Brucie Bonus - BR3 - John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum

Or indeed John Wick Chapter 3: Procrastination.

I sheepishly admit that I actually watched today's reviewed film back on Wednesday and it's taken me up until now, the Monday, to actually get up off my lazy ass and finally write the review for John Wick 3. Again blame a variety of different sources but sometimes you just want to watch the damn film and not have to think about writing it up afterwards.  Still, we're in for a doozy, so sit back and enjoy as I share my thoughts about:

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 3: PARABELLUM (2019 dir. Chad Stahelski)

Apparently, his expert killing skills couldn't ward off catching a cold in the rain...

 
Why I watched it:

Because it's John Wick 3.

Ok, you need more reason than that, but if you're late to the party with John Wick, let me bring you up to speed as quickly as I can.

John Wick was essentially the world's greatest hitman/assassin but got out when he married. Sadly his wife dies of a terminal illness but in order to cope with his grief before she dies, she gifts him a puppy. He bumps into resident Russian gangster shithead Theon Greyjoy in a gas station, refuses to sell his classic car to him so in vengeance they break into his home, destroy his place, steal his car and kill the puppy.

It's a fucking cute puppy. Those shitheads deserve to die.

The body count builds up as the legend of John Wick builds, from there we get introduced into the world of hitmen, they have a code, they have rules, it's all super cool. The second film essentially builds on the background of the world of assassins and gangsters which essentially builds to this third film, have killed on neutral ground, Wick is excommunicated from the world of hitmen and assassins and a $14 million bounty is placed on his head. It's John Wick again a bevvy of colourful assassins! How could I not be along for the ride?

These films are essentially grown-up, stylish 80's action films. The thrill is just watching how different people get killed and how many stylish shots can get slotted in the course of two hours. I highly recommend seeking out the first two films if possible if you love your 'leave your brain at the door' action films. So how did the third one match up with a series that progressively got better?

The review:

Answer: It's the best of the lot.  The simple plot essentially lets the action shine. I always feel you can't go wrong with a bunch of characters go after lead protagonist trope and this film serves said trope exceedingly well. Like a batch of Mr Kipling cakes.

Keanu Reeves proves that much like the proverbial Love & Marriage and the subsequent Horse & Carriage 'Ol' Blue Eyes' sings about, Keanu and action movies go together hand in hand. As long as said action film doesn't have a subtitle after the words: 'The Matrix'. Quite impressive for a man who technically is in the autumn of his career (or should that be late summer, dude just never ages).

You can tell he's having fun in these films, a welcome return to the popcorn flicks of old delivered by helmsman Chad Stahelski, a former stuntman alongside David Leitch, who helped shape the world of John Wick and are no delivering fun action film after fun action film.

And my god, some of the action sequences in the film are spectacular. At one point audible sounds of disbelief and whooping from my end as John worked his way through a series of would-be killers. He even uses horses as guns. HORSES AS GUNS at one point. How can you not love this franchise?

Despite the action sequences which are the meat and potatoes of this film, can we talk about the fantastic accompanying vegetables that comprise of the films acting quota featuring some of the finest supporting actors and actresses in the industry...and Halle Berry.

Johnathan Harker attempts to repel Morticia Addams back from the forces of darkness where she once came...

Reading like a who's who of Matt's favourite supporting characters, we've got Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Laurence Fishburne all making their returns. We've got my boy Bronn, Jerome Flynn, playing one of the High Table's top men. We've got Billions' Asia Kate Dillon essentially bringing their cold calculating mind as Taylor playing the adjudicator for the High Table. We've got Academy Award Winner Anjelica Huston. We've got half of the cast of 'The Raid' turning up in various roles and we've got the Mr Iron Chef America, Wo-Fat himself, Marc Dacascos as the top rung of John Wick's 'Game Of Death' excursion.


Marc Dacascos should always be in more things, we should start a #MarcDacascosinmorethings chain...

If I have one gripe the movie almost feels like it peaks too early in an absolutely incredible fight in an antique store with a series of deaths and the like that leave the viewer breathless. This is a scene that should have been saved for later in the film, not within the first half hour.  This shouldn't distract from your enjoyment however, it certainly didn't for me.

Adding to the collection?

It already has. Thanks to the generosity of a customer at Forbidden Planet, John Wick 3 has a place amongst my Blu-Rays so that I may relieve it's over the top kills in all its HD glory. That and wince as a ballerina casually peels off the nail from her big toe that had me squealing more so than a 7ft tall bloke getting his neck broken with the edge of a book. John Wick 3, much like Shazam! is perfect, enjoyable film fare and gets a tasty 8 out of 10 from me.

Until next time, I remain,

Matt Major

10. The Wild Bunch

Ah heck, it's been a while hasn't it?

