dirtshake's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[//Necropolis Xenophobe]

FINALLY!!!!

You have no idea how kickass it was to see this highlighted in blue while looking at the portal. FINALLY after months and months of watching (literally and figuratively) you make this I finally see the end result? And what do I get? Kick ass shit. So as always, here is dirtshake's long-as-shit-in-depth-review.

The Pros:

Your art and animation have always been amazing in all of your movies, even the ones in 2006 with the diamond shaped heads and shit. Your newest style and take on the characters is the best yet. They are way more flexible artistically speaking. You're able to add insane amounts of detail during close ups or less intense shots and able to make them move very fluidly during fight scenes or animation heavy shots. You do a great job of using this design to your advantage as well. The characters are always fun to look at, moving or standing. Keep that up.

Another thing you have always been great at is atmosphere. Your shots of the city-scape and urban country-side work great for setting up the tone of scenes. The beginning is the best example I have for this movie. It really sets up the city-scape for the protest scene. The next shot was good, but didn't have the edge. It made everything too peaceful for the fatal fight scene, which I suppose is good irony, but it didn't work as good as the first one. Either way, it is still a great skill and you definitely use it well. Keep using it to your advantage because it works great.

The Cons (sort of):

Unlike everyone else I won't bitch about the screaming. I think you got the message. Plus I know Stetneh would hit me.
The arrow with squiggly text for painkiller. Seriously??? That was the biggest letdown for me. Your first idea was SOOO much better. I don't know why you didn't go with that one, but next time don't do that. NO!!! BAD KALEN!!!

The Storyline (not a con):

The plot of Necropolis, from Devilslayer, to Nightgun, and now Xenophobe, has been your greatest struggle; personally and from a viewers standpoint. Very little has every been clear and it takes a bit of effort to understand your story. Unlike you previous movies, this one seems disconnected from the rest. With Devilslayer and Nightgun I was able to watch them all, and put together the plotline without too much effort. This one seems like a re-invention of your story. However...I fucking love it.

Honest, I love it. I've been telling you that since you told me the plotline (yes bitches, I have the inside scoop). I think it has WAY more potential than anything you've previously done. Magic vs Religion is, while not entirely original, a great topic to explore in a cartoon, especially with your talent and style. There are some things that need to be flexed out, such as minor details about Necropolis as a society, character backgrounds (mainly Elixir and Romeo), and the bigger picture. Plot skills such as character development, suspense, and all that have improved greatly over your previous works. They're not perfect, but knowing how hard you've worked on those things I tell you that you have succeeded in improving them on a noticeable level. Keep that up.

From reading the reviews (why am I doing the work for you...) people want those things to improve most. Take it as people want to see more. We want more and we want it soon. Congratulations. You've hooked us. :)

One more minor complaint. The narration at the end. I see that you wanted to provide closure, but it seemed very out of character and style to throw that in like that. Closure is good, but it felt rushed. Something different might have worked better, such as a shot of a funeral or something. Maybe even newspaper clippings of it, Elixir's wife crying, and Romeo vowing revenge in his typical jackass douchebag style (which would have helped his character development). I'm allowed to gripe on this because it's new.

Alright, I'm done now. Kickass shit as always. I can't wait to see the next one and I plan on pushing you the rest of the way. My inbox is always open.

Peace.

[Training-wujoco]

So good, butdistractions

That was an insanely well animated movie. I loved watching every second of it. It had a cute "storyline", but it's real charm was the simply drawn yet beautifully animated characters. I'd go on and on about how great it was, but instead I'll mention something that really aggravated me the entire time I was watching.

The white space around the movie was horrible. Extremely un-professional for such a high quality movie. Normally that stuff wouldn't distract me much, but with the rest of the movie being so polished it stuck right out like a sore thumb.

Other than that this movie kicked ass.

[Resurrection of a Clown]

Loved the colors

I loved the colors on this movie. It was the Madness style, but so much more life-like. I want to use the word organic to describe it.

The animation was simple, but your artwork made up for that. The atmosphere you created was very dark and sinister. The hallway scene was a perfect example of this. I got chills when the Clown was walking down the hallway and bodies fell to his feet.

All in all, amazing work.

[M.O.T.O.R]

Very nice

I loved this. If it wasn't for the Madness style characters I would have thought this was your own little series. The designs were great. A nice variation of the Madness style. Though your backgrounds and non-organic artwork was amazing. I loved the space ships and the station. They were very clean and great to watch. The 3d effects were amazing as well.

I would have liked to see more animation, but I can understand how time constraints can limit that sort of thing. I hope you make a sequel someday, even if it isn't for Madness Day 2010.

Great work!

DutchinLive responds:

I'll definitely be making something like this in the future, I'll make a sequel of this for Madness Day 2010, but I'm going to start on a sci-fi series as we speak.

[Captain Glacaitor preview]

Sweet

This was an awesome animation! I don't know what inconsistencies you were talking about because I didn't notice any.

