Sami-Hikari's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Planetoid - Chapter 2]

Quite captivating.

Ah, it's so difficult to review this because I've already told you most of my thoughts on this already, haha, and I dislike repeating myself. As I've said, it was very cinematic, and created a great deal of suspense with the unfolding events. I was incredibly impressed (like before) with the special effects and particularly pleased with the lighting effects when he crashed on that mysterious planet, which was something I hadn't seen before. The light was very vivid, and very realistic. I can tell how much work you put into all the shading and the explosions and the various 3D shapes, so I'm really glad that it turned out well. It's getting to be quite an interesting little series and I can't wait for number three. Well done.

Fate responds:

Heh, thanks.
I wouldn't have minded if you'd repeated things, because then they're out in the open, and not in my inbox :P
You only originally only saw up too...him crashing into the tree, I think, so I guess you wouldn't have seen the blue planet...
an improvement on him 'opening his eyes'? :P

[The Last Minute Shopper]

Well developed.

First thing that struck me was the lack of color; it was rather Sin City-esque and it was quite captivating. I must say, you've outdone what I expected when I clicked onto this flash. You've combined a good although albeit somewhat generic monologue with a brilliant musical score and fairly fluid graphics to make something surreally excellent. Even though there's been a sort of "wrongdoing masculine figure with a good heart where it counts" theme done many times before (or maybe I just watch too many movies), this really stood out and I'm not surprised that it's gotten such a good score at all. This is probably the best christmas flash I've seen so far.

What actually intrigued me the most was the comic in the credits. It was awesome to watch - kind of like when there's a behind-the-scenes storyboard special for one of your favorite television shows. The original art style was bordering on professional - do you or have you thought about being a graphic novel writer?

Anyway, great flash, truly done in a well-developed sense of composition and I can find no fault with it whatsoever. Loved the idea; the conventions of Christmas broken down into the commercial side is always a winning ticket if it's done the right way. Let's face it, christmas is mindless exchanging of money, although there is a certain mystic aura to it, mostly because of the falsified atmosphere but I can understand where your character got his cynicism from. He has that "bad childhood" vibe.

As a last note, maybe you should look at turning that character into a series. It'd do very well.
Thumbs up.
<3 Merry Freaking Christmas. xD

knobbywood responds:

thank you! Color an be a very valuable asset if used correctly. And to answer your question about the graphic novel writer: I wanted to be one of those writer/pencil/inker types that did most of the work himself, but i rediscovered my passion for animation. Since then, i've been looking for clever and unique ways to clash the two.
cheers

[Planetoid - Original]

Ah, very nice.

Loved the composition and the use of different textures such as aluminium foil and such for fillings. You were able to move around the story really well and some of the perspective work was impressive, even though it was probably a bitch to animate and work with.

Your choice of music went nicely with the animation; it was slightly surreal, yet portrayed that feeling of isolation and curiosity for things outside the immediate surroundings. How did you originally think that it was going to end, anyway? Just curious to know, because the ending did seem a little cut short. In my heart of hearts, I'm hoping he made it to the other planet just across the way, because I'm optimistic about that. Sequel mayhaps? Anyway, great work, got me hooked from the first few seconds. Unique style. Thumbs up.
<3

Fate responds:

thanks a heap.
well...the original ending was that the rocket wasn't going to make it through the asteroid belt, and he bails out just as it gets destroyed, and he's floating towards the other planet, but it was only going to be real close.
and we seem him reaching out towards the planet, floating in space, on a trajectory that's narrowly missing it, and then the animation would have ended.
and it would've left you wondering whether or not he managed to grab something on the planet.
the credits would have rolled, and then, afterwards, it would've shown her hand holding his.

but since I left this opened, I didn't put in credits or anything.
so, yes, I've been busily working on the sequel.
it's a totally different style, and it's coming along really well.
I've managed to perfect 3d composition.
hopefully that isn't such a bad thing for the file size though ;P

[Hamlet - Act Five]

Laughing out loud.

