Change Your Image
philblevins
Reviews
Road House (2024)
Not a remake.
Mostly different story. Forced diversity in casting and have to work in some jabs at social injustice. Dalton is a different character. He doesn't really clean up the bar. They could've called it something else, given Dalton a different name, and it would've been an homage of sorts. That would have been better. As it is it seems like a pilot for a series. Wierd side plots, unnecessary quirky characters, etc.
It's worth noting that the movie was filmed under "false pretenses" in that the director was promised a theatrical release when Amazon Prime apparently had no intention of releasing it anywhere other than streaming on their platform. It is in Amazon's best interest to kill theaters.
The Killer (2023)
The Delusional Killer
The guy narrates his life in an effort to convince the viewer that he is an elite killer. The truth is he is a terrible killer. His tradecraft is atrocious. He doesn't actually do any of the things he claims to be a master of. Example: while trying to flee the country immediately after he has a job he stands nervously in the security line at the airport. A dog looks at him. So he bolts from the line: exactly what police are trained to notice. None of his plans work but he constantly says (to himself) "Stick to the plan." In another scene he grabs his gun from the glove box in the car. He racks it. He jumps out and sneaks up to the house, gun in hand. He racks it. He constantly quotes factoids (to himself) that are probably not true and in some cases prove to be wrong immediately. He says you should "keep moving" to avoid cameras but he sits perfectly still on park benches or in cars on neighborhood streets while conducting surveillance. He regales the viewer with tales of his ability to disguise himself but he always looks exactly like a coked out psycho who barely changes shirts. He repeatedly says "Trust no one," but every move he makes on his path to revenge involves him trusting the word of a person he is about to kill (people who are aware that he is about to kill them).
I think the hidden back story is that he isn't really an experienced, professional killer. He's a guy who changed professions recently because he always wanted to be a hit man. He's living out a fantasy but finding out that he sucks.
I kept thinking that Will Ferrell would have been better in the lead role. That would have made it clear that this was a parody of hit man movies.
Stalked in Paradise (2021)
Stupid and that guy cannot act
I hope they didn't pay much for this production. It's not the worst movie ever but it was really dumb. The bad guy seems like a guy who won a contest to act in a movie.
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
If Only Keanu Could Act and Writers Could Write
Good action, good fighting. Pretty much senseless plot with hundreds of holes. Wick is the master of being shot in the stomach, knifed in the back and 5 minutes later fighting world class killers hand to hand with no problems, not even a limp when he walks. He sneaks in to make a "hit" but then instead of sneaking back out he walks right through the party where he knows he will be seen, and chased, and shot at. Sometimes I felt like I was missing the joke, like everyone else watching knew that this was actually a comedic satire of the first John Wick film.
I'm now certain that Keanu seriously can't even say one word that sounds like a real actor let alone a real person. He can't even say "No," believably. Only when he says, "Yeah," does he sound like he doesn't have a stick up his butt. But none of that matters really. We just want 2 more hours of head-shots and martial arts ass-whippings. And for that, it's all good.