Phantosanucca's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[FF7: About Random Battles]

I'm not gonna pull any punches here.

Some things irked me while watching this. First and foremost, the graphical style. While I understand that having the olde-tyme look and the 50's educational film-style requires a single narrator talking because the interesting characters can't, and making it almost entirely void of colour, adds to the effect, it takes away somewhat from the movie as a whole. This is the main feature, and main reason for people to watch. It should have more of the things that the extra scenes had. More voices, more character. A TINY BIT of colour. Instead, the entire main portion of this flash is basically a drawn-out version of the educational film scene from One Ring 2. Though a very well written, and performed scene at that.

As for extra scenes, they're actually kind of clever. Though the voice acting is considerably less talented in comparison to the feature presentation, it's far better than listening to some idiot screaming "IM SO KOOL LOLOL ITS A BUNNY!!1!1" into a cheap microphone, as is the custom for many Flash movies submitted here. But the extra scenes aren't even my biggest gripe:

The Mini-Game. Though cleverly designed and works well, it's just far too difficult. You'll spend many frustrating attempts, desperately trying to remember the various coloured materia order, only to fall short. How far someone will get in this game, is based on 2 things: How forgetful the player is, and how responsive the mouse button is when interacting with the flying multi-coloured spheres. It's just more frustration than neccessary in a Flash Movie.

Though if there were a very satisfying reward for such an arduous trial, then I might not be as... well, upset, as I am... But the only prizes are 5 VERY short scenes involving different Final Fantasy characters. And not every single one is worth the wear and tear of Materia Madness, or whatever it's called.

But the finishing blow is that, not only will the game piss off whoever happens to play it at least ONCE, but one of the worst OC Remixes ever devised, was selected as background music in a continuous loop. I don't know who butchered One Winged Angel and submitted it to ocremix.org, but it certainly didn't make the experience any more enjoyable having to listen to it repeat for eternity. Ironically, the original theme, or better yet the Orchestrated theme would have made a less torturous experience overall.

Yes, this review is bordering on the negative side. I'm not going to be dishonest to my, for lack of a better term, Flash Elders. I have too much respect for the work you guys do to lie, just to avoid an awkward review. Making Flash is long, exhausting work. I myself have yet to submit anything I feel is worthy enough to be submitted, so watching this, I can't even fathom how much effort, time, blood, sweat and tears went into making it. The least you deserve for it all,is honest criticism.

I'm not going to try in vain to blam this(especially since it's already far past judgement), but I will give it a score which I feel it deserves.

Though it has a lot of flaws, it's still a humorous, witty, extravagant Flash film in a sea of 5-second long Dragonball Z-Stick movies. The voice acting is getting better, the animation is accurate to an insane degree, and it's still fun to watch. And I don't think any less of those who created it. Nor do I intend to scorn anyone who voted 5 on this.

But that's what I felt about this Flash.

I wish ya'll the best of luck in your future projects, whatever they may be... (might I suggest a sitcom about robots?)

-Phantos

[Sonic Stereo]

*Everybody's-workin'-for-the-weekend!*

I would have LOVED to hear that song in there somewhere, just as a random gag, but what the hell. It works fine the way it is. ;)

Well, looking at this, I can see you've certainly come a long way from the days of Sigma The Sailor-Man. :P It's nice to see a movie from you that features hand(mouse)-drawn animation. It looks nice, clean, and gets the job done. It's very... um.... Psyguy. Personally, I can't stand Psyguy or any of that fan-art stuff for the Sonic phenomena, but it fits this movie like no other style would, so maybe it's for the best.

I like how they're no voice-work in it. How all the actions are done through motions. I think it's called something like a "collage", but I hated my drama classes so I didn't really bother to remember the terms. But whatever it is, it works really well here, and just makes the flash as a whole, just that much more unique and funny.

Which brings me to the best part of this Sonic-Short. It's a series of quick laughs, and they're big hearty laughs at that. This is the kind of comical stylings one might see on a very clever sitcom, or cartoon segment. A satisfying little professional touch there. And just the look on Shadow's face at the end is histerical.

I loved the music too. I never showed interest in Sonic Heroes, what with the seemingly never-ending parade of bad reviews it's gotten, but now that I've seen it has music like that, I may consider giving it a go just for it's, for lack of a better word, gnarly tunes... All of which simply work with the rest of the movie to make something very worthwhile and entertaining.

I'm not surprised that this is on the Front Page. I think it deserves the attention it's getting. Thanks for the quick laugh, and thanks for making it work. :)

-Phantos

[L.egomatrix Revolutions]

Nice

The graphics, though very well designed and accurately depict what a fight between Neo and Smith would look like with Lego characters, was too dark. It's hard to see what's going on. Although I DID see the buildings made out of the mismatchedly coloured lego bricks, which was a humourous little touch.

I liked it.

Also, I've never heard that variation of them music at the end.

Good job.

-Phantos

[Bass' Revenge 5]

A thrilling conclusion

You did a good job wrapping up this series. Some awesome choreography with the sprites, a good dose of storyline, and a very cinematic feel to it all. The music, I'd say was hit or miss. Some of the selections for music were good choices(especially that operatic selection when Bass destroys his... base... Which sounds kind of wierd, but hear me out). Although, the intro song kind of irked me, and Spark Mandrill's theme doesn't really fit in with the kind of mood this episode tries to portray. ESPECIALLY in an emotional scene like that.

