@eurobum: I think the boat is simply supposed to be a link to a past he's constantly trying to distance himself from. It is after all a movie about a man trying to detach himself from a previous life but unwilling and unable to make a new one for himself.
Rate the last movie you watched.
John Wick 2 - 4/5
Just came back from seeing it. I know it's popular these days to praise the heck out of this movie, and I honestly enjoyed the first a whole lot, but I think Chapter 2 suffers from the typical Hollywood sequel syndrome where everything has to be bigger and better, but doesn't necessarily end up being better for it. The scope of this second entry seemed to get away from what I found so endearing about the original: punk mobster kid crosses the wrong man and then a series of consequences and "justice" follows suit. The bad guys do something plainly wrong, and you enjoy watching them not get away with it. Here Wicks motivations are a little less satisfying and it's honestly harder to sympathize with him when most of the stuff happening is of his own doing. Chapter 2 also takes the subtle "secret hitman society" flavor from the first flick and goes a little overboard with it turning the movie into Wanted rather than a stylish John Woo flick. Keanu gets shot up a dozen times too many thanks to his magical kevlar suit, the firefights get a little too long in the tooth and the plot isn't as satisfying as the brutal and unrelenting simplicity of the previous film. I also really dislike it when movies have endings that bank on another sequel instead of wrapping up in a satisfying manner.
All that said it's still a great action flick, and quite possibly the best video game movie ever made that isn't actually based on a video game. Picking up ammo from dead bodies, constant headshots, and the ability to take a ton of bullets and keep going with a few boss encounters along the way, it's incredible this isn't based on some video game - but it would certainly makes a really good one. Someone get the people behind Max Payne 3 on the line.
I get where you are coming from. I agree with pretty much all the things you say, I just don't think they are necessarily flaws. But it is indeed different than the first movie, though I think it would have been hard to recreate that simple story. Because while simple, it was also extremely well executed I think. I really liked where they were going with the rules of the assassins. I also felt the film did wrap up the storyline it followed. It was about John not being able to kill Santino because of rules and ultimately damned the rules in the end to 'finish it'. I feel like they left it in an interesting place while still wrapping up the core story.
I do fully agree that the god armor was too much. I didn't have any problems with it the first time it saved Wick's life in his standoff with Cassius, but it got to a point where it just became comical. That scene where he held up the lapel of his jacket to deflect bullets is just real dumb. They should have justified it saving Wick's life from several shots, but it also becoming unreliable (as real kevlar vests do) after taking a few hits and based on distance and caliber of rounds.
@zevvion: I agree that the story does wrap up for Chapter 2 specifically while leaving the barn doors wide open for more movies to come. I guess it all just goes back to how they wanted to make this movie bigger in every way and as such the ending isn't a quiet send off for our hero but this big world-wide event. You're right that it would have been really hard to make another movie in that subdued style, but I guess I wish they tried anyway. To me the first movie is like Die Hard and Chapter 2 feels like.. Wanted.. or even the Matrix as lame as the comparison is. Like it's no longer just ridiculous over the top action, it starts feeling like sci-fi at times. Yah when he held up his jacket to deflect bullets like nothing is when I was completely taken out of the movie - it's at that point where there are no stakes anymore. Sure I didn't think he's going to die in the first one but I didn't feel "safe" for him either. In Chapter 2 it gets so over the top that I no longer had that unease of the unknown, it was just seeing how many more skirmishes with bad guys he has to get through in order to get to the big bad. Also is it just me or did they cram in as much jujitsu as possible? At times it seems like he takes the action to the ground and just holds a guy while shooting other doods for no real tactical reason and it happens scene after scene after scene.
@zevvion: Also is it just me or did they cram in as much jujitsu as possible? At times it seems like he takes the action to the ground and just holds a guy while shooting other doods for no real tactical reason and it happens scene after scene after scene.
Yeah, I felt there was some of that in there too. I get why it was there in the opening scene since he didn't actually want to kill anyone there. But I don't think it happened scene after scene after scene. There are definitely some flaws in the action to point out, but there are so many more awesome moments that I don't mind it too much.
