Coop's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[March of the Giraffeys]

Interesting documentary

I love the idea of the Giraffey, though it does seem a little rushed. Perhaps slow down the vocal presentation a little, as else it will sound a little gabbled. The way that you introduced them all was a nice touch and it all seemed like we were learning a lot about them.

I was a little disturbed by the fact that they kept dying. How many Giraffey were lost during the one year? I think that this particular facet may have been ever so slightly overdone, so toning it down would help a lot.

I long to hear more about these gentle creatures that we know so little about. I'm sure that there is plenty more that you could show us of this. How exactly does a plateau flood, by the way?

Also, I had a little problem getting this to play - it lurched straight to the credits. Is this something that needs looking at, or did I do something again that is not entirely my fault, but I'll be buggered if I can work out what I did?

[Review Request Club]

TheL1st responds:

Actually the project did get a little rushed, I started out of the gates veyr strong but lost faith but heckling from others around me gave me the motivation to finish it.

about the jump to credits, I have not encountered this problem, mayhaps you pressed the "credits" button instead of play?

[Flash Class Assignment]

More holes than swiss cheese

I think that you've got the animation down nicely, but the whole piece is really let down by a lack of sound, glaringly obvious absences of parts where animation should be (The portfolio was empty, as was the "live action scene") and the test kept telling me "wrong dipshit, as opposed to even giving me a chance of a correct answer.

The solutions I'd give are as follows: A soundtrack. You can find plenty of audio on the Audio Portal, that you can download and use in your flash submissions under the free use policy. That will allow you to get your pieces more recognition, as they won't just be well animated, but largely two dimensional. Sound effects might also help, such as a high whistle for when Ben slips and a comedic "thwack" for when he hits the deck. Consider shaking the "camera" at that point, for effect as well.

With the questions, give us multiple choices and allow us to get the correct answer one way or another, rather than just calling us dipshits, because you couldn't make the quiz work properly.

Add the portfolio - I'd love to see what you're capable of, since your drawing skills are simple and effective. This gives people a lot of a chance to see through the toon itself and into the mind of the artist, allowing you to convey more complex ideas.

[Review Request Club]

blakem5 responds:

Thank you very much for the tips...though I do have music for it but for some reason it doesn't work on here...works fine on the .swf....same with the portfolio it works in the .swf version but not on here, it's really confusing...and as for the test I never got that to work sadly and my teacher was no help either lol...but thank you very much

[SRM: The Last Soda]

It's happened too many times >:(

I hate it when that happens. When I used to work in a supermarket and the machines did that when no-one else was on shift, I used to tip the machine and usually get rewarded with stuff I didn't want. Woo-hoo :(

The idea that the games SRM picked are ones that he would pretty much automatically lose at is genius. He then stumbles to Guitar Hero, which wasn't a good choice either in the end, but he could have won at Rock Band - I see him as one of nature's drummers. The question is, what if he misses? Should he sit closer?

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

This cartoon was a while before I really conceived of SRM as a three dimensional character. I couldn't really see him playing drums back then, although these days things would definitely be different.

This is probably the most significant collaboration I've made to this point. I'm doing a team production animation next semester for school, so we'll see how that comes out. I like this toon though; glad you and a lot of other Newgrounds folks did too.

[L'Amour de Rasputin]

Well done *applauds*

That's probably the best written piece of yours that I've seen - the way that the beards are shown at different lengths and Jethro getting given a new beard from what appears to be a cut-throat razor, dripping with blood.

Of course, these things are never meant to last and in return for supplying him with what he wants the most, the peasant Jethro embraces communism (the sickle). This then leads to the symbolic downfall of the workers, as USSR communism was as flawed a concept as an ice cube dispenser in hell (How would they get the power to the damned thing?!)

But alas, the lure proves too much for Rasputin (Please tell me that was he) and so communism claims yet another scalp and the USSR fell, derailing the communism that was seeded there by Stalin and Lenin.

