Shock-Dingo's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Africa Dudes]

A certainly unique experience; was fun!

This was rather strange and interesting, but I'm glad I saw it. I initially feared that this was going to be some sort of troll flash with heaping bits of racism in it, but I'm glad to see I was wrong; I watched the whole thing and didn't find anything terribly offensive. I'm of West African descent and overall found this to be an amusing collaborative experiment rather than an exercise in offense. I did laugh at certain parts aloud due to banter between the crazy stock character and the "straightman"

The thing that got me was the art. You all clearly had fun with this, but didn't get lazy. I liked the amount of detail you put into all the characters, but especially the masks. Those were what brought the characters to life for me. I like unique character designs, and each of the characters had little quirks to keep things familiar but still individualized at the end of the day. The presentation was also quite lovely. I liked the credits sequence, nice touch.

The voices all were great. The quality of the mics were clear; no puffs, clicks or anything off putting. They fit with what you wanted for the characters and overall did their job.

The animation overall was a somewhat weak portion, but I'm sure that was all part of the joke, just like the ludicrous length. I know things were supposed to be stilted and fairly similar throughout the whole thing, but a few changes would have been nice. I liked how Johnny Utah added a few different perspectives after some time, The Swain had his characters move about slightly more as the stories went on, and Romeo Jr. had some fun with the character's faces at times. Oh and I forgot to say I enjoyed the manic nature of the guy on the right in Chluaid's parts.

Overall, I think I'm going on too long (sorry, force of habit with my reviews) but this was rather interesting and bizarre in a good way. Glad to see you all had fun with this. I look forward to the next big collab whenever that is.

Best of luck with things guys! :)

-Shockdingo

[B.Y.E.]

Beauty and brutality perfectly mixed

I've seen a lot of stickman flashes in my day and not only is this the best one, its one of the best pieces of animation I've ever seen.

-The presentation felt very well composed, visually appealing and classy.
-The choreography was brilliant; amazing and INNOVATIVE exploration of expected actions. The handgun kill was exceptionally well executed, and I didn't expect such choreography

-Humour; I initially thought this would be played straight, but the dark and sometimes outright humour was a welcome surprise. After a while I imagined this was all an elaborate training session for Deadpool. The nice thing about the execution of the humour in this is it never got distracting or took away from the main product.

-Detail: You didn't simplify things at all. I've always said you great art does not make a great animation. Your style was simplified but exceptionally fluid and detailed. The blood splatter wasn't just painting a blob of red; you had it varied depending on the type of injury. At times it flooded forth, and other times it spurt out. One other thing that caught my eye was the occasional tissue splatter. That added so much to every scene. Forgetting the gore for a second, you also did amazing work on the explosions, particle and beam effects. Bravo, bravo!

-Sound was top notch; the music was great, the sound effects were amazing. I'm really glad you chose not to go with common sfx that are found and used all across the internet. By going the extra mile, it felt fresh and never once took me out of the action. The voice samples (or did you record your voice or a friends?) Were amazing. They weren't angry or bland growls, these were individualized and had unique intensity and delivery for every scene.

I don't know what else to write heh. I think this is my longest review on the site. Congratulations to you and all involved in this project. It's truly a marvel, and I hope you all are immortalized in Newgrounds. Keep up the excellent work man. This was one of the most creative and entertaining 5 minutes of my life.

Thank you so much!

-Shockdingo

[Awesome Reach]

More of the zaniness I love, but something's amiss

Hey dude, I'm a longtime fan of your stuff and while I think sometimes there are hits and misses with your work, this was more on the side of a lovely hit. It as usual, was really well animated with the level of smoothness you're known for, the colours, shading, and line work all were well utilized and beautiful.

I found the over the top nature of things hilarious; gotta love the hype of a new game. The only thing that bothered me was the rather abrupt end; it felt like you sort of just rant out of steam and decided to stop there. I was expecting a third friend to have been there the whole time and act as a voice of dissent; maybe saying "eh it's alright" and thus resulting in a number of reactions.

Don't get me wrong, this was fun, but I think there could have been more, or at least a stronger and more clear cut finish.

Either way dude, keep up the good work and I hope to see more work from you.

All the best to you.

-Shockdingo

[Starbarians Teaser]

Great skill shown off in small short

I'm a long time fan of yours and what has always grasped my attention is the presentation for your work. Your fluid animation style, vibrant colors and audio stylistic choices make your projects really shine. This and Saturday Watchmen bring back nostalgia of cartoons of days past; you really know what details to use in order to get those themes across. As I said earlier the animation in this was very fluid; the simple exit of the duo from the craft had more frames of animation than what I've seen in characters on professionally broadcast shows.

