Sleepaway Camp

1983's Sleepaway Camp is widely (and deservedly) considered a cult classic amongst fans of 1980s slasher films. The story follows 13-year-old Angela Baker (played by Felissa Rose) and her cousin Ricky (played by Jonathan Tiersten) when they are sent to summer camp. Soon after they arrive, dead bodies begin to pile up, leaving everyone to wonder who the killer could possibly be. I feel like there really is a lot to compliment about Sleepaway Camp. While it's nothing groundbreaking, I genuinely like a lot of the acting in the movie. Felissa Rose as Angela is clearly the standout performer to me. She doesn't have a lot of dialogue, and she makes her limited amount of speech genuinely work. Most of the time, the character has this blank stare on her face. This is a movie that I actually think is genuinely rewarding to watch twice. The first time, it's good to go in as blind as possible, thanks to the film's twist ending which I don't dare spoil. When you watch a second time, knowing the film's ending, you can actually pick up on the clues. The kills are pretty creative as well. One of my personal favorites is one you see silhouetted and involves a curling iron. You kind of have an idea of what's happening, but it's left to the imagination just enough. The directing isn't the strongest in this film, which makes sense when you consider this is the first of only two films directed by Robert Hiltzik (the second one being 2008's Return to Sleepaway Camp). Overall, Sleepaway Camp has some very small rough patches, but the overall product is a film that genuinely works. It deserves to be seen by any fan of the slasher genre.

8 / 10 

Resident Evil: Degeneration

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Resident Evil: Degeneration is a computer generated animated movie set within the universe of the Resident Evil game franchise. I'll admit that I've never played any of the Resident Evil games, so I can't exactly speak to how faithful this movie is to the video games. I say this because I want it to be clear that I am in no way judging this as an adaptation, only as a movie standing on its own. The film was originally made in Japan, so the version I saw was dubbed over. Some of the actual syncing wasn't very good. The animation was alright. It's nothing stellar, but it's nothing amazing either. I will give credit to the voice acting. Many of the performers in this film are voice actors by profession. These include the likes of Laura Bailey, Alyson Court, Roger Craig Smith, and Steve Blum, just to name a few. The plot can feel a little bit too complicated at times, like there is a little too much going on. One point where I think the animation actually excels is in the action. Characters like Leon and Claire are just really damn entertaining to watch. It feels like the purpose with the heroes in the film is to just make them badass, and I was completely OK with that. Overall, this film was pretty fun to watch. It's far from perfect, but I would definitely recommend this film to fans of the Resident Evil games.

6 / 10 

Fast & Furious 6

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So, here it is, the last film I have to review in the Fast and the Furious franchise (that I haven't already reviewed). Following the events of Fast Five, a team of criminals led by Owen Shaw (played by Luke Evans) are stealing high-tech devices, which could be dangerous for the world at large. Luke Hobbs (played by Dwayne Johnson) seeks out Dom Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) and his team to help stopping them. To complicate matters further, it turns out that Shaw's second in command is Dom's thought-to-be-dead girlfriend, Letty (played by Michelle Rodriguez). So, at this point, the Fast and the Furious franchise has veered into becoming a soap opera disguised as over the top action movies. And I kind of love them for that. I love that these movies have really started leaning into being stupid and ridiculous. Once again, I really have to praise the chemistry between the cast, as well as the performance by Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs (who practically oozes charisma). For once, I genuinely enjoy the villains in this movie, especially Luke Evans as Owen Shaw. This is the first film in the franchise where I felt the antagonist was genuinely memorable and charismatic. It does have a similar problem as Fast Five, in that it is probably a little too long. Like Fast Five, this film is 130 minutes, which is just kind of unnecessary. As always, the action is a ton of fun, and is easily the reason you should even consider watching this movie. This isn't a perfect film, but it still stands out as one of the best in the Fast and the Furious franchise.

