Best and Worst of the Month: March Movie Roundup with Mike and Kelsey + Movie Review: John Wick: Chapter 4 + Trailer Park: Asteroid City

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, joined this week by my wife and co host Kelsey. How are you. I'm great. I'm cuddling this weighted stuffed stitch that we got. He holds your place when you don't do the podcast. It's very calming. Love a weighted stuffed animals. Let's sends. But we are back today because we are doing another movie roundup, our best and worst of March, all the new and old things we watched this month. In the movie review, I'll be talking about John Wick Chapter four. And in the trailer park we have the new West Sanderson movie Asteroid City with Tom Hanks. Thank you for being subscribed. Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies. In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking AMTV with classes from the Nashville Podcast Network Movie Mics. Movie Podcast. All right, so we did this for the first time last month. It's our collection of movie reviews because not only do we go watch all the new latest movies in theaters. We also watch a lot of movies at home. So this is just straight out the best and worst things we watched in the month of March. Kelsey, you can kick it off. What is the best movie you watched in March? It is certainly not new, it's from two thousand and seven. But after seeing Adam Sandler live, we got on an Adam Sandler kick. We've been We've been plowing through the movies. I love Adam Sandler and a dramatic role because it's so rare, Like we loved Donka Gems. So we went back and watched Rain Over Me with Adam Sandler and Don Cheatle and it is about a guy grappling with the loss of his whole family in nine to eleven and just like how that affected him and he just kind of lost himself. He lost everything, and it was he was Don Cheatle's college roommates or dentist school roommate, which I don't really feel like people have like roommates in dental school. I mean you do, but it's more like an apartment, not at dorm. But anyways, that's on the side. And it was really good, like of course I cried subject matter is sad. But I thought Adam Sandler was great in it. I thought Don Cheetle was amazing. It's a really great movie. He has a lot of humor in it too. It does. Yeah, And the thing I took away from this movie is I wish I had a college roommate. I didn't have the like on campus experience in college, so I don't really have a lot of long lasting college friends at all. And that's like all my friends are college friends. I have like three friends from high school. Still, that is something I'm jealous of you about all of the connections you made in college that are you still keep in touch with today, and like are your best friends? I don't have that. Yeah, that is sad because my first two years in college I did it at community college in Austin. I didn't have that on campus experience. It was also just hard for me to make friends. And then whenever I went to Texas State, I was working at the same time, so when I was on campus it was just for class, for studying. I didn't really make a whole lot of friends. As I say, that's a really hard dynamic. That's how I wasn't grad school. I didn't make I mean, like one for in grad school from my classes that I'm still like, we talk on Instagram and are still friends. But I mean I would literally go from work to grad school back to work. So that was. Yeah, it's hard to make friends when you're not like on campus living there. I'm at my best friend fresh from an orientation. I guess where I had the connection was when I started interning on the Bobby Bones Show and all the other interns who were in college. A lot of us didn't go to the same college, but that is kind of where I had my college experience. I was gonna say one of those was a groomsman in our wedding, So like, you did make lasting friendship. I keep in touch with a lot of those people, one of them Devin Walker, who is now on Saturday Night Live. That's crazy. So I feel like that was my college experience, but it was a little bit untraditional. Yeah, but I mean you made lasting friendships. But back to this movie. I do like Adam Sandler and a dramatic role, and this one it's even more straight on drama than some of the other things he's done, like Uncut, Gems. This was really one of the first times he was showing this side of him back in the two thousands, when all he was known for was movies like Big Eddie Billy Madison, and I think he does a really good job at it. I wish he did more movies like this. You know we're gonna talk about soon the new Murder Mystery movie, which he's kind of gone back and forth between doing movies that he knows people love and that will appeal to the most amount of people, and then he's very selective on the dramatic roles he does do. I wonder if he'll get to a point in his career where he's just done with comedy altogether. I can't see him ever leaving comedy, you think, even as he gets older into his sixties. No, because I think he'll have new like material and he can appeal to a new part, like he can be the funny grandpa in movies when he gets older. I mean, Robert de Niro is still doing comedies at his age. But I feel like there will be a shift for Adam Sandler at some point. Interesting it was cool seeing him get that honor recently at the Kennedy Center Honors and everybody you know talking about him and talking about all his roles. It's just crazy to see how long his career is gone at such a high level. My favorite thing that I've seen recently is that he wore a sweat shirt and like cargo pants to the Murder Mystery two premiere and Jennifer Aniston was like, what