ChronoNomad's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[♪ The Afterlust ♪]

The song itself is quite simply phenomenal, and Finn already knows how much I respect his talent! The background images and animations are also ridiculously impressive.

That said, the character appearance and animation leaves much to be desired, and is quite honestly the weakest part of the presentation. But hey, you're still really young and have lots of time to learn and grow and improve your illustration and animation abilities! So don't give up, and I look forward to watching you improve over time. Let me offer up a few helpful hints:

Really study images of the human body in order to get better at drawing people. While I've certainly seen worse proportions, the male and female within the video are incredibly stiff and possess some very unrealistic features. From the back view, the back itself extends too far upward and almost gives the appearance of having a hump, which I do not believe was intended. Your hands and shoulders are way too rounded; once again, study those aspects and smooth them out in a more realistic way. Arm and leg movements are also really stiff and awkward at this point. And finally, when viewing the head and neck from behind, the neck would continue up past the back of the head rather than the other way around, like it is here.

Having a really amazing song and gorgeous backgrounds boosted my overall score quite a lot, but had I gone strictly by the merits of the characters and character animations alone it would have been a much different story. When those aspects come together in a more harmonious way, you're going to have a seriously killer repertoire. Best of luck going forward! :)

VivendmaYoutube responds:

Thanks! I tried to add my usual humor in it as well.. like Bea Hogg as the girl's name

[PokéShots: The Mosquito]

This is quite simply the best PSA I've seen since Dumb Ways to Die first earwormed its way into my heart! Incredibly well animated, with excellent visuals, music, and sound effects backing up the brutal action. There was clearly some inspiration taken from series like One Punch Man and classic Dragon Ball Z, which makes for quite an interesting mix in the world of Pokémon. Very kind of you to give the fine folks of Newgrounds the perfected version, too.

Nice protection and avoidance tips. Mosquitos are annoying enough to begin with, but the Zika virus is some seriously bad business. What the world needs is more dragonflies to help control the buzzing bloodsucker population!

[Steadfast Stanley]

Oh, man...this is so good! Made me smile and actually laugh out loud. Thanks for making my day.

The art and animation style are excellent, as are the sound effects and music. The whole thing comes together just right and is thoroughly engaging. Also a very fun and unique take on the whole Zombie Apocalypse idea that's totally been done to death but somehow never gets old.

Stanley is quite the hero and I'm sure we would all love to see him again, but the story is just as good as a standalone project. Bravo! Looking forward to future submissions.

[Little Star]

Excellent animation short, xaolan! And congratulations on Daily 2nd Place, that is very cool. The mixture of real backgrounds and animation is nicely done, and it seems to almost be a lost art form these days, so props for doing that and doing it well. Your story accurately represents the themes of despair and hope that the music was meant to achieve. Bravo.

[Son of Sonic: Episode 1]

This is pretty decent for your second animation submitted to Newgrounds, in my estimation. There's certainly room for growth, but I like what you've done so far. The music sounds very nice (and I don't just mean mine); you actually animate your drawings without relying heavily on tweening; and aside from a bit of gratuitous gradient usage, your drawings are pretty solid. I see some complaining about the fact that it's another Sonic fanimation, but there are quite a few fans of the Blue Blur around here from what I've seen, and I even fulfilled a music request for a remix of Splash Hill Zone Act 3 back in 2011. You should check it out sometime. ^__^

I'm looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish now that you have a new tablet to work with! I don't know if you've got your heart set on only presenting your AU version of Sonic for now, or if you have other ideas percolating as well, but if you expand into other realms you could quite likely increase your demographic. I'm happy to become your 15th fan, and maybe you'll be generous enough to repay the favor. If you act fast, you can be #150! ;)

Best of luck going forward!

[Super Aggro Space Turtles]

The art and animation are very well done. The music rather overpowers the dialogue, so that could do with a bit of softening up. The spoof on TMNT itself is fun and nostalgic, the execution is solid (see what I did there?), and while it is a rather short animation, the length feels appropriate for the content.

I don't know if the idea is meant to be a one-off or not, but more would probably be well received. I would certainly enjoy a return of the Super Aggressive Space Turtles! Nice work. :)

[A Guile headbang]

I like the remix of Guile's Theme and the idea, but I found the execution to be lacking. If the actual headbanging animation had matched the beat, I would have been more impressed. I also agree that more should have been happening...anything, really. Maybe random cameos of other Street Fighter characters popping in from the sides or something. There are plenty of options for expanding upon the main premise, and while headbanging to a song and flicking a Bic near the end is in no way a bad idea for an animation, it's just not enough for me to offer up more than a couple stars.

I sat through the entire length of the video hoping for something randomly cool or funny to happen, but no such luck. Heck, until the lighter came out, I was wondering why this was even uploaded as a movie file and not a Flash loop. Well anyway, as you mention in the Author Comments, it is indeed a very silly animation. I think you could have fleshed the idea out a bit more and earned yourself a better overall rating, but it's okay for what it is.

Lamace responds:

Hey thanks a lot for the critique. I love constructive criticism, and will definitely keep it in mind. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a sequel to this now, and will surely make it more interesting and fun to watch. Thanks again.

[The Reward]

This is precisely why I love Newgrounds. The story being told is classic, epic, and just plain fun; the animation looks great; sound effects were used sparingly and to great effect (rather like the high fives); and the musical score is thoroughly impressive. There's really nothing to dislike here, and the only real question I have is: will there be more?

Well deserving of full marks. I will definitely be looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with next, right along with everyone else.

[The Reward - The Desert]

Where's the dessert that was promised? All I see is a desert... ^_~

The musical score is fantastic, so huge kudos to Mathias. It's pretty cool that you decided to throw a nice little animatic together to accompany the piece. Thanks for sharing this interesting, teaser-like addition to the world of The Reward. Any plans to flesh this out more in the future?

[Air Break]

This is especially relevant to me since - at one of my previous jobs - I actually took up smoking again after having quit for years, just so I could have a smoke break during the holiday rush. For me, it was essentially a choice of puffing the occasional cigarette outside in the cold with my fellow coworkers, or going completely and utterly insane by Christmas. Thankfully, I managed to avoid contracting cancer of the lung, and I was able to easily give up the habit once things at work started to go back to normal.

Loving the dark comedy aspect, and it manages to be even funnier due to the fact that it's so abrupt. Where's the replay button? It deserves one. Cyanide and Happiness would be proud.