And if I may continue to nitpick, I would have liked to have seen more personality in the Robot Masters, but making a Flash movie is long, exhausting work, so I won't hold it against you for not spending another 2 weeks just so Freeze Man could be a little quirkier.

And as for the ending, I believe BobandGeorge.com has discussed this sort of thing to death. It's called the Cataclysm theory. Everyone has a different theory as to what happened between the Megaman games and the Megaman X games, and it was nice to see your vision on it. Frankly I agree with much of your ideas, as I too believe Bass had a big part in the destruction of many of our most memorable Capcom characters.

The only thing that didn't happen that I was expecting was an appearance by Sigma. I figured the Sigma virus would have been controlling Bass the whole time, since Bass found a piece of Baldy and combined himself with it. I was expecting a showdown with Megaman and Sigma, but I think it ended just fine the way it did.

Your movies never cease to amaze me.

Bravo!

-Phantos

CheveLoco responds:

i know i know...the spark mandrill song didnt fit that part at all!!!...i just couldnt find anything better...but lemme tell u..i wasnt happy with that..the intro song...well it was the intro song from megaman x6 so i just picked it cuz of that...

I wish i could've done the clone battle longer but the thing that stopped me was the frame limit..the movie as it is its 15995 frames which is just 5 frames from the limit...

i put a lot of work into the choreography...specially the last battle cuz i wanted it to be fast and furious...as you mention that's my take on the ending of the megaman universe..now i dont know if i should conclude the trilogy with the true ending...you know the one where zero would be involved..i dont think it'll be done in some time though...thanx for the review and hopefully you'll review my future projects

[Mario Brothers - Part IV]

Another great Sprite Series, continues...

Yet another great sprite movie series has been updated this week. First Link's Glitch, then Bass' Revenge, and now the groundbreaking drama of Mario Brothers, continues...

I can't blame ya for being sick of working on Sprite movies. Just imagining spending a whole day making a bunch of little NES Toad sprites jumping and running around is exhausting. But the finished project, I think, is worth it. This may not have been the most intense of the episodes, but it seems like it was integral to the storyline. Plus it WAS nice to see a whole episode featuring the little mushroom guys. the story just keeps getting deeper, and the writing is better than ever, and the music sets the mood and once again comprises one of the key reasons as to why this is such a terrific series. I think it's safe to say your talents will not go unnoticed when your non-spriting days of Flash begin.

One thing tho....

I've played the original Super Mario Bros... Wasn't Bowser's castle gray? Just nitpicking. I don't subtract that from the overall film.

Good job. :)

-Phantos

[Bass's Revenge Trailer]

Someone saw Revolutions. ;)

I just KNEW you would go with this style. Hundreds and hundreds of clones. Enemies turning into allies. Megaman and Bass in a battle of epic proportions. Cool techno/opera music. #5 is gonna be the coolest movie you've ever done. By far...

...Well, at least the best movie you've done with sprites anyway.

I'd say I can't wait, but the longer I and the rest of us wait, the cooler it'll probably turn out. :D

-Phantos

CheveLoco responds:

hahaha i'll admit it...revolutions was kinda an inspiration but what you saw in this trailer it's all the similarities there is...

and u dont have to wait long...number 4 is out now and 5 will be out in the next couple of days

[Bass' Revenge 4]

It's been too long...

Hey, we got 2 long-awaited(at least for me) to enjoyable sprite movie series. It's been nearly 7 months since the last episode of Bass' Revenge, and, as long and arduous as the wait was, it was SO worth it. The dramatic effect and intensity from this flash just oozes from every corner. Megaman's dream. The snide conversation between those 2 old rival doctors. The scene with Rush and Megaman driving along. Duo coming in to save the day. And the 4 remaining Robot Masters helping out(at least I hope) Protoman when the Bass Clones get out of hand.

Ooh, speaking of which, The Bass Clones alone give it that kind of Matrix kind of feel, as they bring back fond memories of Neo clobbering waves of Smiths.

I have almost every mp3 of the songs you used for this flash(kudos to you, for using some nice OCRemixes). I have them, because they're such cool songs, and the way they were arranged for the scenes just add so much to the dramatic effect.

The choreography? It's even better than The Amazing Maverick Swarm from the Final Battle series! And there isn't even any huge battle either. Just the small fights involving the clones offer so much in such a tiny amount of time. It's really a treat for the eyes.

In 7 months, you've atoned your Flash Skills to a highly impressive degree. It's proffesional, it's dramatic, and it's just plain fun to watch. And I'd like to be a part of the action.

I've been looking to work on a Flash project for a long time, and, even if my duty were to just hold a bucket of water, I still wanna be involved in something of yours. You've got a LOT of talent, and it's going in a great direction.

My e-mail is [e-mail],My MSN is the same, in case you're interested.

I'm really anticipating your next project, whether or not I'm involved somehow. Magnifico. :)

-Phantos

CheveLoco responds:

Yeah i know it's been a while..a lot of people thought i had given up on this series but as you can see i didnt ;)...it's true i have learn more flash techniques in this months, that's why i my opinion this movie looks better than the last 3..

as you said the OC remixes of the songs are perfect for the movie..although for the next one i wont use so many...

i can see you're a fan of the maverick swarm escene..next episode there will be a battle against the clones so i hope you review it and let me know what you think compared to the mavericks one...my msn is [e-mail] in case you wanna dd me too..thanx for the review