Noves's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[NGTV Christmas Marathon]

Happy to be the NGTV announcer and the Ducks and Drugs characters. Thanks for letting me be a part of this and a great job and Merry Christmas to all the collaborators!

Kolumbo responds:

NOVES the man the myth the legend - thank you for all the work you put into this and special thank you for the insane speed you did it at - couldn't have made it without you!! much love and merry christmas!!!

[HAPPY FAMILY 2]

So happy for this.

Kolumbo responds:

thank you again for all the help!

[HAPPY FAMILY]

Gimme back my shirt Jim! Thanks for having me on the crew! Happy Halloween!

[The Ultimate Showdown Collab]

15 years ago, I remember watching the original. It was a great day.
This is a wonderful homage/tribute/reanimation (take your pick) showing off a lot of good artists and animators to follow. Today is a great day.

[Black Crystal - Episode Prologue: "Lighting the Spark"]

Kayani, I imagine this echos from other viewers but the art style and aesthetic are fantastic. The transition of different pixel art styles worked effectively without changing the pace of the fights or story, and all of them were beautifully done. Well, actually, I wasn't a fan of the transition at 8:15. Without the detail of Gen's mouth moving, it felt lazy in comparison. I understand that this took years to make and they aren't as important, but I thought some of the backgrounds lacked texture or seemed bland in juxtaposition with the characters. The plain red temple roofs in some shots were the standout that made me really look into it. While watching, I thought that different shades for a gradient or some lines that made it look like roof tiles would make it much nicer. That said, it's about the only constructive criticism I can muster on the art. The detail, the fluid motion, the flame effects; just bravo man.
As for audio, I wish I could say more to be constructive but this is an area where I lack a critical ear. No complaints here, but the fighting sounds and music fit well. I like the timbre of the strings in some fast-paced music for fighting, and wouldn't mind seeing how Grice and Luzier can fit in other genres for other characters or fight styles. Now I'm all excited, thinking about a fight scene with Kuro and a partner, each with a different music and fighting styles and hearing the two songs become a mix as they exercise better teamwork.
And the voices, well done here too. Quality was excellent and even the screaming (something I have trouble with myself without making the sound clip) was smooth. My only real constructive criticism is that Gen seemed overly flat. Now, I think this is more of a character design thing than anything Dobrev was doing, so I'm not faulting him, but it just kind of nagged me that this guy almost sounds like he's trying to hard to not care although he actually likes Kuro. And Kaitsu, I don't know if anyone can say that he can't shoulder this series as Kuro's voice. I wish I had something to say for him to work on, but all I can is, "keep it up."
I'd love to see this project on a an actual budget. I know that labors of love usually only last so long, or only come out with new content sparsely, so I'll see what I can spare. Overall, this is a great team feature. One I'd love to be a part of as a voice if allowed, but aside from self-promotion, I'm still satisfied to be fan. Good luck with this in the future!

[A Prank Time]

Dang, what a show off!

The animation took me by surprise. Way too normal looking for what you end up getting and I loved it. The insanity of it all...just wonderful. If I were to offer a criticism, it would be that I found the dad screaming bit too long, but that's where I feel you really showed off. The length of it only showed off the amount of ideas you can convey and how good your animation can be, so please, don't even take that as criticism.

The fluid animation of it (and the rest of the scenes) looked like it took a lot of work to do correctly and if I take a step back to appreciate just that, I feel like you really showed off a lot of creativity through ideas that seemed to get progressively stranger but were animated well enough to sell the strangeness. On top of that, it seems like getting the sound to match up would be a challenge in a few areas, but it flows smoothly with that liquid animation.

The story works by itself, but that added strangeness to juxtapose now normal it could have been gives it so much more personality. But above all I feel that you nailed the technical aspects to make this short one to remember, so go ahead, enjoy that feeling of vindication and self-confidence in your work. I'll be here hoping there's more to come.

[Theres a Man in the Woods]

Wow this was nice.

There's a lot that I like in this video. The story itself, a dark tale with no true winning or losing for the protagonist or the antagonist. It's not a story type that's seen too often, and I like that. Perfect for the nearing of Halloween too. The art also seemed to agree with the story well. Bright, vividness in better days with darker tones as trouble continued to brew. Realistic facial expressions and body language that conveyed the necessary feelings of the characters. I loved the approaching lava as a metaphor for the imaginary danger zones kids can come up with (at least that's what I took it as). With the art is nice animation that looks like it comes from solid technique. Michael Paul Kennedy did an excellent job with the music as it helped drive the story with building intensity and menacing tone. I appreciate the timbre of the piano, as I'm uncertain if there was a better choice of instrument to express atmosphere like it did. I also had to like the writing and its rhyme. Michael Ho gave it a nice rhythm and an excellent delivery. My only criticism is that he sounded a bit young for the teacher's appearance, but it's negligible as it didn't pull me out of the immersion from the video until I watched it a second time in search of anything to give some constructive criticism.

And as far as constructive criticism goes...unless I really nitpick like in my last statement, I can't say much. To all three of you, keep up the great work and I'll be looking forward to your future projects!

[An Animal Crossing Tale]

Too good not to comment on and a very nice tribute to the Animal Crossing series.

I loved the atmosphere set by the music and animation. A nice, bucolic town with no troubles that gains a dark secret come nightfall. Character interactions were believable and sounded nice, so great work with the writing and by the voice actors too.

If I were to offer any criticism, the running animation still seemed a little off. I'd like to be able to say why and give some more help, but I can't pinpoint it, sorry. Still, it's not enough to pull my immersion from the video and the animation has been improving from your past work (and I love seeing artists on here develop sharper skills).

Keep up the great work, man. Can't wait to see what's next!

[Magic Wand Infomercial]

This was pretty good. I like the goofy premise and you delivered the humor well. Your animation skills are obviously improving too. It smoother than your older work (or at least, smoother than I remember) and looks sharper overall.

As far as some constructive criticism, I like your art style but think that some frames could be cleaned up. It's mostly little stuff like a line sticking out or the shading will look a little off to me (it's still better than anything I can come up with), but smoothing out all the details will really help out overall presentation. Also, I found some of the backgrounds to be bland by either lacking detail or the detail seemed so low-grade compared to the focal point of the foreground.

Still, this is good overall. Actually, I'm excited to see your future work because of the way you are improving. Just keep polishing up your animating skills and you'll never disappoint your fans.

[Dual Force]

You're cartoons are getting better and more ambitious, and I like that. I think you did well with the audio choices and you've got a stellar voice cast, great job to all you! Also, you've got your own distinct art style that I like to see.

On the negative side, I will say that I didn't really enjoy the writing. The story was alright, but I can't say I got into it. I picked up on the jokes, but didn't get much out of them. It could just be my sense of humor though. Also, I feel as though the fight scene had some choppy animation that made the fight look awkward.

Don't get me wrong, I like this, but I want to give an honest review. I'll be looking for your work in the future and am excited to see what's next.

Twisted4000 responds:

Thanks a bunch, and no nothing is wrong with your sense of humor, I just have a weird sense of humor, unfortunately, lol. As for the battle scene though, I just didn't animate in 1s, I feel that if there's some choppiness it gives some flow and looks more lifelike. And not a prob, honest reviews are the best kind. Glad you enjoyed it overall.