Kwing's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[3D Maneuver Gear Fail]

Very, very short. The art is very nice but the animation leaves much to be desired. Simple frame by frame things such as the tears could be much better - you've done RHG battles, this should be your strong suit. The rope was also really weird - just a white line with no texture?

Again, the art is strong and I especially like the shading but the animation could have used some more time put into it to make it smoother and more consistent.

[Theory Vs Terantula]

This battle recently popped into my head just now and I had to find it. Really interesting RHG with some great execution going on here. Smooth animation, although at times the movements seemed a little too fluid at the expense of having less easing and impact during combat. Animation is also quite short, not sure how long you guys had to come up with this.

Really awesome battle, though I would have liked to see what actually happened to Terantula. I'm assuming the gravity ball is intensified and it crushes him? It would only have taken a few minutes to show an explosion of blood or something.

[Killing Spree VII]

Glad to see this is finally on Newgrounds. Alright, where to start?

First off I'm a little confused. Where the heck did the subtitles go? Second, with the HD and everything, I'm able to see the lack of real lip-syncing going on. However, the 3D effects that Killing Spree is known for are back and better than ever, along with the brilliant lighting tricks and tasteful FBF blood that Flash animators are famous for. Certain details such as blackened hands and fingers incorporate detail into the stick figure thing while keeping the animation strictly stick-figures.

Incorporating bands like Tool show a maturing of the series while Disturbed keeps things in the same vein as the older installments and it really helps tie the whole thing together, as does the final scene with the mask. The voice acting remains superb, and it really counts given how story-based this is. The dialogue is also simple and to-the-point, but not bad either (I like the message about hedonism and nihilism). Since the majority of the action is just Jase and Barry, it lacks the complexity of some of the older games where Jase was just bum rushing guards, but while the combat is simple it's smooth and to the point, however a few shots (switchblade, stabbing) are kind of choppy and awkward.

Overall I think KS7 is everything it could have been and everything it should be. However, I am really curious to see what happens when midnight actually comes around. Is there going to be some kind of tearjerker scene where Jase's injuries take effect and he dies? I don't want to see it and yet I do at the same time.

[Teacup Pig]

This is basically eight black and white images with a camera interface pasted over it and some mediocre voice acting. Nothing about it is bad enough to make it unenjoyable but you have absolutely nothing else here - not even a plot, or enough frames drawn to give the animation a smooth look to it. This belongs in a collab or something.

grimharbor responds:

Thanks Kwing.
I thought I mentioned in the description that it was just an animatic, and it was my understanding that those don't normally have smooth animation in them. As for the piece, I agree with you quite a bit actually... from the plot to the acting, which is why this is the most developed that this little thing is going to get. I can't really call it a collab cause it was just me experimenting. An artist's body of work is full of many smaller works, and this just happens to be one of mine. I'm happy that you found it not bad enough to make it unenjoyable, and I promise you on future things I will strive to move that bar even farther. At least it wasn't unenjoyable though, so there is that. Thanks for taking time to view this and leave some feedback.

[Bluestar's Prophecy: #0]

Quite interesting... In its own way. The graphics are decent and this seems to have a lot of potential but it also needs a lot of work. I recommend you check out Broken Saints and try and incorporate a more dynamic feel to this comic-esque animation, perhaps showing each of these images inside a frame and panning across. The voice acting is also rather canned, you need more fluent dialogue and also add effects such as fading in and out to show a passage of time. Also the plot doesn't seem to make much sense, perhaps it's because the presentation fragments it quite a bit. Develop your story quickly and clearly and you'll have a start.

[Son of Sonic: Episode 2]

Gosh, what to say about this? The graphics are kind of brought down by the rough gradients, the voice acting is hammy and the music is awkward as fuck. General presentation is unremarkable, and yet the animation is just really damned good. You do really amazing frame by frame work and you capture angles very well.

[Priorities]

Am I allowed to dislike this? There are a handful of things I didn't like about this animation so I'm just going to shout them out in no particular order. First is the general quality of the characters and environment. I know what Maya is capable of, this comes nowhere close. The characters lack texture and I didn't see much going on with lighting and shadows either. The animation is also somewhat awkward - both the way the guy and his dog run are primitive and not particularly realistic. Since this isn't a very action-packed animation, simple loops like running make up a big part of how polished the animation is going to look, and you really have no excuse not to have spent more time perfecting those.

One thing that you do did really well was create a mood to the environment; the textures and polygon count were simple, but there was a lot of fog in the distance and overall the magnitude of the location helped set the atmosphere a lot. You also found a really good musician to help augment the animation.

Touching on the story, I've never been a fan of these kinds of things, and that may be why I'm not too attached to the story here. It seems rather one-sided and incomplete as a narrative, and I'm not just saying that because it lacks dialogue. You establish that this guy is stuck, that the dog is bothering him, and that he eventually comes to a decision that his dog is more important than escaping. Then he... Wastes all of his flairs? First of all, a dog isn't going to understand what that gesture is supposed to communicate, but more importantly, does this guy not have a family or a job or a LIFE back where he lives? And even if he doesn't, does he realize that he's going to outlive his dog by several decades?

It's impressive that you managed to craft an animation like this, especially given that it's nearly ten minutes in length, but it feels like it's missing something, and I think that the simple storytelling is a way to mask that it's missing something.

[Newgrounds game teaser]

Wow, this looks really nice and authentic. Short, but to the point. This is drawn and animated incredibly well, and the landscapes are far more detailed than what you'd see for something that was just meant to be an animation - which is why this is so convincing. Looks like a superior Newgrounds Rumble.

Props for presentation, it looks really good.

[Car Ad]

Eh... Too much fading in and out. The silhouettes you chose are nice and I'll admit I even have a thing for black and white graphics (which you used for most of the animation) but it's a little too relaxing to the point of dull. The *not really text and the awards were really the only jabs at car commercials, leaving the entire animation feeling unrewarding to watch.

[Madness Apotheosis]

This is a big step up in the Madness series. The melee combat sees some immense improvement with easing and different combos being used. To be fair, a lot of the characters don't seem to do much to fight back but this installation really is different from the previous three even if people don't notice it.