I can't really find anything wrong with it other than it was short, but you did say that this was a teaser so my point is moot. Anyways dude,you and your team keep up the good work, I'll be looking out for more from these characters.

All the best.

-Shockdingo

[Supernerd EDIT (Preview)]

Not much of a preview + thoughts

Hmm, well uh dude, you didn't really show much of anything to get the audience excited. The little you did show has a degree of smoothness in movement which is good. I imagine if the syncing was fixed, things would also come off a bit better. I can understand wanting to show a bit of your prided work and hope to stir excitement, but you needed a lot more dude; ok, start off with the guy, but then, show some individual clips of what's been completed like a movie trailer, or even have a gag or a cool moment happen. The key word is something. Things don't have to necessarily be in order, but they should show off the best examples you have to offer. Right now, this was a little too plain; there was not a background, color, or anything exciting or energetic.

I don't want to sound harsh man, but I figure, some honest reviewing could help you out. I wish you the best with your work, but try and push yourself past your limits and you'll do amazing work man.

Keep at it and never give up.

MrStaticGamer responds:

Thanks man, gave your review a plus and I am gona listen to your advise (Y) cheers.

[If Anime Was Real]

Pretty good concept that could go further

Nice work dude, I enjoyed this little short. The art was pretty good as was the humor, but I think it could have had a bit more to strengthen it's entire quality.

-The noseblled gag was pretty funny, but I felt as though you could show other stereotypes either in the scene, or make a few vignettes featuring a different gag; the overdone powering up sequences of DBZ, the exaggerated expression changes, revenge quests, anything with robots and ninjas, or even crazy day to day issues in a typical anime highschool could have been contenders.

-Voice acting was pretty good, it did it's job; sell the joke.

-Presentation: Good clean and simple, no complaints there

-Art: I liked it, the animation was smooth, the characters were fairly well drawn and the lip syncing was good.

Overall, I enjoyed this man. I wish you all the best with your future works, and I do hope you revisit this concept, there's a lot you can mock or just have fun with.

[Pleasure Island 3]

Abominations and Island Fun!

Dude, I always enjoy the zany adventures of your characters, but this one was really top notch. I quickly noticed that in this episode, the animation was smoother, better executed, and overall the art was significantly improved. The presentation and overall "camera work" felt more dynamic than in past episodes. Plus, you just can't beat the idea of the monster utilized in the episode. It's so random and murderously unique. I can't wait to see the next part man. Keep up the good work!

-Shockdingo

Sexual-Lobster responds:

thanks shock-dingo!

[WGJ4K: Robert Burgless]

Great presentation and attention to detail

This is the first time I've come across this series and I've got to say you're really good. You put a lot of work into this, especially the presentation and it shows.

I've always been a sucker for a project's presentation and you did a great job with it;
-I loved the newgrounds presents screen, title screens, and art style. I was reminded of older animation from the good ol days.

-The animation is very very fluid, is it frame by frame? (I'm clueless when it comes to flash)

-Great voice acting by all around. Filled with personality, and everything comes off very naturally. I loved how Mickey absolutely lost it towards the end.

I thought the last segment with the argument went a bit long without that many visuals, but it wasn't a major problem for me, maybe some minor movement or some sort of visual gag would have changed up the pace.

Overall, keep up the good work man. I'll be keeping up with your work from now on. All the best to you man!
-Shockdingo

[Quick Sonic Shorts!]

Short, to the point, brilliant

This is an amazing piece. I loved the presentation in this feature. Everything artistically felt very fresh and lively. I loved the reflective effects for Metal Sonic passing by the sparks. That's stellar attention to detail! The shorts themselves were quite funny and very original. I've seen many wonderful bits of Sonic humour, but often, things fall into a safe area of typical repeated jokes (usually saying Amy is a psycho, or that Shadow is emo, etc). While short, your pieces were fun and something I needed to see, a breath of fresh air in terms of subject matter. Your last one in particular was hilarious and my favorite. I've never seen that concept used for ol'Sonic. Also, amazingly drawn ring at the end, it was just beautiful and oh so shiny.

Keep up the great work! I hope to see more work from you in the future!

All the best to you
-Shockdingo

[Edwin Ep03]

Great Style, Pacing and characters

This is some quality work. First off, I love the visual style of this show. It really stands out and adds a distinct look and flavor to your piece. I found all of the voices were very fitting and brought significant life and personality to each of the characters. I'm liking that the episodes are taking their time and not rushing to shove too much plot and content into one episode, for that reason I feel the series benefits and is allowed to maximize its potential.

Keep up the great work man! :)
-Shockdingo

Kieran-s responds:

Hey thanks man!