So what went wrong? I was making such good progress. Well as you well know the mind is a fickle thing and sometimes you just don't have the stamina to sit in front of a movie. Sometimes you just want to veg out and watch a video game (a revisit to Batman: Arkham Asylum has been guilty of this), a tv series (step right up Bake Off and One Foot In The Grave) or a comic series (I can confirm that Superior Spider-Man, Symbiote Spider-Man, The Punisher and Amazing Spider-Man from Marvel are all good reads).

And that's not even mentioning YouTube...

But with a day off looming tomorrow and my stubbornness, we shall progress, I warn you though, if you've had your fill of Lil' Nas X and Red Dead 2, you might want to give the old blog a miss at least for the next four movies as we crack open the Sam Peckinpah western collection and watch:

THE WILD BUNCH (1969 dir. Sam Peckinpah)

 
I can assure you, no one gets engulfed by the sun as implied by the box art...

Why I bought it/Why I liked it:

It should be made clear that this is the first film of a four-film Sam Peckinpah collection.  Logically I should have just filed it under 'S' or 'P' depending on which way the wind blows especially considering I do something similar in later entries.

I had owned the Wild Bunch before on the standard vanilla edition first released through Warner Bros. It was, of course, the dreaded flip DVD and so needed to go post-haste. During my trials at CEX, this rather interesting box set fell into my lap and while it asked a high price for Mr Cheapskate over here, I was willing to part with it for this deluxe version of this and our next film alone.

Not much can be said that hasn't been said in past entries about my love of Westerns. The Wild Bunch is often one of the big important ones that often pop up on '10 Westerns you need to watch before you die' lists. With good reason, it is indeed an excellent western that effectively has no heroes in it.

I personally love a film where there's no clear cut good guys and the heroes are essentially less nasty people than the other antagonists, that's essentially what The Wild Bunch is. Lashings of grimy, dusty Western action with a good smattering of violence and character development in it too. It also features my boy, Ernest Borgnine...

I know I do Ernest.

If I think it'll stay in the collection:

A pretty comfortable yes. I'm a bit of a sucker for Peckinpah films, owning the majority of them (Although Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia is a slog and was traded in).  There's only one let- down in this set and it's the third film, so, let's sit back and enjoy some gory Western action.

The review:

Well, I certainly forgot the body count in this movie.

Truth be told, I'd forgotten most of the plot as I haven't watched the film since my days of living with my best bud Ross. Part of me does sort of want to revisit the original theatrical cut merely to make notes of how it differs but regardless, this is still a tasty slice of western pie.

It kicks off with a fantastic bank heist leading into our first shoot out. When happens next is a blur of quick cuts and gunshots as the audience is hit with a barrage of different camera shots, leaving them breathless when the smoke clears and the bodies start piling.

William Holden is brilliant as Pike (he told them his name), an ageing outlaw in a changing world, realizing that he needs that one last score in order to get free of his life. Beside him are his loyal comrade Dutch, the aforementioned Borgnine and the Gortch brothers played by Peckinpah stalwart Warren Oates and Ben Johnson,

Here they all are, walking side by side as gangs are often prone to do in these films...

As previously stated, these are not nice men, but they're nicer than the Mexican Generalé they run into who they agree to secure arms and ammo for. What proceeds is a daring train heist, all the while being hunted down by former crew member Deke Thornton while aiding revolutionary ally Angel. As their unit bonds, the promise of gold seems to mean less to them than loyalty and friendship ultimately leading to the breathtaking finalé.

If there are faults in the movie, it slows down a little in between the big action scenes, there's a bathroom scene that goes on for perhaps a little TOO long and there are some gratuitous shots of ladies breasts that just sort of comes out of nowhere.

Overall this is still a thrill ride of a movie and even more so when you consider the year it was made. Had Peckinpah strayed from the bottle, we could have had far more great movies from the man.

Should it stay or should it go?

It is indeed an easy keeper.  While there are other westerns in my collection that I enjoy more than The Wild Bunch, it's still an excellent example of the western genre and gets a solid 8 out of 10 from me.

It also managed to conjure up images of the unrelated ZX Spectrum game too:

Don't laugh, that was cutting edge back then. Also, who bets just $2 on 4 of a kind?

Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things with the next few reviews.

Until next time, I remain,

Matt Major.

9. The Wolf Of Wall Street

A series of events chopped and changed around me today, leading me in front of the keyboard yet again. After a cancelled car boot due to unsavoury weather, I traversed the local charity shops in the neighbouring area. After getting a call from my father saying plans needed to be changed, it seemed as good a time as any to settle down with our first stone-cold classic.

Perhaps quite appropriately considering its run-time, although the beauty is, I'll never feel it. For today I review:

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013 dir. Martin Scorsese)

Just another day at the office...

