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John Wick: Chapter 2

Let me start by saying that I loved the first John Wick film to pieces. It was surprising to watch, with an energy level that you just don’t often see in American action movies, and with a creativity in its violence that made it a visceral thrill to watch. So how’s Chapter 2? I was disappointed. It started off great, with a fantastic car action sequence that was on par with what we’d seen in the first film. But then things slowed down, and when the action picked up again, it just felt like rinse-and-repeat, I just became used to it, and so it lost its urgency — it just felt like more of what I’d seen him done before, but more often, and to more people. I can also appreciate what they’ve done with expanding the film’s “universe” (the rules of how things work, on a global scale), but at the same time, I preferred the smaller stakes of the first film (I did like the idea of an office of tattooed women who take care of the bureaucracy of this world in an old-school manner). At this point, I can’t say I’m especially excited at the prospect of watching a 3rd chapter.

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T2 Trainspotting

I was really nervous about watching this, because I was so worried that it could never live up to the original film — which is one of those films that defined the era it came out in, in terms of cultural impact. Did I like it? Yes, I really enjoyed spending time with these characters again. Sure, it doesn’t have the urgency and drive of the original, but it does some interesting things in how it revisits these people, and in the end, even if the overall tone feels more subdued than the original, it sorta suits the subject matter (and the age of the characters). It’s interesting to see this around the same time as I’m watching the new Twin Peaks, that we’re in a place where things like this can happen (revisiting cultural touchstones of 20-30 years ago), and that they still work so well (at least for someone my age). I’m glad this got made, and the final scene is just perfect.

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Get Out

As everyone has been saying about this movie, man, it’s great. I won’t go into the details of what makes it so great to avoid spoilers, but I really love where it goes, how it treats the whole situation, and where we end up at the end. Definitely one of the best horror films I’ve seen in years.

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Logan

I finally watched this yesterday, and as many people were saying, this is indeed quite a good flick, and I’m confident to add it to my list of favorite super-hero movies (that includes Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Deadpool, and Guardians of the Galaxy). Even though I had heard it was good, I still had doubts, since it’s the same team that did The Wolverine, a film I thought was awful. But no, they really did an amazing job and told a compelling tale, and the performance in the film by the young girl who plays Laura/X-23 is fantastic. Kudos to Jackman on finally getting a proper Wolverine film out there.

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Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks is my all-time favorite TV series. I first watched it when it originally aired, and since then I revisit it on a regular basis. Because we were about to get a new season of episodes (kicking off tonight), I decided to re-watch the series yet again from last month (I think it’s maybe my 6th viewing), which I finished last week. I also re-watched the Fire Walk With Me movie, which I don’t really like — because of the overly dark tone (and lack of Mark Frost) it just doesn’t feel very Twin Peaks-y (but that said, I’ve still re-watched a bunch of times). I had heard that the new season would pick up a lot of stuff from the movie, and it was indeed interesting to re-watch it with that in mind, since it did introduce things that we hadn’t seen in the TV series. So yeah, I’m now completely ready for tonight’s season premiere — including today’s purchase of cherry pie and donuts.

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Firewalker

This is not a good movie. To be fair, I sorta remembered it wasn’t a good movie, but I was still in the mood to take it in, and there was some nostalgic fun in seeing just how “Cannon” it feels. It looks cheap, it feels cheap, and although Louis Gossett Jr. does a decent job in it, you’re immediately reminded of just how bad an actor Chuck Norris really is. Unless you have some childhood memories of this, there’s absolutely no reason to watch it. Oh, the one bit I did find incredibly weird and fun was that the baddie — some sort of Aztec assassin — has a scene where’s he’s reading an issue of Marvel’s New Universe comic Psi-Force. I shit you not.

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Psycho III

Oh, don’t worry, I’m not done yet with my 1986 movie marathon yet. The 20th film on the agenda was Psycho III, a film I barely remembered anything about — I wasn’t even sure I’d ever seen it, until I saw the suicide in the bath sequence, which I recognized for some reason. I don’t remember what happened in Psycho II either, and this pretty much felt like a sequel to the first film. Is it a great film? Nope. But it’s not horrible either, although I found Anthony Perkins performance to be incredibly awkward, which to me came off as bad acting (funny enough, he also directed the film). But it was fun to watch, in a schlocky kinda way.

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Debaser

Blade Runner

Following The Fifth Element, the second part of last night’s double bill was a re-watching of Blade Runner — I watched the 2007 “Final Cut” edition. It’s just astounding that a film that was made 35 years ago still looks as groundbreaking and slick as it it did back then — which just goes to show you what kick-ass art direction can do to a film. This year’s sequel has a lot to live up to — although the fact that it’s directed by Denis Villeneuve makes me feel pretty good about it, as he’s one of my favorite directors these days. The original Blade Runner is still a terrific film, and I still think Sean Young is absolutely stunning in her role as Rachael.

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The Fifth Element

Excited as I am for Luc Besson’s upcoming Valerian film (I’m even currently re-reading the Valerian graphic novels), and also the new Blade Runner film coming out later this year (for which we just got a great new trailer), I decided to do a double bill last night of the two films that connect to these upcoming releases. First up was The Fifth Element, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. I’ve always loved this film, from the fantastically joyous performance by Milla Jovovich (“Multipass”), to the very European sci-fi setting, that put to film the kind of sci-fi we’d see in French/Belgian comics, and stuff like Heavy Metal magazine. I know some people can’t stand it, but I love it for all its weirdness, and was happy to see that it’s aged quite well, and even still looks really good. It’s about time we get another big sci-fi film from Besson.

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Debaser

Hacksaw Ridge

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this, as I didn’t know this story, and what a surprising one — to the point where when it does happen (saving multiple soldiers on the battlefield) it comes off as Hollywood grandstanding, but learning it pretty much happened like that was eye-opening. As for the movie itself, it does get overly melodramatic for my tastes, especially during the first half, but I thought the performances were really great, and the battle scenes are some of the most intense I’ve seen on film. I did quite enjoy watching this, got pretty caught up in it, especially during the second half — and yes, shed a few tears near the end.