WCCC's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kenshi]

Yeah, kick that wall's ass!

Looked up Wu for comparison, and I must say vs then your ability to animate fight scenes has vastly improved. More length, much better reactions not only in drawing the throwing of hits but in how they're received, the latter much more so.

There were still a couple times where the fighting looked a little less than perfect, some offset and reaction stuff, but they were definitely few and far between. In fact, one of them was only an optical illusion due to blocking with swords that were (realistically) really thin vs the size of the actors, the moment I realized swords were in the picture, it snapped in my head and made sense.

Other than that, I feel like the biggest obstacle for improving is gauging and stylizing your own method of camera work. What you have now is about average, a bit of self style to it but not a whole lot, and it's one of those weird, subjective, and honestly really open sorts of things done everywhere in movies of all shapes and sizes. Where to go will definitely take a lot of time and practice, just because it is such a subtle thing that feeds into the whole process.

The good news is practicing it is absolutely inevitable.

You did an EXCELLENT job tackling one of your few remaining problem areas, you should be proud of this one more so than usual!

9/10, 4/5 ~WCCC

[Arc Infinitum 3]

I hate to say, it's a pretty good product in many respects, but lacking in a few that stops it from being a potential masterpiece or high caliber piece, if nothing else.

To start with the constructive here:
-High quality and fairly well known voice actors. Always a plus to have those around.
-3d animation and according cell-shading style, both of which have potent punch for a unique and high quality style.
-Really good processing of said art, so it comes out nice and crisp. Further compliments the art style in and of itself.
-A universe with enough interest and things being juggled to keep the viewer in for the unique world they are curious to learn more about, or at least enough to keep their attention.
-A solid amount of length and good frame rate as well, meaning this is a platform reading to go for extremely high quality art and animation as a whole. I cannot emphasize these 2 key points enough to mark the difference between something that's fun for a couple of goes and something that people come back to again and again.

That being said, there are a handful of things that lack polish or may, dare I say, directly need improvement to play catch up to the stunning fields already presented. I should emphasize that half the reason these bug me some is because of the overt imbalance between various qualities, making the goods still good, but the bads fairly exaggerated.

Anyways:
-While the voice acting was of quality, there was a lack of immersion into a considerable few of the lines, which held back the ambiance from being more complete and the atmosphere from holding more direction and interest, compared to the potential clearly carved out. On a related note, a handful of lines feel less inspired or poorly written, or maybe just poorly timed. I would argue the writing is the strongest point in which this lacks, as it holds back the story telling considerably, which is the main focus. That being said, the writing isn't too obviously flawed or filled with gaping holes, either, and that counts for a lot on the other side of the scales.
-Some animations produced by characters seemed unnatural (less to a point of "not superior quality" and more of "slightly below desired quality") and some seemed a tad choppy, though they were few and far between, I'm glad to be able to say.
-The way the action and its conversations near the action were placed against another really ruined the flow of the action scenes, or at least for me. Usually a good style of cutting between the relevant story info and the threatening action relies HEAVILY on fluidity and pace to keep them pressed against another in truly satisfying matter.
-In some cases the choreography for the action felt less inspired and more rigid. There were considerably good concepts in play, but once again this is one of those delicate borders to mind if one hopes to nail quality right on the head for the legendary quality level.
-While I'm not too anime educated, I was able to pick out a handful of characters that were directly ripped from popular animes/mangas. I feel like there was a strong vibe of "paying homage to inspiration" or "references placed in the mix for fun", but the overt way it was portrayed draws 2 issues from my point of view. Firstly, it means a handful of characters are being designed purely by the artist, and one sees much of the other work that makes them love the artist's style, direction, and creations... only for a couple of areas to lack the completeness of that quality the fans become attached to. Secondly, and this one gets me slightly more, for the sake of paying homage or fun references, subtle is usually the way to go. Not only do fans love finding the little things for picking through their favorite pieces and shorts, the delayed discovery effect increases the humor and enjoyment of the bit almost exponentially.

I want to take time and reemphasize that there are some very well done fields as a whole for this bit, as are many of your bits I've seen in passing. If the other fields are be better handled (not that the handling was BAD either) or are able to do some catching up, your work would be simply explosive in enjoyment factor AND quality. As much as I enjoy the things going right here, I find myself being disappointed more because it IS that close to being a knock-out product.

