Always Be My Maybe

First Hit: This film had wonderfully funny moments and pointed scenes about discovering love right next door.

Childhood friends and neighbors Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) and Marcus Kim (Randall Park) spent all their spare time together growing up. Sasha’s parents were rarely home as they were tending to the family store, so Sasha spent time at Marcus’ house. Marcus’ mother cooked a lot and taught Sasha how to cook great original Asian recipes.

After the sudden accidental loss of his mother, Marcus and Sasha were in his car and in processing his grief, he attempts to kiss Sasha. At first, it was awkward, but she eventually responds, and after a funny make-out session they end up having car sex, and anyone who has had car sex knows how passion filled, intimate, and ridiculous it can be.

However, those two events build a wall between them, and they grow apart. Marcus gives up his plans for a future as a musician to take care of his father Harry (James Saito) who is a heating and air-conditioning specialist.

Marcus starts dating Jenny (Vivian Bang) a dreadlocked Asian woman while working with his dad. Although he continues to play in his band, they’ve not tried to expand their music into new venues. Marcus’ world has become small while supporting his dad. 

Sasha, on the other hand, has become a well-known celebrity chef who is used to walking red carpets and opens restaurants around the country. She’s engaged to her manager Brandon Choi (Daniel Dae Kim). Although at first, Brandon wants to marry Sasha, he changes his mind and heads off to open another restaurant overseas and tells Sasha they are on a break. Meanwhile, after opening a restaurant in LA, Sasha heads home to San Francisco to open another previously planned restaurant.

At a chance, or not so chance, meeting set up by Sasha’s assistant Veronica (Michelle Buteau), Sasha and Marcus reunite. One evening Sasha has a meeting and date with Keanu Reeves which, in her mind, was unbelievably fantastic.

Double dating with Jenny and Marcus, Sasha and Keanu meet for dinner at an exclusive and expensive restaurant where Keanu, arrives fashionably late, greets tables of well-wishers and admirers before sitting down. The food is pretentious and so is Keanu when he picks up the bill for 6,400 dollars, and we learn, that for Reeves, it is merely a residual check amount for the film Speed.

They head to Keanu’s hotel room to play a game and it ends up Marcus punches Keanu after Reeves rudeness hits a high point. Sasha and Marcus leave, star-struck Jenny stays.

This reuniting of Marcus and Sasha grows until she presses him to go to New York with her to open another restaurant. Marcus passes until his dad straightens him out about his life.

The film was well paced and not once, did it lag. The comedic moments were sprinkled throughout the movie, and these specific moments were not sight gags, but natural human moments to which the audience can relate.

Wong was excellent as Sasha. She was both sparklingly funny and sensitive. Loved that her character wasn’t going to sacrifice her love of her work. Kim was terrific as Marcus. Although, I didn’t think the transition from interesting young man to a basic recluse after his mother’s death was well understood or presented. However, his song about punching Keanu was delightful and a highlight. Saito as Marcus’ dad was outstanding. As the film went on, his wisdom grew, as did his presence in the movie. Buteau, as Sasha’s assistant, was lightheartedly enjoyable. Her role really worked at moving the story and film along. Reeves, as himself, was funny as all get out. He did all the things we might expect a self-important star might unabashedly do. Michael Golamco and Randall Park wrote a well-blended script of comedy and romance. Nahnatchka Khan did a great job of keeping this film focused, funny and poignant.

Overall: This film was fun, lighthearted and very entertaining.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

First Hit: Entertaining, full of unbelievable action, and an excellent setup for Chapter 4.

One can only enter the theater knowing you're going to see lots of shooting, hand to hand combat and knife fighting. This film doesn’t fail at delivering this.

When we last saw Mr. Wick (Keanu Reeves) in Chapter 2, John had broken the rules of the Continental Hotel and Winston (Ian McShane), proprietor, was ready to put out a contract on Wick’s life.

