Coop's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hurshnenglurper 2009]

So many audio credits... so little justice

A nice long list of audio was used for this piece, with some very talented artists in there as well, I might add. It was just a shame that their pieces never really got the airtime that they deserved in order to be beneficial to the piece itself.

The gags were quite short and mostly funny, but this was sadly short lived. What the required was a quick shot in the arm from a little more work on the animation and perhaps a few additional side gags to drag the pieces out a little further. Something like some commentary from a golf programme for the putter sketch and have the object just clip the hole, for example. I've just offered an idea that could lengthen the pieces themselves by 5-10 seconds each and that's taken me no time to think of.

When it comes to the drawings, perhaps consider that the sprites have been zoomed in on too much - pan the camera back, so that the figures are slightly smaller and you'll have a better looking piece.

The frame by frame at the start worked very well, but again, it was too short. With a few additional bits and pieces, this could have turned into a number of quality short cartoons in their own right, as opposed to having to be a compilation of a number of 'lesser works'

[Review Request Club]

Surn responds:

"It was just a shame that their pieces never really got the airtime that they deserved in order to be beneficial to the piece itself."

Arguably, using only a snippet of the song is a good idea. By giving them a taste it might arouse curiosity about the song and bring the viewer to checking out the song. In fact, the one person with Hurshnenglurper in their favorites list has "Crump NC" in their audio favorites. Also, if you look through those audio links on the side bar you'll notice that in most cases I'm the only one who's used it. I prefer using audio that nobody else has used. I'll admit the animation not being worthy of the audio would have been another good argument.

"Something like some commentary from a golf programme for the putter sketch and have the object just clip the hole, for example."

Actually, I had an idea of the she-pancreas landing in the hole being a prelude for a much higher quality animation to be submitted separately (if I ever get around to making it and making it properly). But I get your point (the gags need better planning).

"...this could have turned into a number of quality short cartoons in their own right, as opposed to having to be a compilation of a number of 'lesser works'"

Yeah, I guess it would be a good idea to mull the short over for a day in case I can come up with any more ideas.

Thanks for reviewing and being honest, it was really helpful.

[Intelligent Critique]

Surrealism

So this is a pretty good take on how to respond to an abusive review. Yes, there is the cross icon, to report it as abusive, but then no-one would know about such a review (and such an appalling, but humorous one at that).

You have a great way of conveying what was funny about this review, from the voice acting through the little caption animations that accompanied the piece. I think it could have been made slightly better, if you'd have gone fro the animation and used subtitles, as opposed to drawing the animation over the top of the review text, as that interrupted my flow, as was reading through the text at the same time as the commentator was reading through it.

Very funny references put in there, especially the grammar nazi part, where you refer to his comment about "humours", which I found particularly amusing. I would ask that you please come up with the lighter alternative to this rather negative stereotype and show off some good reviews in a funny manner, such as this.

[Review Request Club]

W-P-S responds:

review request club, reviewing things that's 4 years old

[Action Movie!]

Well, the start was good

The problem that I see with this animation was that you have a decent mouse drawn piece to start proceedings off with, but then it falls flat on its arse as soon as you start the epilepsy flashing and the spinning symbol.

One of the major failings of the piece was the complete lack of plot. Seriously, I could make a better looking flash, as I remain committed enough to take something from start to finish with a plot that gets it there. If you're going to do a frame by frame, where the cursor flashes different colours, that's fine, but something like this jsut goes to show that you've got little respect for your audience.

From the start, you need to consider zooming in more and from there, allowing yourself to get a better, smoother drawn piece, that encourages people to come back and watch it more and more.

[Review Request Club]

[Magic Guts Power!]

Not bad for a mouse animation

Well, I've seen a lot worse animations gracing the pages of Newgrounds over the years, so I really can't have a go at you for trying. I can point you in the right direction on a few parts however, as you could use a slightly wider spectrum of sound effects, for example. One single sound for the actions sounds like you're moving from frame to frame of a comic strip.

When it comes to the flying and what looks like rocket power, perhaps some sort of facial expression is needed, as otherwise it looks too simple. I'd also suggest that you come up with a design of a flame, as at the moment, it looks as if you've just got a line of body propelling him upwards. It could be some sort of flame, so the best thing I could suggest was to make it a triangular flame, then add a smaller orange one inside and an even smaller yellow flame, to make it look more realistic. Having the size of this flame change smaller then bigger would also help to stop potential boredom for the viewers.

Finally, when the face with eye lasers gets "Mario stomped", perhaps have the guy fly overhead, cut the power and drop, before firing up again and flying away?

When you're drawing, try zooming in and using a slightly smaller tool, to maximise control. When you zoom out, the piece will look so much more detailed, it will surprise you :)

[Review Request Club]

topatisen responds:

Thanks, alot of things to try out here, I will put you in the credits for giving me help on stuff. Thanks!

[Ashura The Hedgehog Ep 1]

Why the flashback?

You could have done so well with this if you'd have put the Shadow / G-emeral fight scene at the start, or even have both fights moving along at the same time, just with some decent cuts between them. Musical cues and cinematic cut-scenes are your ally here and they take a lot of work, but really do add something impressive to the piece.

