Kwing's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sharing a Moment - Loading Artist Animated]

As others pointed out, it's pretty short. The animation is smooth and stylized, which I like, but most movements look tweened, which begs the question of what the audience is really supposed to get out of this. While nice to look at, the concept seems to take the main stage rather than technical prowess, but what we're actually watching doesn't really feel like it's been resolved - more like a premise and a half are set up and the whole thing ends. Some closure would be appreciated.

[Prison of the Clairvoyant]

Wow. This looks really nice. The pacing of everything was quite slow, so I think it would have been nice if the recurring walking animation were a bit slower as well. I also thought the girl could have shown a bit more emotion when rubbing the lemon into her cut. Short of that, this is smooth and attractive.

That said, the concept itself doesn't appear to be too original (perhaps I'm misreading it.) So the girl has some kind of ability (or disability) that causes her to see something (which may or may not be real) if she falls asleep. Then she falls asleep. Okay. We don't really get an idea of why anything happens or why it matters.

KarlSia responds:

Thanks! Yeah I agree, the walking bit should've been a tad longer. I did want to animate her agonizing over the pain, but thats one of the many scenes I had to cut out to save time.

Maybe its not too original, but to retort, I'm a firm believer that nothing is purely original anymore. That everything is a copy of a copy of a copy either entirely or partially, whether intended or not. So what matters to me is the execution of the idea. My intention is that nothing is to be explained, and instead for the audience to focus on feeling empathetic, yet slightly disturbed. And hopefully with the combination of that, would drive your imagination and curiosity too.

[Children Never Sleep]

I don't know how many hours you get for an animation jam, so I won't try and comment too much on things like framerate that exponentially increase the amount of time it takes to work on something. What I will mention is that the overall concept is somewhat dull. There's suspense... Kind of. At times it feels tedious, and the audio mixing often makes it very difficult to make out what characters are saying. Subtitles (or better audio mixing) would have helped a lot here.

Squiggins responds:

Thank you for the review! Yea this was done in a little under two weeks, but your criticism is definitely taken into consideration. Every mistake is a chance to grow!

[TANKMEN 2]

I don't think the humor really hits here, but that takes little away from how clean this looks. The voice acting is superb and the graphics are a reminder of why Tankman was the mascot of Newgrounds for so long. A combination of simplicity and aesthetic talent make this real eye candy, and the abrasiveness of the characters really completes the charm.

[Fallen Angel: Trailer]

I'm not sure what there is to say at this point. Your work is overwhelmingly impressive, back from when Fallen Angel started in 2003 to the near photo-realism we're seeing today. More importantly, the color schemes you use seem to capture mood so damned well. Your attention to detail really can't be overstated here. I did think Sara's eyes were weirdly far apart but aside from that the aesthetic here is off the charts. Here's hoping this gets finished someday.

[Lovestreams]

Whoa.

The animation here is really next level. The realism in the beginning with the computer and shadows looks almost as though it could be live-action, though of course the AIM conversation looks too clean even for a mounted camera. Everything else, from the particle effects to the characters, is both visually stunning as well as having an outstanding smoothness and framerate. More importantly the artistic vision here manifests beautifully, with the loading images and pixelation fusing organically with the rest of the short. The dialogue and imagery both work together to tell a narrative and portray an experience in a way that's far more accurate than words.

Literally the only flaw I see here - and this is really nitpicky - is that some of the anatomy just doesn't resonate with me, particularly the way you draw hands (the fingers narrow a bit too much.) Keep in mind this is me REALLY searching for something that could be improved and isn't something that noticeably impacts the overall product.

[Steamed Hams animation collab]

As far as collabs go, I think this is about as good as it can get. There's such a great variety of styles, and even the lower quality animations just WORK with the theme. Interesting how a good number of these were faithful retellings, while others took some hilarious creative liberties (the hamburger eating Chalmer's face? lol)

[Captain Tardigrade: Prophecy of the Sun People]

"I'm not a fuckin' water bear."

This was one of the better episodes. Impressively long, too. As I've stated before the graphics feel a little rough in some places though not in others (like the sun peoples' outlines have a weird color clash going on.) The overall animation quality is quite good, and Captain Tardigrade himself makes for a good anti-hero. Keep it up.

[Captain Tardigrade: Safety Tips]

This was pretty good. The gore had an impressive amount of detail, and the episode's concept felt original (not just a rehash of the pilot.) I still think the voices need a bit of work, and the comedic timing feels a little off, too, although the content is all there.

[Captain Tardigrade]

This was pretty well done overall. The voices and sound mastering are a little iffy, and the graphics could use a bit more in terms of shading and smooth animation, but for the most part this was enjoyable. This episode started off a bit slow but had some good jokes in it. I'm not sure this skit fits a series though - I feel like there's a high risk of the same gag becoming redundant.