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Reviews
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Tale of Two Movies
I'll be honest, I left this movie somewhat disappointed, but I am still leaving a 7-start review anyway. That should tell you how much I both loved and hated this movie at the same time.
The fight choreography is probably the best in a movie I have ever seen. I had already previously felt that way about Parabellum, but this movie eclipsed that by a good margin.
The audio track is absolutely amazing. It's a movie you felt from the very first scene right to the end of the movie. Make sure you go see it in a theater with a good sound system. I can't wait until I can get this movie for my home theater.
Additionally, the movie is visually stunning. Add that to the sound and it is a movie that challenges your senses.
Now, the bad news. The storyline is flat-out lazy. There is no plot or character development in the entire film. They introduced important characters where the backstory seemed important, but they didn't even pay lip service to it. They introduced plot items but never developed them.
Don't get me wrong, I never felt the storyline in any of the John Wick movies were Oscar worthy but, at least, there were interesting characters that you cared about where they came from and what happened to them. In John Wick 4, there was none of that.
Specifically, here are some things that left me disappointed (queue spoilers).
1) In the opening scene they re-introduced the Bowery King who they had set up as a major character in Parabellum but did very little in the way of developing his character and role other than that a 2-minute clip where he is walking in the shadows declaring greatness and then asking John Wick if he is "ready."
2) The only thing you see about Wick's refuge and preparation to take on the High Table is him punching a wood board wrapped in rope. Then in the very next scene he is riding a horse in the desert. WTF?
3) They introduce Marquis (Bill Skaarsgard) and nothing about him at all is ever revealed. He has some cool monologues to advance the story but nothing really interesting about him. What a waste of a great talent.
4) They killed off Charon in the early part of the film so Winston didn't have to die. In reality, it didn't serve any purpose because Winston was just a prop in the rest of the film.
5) The past relationships between Wick, Koji, and Caine shaped a lot of the actions of the film but they didn't even spend 5 minutes developing that backstory. They surely could have cut out a few minutes of fight scenes to do that.
6) Akira was a badass in the making and other than the contribution to the assault on the hotel she isn't heard from again until a post credit scene where she all of a sudden mattered again.
7) The last two scenes where Winston "took Wick home" followed immediately by a picture of his grave site were lazy. It's setting up a lazy John Wick 5 (if they actually decide to make the film) opening where all of a sudden he was actually alive intro. And if this is the end of the Babba Yaga it is a disappointing outro to an amazing character.
In the end, the move was just 3 hours of fight scenes and virtually no story. That does have its own appeal, however it got repetitive and ultimately left me unsatisfied.
Cocaine Bear (2023)
Tried to be too many things
This movie tried to be too many things. Is it a horror movie? Action? Journey of self discovery? I couldn't tell you.
I loved the cast but I left really disappointed. Based on the previews, I expected an absurd horror/action film. While it had elements of both, it should have stayed in its lane. The best moments were when the bear was ripping off limbs and severing heads but there were far too few of them.
...And the movie has a happy ending. Not even in a funny or ironic way either.
I was keen on the idea of a series of high animals but I am soured now. Oh what Oxycontin otter could have been.
Blonde (2022)
Not a particularly good movie
Bottom line is I didn't actually learn anything about Marilyn Monroe. We already knew she was exploited, we already knew she had a horrible home life but this didn't tell her story in any meaningful way.
Rife with inaccuracies for the sake of dramatic license plague this film. It dramatized sex, abuse, and depravity rather than focus on what made Marilyn Monroe. They didn't even touch on the fact that she was actually a smart business person or the actual evolution of here career after being "discovered."
It's very well acted. Ana de Armas puts in a really great and emotional performance and expertly captures a troubled soul. The rest of the acting was adequate to above average.
I just felt like this was a money-grab that exploits the source material.
Monster (2022)
Extremely Well Done
This movie was excellent on so many levels.
As I first started watching it, the most obvious thing is "Wow, Even Peters" is a really great actor. I have always like him for his work on the American Horror Story/ies but his talent was taken to a new level here. He plays a person with a dark secret to perfection and his ability to be flat-out scary surprised me because I thought he was already pretty excellent at it. If nothing else, watch the series for his acting.
While I was watching the series I kept looking up things for their accuracy and apparently it was pretty accurate. Of course there were lots of assumptions made about the interaction between Dahmer and most of his victims but the backdrop around his evolution, depravity, and capture were very close to what actually happened. That sense of authenticity was pretty refreshing.
Probably the biggest thing I appreciated was that the movie focused more on the character Dahmer than the arrest, prosecution, etc. Too many crime movies turn into courtroom drama that is derivative and repetitive and Dahmer was able to avoid falling into those traps which made the story that much more compelling.
It's gets knocked down one star for being really slow at some points. Maybe that was intentional to set the tone but there were a couple of points early in the series where I wanted to turn it off and come back to it later because I wasn't able to keep attention. Once the hook was set in my mind about the end of episode 2, that didn't happen anymore.
The Munsters (2022)
Innovative with Flaws
I really liked the foundation of what is going on here. The movie is visually stunning, the premise that the story is built on is really good. And, being a Rob Zombie movie fan it was pretty cool seeing "his people" as the actors in this film.
One thing that I really like was the backdrop of Transylvania that made it a "real" place instead of some mythic place where vampires come from. Watching the background of the scenes and looking at the names of the storefronts and streets was pretty fun.
I would have rated this moving higher except for one thing...and it is a big thing. I REALLY disliked the character of Herman Munster. He was flat out annoying rather than big and dopey like he is portrayed in the original TV series. He talks too much, says really dumb things, and his voice is really grating. I would have much rather his personality be muted a little bit more rather than the over-the-top Hollywood wanna be type they chose.
For what it was, the running time of 1:49 felt about 20 minutes too long. I'll admit I almost turned it off after they arrive in the US. I stuck it out and am glad I did but I after the drug out ending I feel like this is more of a niche movie for Rob Zombie fans as opposed to Munsters fans.
The Retaliators (2021)
Almost a good movie
I felt like there was also an innovative movie here. The antihero was very interesting and should have been the focus of the movie. Instead it just became a run of the mill revenge flick and focused on the wrong character.
It's well acted and has good production value but, in the end, the redeeming qualities surrounded the cameos and the soundtrack. The rotating one-night only releases is also a marketing gimmick. I fell for both of them...
I feel like the names (i.e. Jacoby Shaddix, Five Finger Death Punch, Tommy Lee) was more of a marketing gimmick than of any real value.
Best leave this for when it becomes available on a streaming service.
Nope (2022)
Wildly Overrated
There were some fun things in this movie but the bad parts were as equally maddening as the fun parts were good.
Lots of different facts and subplots were introduced that had no real connection to main plot of the movie. It feels like the original cut was extremely long and half of it got left on the editing room floor.
It feels like there could be a gem here but it needs a lot of polish.
The Magicians (2015)
What happened in season 4?
Honestly, I don't know what happened to the writing in season 4. Every other word is now F-- and everyone now smokes for dramatic effect. This doesn't normally bother me, in principle, but the writers seem to be doing this as a crutch to not actually write good dialogue. The story lines are still pretty good but it has gone really lowbrow which bugs me; I just don't feel as invested in the characters anymore.