I might catch some more of your works in the future, as they come. We'll see.

7/10, 4/5 ~WCCC

Kel-chan responds:

All my life until the day I die, I will always have "potential" and it will never be honed into anything amazing or explosive. Just have to settle for mediocrity or averageness.

These works will always be intermediate, I just dont have ability to master anything- writing, animation, staging, choreography or whatever. I've already had 3 decades of potential without mastering anything.

If I had that ability, I wouldn't be posting vids on newgrounds at my age. I'd be making tv shows and feature films and getting paid accordingly for it.

[Puzzle Hunters the Series #1]

I want to try and stay constructive here. Let me say first and foremost that I love a lot of your prior work (ESPECIALLY deadly space action) and have watched your newer pitches now and again as well.

There are a good handful of things to be said on this series, and maybe this earlier episode was more groundwork than OOMPH, but overall the animation and art was clean, there were no "slouch areas" I was able to see of rushed or cut work, and it's something new and experimental in one, and that's why this is of good quality.

Here comes the part where I'm conflicted, though. While everything presented didn't have super obvious holes, it didn't have overt strengths, either. The animation and "camera work" left things feeling relatively static most times, the jokes failed to get any discernible reaction out of me, the characters were, to a fair degree, lacking depth and personal identity, and the way the animation, art, and voice work blended together didn't provide strong ambiance or a good cartoonic "pop" of ridiculous or comical nature.

It's not bad, and a fair dose of its components are on the better side of the spectrum, but the soul feels missing and it lacks anything to entertain me or want me to come back for more. I only hope I'm being a stick in the mud here and other people get more out of it than I did, and I WILL keep watching in case there's a transition or a deepening of the elements further, but that is solely due to having seen your potential and ability elsewhere in animation and so forth... but an average joe newcomer with a similar disposition to mine may find nothing remarkable worth coming back for later.

Best of luck, hope this gave you things to contemplate or consider, even if your stance remains the same post-reading.

7/10, 3/5 ~WCCC

BSMattW responds:

This is a fair review, thanks for writing it!

[CLOCK DAY 2015]

Technically, it's the beginning of the 15th year of the CC, so that. Short and somewhat amusing, not much else to say.

chris-the-stick responds:

hmmm... interesting!

thanks for your review, have a nice day, and
happy clockday!

[Strawberry goes to Too Many Games]

You know, on the topic of "it's an artform", I would almost scoff at the idea of B on some level actually being profound art, but I find the statement ironic because it was layered into the presentation this was.

I think the fact that B wasn't actually any big deal is what made it a big deal, it was the epitome of minimalism and boredome, but somehow it stuck, and what spawned from its notoriety is wonderful, amongst many other NG facets.

This made my annual clock day, because of all the odd little bits (claymation, a roadtrip, a surprise appearance and asking Tom, etc) came together into something I haven't seen before, and it just plain works. I love it.

8/10, 4/5, ~WCCC

[Another Evangelion Reboot]

I rarely watch anime of any sort, but the opening protagonist whininess and facial expression reminds me of the whiny bitch protagonist in Dead Man Wonderland.

[NWAR: Con Games]

Ah... I could watch a million of these damned things.

The constant combinations of genres that provide unique adventures coupled with brilliant writing and fun twists makes this a potentially bottomless endeavor.

Truly, a unique brand of magic.

9/10, 5/5, ~WCCC

[Utopun]

Utopun... more like AUTOPUN... because- the pun is... the word pun... I've actually had a long-standing thing about making puns via using the word pun. "Going in puns blazing" "21 pun salute", so forth. Short, weird, slightly twisted... everything I come to expect these days. Love it.

7/10, 4/5 ~WCCC

[The Expendables 7]

I think stallone with even less facial control would've about completed this... his face shows less and less expression every day.

Otherwise, a solid stab at... an easy target, but the stab was well done anyways.
4/5, 8/10, also favorited.
~WCCC

[World's Greatest Manwhore]

Animation and drawing quality went up (give or take frame rate cuts in grid bit), but I think length and voice acting quality went down. Enjoyable as always, chuckled once or twice out loud. Gonna be waiting eagerly for the final piece of this gorgeous trainwreck of a comedy.

7/10, 4/5
~WCCC