I wouldn't say it's ridiculous. Not everybody has the extra cash lying around to pick up a DLSR, Lenses, extra batteries, more expensive support gear, etc. For many, the best camera to shoot on is the camera you have access to. Hell, I've been making indie films since the days of mini-DV and smartphones blow that technology away. Shoot on whatever you can, just stop procrastinating.

tbh, new (and not so new) filmmakers need to focus more on telling compelling stories and creating engaging characters. The most powerful cinema camera on the market can't save you if you're a lousy storyteller.

Personally, as part of the target audience, I felt the film was an astounding success; easily the best Star Wars movie made during my lifetime (I was born in 1982).

Prior to TLJ, I was worried that Star Wars was in danger of becoming rote and boring. Johnson broke the mold in such a big way that it's made me eat my words. If you're looking for a blockbuster that is there to placate your fan expectations, Marvel has put out 20 movies just for you. I'll gladly welcome Star Wars becoming an innovative, director driven franchise that can be diverse and challenging.

I wouldn't call this an oversimplification as much as a very high level deconstruction of a film that is teeming with nuance. Keep in mind that this wheel is designed to keep a writer on track, not to help them make the story itself.
In that regard, I don't doubt that some people could find it useful (though It's clearly geared toward beginners who may not have developed their own writing technique). I can appreciate something this high level / simple because it doesn't try to hold your hand through a formula like the Blake Snyder chart. It's a series of landmarks, not a trail of breadcrumbs.

Cool! It had a real Tokusatsu/Sentai vibe to it which I really like. The fight scenes were pretty good overall with a few really great moments. The cinematography was a little underexposed, though. Sure, it's night time but the darkness mixed with low contrast prevents the images from really popping. It wasn't terribly cinematic, but I feel like that just added to the Sentai tv-show vibe.

The script and performances all played well into this type of film and I'm so happy that it didn't take itself too seriously (a common issue with fan films). For a directorial debut, this was pretty good.

Do you have any plans on expanding on this story and these characters? I feel like you've done a good job establishing them and making them your own and wouldn't mind seeing them developed further.

It's weird... the whole Amazon sales > iTunes sales seems to be coming up a lot whenever I hear interviews with indie filmmakers. I really want to know why that is. So many people fork over $$ to get their films onto Apple's platform, but it doesn't really seem like the best return on investment; at least not compared to Amazon.

Yeah, I saw that... Is it possible they're trying to deter so many people from dumping their garbage on the service? I've seen stuff pop up that are basically glorified youtube videos.