Reviewed by Mike Belfance

Andres has made himself notorious for being an especially harsh critic. What he considers a good movie seems to rely on two basic things: a well told story, and something that's different from what everyone else is putting out there. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I've gathered from his many angry (and often hilariously cruel) posts. The bad thing is that alot of people see one of Andres' "0/10" reviews in their movie threads and laugh it off without realizing there are some very good ideas for making an excellent movie amidst all of the endless sarcasm. Andres proves this through his own movie releases. Regardless of whether you agree with his harsh way of reviewing, you have to admit, this guy practices what he preaches. "Dead Heart in a Dead World", one of his earlier movies, is still one of my all-time favorite 3dmm movies. It had a very unique style, while at the same time telling an interesting story. Cycles is the same way. It's extremely weird, but it's also expertly directed and pulled off incredibly well.

The movie is about a race of tiny green people who were vomited into existence by an all powerful being named "Zorn". Obviously the storyline comes from Andres dislike for anything religious. You could think of it as a very pessimistic religious commentary if you want. I preferred not to, as I wouldn't have agreed with it's message at all most likely, but that's the great thing about this movie - any underlying message isn't forced on you. You're given the chance take it as it is. Think of it as a harsh commentary on religion if you want, or as a short movie about a race of tiny green people and their problems. Whatever, it won't hurt your enjoyment of the movie either way.

The animation is excellent all of the way through. All camera movements are fluid and never seem jerky or thrown in just for the hell of it. Andres knows what he's doing as a director- all scenes work to carry on the storyline. There isn't a single throw-away scene in the movie. The story moves fast and is constantly fun to watch happen. I especially like the world with all of the clouds where Zorn hovers around. You really get the feeling this guy is bored out of his mind. The only scene I would complain about is (without giving away too much) the race at the end. It almost seemed like Andres just wanted to end the movie and get to the punch line at this point. It was over way too quickly in my opinion, and would have been very anti-climactic if that was the ending like I thought it was going to be (luckily it wasn't, the actual ending was much better).

Sound-wise, it was pretty good. James Burgon's voice acting was excellent all the way through, and the sound effects did a good enough job. The real problem I had was with the music chosen. During the dialouge scenes it largely drowned out the voices. Different music, or even no music at all would have worked better. Besides that there's nothing much to complain about in the sound category.

All-in-all this was a great short movie. I still like "Dead Heart in a Dead World" better, but it was well done nonetheless. It had a few problems- a couple bad music choices, and some scenes should have had more too them (especially the race I mentioned before). Not quite a classic like DHIADW, but fun to watch and definately entertaining throughout. I give it a 89% out of 100%.

89%