This is where Chapter 3 opens. John is running through New York City, looking for a place to hide from the assassins that are ready to kill him for the $14M that is being offered for his extermination.

There is a countdown, and when the 6:00 PM execution time happens, the world seems to be after Wick. In this world, assassins are everywhere. Yes, I only gave glancing thought to this real-world possibility because this is an unreal world story, and even your neighbor is an assassin.

The ludicrousness of many of the fights Wick gets into and wins was out loud laughable (which I and others did) but no less engaging. Yes, some of the choreography was a little stiff with people hesitating for the next lunge, thrust or throw but it was delightful.

That, for me, is the point of this series of films. It is full of entertainment, has little basis in reality and is not presented to make a point. These films make Wick a voice of a man who was drawn back into the violent life, he left for a woman and subsequently a dog (“it’s not just a puppy.”) and now is fighting for his survival.

All the scenes are shot in dark tones, there are few daylight scenes. This aside, I liked many of the sets, from Bowery King’s (Laurence Fishburne) building basement and pigeon coops to the elegance of the Continental Hotel, and all are sets in darkened tones.

Reeves was fun to watch, but as I watched him run, especially at the beginning of the film, I found his running labored and slightly awkward. However, his quips along the way were great, and he only continues to develop and mine this character for pure entertainment. Halle Berry, as Sofia, was fun as the person who owed Wick a favor. Her dogs were a fun part of her scenes. McShane was perfect as the Continental’s proprietor. His role was expanded for this film and will be an integral part of the next. Fishbourne as the elegant Bowery King was memorable. His presence is critical here and will be in the next chapter. Mark Dacascos as Zero, the assassin the High Table uses as the principle assassin to take down Wick, was excellent. Asia Kate Dillon as the High Table’s Adjudicator was good. There wasn’t enough background of her to give me the impression she held all the cards she projected she held. This meant she had to build credibility in this role with her actions, dialogue, and screen presence, and she pulled it off. There’s an authority in her look that makes this role work. Lance Reddick (as Charon, the hotel’s desk man) expanded his previous role to become an excellent protector of the hotel, Winston, and Wick. Derek Kolstad and Shay Hatten wrote an action-oriented script that brought out more of the principal characters. Chad Stahelski directed this film in a way that kept the story and feel of the past films while propelling it into the future.

Overall: This film is a world of its own, and it works as entertainment.

John Wick: Chapter 2

First Hit:  This movie had a very weak story, uninspired acting, and lots of shooting.

If you want to see someone shoot a lot of people, change a lot of clips in his guns, and act as if he doesn’t care if he’s in the film, watch Keanu Reeves as John Wick.

There were times in this film that I laughed out loud when it wasn’t supposed to be funny, it was just that stupid. I’m sure we’ll see a Chapter 3, because the ending scene has him running off with an hour time limit before the world of assassins are authorized to kill him.

In this film, he is goaded out of retirement because he is obligated to fulfill a marker held by Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio). Santino wants his sister Gianna (Claudia Gerini) killed so that he can take her “seat at the table”. What table this is we’re not given much information about but I guess must be important for Reeves to go ahead in fulfilling the marker.

Wick being an assassin has the skills for the job and this is mostly what we see in this film. Lots of killing. Wick runs through lots of tunnels, alley ways, streets, and buildings shooting nearly a hundred people in this 2-hour 2-minute escapade.

There are lots of other assassins in this film including: Ares (Ruby Rose), Cassian (Common), and Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) to name a few. The person who keeps track of the assassins’ jobs and markers is Winston (Ian McShane) who runs the “International” hotel which is holy ground and no one kills anyone on holy ground.

