Excellent action flick with well choreographed fights that don’t drag on. Nice understated, show-don’t-tell moment near start with a rear shot of Viggo, the big-shot Russian crime boss, calling John Leguizamo. He asks JL why he punched Viggo’s son. JL replies: “He stole John Wick’s car and killed his dog.” Viggo mutters a faint “Oh,” as he turns with a slack expression and ends the call. No speeches about waking a sleeping tiger, etc. needed.

The script goes an extra mile in (under)world building by creating a clandestine criminal society operating like a nation state in the interstices with its own rules enforcement plus its own currency.  Someone could do a lot more with the concept.

Then we come to a couple of pure BS moments. Viggo’s men get the better of Wick; does Viggo kill him on the spot? Hell no. He’s gotta tie him to a chair and yammer at him. (In the back of my head I hear Dr. Evil’s son shouting, “Here’s a gun, Dad! Shoot him! Shoot him NOW!”) Of course Wick gets away. And later, when he has the drop on Viggo, does he kill him? Nooooo! Which costs a friend his life a little later. Why, why why does this happen in film after film? Whatever. Except for those two lapses, a very well-done revenge flick.

BONUS: This cool montage shows you every kill from the film. (obviously a spoilerfest) http://tinyurl.com/mh89phk

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I picked up the novel years and years ago (after Gillian sang “I Wanna Be Sedated” with our band) and enjoyed it a lot. Upon watching the film, I kinda wish I hadn’t. The film works better on a naive viewer. Knowing the twist in advance robs you of that delicious shock. But even so, it’s an engaging film and Gillian did a great job on the screenplay.

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I have to say I had no idea where this was going. It had me hooked from the get-go. Could have done without the “Prom Night” finale, but getting there was an interesting ride. Don’t want to say much more.  On the whole, if you’re looking for a thriller that’s going to keep you off balance and take totally unexpected turns, check this out.

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I enjoyed this film. It’s more leisurely paced than most of its genre but I didn’t mind. Probably because Denzel Washington possesses such a powerful screen presence that watching him simply walk around and check out the scenery is captivating. The character McCall is based on the hoary cliche of the deadly ex-member of the clandestine services who’s gone native (so to speak) and just wants to live a quiet normal life… until something pushes him too far. If I have a criticism it’s that he’s too cool (that stopwatch thing) and too skilled. Yeah, he takes some damage, but it doesn’t slow him down. Nobody has a chance against him. The lead bad guy is very bad and is dispatched with appropriate agony. The violence is sharp and to the point and the fight scenes don’t drag on. Recommended.

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The Equalizer vs Repairman Jack: lots of readers have commented that McCall rips off Jack. Could be. I can’t say. The Tomb was a bestseller in the fall of 1984; “The Equalizer” TV show debuted in the fall of 1985. But the TV McCall is all the cliches I wanted to avoid with Jack, everything I didn’t want Jack to be. The 2014 McCall even more so: he has no subtlety, no trickery, no sense of humor. He’s all brute force, while Jack is “Let’s you and him fight.” Denzel’s McCall is a sledgehammer; Jack is a trip wire. Many readers made mention of the similarities between Jack’s improvisations in “Interlude at Duane’s” and Act 3 of the film. I can only shrug. McCall is not Jack, and The Equalizer is an entertaining film.

I’m a Jersey boy and, until the Brits invaded, the music of the Four Seasons formed the soundtrack of my teens. So this is personal.  I remember when they hit the radio with “Sherry” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”  Like a sock on the jaw.  No one had ever heard anything like Frankie Valli’s falsetto.  Yeah, it got old after a while, but it bolted onto the scene like a road-to-Damascus epiphany.  I knew every note of those early records, but knew nothing about the band members.  After seeing this film, I don’t know much more.  For instance: Founding member Tommy Devito was kicked out because of debts to the mob and raiding the group’s account, but where the money went, who knows?  And really, who cares?  Clint Eastwood’s direction seems perfunctory and never engaged me. Without my connection to the records, I’m sure I would have bailed.  Tactical error: playing the original “Sherry” over the closing credits.  While the singer playing Valli does a credible imitation, hearing the original only emphasizes how sui generis was Valli’s tone and phrasing.

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If I gave stars, this would get 5. GotG is what film is all about: visual entertainment.  Take a bunch of arresting heroes (really, how can you not love Rocket and Groot?) and a goofy-looking, aggressively kohled, monomaniacal villain, add snappy, clever dialog, relentless pacing, and you’ve got yourself a movie (not a film – a movie).  The big surprise is how good Dave Bautista comes off as Drax.  The plot?  Well, the fate of the galaxy is at stake – ’nuff said?  Sure, you can point out all the derivations (so can I) and improbabilities (like that cassette tape player still working) and impossibilities (Groot’s defiance of the laws of conservation of mass and energy), but this amalgam works.  That’s all you need to know.

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Alan Rickman and Bill Nighy as hairdressers? How did I miss this?  It has a Best in Show vibe while following (like another Nighy film of a few years before, Still Crazy) the formula of trying to reunite or build a team for an event or competition; inevitably one key member can’t or won’t cooperate but comes through in dramatic fashion at the end. (So thoroughly skewered in South Park’s “You Got F’d in the A” episode.)  No surprises, but a fun film to watch while you’re doing something else.

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I’m not an Angelina Jolie fan but I loved this retelling (obviously inspired by Wicked) of Sleeping Beauty from the evil fairy’s side.  The visuals are sumptuous but the script is what makes it work: so many layers of conflict, all meticulously laid out and resolved.  Most screenwriters (hell, most novelists) could take a lesson from this film.  Trust me and see it.  You won’t regret it.

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I’d never heard of this film until a reader sent me a copy. He advised me not to FF so I didn’t, and I’m glad I listened. A frightening variation on Groundhog Day that has you nodding appreciation as unexplained incidents in the first go-round are explained when seen through another POV on the second. Well worth the trip.

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There’s something indefinably appealing about Bill Nighy’s acting in that he doesn’t seem to be acting. This trio of BBC films don’t have much suspense and have a relaxed, ambling pace that usually gets on my nerves, but the cast is so good at what they do that you remain completely engaged. You simply enjoy watching them. I can’t think of a reason for you to expend a whole lot of effort to find these films (check PBS) but then I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t.

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