are you doing? He is owning that fashion style, but also I feel like when you're that rich, like you can show up. His hoodie was probably expensive. I don't I don't think it isn't no, Like I know people like Mark Zuckerberg will wear a four hundred dollars T shirt, but I think with Adam Sandler, he's just straight up wearing It's like champion from Target. Yeah. I feel like he just goes into Dick Sporting Goods, buys anything he wants, and then walks out and that's how he gets dressed every day. For me, My best thing that I watched this month we saw a lot in theaters, which March was a crazy month for new movies. I think out of all of him, Creed three was my favorite thing. Wow, that was that was this month. March feels so long. It does. It's like January feels long and then February goes by so quick, and then for some reason March is just yeah, I forgot that was at the beginning of this month. There are so many movies right now on the podcast it's hard to get to all the reviews. Those are just dead. A lot this month there was a This was a very social active month, so anyone needs us for hibernating for the next Like I mean, in March there was Create three, Scream six, Shazam to John Wick, four, we watched A Good Person, which we haven't even reviewed on the podcast yet, Dungeons and Dragons. There were just so many movies that it was hard for me to pick one. But I'm going with Create three because you didn't watch john Wick with me, and I'll get to that full review later. Create is an easy choice. Some movie was so good and it was I felt like, out of all the movies, that was the one I was really anticipating going to see in theaters. And I also love the kind of camaraderie that there was in that movie theater and it was a lot of different types of people in that it reminded me of last year. Going to see Top Gun Maverick of just it brings so many people into that movie theater and it was just a really good ending on that trilogy. Well, I guess we'll see if they're actually wrapping it up with that one, but I feel if that is the last movie that comes out of that franchise, that is one of the now the best trilogies in sports dramas of all time. I would agree. Also, it helps that we've been like boxing, Well I've been boxing more than you. But I understood the movie, and I think I saw that when we did the review, like I get more into it. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm like, hit him than that body jot really takes him out. Yeah, especially in that first scene where it has everything slowed down and he's paying attention to all the movements and he goes for that body shot. We learned about how impactful body shots can be in a fight to really slow down your opponent. Yeah, so we know the basics, but we were like, oh, yeah, we know how to do that. Yeah I couldn't. I could totally take some one of the rings. So I feel that way too, especially after watching that movie. What about the worst thing you watched in March. Okay, this was an interesting one because I don't feel that anything was bad, So I'm going to interpret worst as more of my least favorite that can be Yeah, it is acceptable. I'm gonna go Shazam. Why I think I should have rewatched the first Shazam. It was good, it was entertaining. It's just it's not like my favorite superhero movie, Like it just just kind of like I feel now seeing more people talk about that movie and why they didn't enjoy it, it's probably that Shazam on his own is that great of a superhero. Isn't that great of a character. So I feel like, even me that I really enjoyed that movie. I had a lot of fun watching it, and I like the fact that it's geared towards kids, Like, yeah, it was, it was fun. It just isn't anything that I would be like, oh, we should rewatch that anytime soon. I think it's gonna be a little forgettable by the end of the year, and maybe I'll look back on that review and be like, why was I so hype about that movie when it came out? But I think for what I went into wanting from that movie, it delivered, and there were very few things I could pick out that I didn't like just for the sake of saying this was dumb or this was bad for just you know, hating on a DC movie. I do love seeing Adam Brody on screen. I loved theoc Every character that he's done since just gives me like Seth Cohen vibes, which is a character which was like nerdy. But maybe that's just like Adam Brody as a person. But I do enjoy seeing Adam Brody in something. And then I like Helen Mirren a lot. I mean, she was fantastic, Like Helen Mirren is a national treasure. And I also think as we talk about all these movies in March, it kind of gets sin whiched in to all these other really great movies and it's kind of right there in the middle. It was a weird month for that to come out. Yeah, So if that movie would have came out maybe later in the year or at the very beginning of the year, that honestly could have been like a solid January movie. Yeah. I think it would have done better in January because like we're hitting, we're ramping up, like April's got some really good ones, and then we had into Blockbuster season and it's just like kind of got lost in the Yeah, And I used to not believe in the timing a good movie comes out. People are going to go see it no matter what. But I think, especially right now where it's just one after another of people having to decide when they go to the movies, it really does matter. So if you can find a slot to release your movie where there's not a whole lot of competition out of a whole lot of other similar movies coming out. March was a month of sequels, a lot of sequels either though another one in there, and people become less interested in it. So