Your art was simple but your animation made my jaw drop! Not only was the animation smooth but you animated every little movement Captain Glacaitor made. The best example of this was the beginning speech. The simple bobs and weaves he made gave this character an entire new dimension of life. Very well done.
I also commend you on your camera work and tweening animation. I could tell where it was, but you used it in a way that blended with the fbf.

Overall very well done. I can't really find any flaws with this right now, so I guess I'll just tell you to improve on your artwork.

Again, kick ass!!!

SuperFakeFilms responds:

wow, thanks.

I was talking about line quality, and the jitter of the brushtool linework when I mentioned inconsistencies.

also the lines were really thick

[Kk Versus Ff-the Fight]

ZombiePimp???

Your style reminds me so much of ZombiePimp's work its not even funny. Don't take that as an insult though, because this was fantastic work!

The art was very simple. Character designs were simple, no shading, simple backgrounds, but I can see this was done so you could focus on animation. That was a good choice, as your animation is very well done. I have a lot of respect for anyone that does primarily frame-by-frame and you did it very well. Most things were smooth, but even when they weren't it somehow fit with the overall style. Great work.

The audio and effects used were great as well. I like how you didn't rely on flashy effects but used them as a special touch. Just as they should be and very nice. The music choice was fantastic and the touches of audio gave an added flair.

Overall this was a very nice movie. You have a nice style and it honestly reminds me of good anime. Keep up the great work!

Hulalaoo responds:

LOL, zombiepimp and me have 2 styles diferent, is how say, water and oil, the work of make aniamtion frame by frame is only for artist with other lvl

[Sing, Kitty, Swing!]

Not Crappy At All!!!

If this is crappy than I want to see the great stuff, because this is not a crappy flash at all. For being one of your first flashes this is very well done. You better have gotten an A on this project because if you didn't than something is wrong with your educational institution.

The art was very cartoony and since this was a cartoon that is a good thing. Everything was colorful and well drawn for the style you were going for, which was simply light-hearted fun. The animation was great too. It was a great balance of frame-by-frame and tweening. The fbf was a little choppy at times but I'm probably one of the few people who would notice that. You could also work on polishing your fbf-tweening animations too. Compared to everything else they lacked smoothness.

I also have to give you credit for the song selection. Who doesn't love the Chips Ahoy Theme Song(I really wish I knew the actual name)? Not only was the song selection good, but you matched the animation with the song nicely. The best example of this is when the cat was trying to climb the ladder to get after the bird.

Overall this was a very well done movie for a beginner. Don't call your stuff crappy unless it is crappy, because this was awesome!

[Hillside Settlement]

Very nice!

Very nice movie. Superbly done. I kind of identified with the main character in this movie. Like him I love to dream big before I do anything. I think most people can relate to this theme, which is a big reason why this movie is so good.

The art was fantastic. The characters may have been simple but the backgrounds more than made up for that. Everything was extremely detailed and beautiful. I can tell you put a lot of hard work into this movie, and it paid off. The animation was very simple but it worked for what you were trying to show; the progression of one's dreams and goals in one's mind.

You picked great music for this as well. Very majestic and it fit with the mood of the movie every time a large even occurred.

Overall this was a very well done movie. Fantastic job! I'm putting this on my favorites list!

[Spoof of the Colossus]

Pretty funny

Pretty nice movie you made here. I've never played the game but every time I see something about it I really want to rent it. One of these days I'll have to do that.

The artwork in this was fantastic. Everything from the characters to the backgrounds was beautiful and very detailed! You never let it slack either, so every frame was great to look at. Unfortunately this made your animation suffer. Too many tweens going on for my liking, but I suppose if you are going to create amazing art work something has to suffer. Next time try to find the right balance of both to make your visuals even more spectacular.

The parody part of this movie was actually very funny and very true to the questions raised in the game(according to what I've read). The ending in particular was very funny. Nice job on this aspect of the movie.

Overall this movie was very well done. Just work on animation next time to get even better.

doctormario responds:

I will try. :3

Thanks.

[Dimlight]

Meh..same old shit

For a Twilight parody...it was alright. Though I can only base this off of other Twilight parodies since I refuse to watch the movie, which begs an interesting question; how many authors of Twilight parodies actually saw the movie or read the books? I ask this because it appears that every parody is starting to become the same. Yours is no exception.

Everything that was made fun of in this movie was made fun of before. The only way to stand out is with the presentation, which was sub-par in this movie. The art and animation was too simplistic to stand out so perhaps the dialogue can save your movie. In some ways it does and in others it doesn't. The voice acting was actually the best part of this movie. I think you represented the characters and the absurdity of the Twilight concept very well by the way the characters were voiced. For that I give you credit.

The final dick-sucking scene was, well, I'm not sure exactly how to put it, but was kind of funny. The ending line was the best part of this entire movie.

Bogswallop responds:

tl;dr