Mr. Reeves would like a word
But only one.
“English motherfucker!
Takin’ a week off from any diatribes and rants. Although these comments from Shazam! star Zachary Levi on how marketing for his superhero sequel was “the biggest issue,” do have me mulling over some thoughts about how blame is attributed, and distributed, in Hollywood when something doesn’t work out as everyone would like it to. It actually ties into some aspects of the Newsy Bits story I share below wrt reviews. Short of it is that the “why” of success or failure for a movie is often something very difficult to determine, but something infinitely opined on. To be continued…?
NEWSY BITS 👾
Adam Sandler Said Film Critics "Don’t Know What They’re Talking About" As He Accepted The Mark Twain Prize For American Humor [One of the most prolific and successful comedy actors, and also one of the most widely panned by critics, receives the(?) most prestigious award for humor. Hah. Interesting alone, but Seth Rogen also recently talked about how brutal critics’ takes can be, saying it’s “devastating” and “It fucking sucks.” A thing I will consistently harp on, and internally battle with, is how moviegoing is just so damn subjective. An issue that is frustratingly human - the desire for certainty battling individuality.] - Buzzfeed
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) 📝
A Good Person - It’s Zach Braff’s third movie as director, and this time he cast (the very good at acting) Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman as two people grieving the death of a loved one (sister-in-law to be and daughter, respectively). Looks like he doesn’t drift too far from his roots of trying to make a movie about capital F Feelings with catchy indie songs. The reviews range from deep appreciation for taking on “tough topics” to calling it a trite melodrama. Basically as we just talked about, it’s gonna depend on your perspective. Playing in Limited Theaters this Friday.
The Lost King - a woman seeking the burial place of King Richard III, who is (duh) really seeking something else. Stars Sally Hawkins who basically makes anything watchable and the reviews say she does just that to a story that may be a bit “low stakes,” but is otherwise decently pleasant. Playing in Theaters this Friday.
Keanu Reeves is a dude who by all accounts is one of the nicest humans to ever put feet to dirt, and yet he’s killed more people on screen than almost anyone in cinematic history1. Go figure.
But his air of amiableness might just be why so many moviegoers enjoy watching him dispatch baddies with the unbridled confidence of an Instafluencer snapping ✌️ selfies in the middle of a funeral #RIPKing #sosad #dressbyShein #notanad. It’s almost like it’s an obligation, not a desire. And maybe it’s the world weary sincerity that Reeves conveys which helps make him easy to root for. They killed Keanu’s dog?? And he’d already lost his wife??!2 Murder them. Murder them all. It certainly helps that in the John Wick series, the people dying almost don’t feel like people. They’re just fodder for effect; these movies are basically a ballet with guns (though if you were to ask my former ballerina gf she’d probably say ballet is actually far bloodier).
But after three movies and literally hundreds dead, you might think the shtick would be getting as tired as Wick must be. And yet… this is the best reviewed one yet.
How? Whelp, they did it in the most American way possible, they made it more. More kills, more set pieces, more locations, more run time - Chapter 3 ran two hours and eleven minutes while Chapter 4 is eleven minutes shy of three hours. ⏰ 😳 That’s a whole lot of kneecap busting, jaw shattering, brain splattering action. But that’s why you show up right? Right. Because if you go into the theater looking for something akin to deep philosophical introspection, you’ve made a graver mistake than killing Wick’s puppy.
And you can bet “they” will keep making them too. Because why wouldn’t they? The original opened to a decent, but nothing special $14 million and topped out at $43 million domestically (86 worldwide), Chapter 2 saw a $30 million opening and a $82 million domestic total (174 worldwide) and then Chapter 3 opens to $56 million and makes $157 million domestically (328 worldwide). 4 is slated to be the biggest yet! So yeah, they’re gonna make more. In part because stuff like this just doesn’t happen anymore. An original story becomes a global franchise eliciting sequel upon sequel as well as spinoffs and a TV series? And why not if they keep the quality high? Sure, you might be worried about how the films glorify gun violence, but then you remember it’s Keanu Reeves, and he’s just the best. 🥰
“Reeves is ceaselessly charismatic. With Point Break and Speed he reinvented the action hero, and it’s pretty great that he’s still going this hard three decades on.
Besides, if you’re going to watch this, the action’s what you want, and as far as that goes, you just can’t knock it. It is incredibly tactile – it hurts. You can see that Reeves really is doing a huge amount of it himself, and it counts. You feel it.” - from the Empire review of John Wick: Chapter 4
So come for the action, stay for Reeves’ ability to utter single word sentences better than any actor to ever act.
Out: Thursday
Where: Theaters
2 hrs 49 mins | R | 🍅: 94%
Sweet. More comedy! Me likey.
For the new movie Joy Ride some people are probably gonna call it another Bridesmaids and some will call out Crazy Rich Asians because of its cast (and writing team). I’m just gonna call it funny. Lots of other people already have.
Wanna see the freshest looking rom-com I’ve seen in a while? I think you know what to do…
Julia Louis-Dreyfus simply uttering “hello” is funnier than I’ll ever be. Which isn’t saying much. But it does mean she can make a seemingly slight looking movie about long term relationship issues infinitely appealing.
This is the plot of the first John Wick for those who are unaware