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jameswilliams-00567
Reviews
[Rec] (2007)
One Of the Best Horror Films I Have Ever Seen
This was a film that my friends and I saw at a young age, so it was easy for it to scare us, but after watching it when I got older, I can safely say that it holds up fantastically well.
The way the whole thing is shot, as a found footage film, just straight up works. While I am someone who has a soft spot for found footage films, I say that on its own, this is just a phenomenal horror film, and the found footage aspect of it adds to the creepiness of it. While certain found footage films are over reliant on frantic jump scares, and fast paced editing, this film uses the style in a way that just works. Sure, it falls to the trappings of any one of these types of films, but that doesn't harm the film much.
BraveStorm (2017)
It's Okay
I am a long time fan of tokusatsu, giant robots, giant monsters. All of it. Power Ranger, Super Sentai, Godzilla, Pacific Rim, I live for that. I know the characters Silver Kamen and Red Baron, but I never watched the shows they are from, so I cannot judge the accuracy, but it was entertaining.
Now, I watched it dubbed, and the dub was not the best, but nothing that I couldn't handle, as I have seen many poorly done dubs, so this isn't even in the top ten, or top fifty for that matter. But it felt like some of the voice actors were either not going the distance, or they were trying too hard. Now, I would rather the latter of the two, because it is a giant robot movie, so I say go crazy.
The pacing is kind of underwhelming. The film is pretty short, but the action scenes are only at the end, and really doesn't excell at what it could have. Hindsight is 20/20, but if they would have gotten a few more actors for Silver Kamen to spar with throughout the film would have helped with the pacing issue, and maybe expanding on the damage done with the mech fight could have gave it more awe. This is an issue that many people had with the 2017 Power Rangers film, but that at least had fun characters to watch grow.
They also could have gone further with the violence. At the beginning, someone has their eyes popped out, but we never have anything like that again. It had the harsh swearing, which was jarring. It seemed as if they wanted to make a movie for mid to late teens, but the excessive swearing makes me think otherwise. That might be a dubbing thing, I don't know, but if they wanted an R-rated action film, they should have embraced the ridiculousness, and gone full splatter. Maybe it was a budget issue, but they should have either went with the lighthearted teen film, or violent romp.
If they do the follow up movie involving Iron King, I think they might be able to fix these issues. More destruction, and make the mechs feel as giant as they are. Let Silver Mask have his time to shine. Let him go crazy. Have an army for him to fight. Hopefully the budget of the next one will be increased so they can make that happen.
What I appreciate about this film is that I know I am never going to get a big budget live-action rendition of these more obscure tokusatsu characters, so I am happy to see more independent film groups make them. It might not be perfect, but to have a group of people show love to these more unknown characters brings me a smile.
Give it a shot. It isn't too long, and it is entertaining enough to satisfy a temporary mecha itch that needs to be scratched.
Hornet (2018)
I Have Seen Too Many Bad Movies
Okay, so I obviously know that this isn't a great, or even that much of a good film, but I have seen movies with this type of budget, so I grade them on a curve, and with that curve, the movie isn't awful. Well the movie does feel and look cheap, and uses the found footage style seen in most independent films, it doesn't look gross, and at times can look like a real film. Not always, but the director was competent enough.
The movie's title is meant to be a misleading ripoff of the far superior film Bumblebee, but the plots are far different from each other. This one is about a group of friends who create a robot that is used to fight aliens, and that has nothing to do with the plot of Bumblebee.
The effects aren't great, but they aren't unforgivable. Hornet looks decent enough for the times he is on scene, and he doesn't look like the robot on the poster, which is misleading, but that is common for most mockbuster films.
The acting, at the start at least, is actual pretty good, as far as I'm concerned. That is until we get into the interrogation room, for whatever reason the acting quality just drops, and it is pretty jarring. Overall, the acting is better quality than what this film deserves, but it isn't without flaws.
Maybe I am more forgiving of this film because I saw it for free, but I still don't find this film to be too offensive, as I have seen plenty worse films. If you can watch it for free, give it a look, but don't spend too much money on watching it, maybe a dollar at most.