Screen Squinty's Animation Zone.

A site dedicated towards animation, the Animation Zone provides: Reviews, reactions, fan stuff, Top lists, links to content, etc. ......"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, owance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Thursday 28 January 2016

What The Hell YouTube?

This is not a animation, but I thought it important to share anyway, especially if anyone has youtube channels.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

City in Crisis – The Three Amigos (Ep #7)

Monday 25 January 2016

Screen Squinty's new Channel.

Hey All!

Just letting you all know that i have a channel up at Disqus, "Favorite Animation" For some animation discussion, have a squinty if your interested!

"Favorite Animation" https://disqus.com/home/channel/favoiriteanimation/

-Thanks! Screen Squinty.

Screen Squinty's Top 5 Online Animation of the Week# 2

Hello all!

Its the second week of the top 5 online list. Just to let you all know, this will be a weekly thing that i will be posting every Monday, my time.

What makes it to the list is animations that are posted online that fall within the monday to monday week before the next list is to be posted. it can be anything, trailers, clips, shorts, online reviews, etc. as long as it has a predominance of animation. It must also be searchable by Blogger's "Insert Video: search youtube" feature.

This list will not just be comprised because of the quality of the animation alone, but can also be chosen for premise, concept, or just plain entertaining.

I take suggestions, just leave them in the comment sections on the last list up.

1. "Insects" by Ramtin Ahmati.

2. "After the Fact: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" By MLP-Silver-Quill.

3. "The Broken Podcast is Back, Trailer." By PewDiePie.

4. "Ghost House 9, Dawn of Justice." By FilmCow.

5. "Baby Factory." By ExplosmEntertainment.

Sunday 24 January 2016

Screen Squinty's "Felidae" Review.

("Felidae." Screen Shot, Property of Senator Film Distribution)

Film: Felidae.
Directed by: Michael Schaack.
Running time: 82 min.
Released: 1994.

Felidae is a fascinating 1994 German Adult animation based off of a 1989 novel and series of the same name by Akif Pirinçci. It is about a house cat named Francis who recently moves into a new neighborhood and gets caught up in investigating the murders of other felines.

This is not the kind of animated feature that you would stick the kiddies in front of unless they have a great deal of maturity to understand graphic (violent) imagery. This is a story that takes talking animals to a whole different, nitty-gritty level.

The first thing to note is the differences between the original German voice acting and the English dub later developed. You can tell right off when doing a comparison between the two, that the voice acting and the lines is definitely better in the German one, the voice actors matching their characters personalities quite well, with Ulrich Tukar as the voice of Francis and Mario Adorf as Blaubart. The English version cleaned up a lot of the language which actually felt part in setting the tone, particularly of Blaubart, and did have some noticeable differences to wording outside of that which was not to the film’s advantage.

So like with anything else that is done in a language different from your own, if your English, stick to the subtitled version if you want the full effect of the film.

The animation was a rather fascinating mix of the standard, though good, quality of animation during that period, but then you get these moments where it takes a step above itself, particularly in Francis' dream sequences, and one in particular whose contents won’t be given away, but its style works well with the disturbing and potent imagery you’re not likely to forget.

There is also a sense of environment with this, an idea of the sort of old run down once lofty urban district which is established through the movements of the cats, done particularly well through a really well animated and detailed chase scene between Francis and the cult followers.

The story itself is another highlight, appropriate given the popularity of the books, the narrative flows from one sequence to another well enough, though there are moments that do feel a little rushed, it does weave its mystery in a very engaging way with equally engaging characters, Blaubart being a nice humorously crass counterpoint when it gets a little too heavy at the right times. It actually reads almost like a film noir, with some of the tropes of the genre, but not dominantly so.

One of the things going against it is that there are certain things that do make it dated, and a product of its times, such as a scene or two of less than PC use of homosexuality in a negative connotation, particularly exemplified in the scene between Kong and his crew and Francis and Blaubart in the first half, but that is very brief thankfully, and doesn't impact with the rest of the film, so it can be skipped.

The other negative perhaps is that while the climatic ending was really well done, the "bad humans and there corruption" message did feel a little forced here, almost shoe horned in with those last words of the antagonist, and then Francis before he passes out. It felt already established and stated by the antagonist’s backstory already, but then again, it is a product of its time, and it didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the film.

This was a great film that has a really compelling narrative and tone that sucks you in, a great set of characters in Francis and Blaubart, great animation, particularly in the dream sequences, and a gripping action-filled ending, if a little preachy here and there. Definitely a recommended watch for those who enjoy a good horror/mystery, are not squeamish, and like good quality adult animation.

Felidae Trailer (sound is not the best quality but its the best of the lot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXytNduYSj0

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Friday 22 January 2016

Save You - AMV

Commander Hot Stuff | MLP Comic Dub

Screen Squinty's "Little Witch Academia and Little Witch Academia: Enchanted Parade" Review.

Capture2 — (“Little Witch Academia”, Promotional Artwork, Retrieved from Wikipedia.org, Property of Trigger.