Reeves was like a zombie walking through his scenes. Although he moves well, shoots well, and his ability to kick people in the legs so that he can make his assailants lose their balance was impressive, his scenes with dialogue seemed lifeless. Scamarcio was OK as the marker holder, however, he could not meet the image of a big time heavy. Common was probably the best of the lot. His clarity and intensity were strong. Fishburne was mediocre as a pigeon attending assassin controlling a part of NCY using street bums as his eyes and ears. McShane was probably the second best character in the film as the Manager of the International. Derek Kolstad wrote a very week script. The storyline was just filled with fluff between gun fights. Chad Stahelski did an OK job of directing the fight scenes but the story film was too long and had no real point, except to set up the next film where Wick will “kill them all.”

Overall:  Without a real strong point and with minimal acting, especially by Reeves, this film fails on most counts.

The Neon Demon

First Hit:  Odd, visually striking, with great electronic music but the direct story was way too twisted.

However, there are depths in this story that are poignant and were interesting. Directly, Jesse (Elle Fanning), is a young girl without parents who comes to LA seeking to be a model. As she states: “I can’t dance, sing, or have any skills, all I have is my looks.” At 16 she’s young, she’s beautiful and everyone who meets her is taken by her presence, innocence, inner strength and beauty.

She quickly rises up in the LA fashion modeling scene, and the other models are jealous. There is a lot of gossipy discussion among the other girls about what work they have had done on their bodies to make themselves look better: Nose jobs, breast augmentation, eye lifts, body augmentations and lots of other things so that they can be the “it” girl and continue to work.

Jesse is naturally beautiful and mesmerizes every clothing designer and photographer she meets. She has become the "it girl". Her innocence and surety of her beauty is profound.

The depth of the film comes with what people will do to be seen as beautiful and how much physical beauty matters. I’m not sure I liked the way it was presented as I was bored at times but it also had a power of drawing me into the main character.

Fanning was very good as the young mid-western girl wanting to live her dream of being a model. Her ethereal beauty and strength were evident and why she was chosen for this part - she was perfect for it. Karl Glusman as Dean a photographer and friend of Jesse was OK, but didn’t bring out a strong dynamic. Jena Malone was very interesting as Jesse’s friend and make-up artist. Her twists are edgy. Bella Heathcote as Gigi the model who will do anything surgically to be the “it” model. Abby Lee was interestingly strong as another model who has some odd eating habits (at the end of the film). Keanu Reeves as the intense somewhat twisted motel manager was a nice turn. Nicolas Winding Refn wrote and directed this oddly twisted film.

Overall:  This film was more odd and interesting than engaging.

John Wick

First Hit:  The best thing is how Wick handles a gun and there’s lots of that in this film.

Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a retired hitman assassin for a Russian mob. He retired because he fell in love and then his wife dies. Because it was long-term illness, after her death she pre-arranged to have a puppy sent to John. After a few days of dealing with a puppy, he becomes totally engaged and loves this dog.

Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), son of John’s former boss Viggo (Michael Nyqvist) wants John’s car and decides to rob him by invading his house, killing his dog and stealing his car. This does not go over well and the rest of the film is about Wick getting revenge.

The plot, although weak, is an interesting way to make Wick have a soft heart while giving him a vehicle to kill everyone in Viggo’s organization and he does. The best part was the choreography of the shooting scenes, Wick is a master at movement and shooting and Reeves voice, body language and movement makes it work.

Reeves makes this script and film work with the aloofness that comes naturally to him. His body awareness and abilities, probably gained from the “Matrix” series, are an asset here. Allen is perfect as the spoiled, unthoughtful, and stupid son of the Russian Mafioso. Nyqvist is excellent as the head of the mob, by being cynical, irreverent, and mean. Willem Dafoe as Reeves friend Marcus is very good at having Wick’s back. I also thought Adrianne Palicki was strong as a woman assassin who wanted to cash in on the price on Wick’s head. Derek Kolstad wrote an OK screen play which tried to create a backstory but it was all about killing lots of people. David Leitch and Chad Stahelski co-directed the film and despite a weak plot, the execution of choreographed killing scenes worked out well.

Overall:  It was entertaining but is was also simply a vehicle for guns and killings.