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: SMILE...

Earlier today, I watched the Parker Finn-helmed horror film Smile at AMC theaters.

Needless to say, this movie was intense to watch and had lots of jump scares! But in terms of being frightening enough to keep me up at night, Smile is too high-concept a thriller to scare audiences the way a classic horror flick like The Exorcist would.

Smile is a cautionary tale about how individuals struggling with depression continue to be ostracized in this day and age, and how folks coping with mental illness can be severely misunderstood by other people.

That being said, Smile is also about a mysterious monster who gets inside people, makes them grin like the Joker from Batman and then causes them to kill themselves in the worst way possible! Any unlucky person who witnessed that victim commit suicide ended up being targeted by that monster next.

As mentioned earlier, this concept—while definitely very original—is too fancy a premise to make anyone but young children afraid to go to bed at the end of the day. Smile's invisible, grin-inducing creature is just like Pennywise from the IT movies... In regards to those Stephen King flicks, I don't think that adult moviegoers worried about some interdimensional creature disguising itself as a clown before preying on them once they left the multiplex!

The Exorcist, on the other hand, was simply about a girl who was possessed by a demon (a scenario that freaks me out having been raised as a Catholic)...which is why I've never viewed this film.

So bottom line is, Smile is a great horror flick to watch, but not to be traumatized by once the end credits rolled.

Speaking of the ending (no spoilers here): Depending on how Smile does at the box office this weekend, I really won't be surprised if Paramount Pictures greenlights a sequel...which I'll totally see! Happy First Day of October.

Video of the Day - The GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Trailer...

Just thought I'd share the newest preview for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which arrives in theaters nationwide on November 11, 2021.

While I enjoyed the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters that was directed by Paul Feig and starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth (with a cameo by Bill Murray), I'm very excited for the Jason Reitman film since it's clearly the official sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2.

Not only is Afterlife produced by Ivan Reitman—Jason's father and the director of the 1984 and '89 installments—but Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts will reprise their classic roles of Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz, Dr. Winston Zeddmore, Dana Barrett and Janine Melnitz, respectively. (Rick Moranis won't be returning as Louis Tully, unfortunately.) Harold Ramis, who played Dr. Egon Spengler in the original films, sadly passed away in February of 2014.

Not to be outdone by their legacy co-stars are Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard (who appeared in other supernatural projects such as Netflix's Stranger Things and both IT films) and Celeste O'Connor.

Just like with Star Wars: The Force Awakens—where Luke Skywalker's brief cameo was kept under wraps till the movie came out—it appears that the appearances of Peter Venkman (that last shot in the new preview notwithstanding) and company will either be shown in the final trailer, or saved for the film itself. Either way, I can't wait to see this flick less than four months from now! Check out the preview below.



That four-wheeled ghost trap is awesome!

Image of the Day: Finn as BLADE...

This illustration has been saved on my smartphone for the past two months (I stumbled upon it on Facebook), so just thought I'd finally share this cool image of John Boyega as Blade. Methinks that if Boyega was cast to play the Daywalker made famous by Wesley Snipes, it would be in a prequel to the Blade trilogy. Other than that, I think that Pacific Rim's Idris Elba would be perfect as an older version of the vampire hunter. Of course, considering the fact that The Dark Tower (which Elba starred in last year with Matthew McConaughey) didn't do as well critically and commercially as the other Stephen King movie adaptation—IT—a month later, I don't reckon that Elba would be interested in playing another lone antihero with mad weapon skills anytime soon. But he can prove me wrong.

So yea— The actor behind Finn of Star Wars would look pretty cool slicin'-and-dicin' vampires with a Katana sword. Carry on.

Artwork of the Day #3: Pennywise and His 'Kill Teeth'...

As mentioned in this previous entry, here is a drawing of Pennywise showing his "kill teeth"...which he used to lethal effect (obviously) in the hit movie It. The Dancing Clown is also holding Georgie's raincoat (but not his paper boat) in this pic, while lurking in his hellish lair that we saw towards the end of the film. Shown below is the work-in-progress photos of this artwork as well as the illustration that's featured in the post linked to at the beginning of this entry. Happy Monday!

Artwork of the Day: It's Pennywise the Dancing Clown...

Just thought I'd share this drawing that I completed this morning of Pennywise from the hit movie It. I was trying to hold off on posting this artwork since I plan to draw another more sinister illustration of the Dancing Clown (it's all about those "kill teeth") and simultaneously share that along with this one, but I'm impatient as heck. I also plan to illustrate an Elite Praetorian Guard from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which should be really fun as well. Good ol' Crayola markers. Anyways, Happy Thursday!

Movie Review: IT...

