cricketbat

With each new installment of the John Wick franchise, it gets less and less anchored to reality. The first movie could have feasibly occurred in our world, but John Wick: Chapter 4 is a fantastical realm where everyone is a superhuman assassin, and getting hit by a car or falling a few stories to the ground is akin to stubbing your toe. That being said, this movie is still a lot of fun. The action sequences, while lengthy, are exciting and well-choreographed. And the production design makes everything look super cool. The first movie is still the best one, but John Wick 4 is an enjoyable finale.

Due to the influence of Bill Hader and Gilmore Girls, I decided to watch Grey Gardens. To be honest, I still don't know what to make of it. This documentary is so bizarre. There's not really a story. It's mostly just watching Big Edie and Little Edie live their lives in a dilapidated mansion. And yet, even though nothing really happens in this film, it's hard to take your eyes off the screen. It's fascinating, yet dull. It's simultaneously amusing and sad. I would have liked to know more about how these women came to be where they are, but I'll be thinking about my visit to Grey Gardens for a while.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to not judge me too harshly when I say that Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning may be the weakest film in the franchise (yes, including the second movie). It feels like they fed all the previous movies into a computer and had A. I. generate this script. The plot is perplexing, the editing is messy, and it stretches plausibility so far that reality begins to tear. There are, of course, a few thrilling action sequences, and I enjoyed some of the callbacks to other Mission Impossible films, but overall, I'm sadly disappointed with The Final Reckoning.