ngrey651's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Victim of Circumstance]

Lemme see if I can gleam the story right. This girl just used her pendant to murder a guy simply because he wanted to talk to her?

...yeaaaah, that's totally reasonable.

Vladjack4 responds:

It's more like the pendant protects its owner from those who are a threat or are dangerous.

[Saved]

My concern is not with your animation nor your skills. Those I found satisfactory and intriguing. What I DO however object to is the sort of blanket statement that you appear to be making that "religion makes you stupid and evil". If that WAS true, then every single person that ever followed religion, myself included, would be stupid and evil. Since suicide bombers, people who blow up abortion clinics and fundamentalists are the EXCEPTION, not the rule, I take offense to this message. Especially since most Catholics in America believe in Evolution, have no objection to Abortion or Contraception, and people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln and the Founding Fathers wouldn't BE the people they were in history if not for religion.

So whilst I can understand how you can feel religion is stifling, let me make something clear. There is a difference between blind faith...and BLINDNESS. And if you honestly felt that your beliefs were blinding you, then I have to ask: what the hell kind of religion did you belong to, because mine encourages decent behavior, intelligence and wisdom in everything I do, including thinking about said religion. And frankly, I don't know anything except the most extreme fundamentalisms that tell you NOT to think too hard about this stuff.

[ET Excursion 4]

Ah, the animation seems smoother, that's for sure. The opening draws the reader in and intrigues us, wishing us to learn more as soon as possible...and then BAM! Mecha-robot things capturing a medieval woman in the future with robo-centurions that have opti-eyes! This cartoon got AWESOME.

In fact, the setting kinda reminded me of Mega City 1, from Judge Dredd. Though that might be deliberate.

And poor Sleek. He goes from dork to absolute badass in ten seconds...only to have it for just ten more seconds, then get tossed into a jail with his buddies. Evidently the mayor is better at seeing through bluffing bull than he thought. This is DEFINITELY a big upgrade from the last cartoons.

[Killing Substance Trailer]

You've DONE this before. This has been done before already several times over. The pointless killing of innocent civilians for no purpose other than to gross out or horrify an audience isn't entertainment. It's torture porn. This isn't even so over the top it's FUNNY, it's just...done to death, cruel and mean-spirited. So no. I can't say I'm thrilled to see this.

[EVo3: Finally Some Action]

This sort of brings up a "chicken and egg" thing, mainly that the only reason the far-in-the-future humans exist is because they interfered with the past, but if they HADN'T interfered with the past, they wouldn't exist in the first place, so in reality, they basically created themselves. So I can sort of see the "paradox" kind of issue some might have and how this can make people's brains hurt. Also, I'd feel sorrier for Bighead Mc. Tentacle-Out-His-Back if not for the fact that he STUPIDLY abducted two people right the hell out of nowhere and just expected them to go along with it. And you think CREATIONISTS are idiots.

By the way, tone the anti-religious stuff down. Actually having a belief system doesn't make you stupid. As a Roman Catholic, I respect the institutions of science the same way I respect women's rights to have abortions and gays the right to marry. I view God more as just "something behind it all" type of force and not just a stereotypical guy on a throne among the clouds and was still able to enjoy this despite you liking to take digs at people such as me. Having said that, there are a few things that could use a bit of improvement, such as the audio quality, it's KINDA hard to hear what they're saying because their voices aren't louder than the background audio. And the man playing the alien should speak up. Other than that, the flash quality is quite smooth and well done, though I would like to say this...

Every animation, cartoon, comic, movie or story is someone's first. Knowing what comes before is HELPFUL, sure, but a story should be able to explain to the audience who the characters are, how they got there and what the plot is about quite quickly. If the audience can't care about the protagonists, we cannot get invested in the story. And we can't care about them if we don't know where they're from or what they do, so some introductory text crawls or narration or what not would be appreciated for next time to explain to those "just tuning in", as it were, as to what's happening. Just some friendly advice.

vezanmatics responds:

There ya go, I fixed every single issue you mentioned in the new cartoon. Now quit yer yappin, humie.

[EVolution ep2]

Nicely done!

Hmm. It appears as though Xleek's boss might not be totally legitimate...and also it's interesting to see racism has still survived into the future. And evidently, our little "Modern-Day" human friend needs to go back to kindergarten and learn that if you don't know what something is, ya don't put it in your mouth!

As a Christian I was almost slightly annoyed by the series and the way it treats Religion, (what, is Xleek's god "Science"? What next, is he gonna say "Oh my Science" or "Science Damn You"? XD) but then I see that Meredeth evidently killed a dinosaur with a giant rock and ate it's flesh. That's as cool an idea as Jesus fighting with the Olympian Gods. What next? A visit from Doctor Who who's Tardis accidentally hits their ship? XD

[EVolution-abduction ep1]

This tale has a very interesting concept indeed.

To Brian's credit, I'd be scared if facing a grey-skinned, short thing that flies around in a UFO too. But be honest in comparing you to the well-meaning Creationist Brian: you're kind of stupid too if your last and most hopeful expectation of your immediate fate is "score hot ass thanks to new alien friend". I mean, really.(Rolls eyes)

Still, very funny stuff. I can't wait to see what our little dome-head's got planned.

[We Are Science Probes]

Very thought-provoking flash.

Though the animation is slightly simplistic, the message behind it is very deep. And you certainly sent it across well. ANY kind of dogmatic thinking, either based totally in the certainty of science being the only way or in religion, or heck, in practically ANYTHING, can make one close-minded and stupid.

I think what's ironic is that what seemed to have caused all of this most likely is people getting their hands on tools of science and blowing themselves up. In short: science probably screwed over the whole planet. Or perhaps it was fundamentalist religious groups that did it...

...who knows?

[Israel at 60]

Uh. Riiight.

Look, I'm not going to paint the Palestinians as totally innocent. To say that they're absolutely blameless for all the conflict going on in Israel is dumb. But to say that Israel is a completely blameless David surrounded by dozens of Goliaths that want it's destruction isn't right either. Israel forced mass exoduses of Palestinians and then declared all of the ones that left their homes "absentees". Today hundreds of Israelis live in homes that once legitimately belonged to Palestinians and who refuse to give said homes back. Furthermore, the Arab states did offer peace to Israel before, but Israel's leadership turned them down, saying "time was on their side". And to anybody who thinks that Israel is a "big bad wolf" who can go it alone on their own power...some wolf! With jaws donated by the US of A and claws given by charity. HA!

Tell you what. The Palestinians can apologize for the crap they put the Jews through since 1850 and onward, for all the people THEY killed in power, and then the Jews can apologize for screwing the Palestinian people over and claiming they don't exist while jailing 13,000 of them in camps. And after all sides have apologized...welcome. Welcome to the bi-state of Israel/Palestine and let's stop fighting each other, because we're ALL people first, and Jews and Arabs second.

IZSBHR responds:

Oh boy. Sensitive discussion. Yippee.

[Mango]

Okay, you did a BIT better with this one.

But once again, you're just...repeating a loop of fairly good cartoon animation. And you, like...used all of four scenes. Repeatedly.