A simple animation that really hits hard.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

That's pretty much the best summary/interpretation of this cartoon that I've seen, actually. I really wish more people saw this cartoon and enjoyed it, but most people just get scared off by anything resembling a foreign language. Glad you liked the toon!

[[Prototype]]

If the shit fits... wear it.

A funny little piece, which won an award and really showcased your ability to do various things in flash, including animate humans really smoothly. I like that Nico made it into this piece, despite the fact that he was killed in the Time Square helicopter crash.

Have you ever been to Time Square? It would take more than a military helicopter to stop those people from walking about - they're like ants. You cut off one route, they just get on with their lives around it. Okay, so New Yorkers are more aggressive than ants, but they get on with their lives, while complaining a lot.

Ah, the joys of doing porn. I can see that there's a big market out there for "that weird guy with the tentacles", as plenty of people will pay good money to see that sort of thing.

Why do you hate this toon so much? It's not bad and it's got over 100,000 Reviews, an award and a high number of reviews at a respectable score... What's not to like?!

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

I love Times Square - I live in Boston so I'm not exactly allowed to like New York much, but I think Times Square is great. Not much would stop New Yorkers from going about their days, not even a superpowered douchebag in a hoodie tearing up their town.

This cartoon was one that I thought was funny until I actually started animating it. I realized that most of the jokes didn't sing to me, and wasn't exactly my style. Violence as a punchline and "Videogames aren't like real life HEH" jokes don't do it for me. I basically felt like I sold out since this was for a website that fell apart for reasons I won't get into right now. I also hated Prototype, so a parody of it started to get on my nerves. It got worse when hordes of 12 year olds started reviewing this telling me how great the game was and how I just didn't "get" it.

This cartoon just felt like the lowest common denominator to me, and the backgrounds are really awful.

[SRM Short: Haircut]

San Andreas has much to answer for!

Ah, the joy of suddenly being able to grow a hairstyle that you might want, in the colour of your choice, while the barber can style it, using only a set of clippers. I'm impressed with the amount of gel that these styles come equipped with, for just a few seconds of "buggering about".

The fact that you ended up with the same style that you started with and even the irony that the spiked hair seems to make an appearance in The Last Soda a few months hence. I like the way that this piece has roots in GTA, but it also brings us some really good classic SRM humour.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

Well, the hair is the same as it was in The Last Soda, since I figured I might as well reuse the assets! This came about from the bizarre idea for a cartoon to have SRM have a haircut. This was suggested to me by more than one fan, which surprises me considering SRM is a bald blue cube-like thing.

Once again, the roots in GTA are moreso for convenience than anything else. I like doing Niko's voice, and I already had one vaguely "human" looking character made up so I did it. The San Andreas haircut comparison is pretty apt though! It's more a Fallout 3 reference than anything else, what with the Tunnel Snakes reference. Glad you liked the toon!

[Meet the Cliffjumper]

Yeah, he sucks

You don't even tell us about what he transforms into or what he'd love to transform into :(

Still, that's the sort of thing that appears on a DVD extras menu, that you could do for each and every one of the transformers in some sort of mini series. The idea that Melatron is actually really just after Prime's supply of Mint Choc Chip ice cream, for example could add a sweet new dimension to the series ;)

I think that you're diversifying away from the Transformers series, which is a shame. I'd love to see you making more bits and pieces like this, but we'll see what you're capable of moving further into 2009 and then onward to 2010 and the present.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

If I made these for everybody, I'd end up with a longer "Meet the..." series than the actual Transformers series. I'd put this on a DVD as an extra in whatever fantasy world prints SRM Transformers DVDs though. It would be fun to explore some of these characters more, but they're all pretty 2-dimensional, animation puns aside.

Cliffjumper is honestly the most compelling character in the SRMTF toons, as much as he sucks. This was an attempt to really make Cliffjumper an Internet presence - he has a Facebook and a Twitter, and with this as the crown jewel in that I thought I could have some sort of return to Internet fame for this series. Didn't work.