In a fit of what was apparently self-hate, I watched Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman a few days ago. Both in their extended versions of course!
... Batman v superman might be the worst superhero film I've ever seen.
I mean, Suicide Squad's plot was the dumbest shit and its lame attempts at copying Guardians of the Galaxy were really obvious.
But holy hell.
Batman v Superman! Absolutely 0 redeeming qualities!
- Terrible dark, murky and bland look
- Awful pacing
- Aneurysm-inducing plot
- Absymal action choreography
Suicide Squad extended edition - 2/5
Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice extended edition - 0/5
And to think people paid money for this burning trash pile. It made $873,260,194
Back to Back? You poor creature, my sincere thoughts and prayers.
@zevvion: oh I completely agree it's definitely a great action flick. This is just me nitpicking some small things in an overall really great action flick. Like I felt there was so much action this time around that it became a little less memorable. I think the club scene in the first movie remains unsurpassed as the ultimate action sequence - such amazing balance of fighting, shooting and atmosphere.
@humanity: It is difficult to beat indeed. I'm not prepared to pick favorites myself. I like almost everything in these movies. I do agree that they may have gone a little 'too much' in some respects in Chapter 2, like the god armor we discussed earlier, or the sometimes appearing needless emphasis on close quarters combat. But there is a lot to love. I've already seen it twice and I am going again this week. Love it that much.
The BFG (2016) - 3/5
A bit slow and very much 'for the kids', but Mark Rylance does such a great job of being a big friendly giant.
The Raid 2. 9/10
I watched The Raid right before and it was great but I prefer the second. I liked that they were able to flesh out the world more and still have a ton of well choreographed fights. There are some strange plot holes though and I didn't like that we didn't see him reunite with his wife. Maybe in the third one?
Yeah, this movie made me wish the story within a story part with Gyllenhall, Michael Shannon and the dude from Kick-Ass was just a stand alone thriller with a few more twists and turns, the symbolism of the Amy Adams stuff didn't work for me.
John Wick: Chapter 2 - 4.5/5
It is by no means perfect, but overall it is a really fun and enjoyable ride that I found to be beautiful to watch. The cinematography for this movie is pretty killer, and there are a lot of interesting shots employed that do make you wonder "how did they go about shooting that scene?". The story suffers from the whole expand upon idea some, and it does seem like they tread on the same ground as the first, but I did not go into this film expecting a masterful story so I cannot criticize heavily on that aspect of the film. The plot and pacing work effectively enough to keep the movie going and it never seems to drag on more than it absolutely needs to. I'd say go see it for sure, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
I watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes earlier this week. I hadn't watched it since I saw it in theaters and man. It was so intense and emotional throughout. I watched it over two sittings in the same day and it was a perfect way to watch that movie. I was so saddened with what was happening with Ceasar and everyone else. I can't wait for the new one coming out this year.
5/5
@avantegardener: I have nobody to blame but myself.
Arrival (2016)
Those expecting a scifi-banger film should be prepared for a more thoughtful and emotional experience. It is at ist heart a very thinky movie with an edge of melancholy that might become annoying for some. I think there were some avoidable tropes: First, being the American military/government being the ones they want to shoot first all the time, or that American soldiers are easily duped by 'right wing' conspiracy theorists. (The soldiers in that coup spend weeks watching very passive aliens who just squirt ink at glass walls; so, does it MAKE ANY SENSE they would think there was a threat as soon as the very weird aliens say one-single word? meh, I think not.) In the end, the movies is good enough; but more passive than you'd think from the advertising last year.
Kubo and the Two Strings - I really like the combo of stop motion and CG. It was a predicable movie at times, but I enjoyed it non-the-less. 4/5
Arrival - Such a great movie. Enjoyed it all the way through. 5/5
Moonlight (2016) - 4.5/5
Fantastic movie. The acting, the writing, the way it successfully fast forwards to the different stages of the main characters life, and all the characters are so well realized. Good soundtrack too.