This is absolutely crazy! I love it. It was just so random and hilarious and enjoyable and perhaps ye olde English play writers would turn in their graves to see it, but honestly it was so entertaining. Loved some of the text commentary and the random Pokemon battle scene was a real memory trip - had to laugh at that part. In this case I would actually say that the overly simple artwork worked in this submission's favor instead of against it; it just made everything seem more amusing. I have GOT to know what your English class thought of this - their reactions would have been classic. I hope you got a good grade - this was fantastic.

PeteGrammarman responds:

They all loved it. The teacher has been even been showing it to other classes apparently, Thanks for your feedback.

[Pen License]

Oh my...

Wow, as if people actually cared about pen license. Our teachers in primary school didn't even care about it. They gave them to us whether we wrote well in cursive script or not. I guess it was just to get it over and done with. We just slipped them into our writing books and never looked at them again. And to tell the truth I don't even like writing in cursive much. (shrugs) Still, I'm SO glad they don't enforce the pen license like that...Geez. How awful would that be?

[Twatlight]

Wonderful!

Thank you, oh so much. I take my hat off to you sir. FINALLY there's a good representation of exactly how terrible Twilight is. Hah, loved the Voldemort reference; brought back some vivid memories from your hilarious Harry Potter flashes. I always thought that the actor who played Cedric Diggory was a traitor for going on to Twilight - and now you've provided a fun revenge: the death of Edward Cullen. All the girls in my year level at school will cry buckets. I personally will laugh pleasantly and smile myself to sleep. What do you expect from a lame character made up by a mormon who thought a teen vampire romance with religious undertones was a good idea?. I expect no less than a cruel, humiliating death. Well done. Great flash. Much love.

[I Found A Dollar!]

Touching.

THAT, I can guarantee, is the feel-good flash movie of the year. It was inspiring and it warmed the heart.
So rave lights magically appear when your mood is improved? Awesome - I say you host a party for all of NG at your place and we'll have a massive rave by keeping you continually happy. Come on NG, you know you want to!!
And did you thank your street after it gave you the dollar it had kept waiting for you?

NibzAU responds:

lol flash of the year :) awesome

[Wild Missingno. Appeared!]

Classic!

Oh dear lawd, this brought back so many memories. I caught Missingno. one time and it gave my entire pokemon collection a virus, so I had to release it and then release my Pigeotto, which had it's stats altered so that it was all "???" and such.
Poor Ditto. I'm not surprised that it had such difficulty though, seeing as Ditto was always one of the lamest Pokemon in existence.
Such a random storyline though, and the main character was made of nonsense and sin, however, I really did love this flash. HURRAY for Abortion Shark. Saving the day as always.
Loved the use of the flute piece Melody played in Pokemon 2000. Thanks for including that, it made my day.
MISSINGNO doesn't get caught. MISSINGNO catches YOU!

Sticky responds:

It's a real memory trip alright.

[Emo Boy Ep.1]

So...

...I love how you're willing to make fun of yourself. You n00b it up all the time being emo, you know.
But seriously, dude, you know I love your little username recognition crap: it's making Newgrounders feel special one person at a time! Tis awesome. Good flash too. Someone obviously couldn't get the Emo Kid song out of their head.
That poor diary though. Someone get that mother some painkillers to ease the torment of having such an angsty owner. Geezus.
<3<3 Lol.

cHunter responds:

8=====D~~~ O:

[Milk Bar]

Oh yeah.

How about "brilliant" for a first try instead of just "not bad"?. This was hilarious, I loved it. The drawing style was really good, especially where the female anatomy was involved, and I loved the simplicity of it. The lack of background in most scenes actually worked in favor of the flash instead of against it, which happens in some cases. Nice idea, the Got Milk phrase is often overused or made unfunny through stupid jokes, but this was a fresh approach and I really did find it original and amusing. I think you should definitely make more animations; this was a classic example of flash ingenuity. If you make more, I'll look forward to them for sure.
For a week, it's pretty good. You have my thumbs up.