Coop's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[On The Moon (Episode 21)]

Merry Tuesday!

Wow, the fact that you included Bit from Tron in there as well was such a nice touch. I've got to say, I love the Toast KIng and Insanity Prawn Boy, even for their masses of faults.

Still, that aside, I think that they really do get well together and I must ask who it was that the Toast King was enjoying some time in the stationary cupboard with. Was she going to spread him with Marmite, or is that just too kinky for his Toastness?

NASA at least have managed to send a probe to visit the moon and they have found Martinis on there, but the problem being that now, they may have stumbled upon a massive mountain of Shrimp-based fertiliser. This could provoke an invasion by Earth. How on earth (or the moon, in this case) would the Toast King cope with an invasion?! This calls for a flashback scene to 1969, showing us how he coped with it, I feel.

What do you think, Jonty? Or am I going to have to pester you about this at the August meet?

[Review Request Club]

TheWeebl responds:

We prefer to come up with our own ideas I'm afraid. Also giving plot suggestions isn't reviewing.

[Bush's War on Terror]

A little basic

Decent animation, but more lip sync is required - I think that George W. Bush has been lampooned for the best part of a decade in the world of International Politics, so the subject has about been as done as it can be to death.

Since it is so short, focus turns critically to what was missed and Dubya always tends to have a very animated face, particularly with the expressions he makes. I feel that you've missed a trick here - there is even more of a chance to make him look the fool, so why not grab it with both hands?

As a step to the future (past?) I would mesh this up with various other Presidents and make a medley, where you animate lots of them saying various other things. If they are merely addressing the Union, then fine, but if they are in an interview situation, you could have Nixon and Clinton talking about a Saxophone, for example, while the Bushes compare notes on their dynasty of 3 terms in 5 and how much money this has cost them.

A great deal of potential, I'd love to see you take it further!

[Review Request Club]

[That Damn Project]

Good work

A good few examples of what you've learned in class, combined with decent artwork and a fine finish. You can clearly write a good plot and make use of the tools at your disposal to come up with something that looks polished and presentable.

I would like to see more effort on the cheated part over the few days and nights, as the protagonist here didn't really do much, except for wave his arms around for three days. Have him move around and do something, even if he opens the curtains every morning, or goes to get coffee. Just something that you can do in time lapse that will make it seem like he's not just waving hands overhead like a demented lunatic.

The experience of the joke is one that we've all had to bear, but I'd have at least thrown the computer out of the window to end it all - granted, as this was created for a class, you might have had time constraints and so forth, but you have proven that this is the tip of the iceberg.

I look forward to more of your work.

[Review Request Club]

Linksys17 responds:

Thank you I really appreciate the advice, and yes the time constraints did sort of reduce what it could have been.

[Tetris Revamped: Tribute]

Needs work, but it's a start

Okay, so this piece runs for a few loops of the track then starts to suffer on the audio front. Sadly, this does not get to the end of the animation, as you're almost up there, but not quite. Each of the animations has its own little quirks that need ironing out, so I'll run through them below:

Keyboards: Try to give it something that looks vaguely like he's actually playing the keyboard - move the hands up and down, not side to side along the board, as it's a little too quirky. The notes aren't that different, after all, so a slight tweak left or right would be for changes in pitch.

Bassist (Guitar #1): There are two types of bassist - ones that pluck strings and ones that use a plectrum. Let's assume that he used a plec and have the right hand moving up and down to the beat, while occasionally repositionbing the hand on the neck, for changes in pitch.

Drummer: Again, get these going to the beat, but you might want to consider adding additional drums if you feel like a change

Guitar / Keytar (Guitar #2): Have you considered trying to draw this as a 1980s Keytar? Could be worth a shot. If not, the plec hand was good and there could be a little movement up and down the neck for pitch changes, but overall, the best one so far.

With the effects, you've done a decent job, but I would suggest that you put a background in on some sort of stage, so that it looks better - cut to crowd faces and dancing mobs etc, for effect and I look forward to seeing your next piece.

[Review Request Club]

[Print Lab Panic!]

Could have been better

I can see that this was building up to something, but I was genuinely disappointed, as I thought that you were going to at least make something from the buildup. Have you peaked? Not judging by your later works, but this does need a little prod in the right direction.

