Movie Review - JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4...

So I watched John Wick: Chapter 4 at AMC theaters earlier today, and here are my notes:

As expected, the film had great action scenes, great cinematography and great set pieces (in locales ranging from New York City, the Middle East and Osaka, Japan, to Berlin and Paris)! This was a satisfactory end to this saga...which the previous Keanu Reeves-led franchise of The Matrix didn't have till The Matrix Resurrections in 2021.

Now here are my questions:

- Is Donnie Yen (who portrays Caine in Chapter 4) being typecast by American filmmakers as the blind anti-hero who somewhat saves the day at the end of the movie? Star Wars fans and other folks who saw 2016's Rogue One will know what I'm referring to.

- What happened to Halle Berry's kick-ass character Sofia from John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum? Or the Adjudicator played by Asia Kate Dillon in that installment as well?

- Am I the only one who'll always think of Pennywise the Clown from the IT films whenever Bill Skarsgård (who portrays the Marquis Vincent de Gramont in Chapter 4) appears on screen?

- What is it with clubgoers and regular pedestrians in every John Wick movie being absolutely incapable—until the last minute—of noticing Wick fighting and killing bad guys right next to them? (The answer: Odd acting instructions giving to the background actors by assistant directors and production assistants on set.)

Considering that John Wick apparently flies around the world with ease, you would think that there would be a cool action sequence aboard an airliner where Wick (who has a $20 million bounty on his head at the start of the movie) takes on an assassin or two who are trying to neutralize him before he arrives in Osaka or something... Oh well.

And lastly:

Are John Wick's bones made out of adamantium (die-hard comic book nerds will get this X-Men reference), or is his kevlar suit that effective in protecting him after tumbling down multiple staircases, falling out of the window of a 3-story building and getting hit by several cars in Paris' Place de l'Etoile roundabout (the last two didn't take place in the same scene)? Obviously the latter.

If you see this awesome flick, don't forget to stay after the end credits!

Spoiler ahead: The fate of Lance Reddick's character Charon—the reliable Continental concierge who helped John Wick in the last two sequels—is even more poignant given that Reddick has departed in real life. May he rest in peace.

Movie Review: 65...

Earlier today, I watched the sci-fi flick 65 at AMC theaters.

The film has no real plot to speak of (other than to joke that it's Kylo Ren from the Star Wars sequel trilogy versus velociraptors and T-Rexes), so I'll just ask a few questions based on whatever story elements there were:

- So the metric system was invented on another planet over 65 million years ago? Mills (played by Adam Driver) had to travel '15 kilometers' to reach the second half of his spaceship after it broke into two as he crash-landed on prehistoric Earth.

- Are today's UFOs actually visitors from Adam Driver's home world? There should be a 65 spinoff flick where someone in the present day runs into a descendant of Mills inside a New York City café...or not.

- Does Driver's species now possess lightsabers, TIE Fighters and hyperspace if it's that old? 65 million years is enough time for his alien race to develop actual Star Wars-type technology.

And lastly:

- Did Driver do this movie just for the paycheck? I'm guessing that he also did this role for the physical challenges he would experience during filming...such as wading through a pool of mud and climbing up trees.

Driver used to be a former U.S. Marine, so I guess working on 65 brought back some pleasant memories from his training days! Or not.

Movie Review: SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS...

Earlier today, I watched Shazam! Fury of the Gods at AMC theaters.

The film was as funny as the original Shazam! movie in 2019, but it was also disappointing to know that Zachary Levi's superhero will never confront his arch-nemesis, the anti-hero played by Dwayne Johnson in last year's Black Adam, on the big screen. Heck, Dwayne Johnson even refused to appear in the end credits for Fury of the Gods—and forbade any of the Justice Society heroes in his movie to show up in the Shazam! sequel, either.

On the plus side, another major DC character showed up in Fury of the Gods...with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman appearing at the end to prevent the movie from having a totally-dreary ending. Gadot's cameo was revealed in an official Facebook ad for Shazam! a few days ago, so you can't really blame me for spoiling this for ya!

Time for a question or two: Did Anthea (Rachel Zegler) actually move all of those skyscrapers around in that scene where Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) confronts the two other Daughters of Atlas (Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu) on a rooftop—or was that all an illusion? If that was real, then I'm guessing a lot of Pittsburgh folks either lost their lives or at the very least got really dizzy from Anthea's shenanigans.

And why was Michelle Borth cut from Fury of the Gods? I had no idea that Grace Caroline Currey played Mary Bromfield and Superhero Mary until I went on IMDb to check the cast list after I left the theater.

Anyways, I wish Zack Snyder's DC Extended Universe was still intact for Fury of the Gods to have any meaningful impact to it, but oh well. I'm still excited to see The Flash hit the big screen this June!

And the Winners of the 2023 Academy Awards Are...

Congratulations to Everything Everywhere All at Once for winning Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards tonight! In total, this quarky sci-fi/adventure flick took home 7 trophies...for Best Picture, Best Directing (for the Daniels), Best Actress (for Michelle Yeoh), Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (for Ke Huy Quan) and Best Supporting Actress (for Jamie Lee Curtis).

Germany's World War I epic All Quiet on the Western Front—which looked like it could've upset Everything Everywhere at the end considering all of the categories it won today—took home Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Cinematography, respectively.