it's true it was like all sequels all. I mean, this year is a lot of sequels in general. So for me, the worst movie I saw in theaters was sixty five and I didn't like one thing about this movie. And I was so surprised when I posted that review of the amount of hate I got for not liking that movie. I feel like I also kind of made you go see that movie, oh, because no, I was gonna go see it. I was interested in it, but I did. I did kind of talk you into it. So whenever I have a friend comes to town and we want to go to like brunch, I make Mike drive us so that we can have an adult beverage. And I timed it and I was like, oh, our brunch reservation is at this time. There's just showing a sixty five bye, have fun because the movie theater is near the mall, and so I just I can't plan though for you, I was gonna see it no matter what. It just worked out that I was gonna see it. Then what that scenario presented to me is this is a movie that was so bad. I questioned leaving you did you text me like if you finish early and like let me know, I'll ball And I was like, no, We're still here. So I didn't have anywhere else to go. And I was like, I'll just finish this movie for the sake of watching it, and that way I get the full picture. I can give my full review, because if I leave a movie early, I will not review it. So you did. Angry people on TikTok yeah, and very quickly. So I don't know if fit saying Adam Driver fan base or just a sci fi fan base in general, but they came at me pretty hard, and I stand by that review. I feel like there was no real value in watching that movie for me. My personal favorite was somebody said, like, what was it? Be Quiet little Boy. Yeah, I'm gonna start using that any time we're end disagreement, don't sorry, be Quiet Little Boy. But that is the worst movie I saw in March, and it will probably make my list at the end of the year as the worst movie of the year. I can't see anything being more boring than that. That is the front runner right now. That is the worst thing I saw in March. Now we'll run through some more movies that I watched, and maybe you've kind of watched some of these together with me, just because they've been on in the background, but because I'm so into the Mandalorian right now, I've started rewatching all the Star Wars movies, and I started with the latest reboot trilogy. So I watched The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi so Far on Disney Plus, and I still really enjoy those movies. I know they get so much hate from the Star Wars stands, but I feel like that happens with every introduction of Star Wars again, and I feel like in ten years people will appreciate these movies for what they are. Kind of how we're seeing with the trilogy. They came out late nineties, two thousands, they're kind of having their moment now with people saying, oh, these are actually really good. And it's everybody who watched those movies as a kid now adults kind of giving those movies their flowers, and now everybody loves those again. And they came out they hated them, People ripped those movies to shreds hated jar Jar Binks, and now he is kind of a all right, we like it again. So I still enjoy those movies. The Force Awakens is really good, still hits me in that same emotional level as the first time I saw it in theaters. Last Jedi a little bit forgettable. It felt more like the movie that they were building to create. The Rise of Skywalker still good. I really like the ending of that movie. But this month I will watch The Rise of Skywalker to finish off that trilogy. But there are rumors now of another Star Wars movie coming out soon. I don't know if it's continuing with another trilogy or they are doing some prequels or whatever. They're doing with Star Wars, but I tend to like the TV shows more. Right now, I feel like, give you had another five six years to make another movie. The other movie I watched this month on HBO Max was beer Fest, which I like all the Broken Lizard movies. You would probably also know Supertroopers, but beer Fest is the movie where they find this underground beer competition and then they train for an entire year to compete in. And this was before I found out and had a request come down to do an interview with these guys. So I remember the first time I watched Super Troopers as a kid. It was one of those movies I felt changed me when it comes to the things I find funny. So next month I'll get to interview them because they're coming out with a new movie called Quasi, So I'm excited to talk to them. And they're also really open about talking about all their movies. I feel like some people who have hits from like the two thousands or nineties, they always just want to focus on the new thing they're working on. But their brand with Broken Lizard very much is welcoming to all their characters that they have built over the years. And they know people like the hits, so I'll get to ask them questions I've had about those movies for a very long time. So look for that interview coming next month. Another thing I watched that I don't know if I missed watching this movie when it came out in twenty fourteen, or I forgot that I watched it, but it was ex Machina, which is an a twenty four film. I watched it on HBO Max. It's about this guy who wins a contest and he goes to spend a week with this really gifted programmer guy, kind of like a Nilon Musk type person, and he is working on developing a robot that is powered by AI. You love AI movies and ken He's trying to build a robot that is so perfect that it can pass a test that you don't know. It's a robot so as humanlike as possible. So the guy who wins this contest as a programmer, and he's trying to help