Compdude's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rise of the MK: Part 1]

Exploring new genres.

I am continually amazed at the places Flash animators take us. Who would have envisioned the saga-like VG spinoffs they produce? Or who would ever think you could feel genuine emotion for the plight of sprite characters? While this movie isn't fully attuned to the story and emotion it tries to convey, it IS the best effort thus far to give genuine human depth to a sprite-based world.
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The most grabbing part of this movie is the emotional content, and it runs quite a gamut of tones. It's sad when it needs to be sad. Might I say the frown-faced clouds were particularly poignant for me. Seeing classic Mario elements put to a mourning use was really something. It really gives the movie believability, drawing the viewer into the scene.
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The film is also violent when it needs to be, as evidenced by Yoshi's darker combat side. I visibly recoiled at the fate of the cloud koopas. Finally, ther he ending pre-battle scenes gave a great sense of tense anticipation.
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But as a flash film, it's also crippingly short and underdeveloped. In any movie, it's so tempting to focus just on glory scenes, but you need the greater story to give those scenes meaning. This movie would feel SO much better with a deeper opening sans the text intro, and a more climactic cliffhanger. How did MK rebuild after Bowser's defeat? What sort of inter-personal relationships are there? Most importantly, who is the enemy? Why is he fighting back? We suspect Bowser is behind all this, but our heroes are trudging into a faceless enemy thus far.
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On a technical side, the graphics are solid and bright, the elements always fitting into the Mario world. The sounds were varied and clear, drawing well from Mario when appropriate, and using similar sound effects when not. The music only changed tracks once, but the two scores were well timed to the direction of the scenes. My only complaint graphically is that some of the scenery should be more epic to suit the mood. The enemy fortress seems pathetically undersized for the level of tension and forces used.
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So the film's not worthy of Shakespeare or Cameron, but whether or not you felt something, I applaud the creators for exploring humanity in new places.

[arfenhouse teh movie too]

Joe's here.

Genius. I've never seen such raw creative energy concentrated into a mindtrip at breakneak speeds. As a constant stream of images and sounds, it's always fresh, always random, and always funny throughout. And when we need to, it takes a breath. Personally, I love Joe - an island of sanity in an loony world. This movie's even better than the first, and that's a feat. Well done sirs, I haven't laughed like that for quite some time. Let's hope the third leaves us heaving our lungs in laughter and spraying our eyeballs on the screen.

[Arfenhouse: The Movie]

Loose and fancy free!

I didn't think it could be done. But this "movie" keeps the random hilarity going all the way through with few stumbles. Well done - this is stream of conciousness at its best.

[Fatty Big Eye Outtakes]

Great dialouge.

The dialouge started out slow and repetitive, but soon turned into a convincing improv dialouge between Fatty and the unseen director. The voices were less impressive, too similar and high-pitched. Eventually I toned out the visual, as it was static and dull except for moving mouths. This would really work better as a sound file rather than a movie, were it not about dress-up games.

[The Life of a Ninja]

Ninjas are great comedy fodder.

Delightful combination of stereotypical ninja concepts with hokey comedic moments. The animation was basic, but didn't hinder the creative process. This work reminds me a bit of College University and its ninja capering. Great job; I'd love to see some of those other listed goals put to flash!

damnhooligan responds:

Ah, finally, someone noticed! College University's Dark Ninja and Kung Fu Karl were BIG inspirations for this piece.