Top Gun: Maverick, which received 6 nominations, won the Oscar for Best Sound Design. Avatar: The Way of Water surprisingly (just kidding) won the award for Best Visual Effects.

I was rooting for Lady Gaga to win Best Original Song for Top Gun: Maverick's Hold My Hand, but the Oscar for this category went to Naatu Naatu...a song from the Indian action-adventure drama, RRR.

And Brendan Fraser, who—along with Ke Huy Quan—appeared in the 1992 comedy flick Encino Man, won Best Actor for The Whale. The Whale also won an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Tonight's ceremony was an eventful one...in a positive way, that is. History was made when Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan became the first two Asian actors to win Oscars in the same year!

Also, Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel managed to avoid getting slapped by an Academy Award nominee on-stage—unlike previous host Chris Rock last year. Google that if you are unaware of what I'm talking about...

Click here for the full list of Oscar winners. Congrats to all!

Movie Review - OPERATION FORTUNE: RUSE DE GUERRE...

Earlier today, I watched the action comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre at AMC theaters.

Directed by Guy Ritchie (who helmed 2009's Sherlock Holmes and co-wrote the script for Disney's 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin), Operation Fortune was an entertaining film...and Ritchie's personal take on the Mission: Impossible, Charlie's Angels and 007 franchises.

Operation Fortune was your typical spy flick...with Orson Fortune (Jason Statham), Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza), Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) and J.J. Davies (Bugzy Malone) needing to infiltrate the hidden lair (or in this case, a fancy yacht and a Turkish villa) of a celebrity-obsessed arms dealer named Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). The reason: They needed to locate a MacGuffin (known as 'The Handle') that's worth a billion dollars and could cause worldwide financial collapse if placed in the wrong hands.

The 007 part arrived when Fortune and Co. enlisted the aid of an actor named Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett), whose celebrity status allowed him and the group to get close to Simmonds on his yacht and seek The Handle's whereabouts. While he has appeared in numerous projects throughout the years (most of them TV shows), the last time I've heard of a film that Hartnett starred in was 2006's The Black Dahlia.

(I believe that 2005's Sin City was the last movie featuring Hartnett that I actually saw at the theater!)

A lot of espionage and car chases took place throughout the rest of the film, with Operation Fortune concluding with a shootout between Orson's rival Mike (Peter Ferdinando) and armed goons working for Trent and Arnold...two bio-tech moguls in possession of The Handle. It didn't end well for these two groups, which was great news for Orson as he was able to secure the billion-dollar device.

Operation Fortune concluded on a feel-good note, with Orson and Co. going on vacation after a succesful mission (despite Nathan's attempt to enlist them on the next job), and Danny Francesco shooting a scene for a movie that was inspired by his interaction with Greg Simmonds.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre may not have been as well-polished as Sherlock Holmes, but it was still an enjoyable flick that was nicely directed by Ritchie. I look forward to his next project, a war drama known as The Covenant, which arrives in theaters nationwide on April 21.

Movie Review: SCREAM VI...

Earlier today, I watched Scream VI at AMC theaters.

Just like last year's Scream, this movie was extremely violent and twisted...which is why it completely lived up to my expectations! Ghostface is just so awesome.

Scream VI and the 2022 installment are the only films that I saw in the Scream franchise, so I don't know the earlier stories behind Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) or the psychos who wrought havoc as the previous Ghostfaces. I just think it's cool that Panettiere played an FBI agent in this sequel.

While it was awesome to see Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera, who looked awesome donning the Ghostface mask and robe at one point) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) kick Ghostface's ass once more, the fates of the other characters who bore the brunt of the masked killer's knife was a bit amusing.

Apparently, getting stabbed multiple times (and even having a knife jammed through your throat) in a Scream film is the franchise's equivalent of receiving a paper cut. You're out for a few minutes, but casually show up at the end of the movie.

This hilarity reminds me of a memorable moment from Monty Python and the Holy Grail...shown in the tweet below. Other than the goofy moments in this latest installment (I'm guessing they're common themes in all of the Scream flicks), I can't wait for the next film!

You know there's gonna be a Scream VII.

So I saw #ScreamVI earlier today. It was an entertaining film like the previous one, though characters surviving after literally being stabbed a dozen times in the gut and chest reminds me of this #MontyPython moment... pic.twitter.com/0NIDMG5Rh4

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) March 11, 2023

Quick Review: CREED III...

Earlier today, I watched Creed III at AMC theaters.

Michael B. Jordan, who played Adonis—the son of Rocky Balboa's famous adversary and friend Apollo Creed—since 2015, did a great job helming Creed III. This was Jordan's first directorial assignment.

Spoilers ahead: With this being the final installment in the Creed series (presumably), it was expected that Jordan's titular boxer would emerge victorious at the end...this time against his long-time friend Damian Anderson, played with ferocity by Jonathan Majors.

It's unfortunate that Sylvester Stallone didn't make a cameo as Rocky (since he was against doing a third Creed film in the first place), but at least this movie ended on a happy note with Adonis, his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and their daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent) spending quality time together inside a boxing ring at an empty Dodger Stadium—the venue where Creed once again showed the heart of a champion earlier that night.