As it stands, the plot is reasonable, but slightly weak in places - rather one dimensional, where Ashura has come to destroy Sonic, must beat some "lesser enemies" first and then get to Sonic as the battle to end all battles. I just personally think it needs something else, to get it working properly.

With regards to the dialogue, two things. 1) Get a spell checker, because some of the things that you've written are spelled incorrectly. Dealing with this makes a much better looking piece and allows you to build a fanbase.

2) You need a voice actor for this piece - being silent, until the combat noises and music comes along, you need to add something, even if you keep the subtitles.

I look forward to Episode 2.

[Review Request Club]

Light-Spriter responds:

i plan on doing that in the next episode

[Silent Hill Menu]

Strange

I think that you've provided a menu that was a little quiet for what you usually expect of a menu. Particularly the introduction to the menu itself, with the production ident that you throw in there, being slow, deliberate and silent. I know that the clue is in the name, but perhaps making it ironically noisy would better?

The menu itself had a nice breakdown of looped animation that made for an eye-catching piece, with creepy music and a good selection of colours, particularly for the fog, but it could have been slightly thinner, more of a mist, to betray some of the other things that lurk in the background.

With how the piece looks, I would look forward to seeing what you've been able to construct for the rest, but as it appears to have run aground, that will never happen, sadly. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

[Review Request Club]

Fro responds:

Thank you Coop. I'll note these things.

[Avatar - Hot Na'vi Sex]

Dear James Cameron,

Please put this animation as a special feature on the Avatar DVD when this is released. It may need the voices to be redone, because Neytiri sounds far too butch for how she is in the film.

I love the animating style and the sound effects that you've given us - why does the flute style instrument sound like an accordion? You've got a wicked sense of humour and a great sense of comedy timing, coupled with an impressive vocal talent to go with it all.

Great work, keep them coming :)

[Review Request Club]

[Falling.]

Interesting interpretation

I'm certainly a little confused as to why you chose this particular interpretation for the piece. I think that I can agree with the sadness, but the violence just seemed to be taking it a little too far, in all honesty.

With how you've drawn the piece, I can agree with the animation style, but there are places that need some more work. For example, when the girl runs, the mechanics are all wrong - no movement fron the knees or hips as she hits the floor. Try having a look at slow motion footage of sprinters, when they come towards the tape, you'll see what I mean. As they hit the floor, the knees move up and the hips move down, relatively.

I think that it's not insurmountable, so give it a go and we'll see how the future pieces look.

[Review Request Club]

Influous responds:

The song was given to me to animate, when i started the plans I was in a depressive state which probably shows. The monsters represent humans at it's uglyness. The dream itself is somewhat the results of a girl with post tramatic stress disorder, which is a bit hard to explain but comes to something close at heart.

Running and walking is quite a weakness for me although I didn't think it terrible, I'm unsure if I can do better.

Future pieces will not have this style. This is really a one off and I'll be going for something less intense.

[Relaxatives]

Funny and interesting

Firstly, I really like the play on "laxatives", it's such a simple little pun that keeps people ready for mirth. I think this piece could have had more in the way of a soundtrack - the three people weren't very engaged and there were frequent long pauses between dialogue, which sounded unprofessional and broken, as if they weren't in the same room.

I think that the animation is decent, but it could use a little refining - the outlines, while thin and inoffensive are a little wonky from time to time. Take your time, we're not hassling you for this piece to be completed by a certain date, so take your time and get it done right. Also, you could use a little more of a dark red for the blood. It's more crimson than scarlet, so have a look at other shades and see what you think. I'd have tried some different animating techniques as well, as at present, it looks like the blood is coming out of the side of his nose, as opposed to the nostril.

Overall, it's not a bad flash, but over time, it will evolve into something more rounded, as your techniques improve.

[Review Request Club]

bl00db47h responds:

Well, some people like the red crimson blood. It's just a style that I like.

Also, the pauses were problems on my end, not the voice actors. When i was editing some of the dialogue so that it wasn't all in one MP3, I accidentally left some long pauses in there :P Forgot to edit them out.

And yeah, this was my first actual attempt at animating, as I have repeatedly stated (:P lol) so it isn't perfect!

Thank you for the review kind sir!

[Tekken the Piss : King]

I can do a better Attenborough ;)

Seriously, if you need some help with the voices, I can certainly supply you with a better quality Sir David Attenborough, should you think of doing something like this again - this was too deep and it needed more of a whisper to it. Still, never mind, it's a very funny piece, even with the voices like that.

I think that this piece shows the lengths you can go to to get a laugh. I love the way that the piece itself has panned out, though I would suggest that you give slightly better scene cuts, rather than the fades to black that are currently employed.

Some of the characters had rather too angular jaws and it could have been beneficial to have shown the scene where King died in the wild - a fight will always keep the punters coming back for more, while giving something else for the Attenborough commentary to get the teeth into :)

The best piece of the series so far and I think that's all 15 episodes watched so far, but if you're coming back with more, I'm certainly interested to see what you make of them, pus how it will all develop in the future.

[Review Request Club]

Rikimaru-Azlar responds:

I think the humour was more close to home, tried to beset American comedy ideals for a more sarcastic black humour approach. I would definately consider you for Voice overs, I can see you doing a comical steve fox. "Don't touch me you slag"