The Shield - season 1. Absolutely some of the best TV I've ever seen..... and I know it only gets better. 10/10
Dredd - I've heard nothing but good things about this reboot and I guess I kind of got my hopes up because of this. Don't get me wrong it's a perfectly good, albeit lean, action movie. But, the plot is obvious and I always knew where it was going. The dialogue is cheesy, but in a good way. The future drug slo mo is a cool device for some stylized action scenes. The soundtrack is probably the most stand out element of the whole thing; it goes from Carpenter to throbbing bass to dirty neo rock respectively.
3.5/5
Doctor strange - very fun movie with another great cast and possibly the best special effects of all the marvel films.
5/5
Split-I liked it, but it set off a chain of events in me I could not have imagined. 4/5
Unbreakable-So I watched this after reading some stuff about Split. And now I think Shyamalan is doing something incredible. Or well he did something pretty good and could be on the verge of something incredible in todays movie climate. 4/5
So now after watching these two movies I'm going to watch all the Shyamalan movies I've never seen (Signs and After Earth were the only two before this). I know there's some pretty bad stuff in there, I'm prepared for that and hope I can enjoy it in the awful movie way. But, I'm more interested in his strong start and mediocre decline, into his now current rise-I hear The Visit (the film before Split) is pretty good.
Anyways, if you haven't seen Unbreakable watch it (it's on HBO GO) and then go see Split; both very enjoyable. Then come back here and tell me if I'm crazy to be this pumped for M.'s future.
La La Land: 5/5
A beautiful callback to the Hollywood films of old. I had most of the songs stuck in my head for days after watching it. There's a reason it's gotten so much praise.
Batman: The Animated Series - 7/10
There are some standout episodes, but most of the stories just aren't that good. I like the tone it set, though. I'm watching The New Batman Adventures now, which so far has slightly better stories, but it's uglier. I hate that they changed the art style to fit with the Superman Animated Series.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - 7/10
It was cool to see the animated series with a movie budget. Once again, the story isn't that good, but the longer format helps.
Batman Begins - 8/10
I was surprised. I don't like superheroes. I rarely watch any of the movies. I was expecting to rate this lower, rewatching it so many years later. The things I like about Batman are here, but Nolan elevated it to good blockbuster cinema. I didn't even like the League of Shadows episodes of The Animated Series very much. I think the one in the Middle East was one of the episodes that almost put me to sleep. But Liam Neeson and his group are solid villains in this.
It's lame that the bitrate is only 1.4 mb/s. It looks fine, but it's the quality you expect from the Pirate Bay, not Blu-ray.
Only Yesterday - 9/10
I rewatched it because there's a new Blu-ray version. It's a beautiful movie. One of my favorite animations. The ending made me tear up. I love the faded backgrounds Takahata used for the flashbacks. It's similar to Kaguya's minimalist animation.
Arrietty - 7/10
Red Desert - 9/10
His Girl Friday - 7/10
The Fast & The Furious (01)
Watched the film and 40s. Was the only one of these I never watched the whole way through and the Film and 40s came at a great time cuz I was gonna watch it soon anyways. My enjoyment was probably colored slightly by the crew's riffing but I still would give it a 5 or a 6/10. It was a little better than I gave it credit for just seeing scenes here and there on TV for years. Still not as good as a Point Break let's say. Still, fun. 6/10
Doctor Strange - This movie was so boring. Just the basic cut and paste origin story crap we're used to; the character is so close to Tony Stark it made it feel even more generic. The writing is boring and very unfunny; I can't tell you how many times I predicted a line of dialogue. As Red Letter Media points out, Rachel McAdmas is only there to prove the main character is not gay. And the effects (while visually impressive) fell flat do to a lack of interest in the characters using them.
2/5
I hope Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 can help stop the routine Marvel films have gotten into.
They Live
I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie. Pretty cool!
Put on the glasses Keith David out of best movie starring a pro wrestler!
John Wick: Chapter 2
[In-depth spoiler review first, then a non-spoiler general thoughts bit at the end.]
