Quick takes on 5 films

John Wick 3 continues the ass kicking that Keanu Reeves as Wick has been putting on for the last few years. It picks up exactly where the last film left off: John Wick has just killed his nemesis on neutral ground. As such, he has lost the protection of the secret organization of killers, and everyone under the sun is now out to kill him for the huge bounty on his head. There’s no deep plot here, no hidden surprises; it is just amazingly detailed gun, knife, and fist fights for 2 hours. The action is beyond over the top as John Wick and the few friends he has left go on a rampage killing what seems like hundreds of people, in gruesome, blood-splattering, video-game-like fashion. It’s a great pure action film, if that’s up your alley, you’ll enjoy it. ★★★½

15 years ago when I was heavy into sci-fi movies and shows, I was big into Stargate SG1. Despite its awful reviews, I wanted to watch Stargate Origins: Catherine just to see what the franchise has been up to. It is unsurprisingly terrible. Originally a 10 part webseries which has been edited to a full movie, it follows a young adult Catherine Langford and her father as they are first studying the stargate in the 1930s. When Nazis show up with advanced knowledge of the gate and force Mr Langford through it to another world, Catherine follows to rescue him. This film has it all: atrocious acting, worse dialogue and writing, low production values (I think I could find someone who could do better on any college campus right now), and a shoddy story. They do their best to clean up the continuity problems with the team learning how to open the gate 60 years before they supposedly did it for the first time in the original mid-90s film starring James Spader and Kurt Russell, but it is rough. I think the Stargate franchise is one of the great sci-fi premises of all time, but until the people behind it can find the funding to do it right, they need to let it lie. ½

The Art of Self-Defense stars Jesse Eisenberg as Casey Davies, a shy, effeminate man, who is quite possibly on the Autistic spectrum. Though socially awkward, he throws himself into new hobbies, the latest being karate, which he enrolls in after getting mugged one night. His instructor is a bit of a nut-job and a prototypical dominant male. He urges Casey to start listening to metal music and learn German instead of French, since it is a stronger language. As Casey throws himself into karate in all aspects of his life (for instance, buying only yellow foods once he attains yellow belt), he becomes more “manly.” A woman who has been at the dojo for years, Anna (Imogen Poots), is constantly passed up, though she’s clearly better at karate than any of the men. It’s a quirky funny movie at times, but gets real serious by the end. It also gives strong social commentary on the definition of masculinity, the importance (or false importance?) of feeling strong in your daily life, and of course, male/female roles and how they are looked at in our society. A strong film. ★★★½

Light of My Life is written by, directed by, and stars Casey Affleck as an unnamed father to “Rag,” an 11 year old girl. This is made fantastical because they live in a time when a plague wiped out nearly all women in the planet 10 years ago. A baby Rag was one of the few who was immune, though her mother was not. Dad and Rag have spent 10 years living off the grid, because Dad knows there are plenty of dangerous men out there who would love to get their hands on a girl. When they do need to go into town for goods, Rag dresses as a boy and keeps quiet. However, she is approaching the age where that will no longer be possible. They go from camp to camp, always moving whenever Dad gets a bad feeling that they’ve been spotted or that people may suspect Rag is a girl, and always have a backup plan to abandon any camp quickly. When they finally find what looks like a safe place – an old house with a couple religious older men who seem to be protective of Rag – they are lulled into a false sense of safety. This is a quietly tense film, with edge-of-your-seat thrills. It was like watching a train barreling towards you from off in the distance, but you can’t seem to get out of its way, it has that kind of constant fear and dread. Great picture. ★★★½

Marriage Story features two great actors in quite possibly their finest performances, and is one of the most raw, emotional, and saddest films I’ve seen in awhile. Despite what you might think about the title, it isn’t a love story about two people coming together, but it is about their love coming unglued. Nicole and Charlie (Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver) were once deeply in love, and the film opens with each penning a letter about all the things they love about each other. The letters are heartfelt and endearing, but we learn right away that they were written as an exercise for their mediator, a first step in a conscious separation. As Nicole moves from New York back to her hometown of LA, taking their son with her, their separation heads towards contentious and hate-fueled divorce proceedings. The director, indie-film hero Noah Baumbach, does an amazing job of showing how sometimes love just isn’t enough, as Nicole and Charlie cared very much for each other, but they were just on different paths. Johansson and Driver are simply amazing in this film; I wouldn’t be surprised if they both don’t get nominations in this year’s awards’ cycle. The camera will at times stay glued to their faces, showing the intensity of their emotions as each runs the gamut from joy to hatred. A must-see film, just be prepared for the roller coast of emotion. ★★★★★