Why I bought it/Why I liked it:

Martin Scorsese is responsible for one of my all-time favourite movies in Goodfellas.  The man's body of work is wonderfully impressive with a diverse number of subjects. But it's when he deals with the crime genre, he shines the most.

The Wolf Of Wall Street for me harks back to the double impacts that both Goodfellas and Casino delivered.  Sweeping arcs, never letting you come up for air, beautifully edited so everything feels like it's coming at you at 90 m.p.h. Often it's said that some of the best movies are the long ones that don't make you realize its run time and The Wolf Of Wall Street fits comfortably in that category.

It's also noticeably the movie that made me love Leonardo DiCaprio finally. I'd enjoyed some of his films prior to the albatross that was Titanic (or even Lurhmann's Romeo and Juliet) which made him the pretty boy teen idol he didn't want to be. Regrettably, follow up appearances did little to dissuade my opinion of him. I felt he was the weakest thing in the all-star adaptation of Man In The Iron Mask and it wasn't until Christopher Nolan's wonderful Inception that I actually started giving a damn about Leo.

Scorsese obviously saw something in him to keep casting him in his movies and other respectable actors followed suit. Then much like Matthew McConaughey fought his way out from being 'the rom-com' guy, Leo had shown everyone what many in the know already knew, he was a hell of an actor.

I'm not going to say I was one of those guys, much like McConaughey, it took a while for me to warm up to Leo and following this masterpiece, I become more interested in his output afterwards.

Oh and this was this film I was screaming at him to win the Oscar for. Mainly for The Popeye/car sequence alone.

If I think it'll stay in the collection:

Not only am I confident that it'll stay in the collection and be a fun watch but I'm also under the firm belief this will the first film in the collection to grab a perfect score, such is my love for this film.

So without further ado, let's fire up the PS4 and learn of the exploits of Jordan Belfort...

The review:

As expected it's a masterclass in filmmaking from one of the old masters and an absolute joy to watch.

In hindsight, it's always a bit boring doing reviewing a movie I really like as they don't seem like fun to read back and it's difficult using too many positive words in a short paragraph as they don't come as naturally to me being the pessimist that I am.

As such, it's a tour de force performance from DiCaprio. It's a movie about a horrible man, he pretty much turns to the camera, breaking the fourth wall, informing us all that he's a terrible man and yet we still have a connection to him, we still will him on because he's so fucking charming and charismatic.  This is the power of DiCaprio's performance and a wonderful showcase of his abilities.

That's not to downplay the supporting actors and actresses that this film provides again. Dependable hand Jonah Hill has some absolutely astounding moments as best friend Donnie and once again shows he's much more than a simple comic actor. Margot Robbie made her name in this film and makes quite the impact as Jordan's long-suffering wife. A peach of a role to land, she knocks it out of the park in this.

Other great turns from Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner and Jon Bernthal are peppered throughout the movie and of course, the dialogue takes centre stage here, a blizzard of swear words that just leave the audience breathless and wanting more.  Scorsese weaves a beautiful tapestry of images and the editing is sublime.

Leo really wanted to help fund Jackass 4...

The Wolf Of Wall Street is a supremely enjoyable way to kill near three hours of your time and is a fine example of where others have stumbled, Scorsese's quality keeps coming through.

Should it stay or should it go?

Of course, it's an easy keep in the collection and it gets the distinction of getting the perfect score of 10 out of 10.  There will be others in my collection I know that'll get the perfect score but they will be revealed in due time.

As such we're turning the clock back again with a lengthy trip to the wild west and a quartet of movies by a certain director. All shall be revealed next time...

Until next time, I remain,

Matt Major

8. The Wrestler

So looking back, I managed 7 entries for August which isn't too shabby. I've got a bit of a hot run coming up too of classics I sort of know I'll be keeping but am looking forward to revisiting.

This one seems appropriate coming off a recent visit to Cardiff and witnessing a match many critics have touted as a match of the year candidate.

So let's dip into some lighthearted jovial fun with the king of happiness in the director's chair with:

THE WRESTLER (2008 dir. Darren Aronofsky)

'The Raging Bull of Wrestling Movies'...considering at this point, the competition consisted of No Holds Barred and Ready To Rumble...

Why I bought it/Why I liked it:

If there were seven words I could only use to describe my interests they would be the following:

Food. Films. Music. Comics. Video Games. Wrestling.

It's always hard to admit you're a wrestling fan to other people. Often you'll get a snort of derision and the often common 'You know it's fake right?'. To which I'll reply, 'No, I think you'll find that fights often go 20 solid minutes with suplexes and shooting star presses...'

Wrestling to me is like a good action sequence in a movie when it's well-choreographed, it's an absolute thing of beauty. It's telling a story and you know you're in a good one when you get sucked in and you don't know who could win.  In the day of the internet where we all become 'wrestling experts', that becomes more difficult as we know that the more marketable star will mostly always 'win' his matches and we become cynical and uninterested.

