John Wick: Chapter 2

It turns out if someone kills your puppy an audience can forgive you a lot. The first John Wick saw Keanu Reeves go on a roaring rampage of revenge against those who killed said dog. But for Chapter 2 can he still keep the audience on side?

This time around the new dog is safe (phew!) but John is still ready to kick ass. This time when an undoubtedly stupid guy  (Riccardo Scamarcio) decides to call in a debt John Wick owes him, he soon wishes he left him alone.

If you liked John Wick then its safe to say that you’ll enjoy Chapter 2. It keeps all the things you like about the first movie and expands on it’s secret assassins world. It also keeps the same great action scenes from the first movie. Considering the director Chad Stahelski was a stuntman it’s no wonder he knows a thing or two about shooting a good fight scene. Its so nice to watch a Hollywood fight that isn’t heavily edited so you’re unable to see all the action. The film also wouldn’t work without someone like Reeves also learned how to fight so that he could do these shots himself.

Although for such a secretive bunch they don’t have fight a lot in public! You’d think they’d be a bit more subtle. Then again the general public don’t seem to have much awareness of the action happening right next to them. Then again if the film is anything to go by half of New York’s population seem to be assassins so who knows?

While the film has a great supporting cast trying to make this outlandish world seem grounded, Lawrence Fishburne sticks out like a sore thumb. Don’t get me wrong I like the actor but his acting style is completely the opposite to the tone of the rest of the movie as he hams it up when the Matrix stars reunite. His character also has some weird underground messaging service using pigeons. Pigeons!

Overall though John Wick is a stylish actioner with great fight choreography, and as the ending teases us with Chapter 3 it’s only going to get bigger.

Rating 3.5/5 – Chapter 2 lives up to the standard of John Wick on an even bloodier scale

 

Side By Side

Side by Side is 2012 American documentary directed by Christopher Kenneally and produced by Keanu Reeves.

The documentary examines the history of photochemical film and digital filmmaking. It then goes into a debate of which format is superior with interviews from different sides of the filmmaking process.

I have to say the merits of film verses digital is something I have never thought about while watching a movie. What could have been a documentary with a potentially limited audience is actually an engaging debate that should be seen by anyone who enjoys watching movies (i.e. everyone).

I was worried I would not be technical enough to understand the subject but the documentary explains simply to the audience the history and the differences between the two while discussing the positive and negative virtues of each medium. The film is narrated by Keanu Reeves who also interviews the world’s best filmmakers and their teams on the subject. There are contributions from directors, cinematographers, editors, colorists etc who give their opinion on which format they prefer to use and why. It’s interesting to see which filmmakers prefer film to digital and vice verse (Christopher Nolan is for film, David Fincher for Digital). You also get to see their passion for all aspects of filmmaking and why they feel their side is right for filmaking.

As well as explaining the process of both film and digital creation, we go into the history of both and examine how they will both progress in the future. Filmakers may prefer one process over another but can their limitations and drawbacks be ignored for long?

The film constantly had me changing my opinions on which side I was on. At first I was on the side of film then switch to digital and found myself constantly gone back and forward between the two. In the end I agree with the movie’s final comment which states if a story is good it doesn’t matter which format it’s on. Although I’m sure that won’t stop any further arguments on the topic.

Rating 4/5-A fantastic documentary that gives the causal moviegoer an insight into the filmaking process