him perfect it by interacting with the robot and making it better. Cereal the wheel Cereal it does. And the weird thing is this movie came out in twenty fourteen, and I feel like it was very ahead of its time, because right now what we are seeing with AI really in the last few months becoming more mainstream with people talking about it. You've heard of you know, universities using it to draft emails. That was kind of the first time I really heard about it used in this way. And it feels like ten years ago we were fascinated with it, but it seemed like something that was so far into the future that would it be possible for us. Now we're scared of it, And now, yeah, we're scared of it. I was reading a story about how AI tricked a human into completing a task for it. So what it did it was trying you know those capture things you get on websites where it's like select everything with a bus and you're like, oh, is that the corner of a bus? Is that not a bus? It has those. It also has the ones where you try to decode a word, so it's like, prove you are not a robot. What AI did was hire somebody on task grabbit to check that box for them. Crazy, right, what So the AI was able to hire somebody through task grabbit and make it seem like they were not a robot. They were saying that they couldn't see that they were blind, that I need you to check this for me because I can't see it, so that the human even question the AI, like are you an AI? And the AI lied to them. Also, I feel some issue with AI saying I'm blind and like pretending. Yeah a moral, it's the ability to lie. Now I'm really scared, so I feel like if this movie were made today, it would be even crazier. So I feel scarier than a horror movie. Yeah, it sounds pretty scary. When did you have time to watch all these movies? I watch a lot of them. When you are getting ready, fair, I do take a while, so I'll watch them. Well. During the pandemic, I started my Saturday morning cinema where I would always watch a movie. Yeah, but I'm not up early on. That was back when everything was coming out on streaming now, primarily new movies, I say for the theater. And then whenever you're getting ready is when I'll start a movie, or just very random times, I'll just pick one up and then try to finish it later. That's the thing I love about streaming is you don't have to sit down and watch a movie all at once anymore. You mean, well, it takes me the whole five minutes to get ready. You watch a movie, Yeah, you would be amazed how much if you just watch a movie little by little, how many movies you can fit in. If you're doing nothing and you want to watch something, just start a movie. I feel like it's just getting over that just starting a movie. Also, I take five minutes times. I don't know a multiple of large number to get ready. I take five minutes to get ready, which is unfair that guys can get ready that fast. It's so not fair. I sprayed some stuff in my hair, throw some clothes on, and I'm ready to go. It's so not fair. There's like a twelve step process for me. My honorable mention on the worst thing I watched this month was Samaritan. It is a movie with Sylvester Stallone where he plays a superhero that goes incognito. And I thought the trailer look good back when it came out last year. It got lost in the mix of me watching everything. I started it on the plane and then tried to start it again when I got home, and it was not good. It is very boring, So that is a movie. I would say skippy if you haven't watched it yet, I do you honorable? Mentioned TV because I feel like I've watched more TV. Yeah, what do you got? We actually just started it because it just came out Unstable with Rob Lowe and his son. We watched four out of the eight episodes. It was so good. I love a twenty minute show. Right now, I'm very I'm typically more of a like a drama, but I've been very into a short comedy like we benched all of Abbid Elementary. I just have like needed to laugh lately. Yeah, because I feel like TV for a long time now, in the last three years, has been all drama anything. But he recommends to you it's a drama. It's forty five minutes to an hour, and it always feels like an investment to start a show. I'm kind over that a little bit. It has to be like a really great show, like a Last of Us for me to get that invested in it. So right now I am so into a short comedy. See. I still love like a forty three minute drama like I can still binge that or even like an hour if it's like The Crown, but it is a commitment, but I just have needed to laugh lately. Unstable it's a great good palate cleanser too, if you're watching other things that are a little heavier. It's about a guy and his estranged son, but it's Roblow and his real life son, and I feel like that makes obviously the dynamic in the chemistry so much better because they have a real relationship. And you were hesitant about it. You're like, I'll give anything a shot. Yeah, I'll give it one episode, and you really liked it. The writing is really good. The writing is really good, a lot of great characters. It's a fun show. I like it. It's also got like a nerdy aspect. They work at like a biotech company. Oh yeah, you're the science geek out of that, though I do geek out on the science. The best thing I watched in March was a TV show called Swarm, which is on Amazon. It's about a fan base that resembles the Beehive, which are Beyonce's hardcore fans, and it focuses on one stand in particular, who she is in a weird place in her life and she is so obsessed with this artist who is kind of like Beyonce and then she goes online and finds people who talk bad about her and becomes a serial killer, going around killing those people. So