The scene is set for something horror based, like Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil, but you left us hanging there with a massive plot hole that I wouldn't have expected from you. Some sort of punchline about the print lab guy being really helpful, after printing out the work for the kid, or something like that - how about the disc was blank and the kid drops to his knees and lets out a mighty "NOOOOO!", before fading to black, while the long legged thing says "Can I eat your brain now?" Something a little funny, but maudlin.

This animation style is coming along and I want to see these two guys featuring in more flash soon. Get to work on your next one, your latest project is already a few days old!

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

This cartoon was originally going to go a little further - the creeper guy was going to try and return the disc to him as Dave ran off into the light, only to pat himself down to find he forgot his homework.

This animation really had very little going on in the story department - we were required to make an animation with a walk cycle, a run, an unusual walk, and so many other various animation dealies. In other words, it's very much an exercise and not so much a focused animation. I really wish I could have gone further with this one, but I only had a few weeks to toss it together, as opposed to the 14 weeks I had to make my [Popular Music Game] animation.

Just want to say thanks for reviewing every single cartoon I've got - it's no small feat! I'll be sure to let you know as I make new cartoons. You're one of my favorite viewers, and I always enjoy reading your reviews. And don't worry about a new cartoon - I've got a few ideas stewing around in my head I'd love to make!

[Urban ninja 2 : Revenge]

Improvement, but still a lot to learn

Okay, so you've done a decent job of the drawing and the animation will come together with time and practice, so keep that up. I will offer a few hints and tips:

1) Your logo should be at the start - it's a little long for the episode, so two options present themselves: Put the finished image in, or make the episode longer.

2) Voices could be used really well in this - That would cut out the horrible white screens there and you would be able to make the whole piece flow much better. There are plenty of voice actors here that would help you with this, particularly up-and-coming ones that need the exposure, as much as you need the voices. Getting them together could help both causes.

3) Animation isn't the strong suit of this piece, but that's because you didn't give it a chance to blossom. The spinning shuriken was a nice touch, but I would suggest that you work with a lot more plot for the third part, as you've got so much more to show us, with a little more patience. 1-2 minutes of footage would be a great place to think about cutting, but this is less than 30 seconds, so I think a few viewers will feel a little deprived by watching this.

Don't despair, you can get there - the answers are in your hands.

[Review Request Club]

Turtlepoop responds:

much appreciated
i always listen to tips :)

[Inception in about 1 min]

Reflects the acting well.

Love it - you should make more!

But in all seriousness, you should consider taking some sort of step away from the "pop-up book" look to the piece, where you've got one animated piece sligind behind another, encompassing the whole of the piece.

Yes, there is a good symbolism for DiCaprio's acting for this Matrix remake, but other than that, there really isn't much to comment on. You've got to up your game for next time - something about the spinner, for example and take it from there, where you can explore if either of these worlds are real, or if the whole film was designed to mindfuck and cause the audience more confused and bewildered than they were when they actually bought tickets to see it in the first place.

[Review Request Club]

Sethdd responds:

I have no idea what you are talking about.

[SRM Rock Guitar Band Hero]

Awesomesauce!

Wow, what fortune that I had to stumble on this little beauty as it entered the portal! A great take on [Popular Music Game] and [Popular Music Game] that seem to be dominating the scene of gaming at the moment. While I may not have played either of these games for a while, I can still see that the jokes related to them are current and I would go so far to say that [Popular Music Game] is the better of the two.

The animation is great, especially the parts where SRM gets Hendrixed and then Slashed. You could have made the hat a little bigger for Slash, because it tends to be oversized, to cope with the head, but other than that, it was fantastic.

With the way that you've done this, does this mean that Greg will be getting bigger parts in the later toons? I hope so, he was a really cool character!

I do love that you pay so much attention to detail, putting things like SRMClock on the book shelf and the way that you put little things like that there just make the episode stand out even more.

Award winning? Let's hope so, you deserve it!

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

Thanks! I'm glad you got to see my latest and greatest just as it got out of the portal.

I really hope this wins an award - it's been a while since I got the sort of critical attention I used to get. Either way, I'm incredibly happy with how this cartoon turned out.

I'm pretty sure this is the first 10 I've gotten from you - glad you enjoyed this one :) I'm also happy that you caught the little references like the SRMClock and the Jebediahs I scattered around.

Also, it's no doubt that [Popular Music Game] is the superior game.