The first installment Little Witch Academia (2013), was a short animation that was produced by Trigger for the 2013 Anime Mirai (a funding project for young animators) about a somewhat inept but enthusiastic girl named Akko who is inspired into becoming a witch by a magical performer called Shiny Chariot, whom she idolizes, and hangs out at her magic school with her friends, Sucy and Lotte.

The second installment, Little Witch Academia: Enchanted Parade (2015) was a longer sequel partially funded through Kickstarter after the initial release of the first one garnered some modest fanbase. In this one the main character in conflict with her friends as they struggle to create the best parade (a punishment) so they can avoid expulsion.

First off, if you are a viewer who is seriously picky about the quality of their anime, then these shorts are definitely up your ally visually. The animation here is just spectacular! Fluid, malleable, colourful, enduring, and the character designs are unique to each character to aide in strengthening each individual identity.

The animation of the opening of the first installment especially was a real visual treat!

The characters outside their design, are rather likable, and some even funny, though Akko can come across as a little to bratty at times, particularly in the second installment, but in the end she realizes the character flaw, so she works well enough as a main lead, though definite props go to to the sidekicks and background characters.

Sucy is one of the best characters in both of the films, sort of like a cross between Severus Snape from Harry Potter franchise, Raven from Teen Titans. Everything she does and says is almost always funny, her utilization of potions is always fun to watch, with much of the best humour coming from her quarter, and her almost cartoon Dracula-like design is the best of the lot by far!

One of the draw backs of the films is that the pacing of the story of the first one doesn’t match the short time frame, feeling a little rushed. The second film seemed to be trying to rectify that, and it was an improvement in pacing. Despite that though, it did present some interesting elements that I wished could have been flushed out bit more, such as the relationship between the witches and the non-magicals, the hints of gentrification among witch culture, the history behind the Sorcerer’s stone (and yes, if your harry Potter fan you roll your eyes, but to be fair, it wasn’t the first to use that magical prop.)

There are some problems with the characters such as a few of them coming across as a bit to stereotypic such as Diana, the condescending overachiever aristocrat who comes across like a less dickish Draco Malfoy (also from Harry Potter) for example, and the under utilization of the 3 new characters Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka from the second movie, who each had something very interesting about them, but wasn’t fully explored or utilized, though with time constraints and the focus being the friendship of the main cast, it was likely not a concern.

This is why while they work alright as short films (with the second treading that line very finely I might add)I feel they would be great to watch as both a full length TV series to really flesh out the characters, history, and the story, or even a feature length film, perhaps.

The only other nitpick would be the English dub which was also not overly well done, and can distract from the film, though the actresses for the Japanese version are pretty good, with the exception of Diana, whose voice sounds a little too mature for the age she is supposed to be.

Overall these were very well done anime with its strengths resting in its animation and characters, and felt like a nice little homage to Harry Potter while still maintaining its own identity. I would recommend giving it a watch.

Little Witch Academia “Minotaur Scene”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I9E3JakwoU&spfreload=10
Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBRoTGpoyuw

Both films are also on Netflix.

Original post: https://screensquinty.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/little-witch-academia-1-2-a-review/
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3D animated short film - Glass Half [HD] - [The Amazing] january 2016

Vitals - A Documentary with Animated Short Film - Directed by Jake Oleson

Thursday 21 January 2016

Horde - Short Film

Screen Squinty's "SHUDŌ" Review.

("SHUDŌ." Screen shot, property of To-Anh Bach, Charles Badiller, and Hugo Weiss.)

Short: SHUDŌ.
Directed by: To-Anh Bach, Charles Badiller, and Hugo Weiss.
Running time: 2 min.
Released: 2015.

This is a very short promotional animation from Goeblins Le’Ecole de L’Image that features a fight between two swordsmen, Hayate and Iwa out in the snow.

This is an excellent little animation, almost like a clip form some larger project really, with this amazing visual dance between the past and the present as the relationship is shown between the two battling swordsmen, the images between fighting and embracing were particularly poignant given the ending.

The animation style itself was unique, and attention to detail, such as the cloths whipping in the blizzard wind, the angle and the choice of cold colors for the present battle, and warmer tones for the past scenes was well done.

This is how film should be, showing. There is no dialogue, and the actions in the animation play out a deep relationship within such a small space of time, that it rivals many feature length films.

Well Done!

SHUDŌ link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVw68FKLEzQ
For other animated short reviews go to Film Shorts Reviews.

Original post: https://screensquinty.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/shudo-a-review/
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Wednesday 20 January 2016

Screen Squinty's Random Top 10 Cartoon Clips #1

Hello All!

This section will be a recurring spot where I post a list of random clips, trailers, etc. of animation, perhaps from shows, movies, commercials or fan made content (from any period I so choose, because that is how I roll), that I venture across that i felt was worth sharing for entertainment value, nostalgia, and putting animation itself perhaps in perspective, so enjoy!