McZee - The Man Behind The Movies (YB's Review)

So...The Man Behind The Movies. Anyone who's seen this should know exactly how this review will go. The only real question is not how good the movie is - it's where to begin.

We'll just start at the plot. Basically, it's a movie documenting the road we call McZee's life. And like every road, it's full of bumps, curves, and sharp turns, but in the end, the road has to stop sometime. Which is kind of ironic (you'll need to have seen the movie to get what I mean).

That being said, it's very hard to define this as a 3DMM movie. There's clearly shots of 3DMM in there, they aren't completely gone. Just overlooked. That doesn't mean the movie's bad, and in fact, it actually shows the achievements one can do with this program. But again, 3DMM shots are only briefly inputted. Most of it consists of pictures (which have been fairly Photoshopped, it looks like) and interviews of various 3DMM characters (including McZee himself).

Voice acting is good for the most part, but Charlie's voice kinda annoyed me. I don't know, it seemed a little bit whiny and scratchy. Maybe it's the mediocre sound quality of the Vimeo version, I don't know.

An innovative idea that I like is putting the sample movies into the movie, and not just as sample movies. They are represented as McZee's excellently directed masterpieces.

Except for Dialogue. To quote Conker's Bad Fur Day:"That is the sh*ttiest, crappiest, crappiest, sh*ttiest kick-ass I've ever seen".

I am a huge hard rock/heavy metal fan, and because of that, I think the soundtrack is just phenomenal. Holy Diver, Mama I'm Coming Home, November Rain...it's just amazing what a soundtrack can do to a movie like this. And I can honestly say, I was headbanging my brain out to Rainbow In The Dark at the end with both of my bullhorns proudly showing.

What kinda bothers me is the overall flow of the movie. It's pretty slow-going for a movie as long as this. I have no problem watching a 22-minute movie, but it just seems to take a while to get there for this one.

Another thing I really don't like is the seemingly overbearing use of pictures. They aren't bad, but they are seriously overused in the movie. I realize it would have been harder to animate those pictures using 3DMM, but that doesn't mean you have to resort to using pictures all the time.

But those are only minor flaws. This truly could be the greatest film ever made with 3DMM. Visually stunning and emotionally deep, this film pushes, and eventually breaks, the boundaries of what can be done with this program. This is one of the few movies I've seen where you forget that someone made this on a computer program that's 15 years old. And that is truly a spectacle to behold.

[Breed]

thanks for the review!

[Youthboy]

I love how it has 1 reply but no views

And anyways, you're welcome.

[Orcus]

Thanks! Some really great points you raised, especially about using so many pictures. I guess that's kind of the style I felt comfortable working with although it is a little lazy. Just thinking about it now it might've been funnier to maybe follow modern day McZee around and he talks while shopping or eating or something. Really glad you liked the soundtrack since that was one of the things I'm most proud of.

[Youthboy]

I can understand the selected style, and it fits good for a documentary, but I just really didn't see it happening the first time I viewed it. It kinda grows on you in a bit, though.

[Orcus]

Yeah I've watched it more times than I've really needed to and it definitely runs a bit slow but I keep going just because I love how the ending turned out.

Also signatures need to be 325x60.

[Youthboy]

I realized that after the fact.

[Phil Williamson]

Good review! It's nice to see someone enter the community with something like this for a change. Stick around

[Gorosaurus]

Excellent comments, good read! Keep this quality up

[Youthboy]

Originally Posted by Phil Williamson

Good review! It's nice to see someone enter the community with something like this for a change. Stick around

Thanks, I intend to. Though as far as making movies, it may be a while. I have no ideas at the moment, and since I have to occasionally reboot my computer's hard drive, 3DMM isn't even installed right now. I'm hoping to get to it today, but no guarantees.