Backstage, the stars behind the camera and the goings-on are just as if not MORE interesting that what happens when the cameras start rolling.  Infidelity, drug-taking, pranks, it's like the ultimate gossip magazine.  Accounts have been told by various wrestlers of things that have happened and I find them all absolutely riveting.

I first caught the wrestling bug in late '91 when I wanted to be mates at school with a kid called Tyler. He was into it, so it stood to reason I should be into it too. With the advent of cable, the WWF became accessible with larger than life characters kicking each other's butts for a six-year-olds entertainment.

When Sky Sports eventually had to be pulled due to its expense, so too did my interest in wrestling. I was 7 at the time, you could have dangled a piece of string and I'd have been interested, such was my attention span back then. Fast forward to 1999, I wanted to be friends with a boy named Chris, who was into wrestling, so I got back into wrestling, this time for keeps. (Subsequently, I'm still friends with Chris and was best man at his wedding, so that worked out rather well.)

The Attitude era had sucked me in but I was here to stay, soon magazines, videos, DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs of entrance music, books and not just the WWF/WWE. Puro, Lucha, British, Independents, anything I could get my hands on essentially. 20 years on, I've amassed a huge collection and some of my closest friends through wrestling.

So it stood to reason that I'd want to watch a seriously made film about wrestling. Previously most efforts had a humorous tone to them and the only well made films were often documentaries about the subject.  Not only was it a film that featured wrestling but it also got good reviews, I, of course, had to check it out and subsequently add it to the collection.

Borrowing elements from the excellent documentary 'Beyond The Mat' about the crashing reality of when a superstar in wrestling's career goes on a downturn but still needs to make money. The movie is a quite accurate description of some wrestler's lives when all they have left is to make ends meet in the ring, far past their prime, an addiction to pain-killers a sore reminder of what they gave their bodies up for.

No, it's not an uplifting tale, but by god was it well made.

Oh and Marisa Tomei's in it. My god, she's gorgeous.

If I think it'll stay in the collection:

Oh yeah.

As depressing as the subject matter gets, it's still an amazing film to watch, A phenomenal performance by Mickey Rourke (who I always felt should have won the Oscar for this) and the supporting cast in Marisa and Evan Rachel Wood.

That and The Boss donates a song to it. It's Aronofsky's most accessible film by far. I'll just need a comedy or something afterwards to perk up the mood afterwards...

So let's get down to the adventures of Randy 'The Ram' Robinson...

The review:

Well, it moved me as much this time as perhaps it did the first time.

The Wrestler isn't really a film you break out when you want to lighten the mood or just have on in the background for ambient noise.  This is, however, a wonderful example of storytelling with some superb acting throughout, taking the viewer along on an emotional ride.

It's sad to see Randy's spiral down the drain as we watch him grift on 'small' indy shows on the weekend while hauling heavy goods in a supermarket behind the scenes. That being said some of those 'small' indy shows consist of CZW and ROH so feasibly he should have been paid better than he was.

Rourke is magnificent in his performance here, quiet and contemplative at times realizing the situation he's in but aware that there's no real way out. His voice cracking at times under the strain of pain he's suffered both physically and mentally, it's difficult to have envisioned the first choice, Nicolas Cage putting in such a performance.

I'd felt the same after enduring 9 hours of Unreleased Hulk Hogan matches at the time...

All joking and perving aside, Marisa Tomei proves why she's an excellent actress putting in the portrayal of a working mother, stripping simply to make a better life for her son and herself while she's still got the body and moves to do so, not content to work a simple 9 to 5.  I sympathise with that although the scene where some young lads on a stag night want a 'hotter' dancer is implausible considering she's easily the hottest thing in the club other than the flaming sambucas...

Evan Rachel Wood simply plays her role great as the wronged daughter, neglected by her father for so long and hurt when she lets him back into her life, only to be let down again, she doesn't have much to do but she does it well when she has to.

Ultimately when all is said and done, it's sad to see that despite warnings that he might die if he has one more match, the call of the ring is too much for him to ignore. Despite all the pain medication and hardcore drug use, his body has taken, wrestling is the strongest drug of all.

Geez, thanks Darren, you've made me all sombre now.  Maybe I'll just stick on One Foot In The Algarve now instead.  Regardless, you made a damn good film sir.

Should it stay or should it go?

It's a keeper.  I doubt it'll get revisited in say, the next couple of years, (other than to remind myself what Marisa Tomei's nipples look like), but the Wrestler does remain as strong a piece of cinema as it was when it first came out.  A terrific 9 out of 10 and still indeed a better film than No Holds Barred.

Until next time, I remain,

Matt Major.