Hmmm, they definitely went much more regular action flick with this one. It's a lot less tacticool professional assassin stuff and a lot more "Arnold Schwarzenegger singlehandedly shooting hundreds of people without needing to take cover". They kind of explain it away by introducing a slimline armour macguffin but it was still a bit much. I prefferd the more professional assassin antics from the first film. Just running around while getting shot in your magical (plot) armour while you pop 3 dudes with every salvo you loose does not make for a good action sequence.
A second problem with it is the intro, boy they should not have put that part in the film or at least not in that way. Getting Peter Stormare to wax poetical about how awesome John Wick is to an audience which I presume they think didn't see the first film was not a good idea. They should have gone straight to retired John Wick with the mob visiting him and maybe do something shorter/different with the car or a car chase. As a side note, the audio mix during the car scenes was also far too loud.
A third problem is the length of the sommelier scene with Peter Serafinowicz, did they just include that for gun-porn enthusiasts? In that case it wasn't porny/technical enough. Or was it because they needed some footage for the trailers?
Thankfully, there is still a lot to like here. The way they expanded the "world of assassins" is good. I especially liked Laurence Fishburne's whole operation and the "High Table" is interesting, althouh they will have to be careful with it because at times it seems there are more assassins than regular people in the world. Wouldn't want to create a Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions scenario.
The action locations were neat as well, from the subway station to the Colosseum and the Enter the Dragon-like mirror hallways. Great places for shootouts and fisticuffs.
The music and audio are good. (Other than the aforementioned audio mix being too loud at the start.)
Finally, the action choreography was pretty good on the whole despite the less tactical and more action flick vibe. They still use that same sacrificial throw a little too much but there were some fun action scenes for sure. Cassian and Ares were interesting characters and the fact that neither dies on screen could mean future appearances. A special shoutout to the scene where John Wick and Cassian are taking pot shots at each other in a crowd without anyone around them noticing. (One small niggle about the Ares fight is that at the end of it John seems to fish a fresh mag from her jacket. If she had ammo for her gun why on earth did she need to go with the push dagger? And maybe they should have gone with something more elaborate to show off her skills.)
All in all, John Wick 2 has some lesser spots but I liked it quite a bit on the whole. It definitely didn't peak too early and then petered out in an uninteresting way like the first film. And while there isn't a scene that reaches the same level of choreography as the JW1 night club there is still a lot to love.
4/5
Love Exposure - A silly yet somewhat serious movie from Japan. 4 hours long, but worth the time investment. 4/5
John Wick Chapter 2 - I've been feeling like crap for the past two weeks and this movie was just what I needed. Lots of action and lots of people getting shot in the head. Overall good mood uplifter. 5/5
The Fly - First time seeing this one and man I see why it freaked young Brad out. If you want to feel itchy and uncomfortable for an hour and a half this movie is for you. It's so perfectly lean in it's set up and opening scenes, and then ratchets the tension more and more throughout. The practical effects hold up really well; never taking me out of the movie. And the score really wrapped the later half of the film in a dreadful mood.
5/5
La La Land. Five stars. Absolutely loved it. Haven't seen Moonlight yet, but knowing half the equation already makes me think it was snubbed for best film.
Saw Split finally.
Go see Split.
4/5
Is Split a kind of follow up to Unbreakable?
A Cure for Wellness - 4/5 A fine Gothic horror film, a little long but good overall.
Wing Commander - 2/5 Just boring and unremarkable.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
I really enjoyed it. If you like hip-hop and the movie Walk Hard, check it out.
The Dark Knight. It's good. I liked Batman Begins better.
I also finished the New Batman Adventures yesterday, which completes my two months with the Animated Series. Looking back on the 109 episodes, it was a pretty good time. Felt a bit sad when I knew there was no more. I started rewatching Batman Beyond, but can already tell it's not gonna be as good.
Oh, I also watched The Last Picture Show. A great (and depressing) movie.
Got back from Logan a few hours ago. Fucking phenomenal. My friend put it best after we left the theater: "I never thought I'd be watching this in a theater." It defies all expectations of a comic book movie while still being very much a comic book movie. I would like to write an essay, but I have no time. Suffice it to say it's some Good Shit.
5/5 brutal deaths.
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