Sean’s movie thoughts

There are rumors of a fifth John Wick movie. Without spoiling the last movie, I am not sure where the fifth film would go. I guess something could be figured out. It can be hard to walk away from a successful franchise. If the audience is increasing from movie to movie, it can be hard to stop making films. John Wick's audience does seem to be increasing.  I would like the people behind these films to do something else. I think that could be interesting. I don't think a fifth John Wick film has to be terrible but there seems to be a risk that it could be bad. Maybe going out on top would be good. More about this as it develops.

 The new John Wick movie is too long. It is still good but I think the third act is too long. I am not sure about the second act but I definitely think the third act is too long. John Wick wants to settle his differences with the High Table. The High Table has empowered a dude to kill John and that dude recruits an old friend of John’s to kill him. (I guess there are limits to friendship in the Wick verse.) Lawrence Fishbourne pops up to give plot details from time to time but it is good to see him. Clancy Brown is on hand to lend gravitas to the film. It is nice to see Donnie Yen, Marko Zaror, and Scott Adkins in this film. I don’t like the fact Adkins was in a fat suit but it was a good fat suit at least. Yen should be a bigger star in America. So should Zaror. The movie needed more Lance Reddick, maybe that it is a reaction to his death after the movie was filmed. I don't know if he had another project completed after this, so maybe this is not his last performance.  He add...

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Dynasty is getting bad reviews so far.  It will be interesting to see how many positive reviews there are in the coming days.  It is okay for stories to end. Indiana Jones might not need to age but Harrison Ford ages. Unless we want someone else playing Indiana Jones, maybe Ford should not have come back one more time. People seem not to want a new actor playing Indiana Jones. At least one prominent Star Wars YouTuber wants movies featuring computer generated versions of a young Harrison Ford, Mark Hamil, and Carrie Fisher. (I don't watch his work but apparently some people I follow on Twitter do and comment on his work. I have not fallen into the Star Wars YouTube rabbit hole and I don't think I will.) I think that would be awful. Maybe some of Carrie Fisher's films after the original trilogy ended were not great but some were fun. Hamil has done some good voice over work and Ford became a star outside the franchise. I think computer generated...

 I re-watched Secret Admirer. It was decent. There are a few interesting things about it in hindsight though. It was nice to have Fred Ward in the film in a supporting role. Maybe he made some bad films but I saw him in eight or nine films and don’t remember a bad performance by him. I remember him best as Remo Williams. His movie Miami Blues was decent from what I remember. Kelly Preston did the best she could with her role but maybe the writing for her character let her down. Yeah, I know the point of the film is C. Thomas Howell’s character did not really know her or that he did not like her for anything besides her looks. Maybe her character came across worse than she needed to. Preston later got a better role in Twins. Of course, the plot is silly.  It was fun to see Lori Loughlin smash up that van. (I am not going to make a joke referencing her role in the college recruiting scandal.) It feels like there are a lot of films with “teenage boy thinks he likes the blonde gir...

Marko Zaror stars in Fist of the Condor. The movie is from Chile. The fights are fun. The plot is a bit basic but that is okay.  Marko stars as a man who knows the ancient secrets of “Fist of the Condor” and people are trying to get a manual for the technique from him. One of them works for Marko’s brother (I forgot the character names). There is a training montage, I like a good training montage. https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23664737/fist-of-the-condor-movie-review-marko-zaror-martial-arts This is a good review. https://outlawvern.com/2023/04/11/fist-of-the-condor/ So is this one. I think this is worth checking out. 

 This is good. It is inspired by the classic role playing game. It has humor but not too much. Chris Pine stars as a former Harper (secret agent) turned thief who leads a small band of thieves. He wants to get his daughter back from a friend who betrayed him. Michelle Rodriguez co-stars and I thought she had a good chemistry with Pine. Maybe it is a bit long. Perhaps five or six minutes could have been trimmed off. I do tend to think a lot of films since 2000 are too long. There is nothing about Dungeons and Dragons you need to know before seeing this film. There are some references that might mean something to people who have read some Forgotten Realms novels. There is also a reference to the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from way back when. This is definitely worth re-watching. Bonus features might fun to explore.