Sausau's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[little boat]

A metaphor of life, less naïve than they are usually showcased around the web, especially on Newgrounds. Instead of showing the increasing degradation of the boat and stop when it's reached the point of quasi-total destruction, you portray what could be seen as a Renaissance, where what was once shiny and fresh has become more jaded, torn and worn, but nonetheless still floating, for it is not the parts that make the whole function but the other way around. As we grow old, we make up for what we've lost in healthiness by cultivating that, which ultimately makes a man : understanding.

[Swelter]

This, to Newgrounds standards, a 6-stars movie. It would take me a bit too long to list all the marvelous aspects of your movie (the animation, the design, the music, the color scheme, ...) so I would rather talk about what, still, lacks in my opinion. By no mean does it invalidate the fact that your flick here is absolutely over-qualified to be judged on the basis of Newgrounds standards, as I said.

I ignore what your limitations were for you to create this piece (be it money, be it time) so it'd be unfair from me to deem little flaws roughly. And in my point of view, the story, the plot is not developped enough, it feels like it could have used some more backstory or expansion, but then again, it's a critic that comes from my complete enthrallment of the world you crafted. As I would very rarely say :

Bravo.

[Bounty + Hunter]

"But why the furries ?"

That is what you must often read concerning this piece of work. I don't know wether you're into this so-called furries fad, and even if you were, I wouldn't judge you or your work depending on this factor, but I know one thing, the design of the characters if very much flawed. For one thing, adding ears, or making an anthropomorphic cat out of nowhere is really what taints this movie for me. And it may very well cause people to disregard this film. That's one thing. The other, as some already noted, is the relative dullness of the environment, everything is way too clean and polished to look real, though I must admit you've got impressing modeling skills, and an eye for urban environment.

Parallel to that is the colour scheme, which is very basic and gives a rough-feel to the world, as if you hadn't finished it yet. As for the story, well, it's too cliché and mellow for my taste. But again, I don't think you're into brutal, mindfucking or sheerly bizarre scenarii. However, in the end, that such a promising 3D animator is on Newgrounds is note-worthy at the very least.

LenZ responds:

Thanks for the review! yhea I do regret that I could put more effort into the background textures now that I understand this experience. And I never fazed with the question for furries when making this lol As long as they tell a story or do something Micheal Bay-ish

[Eternal Saturday]

I longed years (yes, that long) for a movie that would bring back the mindless fun of the glorious days of quality spam. Finally, it has returned ! Thank you for reminding me why I stayed on Newgrounds in the first place. It's the essence of art to think outside the rules, to create something new, not necessarily in form, but in the way it mediates between the content and the viewer.

[Short and Sweet]

Albeit the animation, as it is in most of your recent work, was particularly well-executed, the design was overal lacking and some bits could have been refined (for example the smoke when the "bad guy" left). I'm fully aware the simplistic design is thought of, its purpose being the reification of essential human qualities (height, weight, facial features, etc.) through easily understandable imagery, yet that doesn't always work, at least for me. Even though the whole thing was totally pleasant to watch, these proto-figures seem like stickmen to me. And for that reason, the message lost a good deal of its power.

Let's talk about the "message", the morale of this short story. Just until the end came, i was gonna pan this movie as naïve and lovey-dovey. Which astounded me considering you always kept a good standard of story-telling in your past flashes. The final scene proved me wrong, hopefully. As a counter-valentine cartoon, it's pretty effective : it's not too intellectualized, the way you mock the ideal of love found in movies and publicity is simple and effective, because you still show a "successful" love story, with a twist though. But as aforementioned, the cartoonish, kid-showy look of the characters tuned down a good movie that could have been so much more mordant.

["Ice Cream"]

SBTRKT

It seems as if David Firth set the standards for every serious british newgrounds animation. I wouldn't go as far as saying you ripped off his style, I don't even know wether you've watched his cartoons or not, though chances are you have considering his popularity. Yet I can't shake off that feeling it borrows from them somehow. In itself, it's not a bad thing, since he's a skilled animator and storyteller, but by doing so, your movie lacks personality. I felt like I watched a substitute (the BOC soundtrack helps a lot.)
However, you have some talent at storytelling and creating dark atmospheres, mixing real life shoots with drawings. It's too bad the video quality considerably lowered through the conversion.

[The Northern Incident]

CMYK

I have no idea what you tried to achieve with this animation. Albeit it features one of your most technically perfected animation, character designs and atmosphere, you mess it all up with a twisted ending à la M. Night Shyamalan. And by twisted ending I mean irrelevant, unforeseeable, absurd, ludicrous ending. But maybe it was the whole point since the beginning.

The mood you created is just about the tensest that's ever been felt in a horror-oriented flash movie on Newgrounds. The main character (though resembling Watchmen's Rorschach) is quite original and feels true, while, however, I'd say he's also a bit cliché, but then, isn't the whole story ? Wires cut, isolation, freezing north, big forest, a dog and insanity borderline ? It's so cliché that, once again, I feel like it's been planned to be.

So, I surmise it's not a movie about mocking furries after all, because it is so out of place and done over and over. It's more of a movie mocking horror movies with twisted, ridiculous endings. But what may confuse some people, is that it's a serious parody, crafted with care. It's not just a blatant exaggeration of typical horror movies aspects, like those spoof movies (Scary Movie, etc.) would be. It's a clever move, coming from a newgrounds animator, and it reminds me of that Ionesco's book, Rhinoceros, or the new Radiohead's album to a lesser extent. And in that aspect, this movie is great.

Or you could just have wanted to make a movie about mocking furries, in which case I'll revise my score to a lower one.

[Awesome Reach]

Supertorch

I laughed. It's all that counts.