kmau's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[FulpWare Gold]

Really cute!

It can't be that hard to turn this into a proper game, right? Could be the ultimate Newgrounds gamejam where everyone contributes a silly 3-second minigame.. Nintendo patents notwithstanding.

[Monkey Wrench Ep4 - Plague Walker]

Great stuff as always.
This episode really pushed a good direction, like spotlighting a specific alien species and driving some conflict between the protagonists and other interest groups. I went into it with the obvious expectation that this episode would be more self-contained and end with Shrike somehow redeeming himself, so the cliffhanger caught me off-guard and really makes me want to see what happens next.

On the other hand there was almost too much new, crazy stuff going on with the worldbuilding today. I feel like the sheer range of wildly different species lacks a bit of focus and cohesion that ties them together in this universe - a consistent level of logic that they all operate by. You have slug-people in suits that may be scientifically plausible, but then you have the (admittedly great) undead skeletons, object-species and now the shadow paper guy that only adds to the long list of "How do they work?" ayy lmaos. I hope all of those get some elaboration in the same vein as Bulldogs walrus species in the future, even though I don't expect this to become a super-serious lore-driven show. I hope this critique makes some sense!

[Anime impact frames, BRO!!]

I love these idiots.

[Pepper and Monterey]

I rarely come across something that is so flawless. On top of great animation and pacing, the voice acting and voice direction really elevates this short to another level.

[PAIN GIRL (PILOT)]

I can't overstate how much I like your style, the character designs are great and my only complaint would be the scissor weapon of Penni being white against mostly bright backgrounds. The side characters all being dumb blobs underlines their (un)importance, which is a great visual tool for this kind of show.

However, I do think - especially with these nice, simple character designs - the action scenes BEG to be more dynamic, fast-paced and have an enduring momentum that isn't interrupted every few seconds. If you go for violence without much purpose, your number one goal should be to make it as eye-candy as possible.

The role of Tihi also confused me. She seems to get established as a foil to Penni, but simply joins in. Penni is the facilitator of senseless violence already, so why have two? I expected Tihi to be the driving force of a conflict that makes it all come together, for example by trying to stop the chaos from unfolding, inadvertently escalating it and still landing in prison with the others at the end.
In that sense, it could've been about extreme violence WITHOUT purpose (Penni) VS extreme violence WITH purpose (Tihi, causing collateral damage while trying to stop her).

So in summary, my gripe is the lack of a simple, actual conflict to drive the violence.

[SubparGeekGirl96 - Convention Report]

The part at 00:30 killed me for some reason, that's totally how a video like this would be edited.

[JIMMY AND BABY]

Very impressive animation from start to finish, I just feel like the plot drowns in an ocean of distracting visual gags during the whole hell section. Some more restraint and focused direction could've helped there, but it was an enjoyable ride overall.

[Monkey Wrench 3 - Us & Them]

Easily the best episode yet!

The criticisms I had of the previous episodes go out the window with this one, I liked the pacing, tension, worldbuilding and all the character interactions. No need to go into detail really, just seeing this show find its groove is wonderful.

My only complaint is the tonal whiplash I got from seeing how the involuntary manslaughter is handled narratively. The Bulldog b-plot portrays it as a more serious tragedy, while cat and pizza man really don't care that the manslaughter happened at all, right down to the "apology" at the end.
Coming from the rock people genocide of the last episode I already expected this light-hearted approach to death to continue, I just feel like it clashed with the more sentimental tone of the Bulldog fungus interactions.

[Bytesize]

Totally forgot these were a thing back then! Takes me way back, hearing that old Newgrounds background music.