John Wick: Chapter 4 continues what began in 2014 in truly grand style. This 170 minute monster has every punch, kick, gun shot, take down, sword slash, knife thrust, stunt and choreographed fight you could possibly imagine.
And more.
The first two hours of Chapter 4 set everything up perfectly for an incredible third act, while still containing two stellar set pieces - the latter of which is the equivalent to any set piece from the previous film.
Then director…
The Scream franchise has long been my favourite or second favourite horror film franchise. (Let's see whether Evil Dead Rises settles that debate, one way or the other, next month.) 2022's requel Scream was a shot in the arm for the long dormant franchise, proving the new generation of talent - especially behind the camera - could pick up the baton where Wes had left it and run with it, almost as effectively.
Well, the great news for other fans…
This seems to be dividing the horror fan community, but I firmly come down on the "hate" side of the fence.
The first half hour setting up the characters was okay if incredibly poorly paced, but what comes after is a testament to the nausea induced by shaky cam as well as a test of the extremes of disbelief suspension.
This ended up containing every trope I hate in found footage films. From the inexplicable decision the main character makes…
Not half as bad as the box office would have you believe, Shazam! Fury of the Gods nevertheless does little to stand out from the pack of predictable, CGI-bloated superhero epics.
In other words, it is aggressively fine.
3 Wooden Dragons for Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Listen to a detailed review on The Countdown podcast.
Find the podcast here or check it out directly on Apple Podcasts.
Things I learned while watching Crawl:
- Florida state police officers do not bother pursuing people who directly and brazenly ignore their explicit orders.
- Basements below ground level do not flood until it is narratively necessary for them to do so.
- Alligators are all at least 9 feet long.
- If any alligators smaller than 9 feet long do exist, they most certainly do not venture into basements where their smaller size would enable them to crawl under…
NO SPOILERS AT ALL BELOW
For several months now, Tenet has been proclaimed as the film which might just save the movie theatre industry. A 200 million dollar, original property blockbuster, written and directed by one of the most reliable names in Hollywood, Christopher Nolan. The hopes were that Nolan might deliver a film that was so incredible – so quintessential – to see on the big screen that it would tempt people from their homes, with their huge televisions…
