aside from that, your animation style having no mouths and disembodied hands really makes things look weird, but that's a nice distraction from the goings on with all of the daleks crawling about. How come none of them ever seem to pull the trigger, they just stand there and look menacing? Stupid, as they've had dozens of chances to off the Doc, by now!

The Dalek impersonation was weak, but that was catered for by the stronger voice acting in other areas. Perhaps consider adding volume to the vocals overall, as they were a little drowned out by the sound effects from time to time.

[Review Request Club]

[Half Beard]

I have a new profile pic and was directed here because of it. Yes, I wore a half beard for all of 15 minutes. Perhaps I will do something similar for the next London meet, but that would be verging on the ridiculous.

A nice animation, with great style, poise and writing, which I'm going to have to investigate further, for more laughs. Your writing style seems very similar to my own, so I just have to see if there's some material in there that I might be able to use as "research"... yeah, that'll be it.

The voices could have been a little louder and the sound effects a little quieter, as they tended to conflict a little, but since this was made in 2007, I'll let you off.

Great stuff, keep doing what you do.

[Review Request Club]

[Googol GLaDOS 2.0]

Ah, still as useful as ever.

Everyone loves GLaDOS, though I'm not sure if it's love to hate, or something similar. She really does employ logical arguments to Siri and I did love the call back to some of the older computers. This leaves me to suggest that you have GLaDOS attack / infect or just interact with a ZX Spectrum, because writing her program to a tape would prove a suitable challenge, surely. It was either that, or seeing the faces of the little Miis, as they run around the Mii Plaza, being killed of one by one, as she runs amok in the Nintendo world.

Subtle of subtle jokes, when you had the computer thrown out of the Windows (7th floor?) to finish it off, but with everything these days either run by a computer, or connected to the internet, this could be the start of a series that becomes Apocalypical, in the demise of humans and rise of mechanical devices.

Wait, haven't we seen that in a movie before?

[Review Request Club]

[Op. 100 "Kingdom" 3D Film]

An opera in flash. Well, maybe not an opera, because they have words, but this is close!

Well, what needs to be said? It's fantastic, the piece conveys a lot of emotion and the gravity of how this piece unfolds is paced really well. I love that you focus more on the vistas, more than on the individual characters, involved within this play.

In some of the scenes, you panned over blurred foreground images to show a crisp background, which really looked fantastic. Would it be too much of a stretch to focus on the foreground and then when you can see the background, alter the focus to set the scene, as they used to in the movies?

Some issues did come to light, however - why is the king / leader in movement 1 not armed at all? Surely, if he were dressed for war, i.e. wearing a full suit of plate mail, then he would have a sword. If you watch historical films, you will see that the leader types give orders, by waving their sword about.

In movement 2, the door getting kicked in looked too formulated - it swings open, then falls very uniformly to the floor. Something like this needs to be addressed, as it would never fall like that in reality - have it come off one hinge first and crash to the floor in a more haphazard way.

In movement 3, the sunlight is at a steep angle, which is fine - the dropping light hits the floor, yet you have squares of what I can only perceive to be sunlight on the right hand wall, well above where these beams of light fall. This contradicts the physics that you've got, unless you have this set on a world with two suns, which is a bit of a leap, if I'm being picky (I am, but that's just how I write reviews)

While movement 4 was rather sad, it didn't feel long enough to give the impression of the fall - we just see the aftermath, rather than how someone actually fell. Perhaps this is just an issue with semantics, as opposed to a glaring error, that needs addressing.

Still, I really enjoyed it. I look forward to more of your work.

[Review Request Club]

samulis responds:

Hey Coop, thanks for the great review. :)

The king isn't armed because he's a non-standard character and giving him a sword to hold would take several minutes to do and I was trying to rush that shot as it was the last one of the first day and somewhere around 1:10 AM.

The door kick had to be keyframed in... and after I saw it, I agree, it looks terrible... but it has a comical and metaphorical side- that these little characters could kick down this big ass door.

Do note that there are additional windows right below the dome that are out of sight in those shots I believe... the "god-rays" are props and rather annoying to get in place at that... when I tried one on the windows above, it ended up looking poor. Although it isn't entirely accurate, it doesn't look so weird.

I decided to do movement 4 that way simply because iClone (the 3D program) can't handle more than say, 20 characters at a time... nor do I have props designed to break. Animating a large battle and things burning and breaking isn't really possible then, so I had to stick with ruins and little faded overlays of the past. My main inspiration for this was the opening to Age of Empires I where you have a battle and then you see ruins and they tell the story of the end of the battle through flashbacks.