it's kind of a dark show, but I love a thriller. And it's also only like twenty four minutes per episode. So it's the only show in the last maybe three or four years that I watched entirely in one day. I listened to an episode while I was getting ready, I had the door open. I even was like, oh, this is kind of good, like just listening to it, not even watching it. I enjoyed it. That episode in particular gets very meta because it's like a true crime episode. Yeah. That episode is an entirely different format than the rest of the series. So it yeah, it creates a true crime story about the fictional story, but makes it feel like real life. I haven't seen anything done like that before. Yeah, so it's good. There are a lot of dark things in this show, a lot of blood, violence, anything you would expect from an R rated movie or in this So if you're not into that, probably not the show for you. But if you like a dark thriller, that will really make you go, oh man, this is crazy. I think It's a good watch and you can knock it out in an afternoon like I did. There you go, anything else you would like to mention before we go? Have we watched a rom com this month? I watched The Other Woman one morning with Leslie Man, Kate Upton, and Cameron Diaz, which I hadn't seen, but you made me watch that final scene. Pretty funny, oh man. The physical comedy in one of the scenes is funny. But I was just like, I miss like early two thousands, mid two thousands, just a rom com that is where they shine. I feel like you needed one two thousands rom coms greater than nineties rom coms. Oh that's a bold tape. That was the decade for them. Bold take. I would agree though. But anyway, that is our best and worst of the month. Come back and talk about John Wick chapter four. After this, let's get into a spoiler free movie review. If you are watching on YouTube, you already know this, But to those listening on the podcast, I am a method acting movie reviewer, or a method movie reviewer, however you want to put it. I get into my movie roles. So I wanted to fully and capture what it feels like to be John Wicks. So I am channeling my inner Keyanu Reeves. I'm in a suit and tie right now, because in order to bring you the best john Wick four movie review, I gotta get into it. I try to do that for every single movie review I do on this podcast, so you know I am bringing you my a game. I look good, I feel good. I very much identify with one particular aspect of Keyana Reeves's character in this movie. So I can't wait to get into that. And I'll say it right here at the top of the review. Hands down the best John Wick movie ever made. But it's one of the most important blockbusters right now, and I want to give my full thoughts on this entire movie. So before we get into that, here is just a little bit of the john Wick four trailer. Too regular, wasn't Yeah? And so it begins challenging to single come back if you will don't love your freedom? And when I say, you want what I want? So amen? The only way John Wick will ever have freedom peace? Isn't this yeah? Not really? All right? So john Wick Chapter four. I went into this movie, and I don't watch John Wick movies for the plot, but this one exceeded my expectations on that. What this movie is about. We have Keanu Reeves back as America's favorite hit man, and he's trying to get back his freedom. He has been running from the High table. Everybody in the world wants to kill John Wick, and he is trying to develop a plan to be able to live a peaceful life so he no longer has to live on the run. He can finally sit down and relax and be a normal person. But is that in the cards for John Wick when so many people want to kill him, when so many people hate him. Well, for that, you have to really watch the whole movie. But let's get into some of the things that really stood out to me about this movie. First up, Keanu Reeves. The craziest thing about Keanu Reeves and John Wick Chapter four is that he only says three hundred and eighty words throughout the entire movie. This movie is almost three hours long, and that's all he says. I didn't realize at the time of watching this movie that that was intentional, but he actually sat down with the writer and the director to strip his dialogue because that is what he wanted for his character in this movie, and at times it feels a little bit odd. You have all these other characters around him, like Laurence Fishburne, delivering these really poignant things to John Wick, even for an action movie, and his response is now classic catchphrase. Yeah. I just thought it was impactful to have a lead in a movie have so little dialogue, and it made me feel like I too could someday become a movie star. Because outside of this podcast, if somebody's not talking to me about movies or the Simpsons, I'm not saying much. So I very much feel like John Wick in chapter four. Someone could ask me my innermost thoughts, and I feel like John Wick, and I'm just like, yeah, this is his longest line of dialogue in the entire movie. You and I left a good life behind a long time ago, my friend. That is the most you hear him speak at one time in this movie. Just by watching the trailer you probably see at least ten to fifteen percent of what he says in the entire movie. I think that's an incredible accomplishment and also speaks a lot to Keanu reeves Is as an actor. He is not afraid to take a beating. Other action stars have these clauses in their contracts where you can't hit him in the face, they can't lose a fight. They have to come out looking like this big, strong hero the rock, but not Keanu Reeves. And that is what I love so much about the john Wick movies is oftentimes in action