My focus for reviews is on movies that are at least ten years old. At the same time I watch a fair number of more recent movies and I just want to share thumbnail reviews.
John Wick (2014) – Bad guys stole John Wick’s car and killed his puppy. So he kills them all.
Seriously, that’s the summary of this kung-fu meets Samuel Peckinpaugh action flick. 80+ dead bodies, most of them killed with head shots. It’s not a bad role for Keanu Reeves (as Wick) because he’s best when he is asked to portray as little emotion as possible. Minimal plot and character even by action flick standards. In the end it’s essentially just violence porn. The only reason why I don’t toss it completely over the side is because there are a handful of really nice moments in the movie. My favorite is when the main bad guy discovers whose car his idiot son has stolen. A world of emotion and nuance in the single word “Oh”.
Rating ** 1/2 Not Really Impressed But Almost Worth A Look
The Martian (2015) – An astronaut(Matt Damon) is accidentally left behind on Mars when his crew has to evacuate during an emergency. He has to figure how to survive alone on Mars till a rescue mission can reach him.
This is a great movie. I could go on and on and on about this one for pages. Ridley Scott is at the top of his game as director. Damon is wonderful as he “sciences the hell” out of his problem. Visually stunning, tense, funny. Easily the best science fiction movie I’ve seen in years and one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while as well.
Rating – ***** Must See
Lego Movie (2014) In a world of Legos an average guy is suddenly believed to be “The Special” who will save the world.
Charmingly subversive, “The Lego Movie” suffers from being a one joke performance. Take all your favorite movies, TV shows and video games, convert them all to Lego blocks and take off at a run. That’s pretty much the sum of the movie.
The good news is that the script has fun with that single joke. It will easily take three viewings to make sure that you’ve picked up on all the cultural references. If you grew up in a certain generation (a little younger than me) this will be one extended riff on everything from your childhood.
If you’re not that age, it’ll be a fun little break. Just don’t expect much.
Rating – *** Worth A Look
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