8 / 10 

Rambo: Last Blood

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Roughly ten years after the events of 2008’s Rambo, John Rambo (played yet again by Sylvester Stallone) has lived a quiet and peaceful life. A teenage girl he shares a bond with finds herself in deep trouble, Rambo soon finds himself drawn back into a world of blood and revenge. From a performance standpoint, this actually might be the best that Stallone has been as Rambo since First Blood. Here, Rambo’s an older man who has finally found the quiet he has been seeking for so long, even though we can clearly see he’s still somewhat haunted by events from his past. The action is visceral. It’s not as gratuitous as it is in 2008’s Rambo, but it’s still pretty gnarly, and I kind of love that about this film. The villains aren’t super strong. They feel more like they are cannon fodder than anything else. But, I don’t really have an issue with that in this film. The film is really short, clocking in around 89 minutes. I’m of two minds on this. On one hand, I’m glad this isn’t 2 and a half hours (which it easily could have been). On the other hand, there are points where I feel like the movie wants to get to certain places. I think this movie could have been 10 minutes longer, and I would have been OK with that. That way, there are points that don’t feel rushed, but then the movie isn’t so long it wears out its welcome. Overall, Rambo: Last Blood is actually a really solid action sequel. Whether or not this is truly the Last Blood, I have no idea. But, I had a really good time with this film. 

8 / 10 

Fast Five

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Brian O'Connor (played by Paul Walker) and Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) are on the run after O'Connor springs Toretto from a prison bus with the help of Toretto's sister Mia (played by Jordana Brewster). The three find themselves in Rio where they run afoul of a corrupt businessman played by Joaquim de Almeda. They then pull out every stop they can in order to rob de Almeda's crime boss by calling in allies from previous films in the franchise. But, to complicate things even further, the team is pursued by DSS agent Luke Hobbs (played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson). OK, the plot can get a little complicated, and the movie is a little too long at 130 minutes. Joaquim de Almeda's villain is better than the villains in the first four movies, but I still don't think the character is really anything special. I wanted to get those out of the way because those really are the only major issues I have with the movie. Even if the acting isn't award-caliber (but, who would go into Fast Five expecting that anyways), it's still good enough for this type of movie, and the cast all legitimately have good chemistry together. Truthfully, the standout is Dwayne Johnson. There's something about Luke Hobbs that really helped turn the Fast and the Furious movies around, and into something better than they've been in the past. The action in this is amazing because you can tell they're actually blowing up cars. There's very little (if any CGI) being used in this film. The heist itself is a ton of fun to watch. To this day, if I were asked to pick a favorite film in the Fast and the Furious franchise, I would have to say it's this one. Fast Five took the formula from the first four movies, and cranked it up to 11, which actually helps make this movie feel fresh and new. This is the film where it felt like the filmmakers finally understood what these movies were, and what they needed to be, and they just rolled with it.

9 / 10 

Fast & Furious

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Fast & Furious re-teams Vin Diesel and Paul Walker together for the first time since the first film. Actresses Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez are also brought back from the first film. Dom Toretto (played by Diesel) finds himself drawn back to the United States to search for a ruthless criminal known only as "Braga" when Letty (played by Michelle Rodriguez) is seemingly murdered. This is really the movie where I feel like Paul Walker kind of comes into his own as the Brian O'Connor character. Does that mean Paul Walker gives a stellar performance? No, but I didn't really expect that out of him either. I always really feel Walker's chemistry with Vin Diesel in these movies. The action and street racing is mostly pretty fun, with just the right amount of stupid. This is really the first film in the franchise that signals that a shake up coming. It's a lot more noticeable in the next film in the franchise. However, I think this is the film that really starts turning those stones. The racing actually is fairly important, but the murder mystery and the crime element is truly the focus of the film. Sometimes, it can feel a little too complicated. It's never really to a point that you're completely confused and checked out, but that complication is still there. For as fun as the action is, some of the computer generated effects don't really look too good. I'm glad they're pretty toned down though. As much as I enjoy this as guilty pleasure (something fairly common for this franchise as a whole), this is one case where I can kind of see the franchise showing some wear and tear. It's not really a cohesive whole, but I think it just barely works.

6 / 10 

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

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In many ways, Tokyo Drift is sort of the black sheep of the Fast and the Furious franchise. The film centers around Sean Boswell (played by Lucas Black). Sean gets in trouble with the law, and is sent to live with his father in Tokyo. From there, he starts getting into his old street racing habits, and even runs into some trouble with the Yakuza. This might have some of my favorite moments in terms of the actual street racing moments. I think the best thing this movie does is introduce the character Han (played by Sung Kang). Han is just this cool, laid back kind of guy, and actor Sung Kang plays this part to a tee. He is easily the best part of the movie in my opinion. Plot-wise, the best comparison I could potentially make is that this is sort of a Karate Kid style plot. It's not really anything too complex, but I don't really need it to be that complex either. So, yeah. This a pretty short review. I like this as a simple movie. I don't really need any more out of it than what it gave me.

7 / 10