eclay-08172 Reviews

KILL la KILL (2013–2014)

Kill la Kill kills me

[9/10 · 6 November 2019]

Another day, another over the top Anime finished.

this will be spoiler free and quick

First off, this anime is not for everyone. As most of you probably know, this show is known for it's partial(barely) nudity. They do not shy away from this fact. This is an over the top show where the creators just had fun and didn't care.

Anyways, I loved this show. No it wasn't the very creatively used partial nudity, although that had it's moments.

The characters, story, comedy and action is what had me hooked.

The story follows Ryuko Matoi, a vagrant schoolgirl who is searching for the person who killed her father. Her search leads her to Honnouji Academy, which is lead by Satsuki Kiryuin with an iron fist. Satsuki, as well as her student council and most of the school own and use suits called, "Goku Uniforms". These suits give the wearer super human abilities. Ryuko has a lot of work to do before she can find her fathers killer.

There are so many characters to talk about in this show, i sure as hell don't have the time or room to talk about all of them. At the end of the show, i found myself a little sad. Whether they were crazy, perverted or overly happy, i ended up caring for a lot of the characters.

The action with the Goku uniforms is nuts. For sure, some of the most unique anime fighting sequences I've seen. Even during all the fighting, they still find time to make you laugh while trying to cheer.

People can hate on this all they want, but this is a very fun anime that i will be revisiting again and again. The action. The comedy. The characters. Pick one reason and watch this.

I give KILL la KILL, a 9/10

Virus (1999)

A fun but flawed Virus

[5/10 · 6 November 2019]

Oh how i missed this movie. Ever since this film came out when i was 9, i've had a soft spot for it. Then again, since then, it's always seemed this was a film either loved or hated. Both side have good reasons for their feelings.

First, some info on the plot, if you are unfamiliar.

Virus, released in 1999 and directed by John Bruno. Tells the story of an unknown energy wave that flies through a Russian space station called, The Mir. Through it's communications, it travels to earth and onto the Russian research ship. Chaos ensues.

A week later, the sea star after suffering the loss of their cargo, finds the research vessel and boards to make repairs on their own ship.

They soon discover, something is wrong on this ship.

Sounds like a pretty basic plot for a at sea horror film. That leads me into my first topic. Virus is pretty basic in terms of plot. Something happens at sea, people die and someone else just happens to find the ship and start some more hell. We've seen it alot.

The characters, honestly didn't offer much. Most are pretty basic character examples. First off, Foster, played by Curtis is the by the book professional with a heart, who buts heads with her captain. Speaking of which, Captain Everton, played by Donald Sutherland, is your wary old sea man, just wanting to get that last big haul and get rich. Two modes, dick and super dick. Then you have the other guy who never agrees with the captain, Steve Baker played by William Baldwin. He was a kool character and pretty much the hero aside from Foster. So you kind like him just for that fact.

To wrap up the characters, there's the "pansy" Woods. The tough guy Hiko, the helper to steve, Squeaky. I will say though, Richie and Nadia were probably my favorite characters. Richie was nuts, funny and pretty badass. Nadia the only survivor from the Russian crew, seemed like the most developed character along with Richie. She went from the science type to the near crazed survivor. Her acting was also the best i think. Showing the most range it seemed out of everyone else.

As you can see, the plot, setting and character are pretty basic. Not much attention was given to this part of the film. Why? Well, keep reading.

What i think this film was really, was a way to test out some gory terminator-ish ideas. Weird i know, but i remember reading about this film when it came out and the only thing people talked about was the effects and gore. Which there is plenty in this film. People were also constantly comparing it to Terminator. I think even some folks were talking about it possibly being the new Terminator. (Keep dreaming).

They really went all out for the practical and computer effects in this flick. From the humanoid monstrosities to the collectors to the behemoths, the focus was on the look more then anything. The attention was worth it. To this day, i'm still impressed with the practical effects. The CGI was ok for late 90s. They could have used a little more money on that part.

Point, they were focused on making something that looked kool and gory. Characters and writing took the backseat. The sentient alien energy thing is still kool.

So if you are a fan of practical effects, gore or just a fun time packed with cheesy dialogue go ahead and check Virus(1999) out.

If you like a more developed story, characters and don't care for gore, you may not like this film. As i said before, this is a film that's loved and hated. So up to you.

Even though i love this film, i'll try to be fair with it's issues.

I give Virus, a 5/10

Hackers (1995)

What the hack?

[9/10 · 15 August 2019]

Oh 90s, how i will forever love and miss you. Thanks to amazon prime, i had the pleasure of watching yet another 90s hidden jewel. Now i'm sure i saw this somewhere in my near 30 year existence but oh well. I'll be watching this one a lot more.

Anyways, HACKERS, a crime film directed by Lain Softley and starring A young Angelina Jolie as kate Libby, a student at the same high school as the films lead, Dade Murphy, played by Jonny Lee Miller. Dade is freshly 18 years old and just got off probation for a computer hack he did when he was younger.

He slowly starts to toy with computers again, being the first thing he does when he turns 18. He quickly warms up to the crowd at his school when he starts showing off his hacking skills to the others. He eventually starts hanging out with Libby aka Acid Burn. Emmanuel aka Cereal Killer, who is played by the awesome Matthew lillard. There are others, but lets move on.

In a moment of stupidity, one of the younger hackers hacks into a place that...well lets just say, wrong place, wrong time. What follows is a plot uncovered, people getting arrested and all other kinds of tom-fuckery.

This causes Dade and the others attempting to clear their names and take down a greedy hacker named Eugene "The Plague" Belford, played by Fisher Stevens. I swear that dude was born to play snake type characters. He always looks evil and i don't know. you just don't wanna trust him or get near him.