I loved the Transformers series, but I think the time has past. I don't have quite as much interest in Transformers anymore since the fantastic Transformers: Animated ended. It was nice to work on these big projects that usually got good reactions though. It was important to move on since otherwise I'd just be making the same cartoons time and again. Besides, I know I can't top SRMTF4 part 2 as an ending for the series.

Also, Cliffjumper is supposed to transform into a compact car. I never animated it since I couldn't figure out a way to make it physically work.

[W40k Dawn of Awesome]

Awesome.

What more can I say? The lack of animation quality only goes to showcase the series and the power that it has over mere mortals. I loved the idea of the Spess Mahreens and the fact that you've made them like old skool Games Workshop models (Entirely the same as every other one - now you can pose each one and I die a little inside, when spending hundreds of pounds in their stores.)

Still, that little aside... aside, I can say that the Necrons were basic and poorly formatted. A shame that they didn't get back up, which would have been good for a laugh.The deep strikes were very nice to see, but you've done 40k before. I demand Orks! And Tyranids, but that's not so important.

Good work, keep it up and give us some more examples.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

I both love and hate that this is my most viewed work on Youtube. It's somewhere around 230,000 as I write this. Goes to show what 3-5 hours of boredom can produce.

The resemblance between the cartoon Marines and the old 2nd edition "I love my bolter" models isn't intentional - it's just a side effect of me being lazy! The Necrons are just repurposed characters from Hitler's Strawberries.

I had an SRM 40k 2 planned back in the day, but I never finished it. It would have had Jebediahs as Tyranids, and uncle Jethro as the Inquisition, along with brother Scruffeh and SRM of the Baby Punters. And Flavor Flavius. I'll never make it.

There's an Ork in Telion's Christmas Party, but I don't think I'll ever release that on Newgrounds on account of it being too horrible. It's on Youtube if you look for it.

[Explode Harder]

Oh, the parodies

Ah, to see that you called it "Explosion Force 5 2: Explode Harder" means that you've taken that part from Die Hard, possibly added some detail from bits and pieces such as Grand Theft Auto, not to mention Explosion force, which doesn't even make sense :P

The idea that you've made a cast list and have thrown in some great bits and pieces, to make it sound and look like a proper film trailer shows that you're still thinking and the writing skills are well exhibited here.

The use of the audio from Newgrounds itself is a testament to the fact that you can find the pieces of work that you are looking for and the fact that they are available, if you're willing to look hard enough. I love that it also adds a new layer of depth to the piece.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

"____ Harder" is my favorite way to subtitle a film. It's just so ridiculous sounding, and it's such an easy cliche. I also threw in that "in through the eye, out through the gun" kind of shot from Ultraviolet, which is a hilariously bad movie.

I like using the same identifiable cast, as you know. I'm even using Greg the Llama in my new SRM cartoon about Guitar Hero type games. Thanks for the props on writing.

I like using audio from Newgrounds, since it's royalty free and noncommercial. It also means I don't end up using music that absolutely everybody else uses. Glad you liked the toon, and know my work well enough to remember it's origins!

[[RD10] Robocop Reacts]

Could have got a better tune

Wow, about 10-20 frames (and that's being generous) of Robocop that you move back and forth of what looks like him either doing an impression of a retarded kid or having an orgasm. I think that the jury is still out on that one.

The music wasn't the best as it was a few seconds of loop. You couldn't even be bothered to credit it, you were so blahzee on what this looked like, in order to get a piece released in time for Robot Day. You could have put a little more effort in - the piece was still well within the submission limit for that day, at over 3.5 hours to go.

Let's not split hairs, this wasn't exactly your best piece. Perhaps get us to this place, by making an animation of Murphy talking to his partner and discussing something, before he decides to dance, for example. I'm not the greatest writer on the planet, but that took me seconds to come up with.

Give it a shot, what are you waiting for?

Punisher responds:

Yep, this was basically another RD cash in for "teh lols'.
minimal effort, confirmed. :3