movies, the hero is bulletproof. You don't see them get hurt. Not john Wick. He gets stabbed, he gets punched, he gets thrown off of buildings, he gets shot. There are so many things that should take him out, but he keeps on going. He doesn't really go around just killing people for fun. He is trying to win back his freedom, so he's not afraid to take you out. But he's not necessarily seen as just a vicious, horrible person. And that is why we all root for john Wick. So when it comes to the runtime in this movie, it was probably the thing I was a little bit apprehensive about anything that starts to tinker on that three hour mark. I start to question, does it really warrant that runtime. I am not afraid of a long movie, but I don't like movies that are long just for the sake of being long. There was a rumored four to five hour cut of this movie, and they said they were able to get it under three hours, which was a big accomplishment for them. They didn't know what else to cut out. I knew that going into this movie, and I thought I could still cut out about twenty minutes because for the first twenty minutes of this movie, not a whole lot happens. They're really trying to set the stage. But I felt like even in some of the shots later in the movie, the pacing on those was a little bit stretched out. So I think they easily could have cut out another twenty minutes of this movie, and then it would have been the perfect movie. But after that first initial twenty minutes in the movie, you get your first big action scene, and then it's pretty much NonStop throughout the entire movie. Once this movie gets going, it does not let off the gas. And what you get in john Wick Chapter four is all the choreography that you've loved throughout this entire franchise. What I felt like was a little bit different. It was almost a little bit more sophisticated, because in the first two john Wick movies, I felt like they really set this tone of almost just being brutal for the sake of being brutal, a lot of head shots, a lot of more disturbing violence that was jarring at the time, but now we've seen way worse things on screen that we got a little bit used to it. So I felt like John Wick Chapter four toned that down a little bit. But where it really turned the level up was on all the choreography. And I got to give a shout out to all the stunt performers on this movie who make it look flawless. If you watch the behind the scenes on the making of this movie, I am not convinced that stunt performers are human. You have them literally falling downstairs and then just chilling there at the bottom like nothing happened, getting up, all right, we gotta do another take. I would take one trip down those stairs and not get up for a week. So for the long list of stunt performers, thank you. Thank you from me and all the movie crew for that matter, for putting your body on the line for the sake of entertainment. And I think it was really cool what Keanu Reeves did, and he seems like a very genuinely nice person off camera, and I think that's also why the entire country, the entire world is in love with him, but he always makes it a point to get them a very cool rap gift, and for this movie he got them all custom made shirts, which sounds like a really cool thing for a rich person to do. In the past, he's also purchased for his stunt for Formers custom rolexes, which I would take the rolex over the shirt. I'm not that fancy. I don't know what it means to have a custom shirt, but it sounds like a nice gesture. Aside from the choreography, this movie just looks magnificent, and it travels across a lot of different terrains. You have desert, you have this city, you have him in the snow. It feels like this movie goes through a lot of different temperatures. So visually it was a treat on the eyes. And I will say a lot of this movie takes place at night and something else. I don't shout out a whole lot, but the lighting was superior in this movie because for all those nighttime shots, everything was perfectly well lit. Now, I feel like other shows and other movies could really learn something from the John Wig lighting department in the and shows like Game of Thrones. We remember watching those shows and having to turn up the brightness on our TVs because we couldn't see anything it was so dark. But in all of these nighttime scenes, with all these things going on, you have people flying left and right, rounds of bullets just going off and on, and you can see every single thing, and it just looks amazing on the big screen. This is a movie that I feel like going to see it in an actual theater really enhances that experience with the big screen, being able to see everything perfectly lit, and of course the sound having all of those moments really rattle inside your chest. I really love that aspect of it too. As you know, I'm a big fan of color. And what else I like were the little touches of Neon throughout those darkly lit scenes. By the way, did you know that John wicks full name is Jonathan wicker Basket. I know that because I just made it up, So don't google that that is not a real fact, and don't come at me in the comments. But going back to Keanu Reeve's performance, with him speaking so few lines in this movie, it almost fell like all the other actors had to work a little bit harder to carry the movie. So you have your villain here, played by Bill Skarsguard, who I thought he was okay. I don't really feel like he was that much of a threat, and they spent a lot of the movie in separate locations. I didn't think he was that menacing of a villain. Who I really loved was Donnie Yen as King. He was so good in this movie. I fell in love with his