Showing posts with label keanu reeves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keanu reeves. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

John Wick Review



Sad Keanu is ex-hitman John Wick, mourning the loss of his wife whose parting gift to him was a cute little puppy. Rolling around in his beloved Mustang 69, he has the misfortune to bump into the son of a dangerous Russian gangster. Played by Alfie Allen, aka Theon from Game of Thrones, this nasty little man proceeds to take everything Wick loves, meaning Wick is forced to come out of retirement in order to get revenge.

Luckily, Wick’s skills in the hitman department have far from deserted him and he is more than happy to bring the hurt on anyone who stands in his way of getting to the man who killed his pooch. Formerly known as The Boogeyman, he’s the kind of guy who can take out three guys with just a pencil. With the firepower he now has, it doesn’t matter how many goons get thrown in his direction, Wick has a wonderful way of killing them all.


Directed by two stunt experts, Wick is action packed, stylish and blood thirsty. This is a film for people who don’t mind how slight the story is, as long as the action gets your blood pumping and the blood keeps spilling. It’s a very simply revenge tale, but it’s also well worth noting that John Wick has some really interesting (and bizarre) touches thrown into the mix.

Wick knows a lot of the people he has tasked himself with taking out. This leads to some very amusing exchanges and also makes Wick a pretty murky character himself. The world of the film is also unique with a hotel for hitmen that lives by its own rules, where all assassinations are off under the roof of this supposedly safe haven. Little touches like this make the recently announced sequel an interesting prospect, even if mostly all anyone will want to see is the brutally stylish and kinetically directed fight scenes, excitingly mixing gunplay with martial arts.

John Wick is no Matrix, but it’s certainly one of Reeves’ best since.

Watch the trailer:

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

21 Years Trailer: Celebrating Richard Linklater

Alright, alright, alright... looked what just popped up on my Twitter feed yesterday. I had no idea that there was a documentary being made about director Richard Linklater's career so far from Slacker to Boyhood.

The trailer has got a wealth of stars who have appeared in his films from Billy Bob Thornton through Keanu Reeves and Jack Black all the way back to Wooderson himself Mr Matthew McConaughey. Like director Jay Duplass says, Linklater is one of the most interesting and varied directors working in film at the moment, particularly with his 12 year experiment Boyhood having just been released to great critical acclaim this year.

Check out the trailer below and then click on Linklater's filmography to ensure you haven't missed any of his films. If you haven't seen Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy and Waking Life, those are my recommendations for where to start.



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Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Side By Side vs Sound City

I had a fascinating double bill of two documentaries on Sunday; Side by Side followed by Sound City. One has Keanu Reeves asking the greatest living directors in cinema all about their thoughts on film vs digital formats and the other has Dave Grohl reminiscing on the studio where Nevermind was recorded back in his Nirvana days.


Both these documentaries dealt with the technologies of creative media production in accessible but differing ways. Side by Side is concerned with film and looks to the future more than the past and Sound City is concerned with making music and mostly looks to the past. Both offer a history of producing entertainment/art with Sound City focusing only on artists that have recorded at the legendary but now defunct recording studio. Side by Side focuses on Hollywood and American independent filmmakers mostly and gets a fairly balanced look at the differing opinions of many filmmakers on the digital vs film debate.

Both documentaries feature a roll call of famous talent from their respective mediums; Side by Side has Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Richard Linklater, Danny Boyle, David Fincher whereas Sound City has Paul McCartney, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor, Stevie Nicks and many more.


Side by Side details the history of film and the encroaching spread of the use of digital technology from sound to editing to cameras. Sound City details the history of the studio before Dave Grohl collects together an array of musicians to record an album on the old Sound City production board. Both the films seems to mourn the passing of a more traditional way of making their arts.

I was in awe of both of these documentaries and their stunning access to major players in both the music and film industries. If you have any interest in films or rock music, you will most likely be enthralled by both of these films. They are not just a testament to a bygone age and a consideration of the modern technologies and what has been lost and gained, they are also a unique chance to hear many legends speak their mind about their passions.

Sound City trailer:



Side by Side Trailer:


Thursday, 19 January 2012

Film VS Digital: The Documentary

Just found out from the wonderful Empire that Keanu Reeves is presenting/starring in a new documentary, Side by Side, about the evolution of filmmaking from traditional celluloid means to the current trend for digital technologies.  The Empire article seems to suggest that Reeves has played a big part in rounding up the many big-time directors interviewed in the film and I'm sure his presence has no doubt helped in getting the likes of Scorsese, Fincher, Cameron, Soderbergh, Lynch, Boyle, Linklater and many others to show up and give their opinions.  But I'm equally sure credit must go to director Christopher Kenneally and his production team.  Check out the trailer below:


Side by Side Official Trailer (2012) from Company Films on Vimeo.



Look at that list of names!  The last time I saw so many great directors in a documentary was The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing and that has been an essential teaching tool for me ever since I came across it at university.  See part 1 below:



If Side by Side is even half as good as that was at explaining things, I will be very happy.  I am not a technophile.  I find technology very difficult to understand.  I can sometimes see the difference between digital and film.  I know I'm not generally a fan of 3D because I don't think it adds much to the pleasures of cinema.  But that's about it so I can't wait to hear from the experts. 

Side by Side premieres at the Berlin Film Festival in February.  I wonder what they shot it on?