Feast of Film

Two actors who can't believe their luck - they get big paydays and don't even have to show up to promotional events and pretend the movie is not crap. John Wick: Chapter 4 (JW4) is the best of the Wick sequels, not just because it isn't 2 or 3, which we all need to admit were subpar and move on, but because it brings the series to a moderately satisfying conclusion and does so at a good pace. Let's get one key element of modern day cinematic efforts out of the way right now.  This film runs 170 minutes, which is far too long for any motion picture. The problem of length has nothing to do with Tik Tok attention spans, weak bladders or even the woeful state of Hollywood scriptwriting in the post-Marvel and woke Hollywood.  A medium-sized popcorn cup and drink exhaust themselves before what should be an intermission. If a director is going to force an audience to sit through 3 hours of something, a toilet and restocking break should be provided.  Nevertheless, JW4 keeps i...

The above image shows an audience member who just happens to resemble the lead actor, whose vitals signs are measured, as are all other viewers, so that medical assistance can be rushed to them as the film methodically sends them into a manic state of eco-insanity. Keanu Reeves stars in two sorts of films: Good and Crap. This is the latter and should not be allowed to draw on the good name of the original , directed by Robert Wise . The plot: Mysterious glowing spheres land around Earth, the largest of which touches down in Central Park, New York, lit up like a '70's area disco globe. The US government rounds up a team of scientists ahead of its landing, one of whom is Helen Benson ( Jennifer Connelly ). Out of the Central Park sphere - now surrounded by military and police, who are emphasised to be incredibly poorly coordinated (despite the previously demonstrated massive coordination effort to assemble the science team) emerges Klaatu. He approaches Helen and is - like the ...

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves star in this enchanting romance across time, but not too much time. The plot: We begin as Kate Forster (Bullock) is just moving out of the lake house, an interesting glass house built on the shore of a lake north of Chicago. The film then cuts to Alex Wyler (Reeves), who is moving in. On checking the mailbox he finds a welcome note from Kate with the usual request to forward mail to her new address. She also apologises for the paw prints on the decking and floor. What paw prints, Alex wonders, just before a dog runs past him right in the middle of staining the decking leading up the house - thus are set the paw prints. How did she know? Alex writes to Kate asking her this and through a bit of to and fro, and seeing the mailbox magically raise and lower its flag by itself, they figure out what is going on. You see, Kate lived in the lake house after Alex, not before. They are corresponding across time - between 2004 and 2006. Needless to say, they fall...