character, and I believe that they should make a prequel, or maybe after they're done with all these movies, make a solo film just on his story. He is blind, but he is able to take people out in such a cool, calm, collected way. I love the part where his character is first introduced into this movie. Into the first fight scene is just chilling, eating some ramen and then just straight up obliterates an entire room of people. And that is what I love about this movie, the big elaborate sequences that are just NonStop, and you think at some point this would get boring and repetitive, but throughout this entire movie, they just got bigger and more elaborate, and there were so many things going on you can't help but be entertained. So how does John Wig deliver as an action movie? Unlike any other franchise out there, This franchise is right up there in the top tier level of action movies because it has heart, because it has a lot of cinematic value, because it has a great cast, and it's also just a very distinct movie. So my biggest criticism in this movie is I really wish it would have got into the action a little bit quicker. I'll admit I got a little bit worried in those first twenty minutes that maybe they don't have it anymore, maybe these movies are going to start to be a little bit boring. So had me worried in those first twenty minutes. I do love their commitment on not getting cheesy with these movies. Where other action movies add a little bit of levity, this movie doesn't really let up. There are some moments that are unintentionally funny, I think when it comes to just John Wick's mannerisms. Whenever Keanu Ree is running, I find he has kind of a funny run, so I tend to laugh at that. And there are some other aspects of his character that seem a little bit ridiculous. The thing that surprised me the most about this movie was my performance, not once that I have to get up and go peece. So patted myself on the back for that. So if you've loved every other John Wick movie, you were going to love Volume four. So even though it had me worried in the beginning, in those first twenty minutes, I didn't want it to end. It did hit me on an emotional level whenever Lance Reddick was on screen and his entire tragic story of passing away just days before this movie came out, because he's been so great in this entire franchise, So it was a weird moment for me and everybody else has seen this movie where real life suddenly connects with this fake movie life where we think, oh, everything is all great, and seeing him on screen just who it kind of hits you a little bit. The John Wick movies are just so well produced. They have such a distinct style that I don't think any other action movie in this decade is going to top this movie. So for my rating, I am giving John Wick Chapter four four point five out of five bullet wounds. It's time to head down to movie Mike Trail, Lar Paul, this movie is what my dreams are made of. Wes Anderson released the trailer for his new film called Asteroid City, and it looks like my mouth just went looking at this trailer. I know you probably are sick of me talking about color and aesthetic, but that is what I go into wanting from a Wes Anderson movie. Oftentimes I feel like the substance of his movies aren't really for me. They always feel a little bit pretentious. But I love the aesthetic. I love the set design, I love the color palettes. I feel like I haven't been this excited for his movies in a very long time, mainly because this one has a much better cast. I mean, you have Tom Hanks for the first time ever in a Wes Anderson movie. You have all the usual cast of characters, but this one has to do with aliens. So I love combining his style with science fiction. So I want to get into all the details. But the movie is called Asteroid City. It takes place in a fictional American desert town around nineteen fifty five. You have this group of students and their parents there for a junior astronomy convention and then some aliens get thrown in. I would expect nothing less from a Wes Anderson premis. Before we get into my thoughts about this movie, here's just a little bit of the Asteroid City trailer. What are those culses indicated? What? Oh? The beeps and blips? We don't know? Some of our information about out of space may no longer be completely accurate. Anyway, there's still only nine planets in the Solar System as far as we know. Billy, now there's an alien. What's happening now? I don't know the way that guy loved at us? Alien? How did you like? We're doomed? Maybe we are? Thank you? How long can I keep us on Asteroids City? Legally the world will never be the same. That's ALIENO and Jeffy Jacks. That's an alien top pat what's out there? The meaning of life? Maybe there is one? So to really get the picture of this trailer, I highly encourage you to go watch that because there are still very little details about what is actually happening in this movie. But let's take a look at this impressive list of cast members in this movie. You have Tom Hanks, Scarlett, Joe Hanson, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Brian Kranston, Edward Norton, who isn't even in the trailer, Leave Streiber, Hope Davis, Adrian Brodie, Leaves Streiber, Maya Hawk who you heard in that trailer, Steve Carrell, Matt Dylan, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblue, Margot Robbie, who also wasn't even in that trailer, Rita Wilson. The list goes on and on and on the fact that you have that many a listers that you can't even and fit them all into the trailer. I'm probably also assuming that some of them play aliens in the movie, and they didn't want to give that away in the trailer. I have told