ZekeySpaceyLizard's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Hobbit - Act I]

Oh boy.

You know it'd be nice if the fanboys would stop accusing every person who gives this flash constructive criticism as being "jealous"
That's childish stupid logic and only fuels the flames of denial that bloat this website like a hairy butt tick.

There comes a time for every artist (and their fans) to sit back and look upon their work with a critical eye. For some, it's easy, because they don't enjoy looking at their own work, regardless.
For others, it's difficult, because to them, their work is perfect. And if the cartoon were made purely to entertain the author himself or herself, that'd be fine.

But these cartoons aren't MEANT simply to entertain the author. They are made specifically to cater to the 'audience' here. And when that audience realizes that the entertainer in question is no longer putting his or her heart into their work, then its the PEOPLE'S DUTY to point this out in the hopes that the entertainer will attempt to improve his or her craft. To show some effort. For once.

That's what the trouble here is. The craft has remained the same for nearly 7 years now. And not by design choice, but from not wanting to. Which is fine. If one wants to keep doing the same thing over and over and over ad-nauseum, that's ok. Just dont expect everyone to think the same and go along with it like little ants walking into a nest.

The real trouble here is that, while the author has not attempted to improve his skill by much, or any, he at least makes the effort with each one of his films, to at least try to improve the character models that he tweens lazily in every direction.
But not this time.
The characters this time around are the same line tool drawings that were used in the previous episode of this "series"
So, the only true effort done here was the tweening. Haha. sigh :(

So, no points for the art. Either you're lazy or stuck in a slump. Seeing how long you've been making these, most will assume the former. It'd only take you seconds to edit the symbols and make the characters look nicer. Maybe actually shading them as opposed to just using lots o' gradients. Ah well.

Once again, the humor here was very....not humorous. Equating to a fanfic of Invader Zim where the characters holler some obscure reference or object every few seconds in an effort to be "lolz random penguin bacon random lol"
It's cute at first, but considering this is like the 50th cartoon you've done with these characters, it'd be nice to see something CHANGE. You have an imagination. Why not use it? Why not make something that is funny and not just random? There's a big difference between being corny (like Jay Leno) and being wincingly dumb.

The music was nice, but you didn't make it, so blah.

I still forward your best flash was the Return of Ganondorf. Due mostly to the fact that it ran on CHARACTER humor and not characters shreiking dumb things at each other. You havent improved your animation a single bit since then, but you've clearly stopped giving too much of a crap.

Signed,
From a former fan, still waiting for you to do something unexpected and unique. Which will never happen at this point.

[A Wizard Creates]

Don't change a thing.

It's perfect. The people who are bitching that its short, would be the same ones who would bitch that its too long if you changed it.

This was adorable. I was afraid the animation might not be too great when I saw the wizard, but once he started exploding things into existence, I found there was more than enough eye candy.

The timing was great and snappy. A very cute idea with good execution.

[Glanzstoff]

mmm

I love crazy trippy montages like this.

Especially when done with aphextwin beats.

Its also nice to see Flash 8 filters used to obscure things rather than enhance them.

[A Few Sundays in October]

Argh you made a new cartoon and I didnt notice arr

It's been a while since you made something composed of little short films.
I suppose I should review each on their own merit;
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I didnt like the first one a whole lot. While I can and do respect the skill used to make it, not much was really there to feed my eyes. My ears yes, as the song was very nice, but not much really was there. No meat.
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The second one seems to me like an idea that could easily be expanded into a longer flash. The cardboard backround and white vehicles actually reminded me of another flash cartoon done entirely in cardboard called "Paper Sky" which was on Atomfilms and is on newgrounds now as well.
And its funny that it reminded me of that, because Paper Sky also used music from the movie Amelie which you used in......
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....the third one which was easily the best one of all. You used a different art style in this one, and overall it reminded me of Shel Silverstein. I also like the watercolor paint effect. Watercolors never get the respect that acrylic and oil paints do. And it was very freeform and very pleasant and nice. A good depiction of how a brainstorm makes one's thoughts jump from one thing to another, to another, to another. Also, you used those realistic splatters and coffee stains again which I recall from another short of yours. I always like how those look.

tl:dr, it was good. :)

Foxcato responds:

Thanks for that lenghy review of yours, Zekey:)

I am aware that Saviours of Jazz Ballet doesn't have muc to offer contentwise.. I was just playing around with the graphics really... I'm glad you liked the song though:)

Growth was a very simple idea.. I just had to get it out of my system. I'm going to expand on the subject in a movie I'll be making in 2008.

Thanks a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed Coffee Break. I think I shall experiment some more with painted coffee in my future projects.

[You Love This Movie]

delicious satire

I didnt like how Boinky's mouth like....flopped when he talked.
But this is the sort of thing more people should make.

*insert long pretentious critique here*

and i'm spent
the illwillpress scenes along earned you a nice 5

RSQViper responds:

Wow, that is one long pretentious critique. I think I almost went blind reading it!

Thanks for the review, man. Nice to see what other artists think.

(and someone is 0/1 bombing all reviews. There should be away to hunt and kill those people)

[Emulation]

nifty

cute concept.

great execution.

good good good overall.
definitely higly underrated and very different.

Fierras responds:

hey ZSL, tnx for the review. I know what you mean but there is still a group that can appreciate this kind of animation and i'm thankfull for that.

[Spooky Wookiee Gwar]

i am not sure what happened.

but I enjoyed it.

[Waterlollies]

lovely

As always, beautiful smooth animation. Insane effects when it comes to the enviroment.
And this one feels truley like an "episode"
The last ones have felt more like subtle introductions into this wonderful little fantasy world you've created.

I actually thought Bitey was going to explode at the end.
I was like D:

[Bowling Alley]

:D-------

wappin wappin wappinwappinwappin

i love your cartoons so much mayun. SO DAMNED MUCH.

I'm amazed you made something this good in the tiny period since you finished "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG"

And now I know what your avatar is from as well. GOOD JOB.

RWappin responds:

Hurrah!

I thought it would be a good cartoon for Halloween but I started it like only about a week before and didn't finish in time! Ah well.

[The Spirit of Halloween 2]

crossover madness!

I was in the Indy 500
I must confess I'm impressed how I did
And I wonder how close that I came
Now I got a sinkin' sensation
I was the top of the line
out of sight
out of mind
So much for fortune and fame.........

so many cameos.
SO MANY. I particularly laughed at your rather dumb Ingus drawing. He just looks funny.
Also, THUNDERDOME from MAD MAX is in this. Another cameo!
But I think the culprit
was
RED HERRING.

squeakytoad responds:

Yeah. That's what happens when you draw your cameos hastily, children.

It makes drawing random people so much more fun when they're random people we all know and love (and/or hate in some cases).
Otherwise you're just drawing ordinary ugly people standing around in inconspicuous crowds.

Yeah, a ton more Thunderdome jokes coming in the sequel. Brace yourself.

One of the things I hate about contests is, even if you win, you're causing someone else to lose. It especially sucks if it's a bunch of people you actually know and like. Especially in this contest. There's Swain (who even voiced in this thing), Eddsworld, TmsT, Will Arbuckle, and your stuff. All talented animators and artists with original ideas.
I wouldn't count yours out at all. I was actually thinking yours was going to beat mine.
The score matters some, but it's ultimately what the staff want.