Movie review - "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" (2024) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Another solid entry, surprisingly emotional, with a big death toll - I kept expecting that young girl to be alive. Lots of subtext about dealing with loss. Plenty of production value and spectacle. Suffers from some bloat and overlength but generally a good time.

Movie review - "John Wick" (2014) ****

Sometimes it just works. A very simple, elegant script - those things are super hard to do. They kill the wife, she gives him a dog, then the dog dies... that's strong motivation. I love how the villain was the idiotic spoilt son of a smart rich mafia boss - the boss had to back his stupid son. It's a story as old as time, and very effective.

Strong cast - Willem Dafoe, Bridget Monyahan - and Keanu works well in the lead. I enjoyed the "world" that was created - the hotel where assassins go to stay, the way all these people knew John/Keanu.

It maybe got a little silly towards the end.

Movie review - "Always Be My Maybe" (2019) ***

Sweet rom com which has Asian actors in the leads as opposed to being sidekicks. Randall Park and especially Ali Wong are a lot of fun, and very likeable. Occasionally the film goes for gags over character - I feel it's strongest when the humour comes from more realistic grounded stuff. I did laugh at Keanu Reeves but it pushed the reality. Whereas stuff like the Cantonese women being mean to Wong was brilliant. I wish more had been found for Casey Wilson to do.

Movie review - "47 Ronin" (2013) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

I can think of a lot of worse films which deserved to lose more money for there are a lot of good things about it: the production design, special effects, performances from Hiroyuki Sanada (hero) and Rinko Kikuchi. Keanu Reeves admittedly is Keanu Reeves but he can act well enough and his looks fit in with the time setting. And even though I'm not Japanese and don't have the cultural connection to this story, surely there's nothing wrong with adding a little fantasy (i.e. huge creatures, witches and serpents) to it?

Rinko Kikuc

The main problem is Keanu plays the lead and his character could have been cut out of the entire movie without much impact on the story. He doesn't start the action, or complicate it, or affect it - everything would have happened without him. The hero is Sanada.

Compounding this is the fact Reeve's character doesn't have the emotional stakes of Sanada's - at the end when he joins in the mass suicide with all the others, it doesn't make sense (he's not Japanese, it doesn't mean as much to him; he was never a samurai; why wouldn't he go and hang out with the hot daughter?) They compound it by giving screen time to Sanada's son, but no other Ronin except a really fat one.

They only should have made this film had they centered it around Reeves - make him responsible for the death of the lord, or his illegitimate son, or have him organise the 47 Ronin. I'm sure this was considered but they got cold feet. Well, they ended up with something that pleased no one, so the good work from a lot of the cast and the production design and other tech people will go mostly unseen.

It's not helped by the fact Game of Thrones has showed how you can combine fantasy, history and war along with three dimensional characters and complex plots - this is far too simplistic, and its characters too dull (especially the leading love interest who is a nothing, and the head villain is bland... outshone by the witch).

Movie review - "The Replacements" (1999) **

I'm a sucker for sports movies, even poorly done ones like this. It has a great central idea, based on a true incident - a players strike sees a coach collect a rag-tag group of no-hopers who manage to forge a fighting spirit, etc, etc. Gene Hackman looks to be phoning it in as a coach; Keanu Reeves manages a little better as the quarterback, and there is a strong rupport cast (including Rhy Ilfans and the cute Brooke Langton as the chead cheerleader). A lot of it is lazy and smacks of "we're going to have this scene here" without working through the scene eg the cheerleading auditions (I know they're meant to be broad but the auditions in Bring It On were broad too yet realistic), the let's-form-unity-through-a-dance (above comment applies for The Full Monty), the let's-bond-via-a-brawl, artificial-climax-by-having-quarterback-not-turn-up. But you know something? It's still watchable, even in it's crappiness - the central idea is very strong. And I like the use of the song "Heroes".

Movie review – “The Matrix” (1998) ****1/2

Saw this on pay TV recently and despite the crappy sequels and rip offs (did any recent film establish so many clichés so soon?) it holds up exceedingly well – a consistently imaginative, bold, emotional piece of work. OK, yes, it does borrow from a whole smorgasboard of inspirations (notably Star Wars) but combines it into something truly original. Keanu is, well, Keanu – but he looks good in the black outfits and his slightly dazed what-am-I-doing expression suits the role. Carrie Ann Moss is a knock out as the bad ass girl, and Laurence Fishburne handles one of the most difficult Basil Exposition roles in recent years with admirable aplomb. For all the gee whiz of the special effects (and they are gee-whiz here, with a particularly skilful use at using human creepy feelings towards bugs and babies), its the human element which made it strike such a chord. That and the cleverness of the central concept. So you don’t mind so much when watching Keanu and Hugo Weaving – perhaps two of the most whimpy action heroes in the past ten years – battle it out to the death.

Movie review - "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) ***1/2

A film of many flaws - particularly some wonky acting - but half a masterpiece. It starts off with a massive advantage in that this is the first English speaking version of the novel that is actually faithful. I can't believe it took so long - the novel is filmic, with its different POVs and action packed finale. I guess the influence of the Balderstone play was simply too strong.

I also liked the emphasis on love and religion and history (Dracula here is linked to Vlad the Imaler), plus Coppola's expressionistic tricks: false backgrounds, trippy visuals, non realistic special effects. It is also incredibly sexy, especially the stuff where Keanu Reeves is set about by Dracula's brides including Monica Bellucini. Most of Sadie Frost's possession scenes result in her having a tit pop out.

Mina being a reincarnation of Dracula's wife was not in the novel (though it was in The Mummy) and I have mixed feelings about it - it does propel the plot, but when you kind of feel bad about Mina and poor old Jonathan Harker.

Some people hate Winona in this role; I didn't mind her, she does quite well in a role for which she isn't naturally cast (when the big moments come she's there - she's just not exceptional). Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins make strong adversaries. Poor Keanu is a bit of a joke, though he tries. Sadie Frost is effective, and the small roles well cast (esp Tom Waits as Renfield).

A surprise bit that doesn't work are Sadie Frost's three suitors: none of them really emerge as having personalities despite being played by reasonably well known actors; I know they don't have much time and aren't the focus of the story, but Coppola showed in The Godfather how skilled he was with getting maximum impact from a large cast, and it doesn't happen here.