you before a way to tell a movie is going to suck if it has an ensemble cast and they're boasting everybody who's in the movie. This trailer doesn't really seem to focus on that. Wes Anderson movies are known for having this stact of a cast, so I don't really feel like that falls into the same category. But I almost feel as an actor it's a badge of honor to get to work in a Wes Anderson movie. But to me, it feels like he has such a distinct directing style, such a distinct look. So I think for actors like Tom Hanks, it's just fun to get to do a movie like this and get to show a completely different side of your acting abilities. Yes, the movie is always feel a little bit pretentious to me. If a Wes Anderson movie were a person, it would be somebody who uses a lot of big, elaborate words for no reason, probably has a really good credit score, and will tell you that their favorite band is a band you've never heard of. That is what I think about when I think a Wes Anderson movies. I remember growing up they were always all the cool kids favorite movies, and I felt kind of out of the loop because I wasn't really that interested in his work. Didn't really appeal to me then, but now I am more drawn to his attention to detail when it comes to set design, the cadence of the way he has his actors speak, the wardrobe, the coloring of his movies, which this one looks like he takes it up on at ten. He really committed to this retro style look for this one, So I think that is what he does best. What Wes Anderson is known for, quirky characters, very symmetrical framing, these bright color palettes. Also the use of music, which uses a lot of famous songs but also original music to really give an aesthetic for the film. Like I said, very detailed production design. When you watch a Wes Anderson movie, it's like he pays attention to every little thing on screen, including the set design, the costume design, and all of the props. And I feel like his other real trademark that you can tell just by listening to this trailer is the real deadpan humor, the real deadpan delivery of these very obscure lines that out of context they don't seem funny. But when you're watching this movie and the interactions between these characters, it just has that dry humor, which is kind of an acquired taste. I almost feel like Wes Anderson movies are cinematic vegetables, meaning they are good for your body and you probably should eat them, but sometimes watching them feels a little bit like a chore. And it's hard to recommend these movies to people because no one is ever really excited about eating vegetables. We eat them because they make us healthy, they make us stronger, they make our brains sharper. But a cinematic vegetable movie isn't necessarily bringing in the big box office numbers. But that being said, I do feel like his movies are art and he has one of the most distinct directing styles out of any director out there. Between him and Tim Burton are maybe two of the only directors that I could just look at one frame and tell that it is their work. Tim Burton because he has that very dark, twisted looking vision a lot of black and white, and probably Johnny Deppinet. Not to say other directors don't have their very own distinct style, but I feel like those two directors in particular, can be reduced to just one single frame. And if I could live in one director's world, I would want to live in a Wes Anderson movie. I would love the clothes, I would love all the people around me because I'd be surrounded by alis actors. And in this movie in particular, I just love how each shot in this trailer looks like it could be its own postcard. I'll probably do an episode once this movie comes out on June sixteenth. Rating all my Wes Anderson movies. But I did just rewatch Bottle Rocket recently because when I watched it back in the day, I forgot that it was filmed primarily in Texas, North Texas in particular, which is where I grew up. Wes Anderson attended the University of Texas in Austin, which I have a great connection to. Kelsey went there. I lived in Austin, Texas for seven years, so that is where he got his start. Also where he met Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson, who have starred in a lot of his movies. Actually, the movie I was just talking about that Kicked It All Off Bought a Rocket back in nineteen ninety four. So I know his movies aren't for everybody, but I always feel like when he puts out a new one, it very much feels like an event to me that I have to go see in theaters. So I will be there. On June sixteenth, I'll be heading on down to Asteroid City this week's edition of Movie Bar and that's going to do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of the week, and this week I just want to shout out to everybody who's been commenting on my YouTube channel, which if you're not aware of it, I post all my individual movie reviews over on YouTube, So if you're ever just looking for one movie in particular that I've talked about or covered recently, you can go to my YouTube page YouTube dot com slash Mike diche Row and I feel like we have a pretty good community over there of people just commenting with their views, so it's a really easy way to connect with me on just one movie in particular. So I wanted to shout out to Marcus and Tower one three two seven who commented on my Shazam Fury of the God's reviews. So if you also want to see my movie reviews, just go over and subscribe, especially for this John Wick one where I literally wore a suit and tie, so go see that on my YouTube page. Thank you for listening. Hope you have a great rest of your week, and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.