You get my point.

As usual, i'm not going to spoil much. If you wanna know more go watch it.

I honestly had very little to complain about with this film. To me, this looks like a film that didn't take itself to seriously and just wanted to have fun. I can get behind that. Acting wise, everyone did an awesome job. Whether it was the new guy, hot chick, annoying little brother type, whatever was cast, was cast well.

The acting highlights for me was Cereal Killer and the plague. These were the craziest characters all the way and you can tell Lillard and Stevens had a lot of fun playing these guys. OF course i like Angelina Jolie. Her performance isn't anything to be wowed but still fun and she was still coming into her own back in the early-mid 90s.

Story is of course cheezy 90s at it's best. Directing, editing and cinematography looked pretty good. Have to watch it again to catch any errors. Effects wise, there were a few bad green screen effects here and there. Nothing too bad.

I think that's it folks. Another movie watched, another world explored. Wish i would have had this in my collection sooner. If i could travel back and be apart of these movies. ;-)

I give HACKERS a 9/10.

Deception (2003 TV Movie)

Not so deceptive

[4/10 · 15 August 2019]

I've been a fan of Dina meyer since the 90s. Since i first saw her in dragonheart and starship troopers, i was a huge fan. As usual though, i really didn't understand how much she has really been in.

At this point i'm playing catch up. DECEPTION. This one i'm not surprised it slipped through the cracks and escaped my sight. A "TV" movie released in 2004, it follows Erin, (played by Dina Meyer) who is a struggling actress working for a detective agency, seducing married men and letting their wives catch them. Sounds fun and dangerous.

I did enjoy this film to a point. I always try to enjoy anything Dina is in. Hell i liked Birds of Prey. Dina gives her best in her roles and this is no different.

Of course the story is like 90% predictable. SO meh for story. The acting wasn't good but wasn't terrible either. It almost seemed like enhanced soap opera type. The cinematography and editing was choppy in alot of places.

It honestly feels like one of those projects that is mostly done to make some money and i can respect that.

To wrap this quick review up, i didn't expect much from this film and i got what i expected. Not good and not bad. One of those low budget tv movies you can watch while you are bored once or twice but nothing to really keep you coming back.

I give Deception a 4/10.

PS this doesn't change my view on Miss. Meyer. Dina, you're awesome, talented and gorgeous. :-)

Hyenas (2011)

Feed me to anything but the Hyenas.

[1/10 · 15 August 2019]

This was another tough one to get through. I mean, when it comes to horror or movies in general, i'm pretty chill. This however...this is another kind of bad.

Directed by Eric Weston, this film follows a group of "WereHyenas" as they embark on a feeding frenzy in town. When a woman and child are murdered on the side of the road, the husband(played by Costas Mandylor) and cops don't know what to think. When a crazy local by the name of Crazy Briggs claims to know what's going on, Costas aka Gannon agrees to join him in the hunt of these creatures. Without knowing it the film jumps a few years. thanks for the heads up.

I could go on about how bad this movie is but i don't have the patience. So i'll make this brief. The acting is horrible. Like i'm talking barely a step above acting. which is funny because I've seen some of these actors before and they are not bad actors. everything was just wooden and uninteresting. felt like i was watching machines act.

It had almost no natural flow at all. The editing was the same. most of the time making cuts so jarring i had to do a double take to make sure i was watching the same scene. The CGI. Oh my god how terrible it is. Just look at the up top pictures for a example. Trust me, it gets worse.

From everything i saw, it looks like the direction is what was weakest here. Never heard of this Eric Weston before but damn dude, i've known some beginning student directors who could have gotten a better performance out of these actors.

Final note: It seems to me they wanted to pack this film with hot actors and actresses and did this in a hurry. They put in alot of nudity but even that was lazy. most of the time covering something half way up with CGI or framing it to where you had to ask, are they trying to tease the audience or just keep it at a certain rating?

Fun fact. I actually met the lead hot hyena girl in this film. Christa Campbell. Met her years ago on the set of, "The Taking of Deborah Logan". she was a producer i believe. She has acted before but was much better then this. Don't know what happened. (Again i blame the director) think his direction for her was, just look serious and strip. thats almost all she does in this film.

ok i'm done.

I give HYENAS, a 1/10

Hellboy (2019)

Hellboy: Forever. Not the hell ride i hoped for.

[5/10 · 15 August 2019]

I'm a little late to this party but oh well, still a fun time. Anyways folks, first off, I shall forever call this film, HELLBOY: Forever.

That's what this film felt like to me. Felt like a batman forever just with demons and alot of blood. I'm not saying this film is bad at all. I actually had a fun time watching it.

I won't go into too much detail, but this felt more of a dark-ish, over the top comic book world. Where del toros was, well, del toro. Serious, but excellent humor, effects, fighting, acting you name it. This one, it seems they wanted to crank it up to 11 and go nuts. I can enjoy that from time to time.

The acting, like everything else was kinda campy, over the top and so on. They didn't want to be too serious.

Now that i think about it, it also reminds me of the animated hellboy films from years ago.

The practical effects when they were used were good. A few stinks here and there. The CGI,oh lord. very very few good shots. this was one of the last stops for the money flow.

On that note, think that is one of this films biggest faults, their budget. you can tell this was a much lower budget then the others. Maybe if they would have had more they might have done better.

Hope this review helps you make a choice on the film. Not near as good as the first two but still a fun one to watch here and there.

PS. I enjoy Milla Jovovich no matter what. :-)

I give Hellboy: Forever, i mean Hellboy(2019) a 5/10