"Hiya, Georgie." So earlier today, I watched the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling novel It...and needless to say, it was both funny and intense. It was a mixture of The Goonies and Stand by Me (which, of course, was based on Stephen King's earlier novella The Body), with a hungry, demonic clown as the main antagonist. Speaking of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (portrayed here with a sinister playfulness by Bill Skarsgård), this shape-shifting, child-eating creature is definitely the stuff of nightmares. From his opening scene where he greets 6-year-old Georgie (played by Jackson Robert Scott) from inside that sewer drain, to a moment later in the film where he reveals his true physical self to the Losers' Club (the group of kids who would ultimately defeat him—for the time being) inside that wellhouse, Pennywise didn't waste a moment to terrify his victims before dismembering them within the sewers of the small town of Derry, Maine.



It was funny in that all of the kids who comprised the Losers' Club shared witty banter that was definitely realistic of what kids joked about during the 1980s. Most of the zingers came from Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), who went from remarking that only the virgins in the group (which apparently was everyone in the Losers' Club but Richie himself) could see Pennywise when others couldn't, to him commenting that Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) was "leaking hamburger helper" after Pennywise slices the portly boy's stomach with his claws during that wellhouse scene mentioned in the previous paragraph. And prior to entering the wellhouse, the Losers had to draw straws to see who would be the lucky one to wait outside while everyone else headed into Pennywise's dreadful lair. Richie drew the short straw, but commented that things would've been different if they "measured the size of their d**ks" instead. Aw, juvenile humor.



In regards to It's intensity, not a single moment goes by when the Losers' Club isn't harassed by Pennywise or a fellow citizen of Derry. Along with the monstrous clown, the Losers are also tormented by Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) and his high school band of bullies...to the point where Bowers and his gang also find themselves on a collision course with Pennywise himself. The heroine of the Losers' Club, Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) also has to deal with being slut-shamed at school as well as going home to an abusive father who may or may not be having an inappropriate relationship with her. And Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer) thinks he's ill when his mom was giving him placebos to make him feel sick just so he would stay home with her most of the time. Clearly, the Losers are in no position to win as long as they're living in the small, messed-up town of Derry.



Overall, It was more emotional than it was terrifying. It revolved around Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) and his quest to find out what happened to his little brother Georgie after he went missing a year earlier. And the moments between Beverly and Ben were sweet...even after she found out that he was a fan of New Kids on the Block. (BTW, with most of It taking place in 1989, I liked how it featured references to Tim Burton's first Batman movie, Lethal Weapon 2 and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5—which all came out in theaters that year.) Director Andy Muschietti and his writers were definitely mindful of having us care about the Losers before having them get bloodied up by Pennywise in the film's finale.



All-in-all, It was a commendable flick. This movie is actually 'Chapter One' in the horror story, with Warner Bros. yet to approve the production of Chapter Two (though I'm sure that will be a sure thing after the box office results for this opening weekend come in). In Chapter Two, the Losers' Club will be grown-up...with its members returning to Derry in the present day to confront Pennywise for the final time. I can't wait to see which adult actors will be cast to portray Bill, Ben, Richie, Eddie, Beverly and company...and how Pennywise will use modern technology to further his reign of terror in the hapless city of Derry, and maybe elsewhere. But in the meantime, I recommend watching this current installment of the It franchise if you're a horror movie buff. I saw the film mostly because I'm a fan of villainous clowns—hence why Heath Ledger's Joker makes The Dark Knight my all-time favorite Batman flick (Jack Nicholson, you're still awesome), and why that zombie clown in 2009's Zombieland was hilariously badass—and wanted to see just how delightfully frightful Skarsgård's Pennywise would be. Sure enough, he delivered. Please greenlight It: Chapter 2, Warner Bros. Thank you.

See ya, Georgie.

ROBOTECH: The Live-Action Movie...

I just found out earlier this morning that Andy Muschietti, director of the upcoming It movie, has signed on to helm Sony's Robotech live-action film. It (as in It, not Robotech) hasn't arrived in theaters yet, but the trailer makes it (as in It, not— Nevermind) look really good, so I have confidence that Muschietti will do a commendable job bringing Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, Max Sterling and Minmay to life (assuming, of course, that he casts some Asian actors for this project; Minmay's real name is Ling Ming-mei, fyi). If Michael Bay can bring giant fighting robots to life in a big way with the Transformers franchise, then there's no way that the sight of live-action Industrial Light & Magic or Weta-rendered Veritech Fighters flying away from the SDF-1 to wage battle against the Zentradi can't finally be seen on the big screen... That is all.

Oh wait, one last thing: Have composer Michael Giacchino score the music for the film. I'm interested to hear his iteration of the Robotech theme! Carry on.