John Wick: Chapter 4 - 10/10
Going into this, I had fairly high expectations, based on what I had heard from friends and also from the general opinion about this movie. Those expectations were certainly met, with this being a thrilling and gripping action ride from start to finish. Keanu Reeves once again returns as John Wick and is pretty much doing exactly what you would be expecting of him in the role at this point. Among the newcomers, we have the amazing Rina Sawayama as Akira, concierge of the Osaka Continental. Rina is not someone I have been familiar with before this movie came out, but she does an amazing job here and Akira is such a brutal and fluid fighter and it's an absolute joy to see her take up arms along side Wick. Hiroyuki Sanada is always fantastic in everything he does and so is Donnie Yen. Bill Skarsgård manages to be quite sleezy and also threatening as Marquis Vincent de Gramont and is a good villain. The action sequences are AMAZING. The entire Osaka part is my favorite of the movie, but coming in at a close second is the Hotline Miami stuff with John clearing room after room with a Dragon Breath shotgun, which was just so much fun to watch. The stair case fight must also be mentioned as a stand out part of the movie. A very enjoyable action film, lots of heart and character to it and AMAZING fights. I'm very glad I saw this on the big screen.
My initial score for this was 8.5/10, but I think it deserves a higher score just for how much amazing work they put into this.
Hellraiser - 8/10
I have only seen the original movie once, so I don't have a whole lot to compare to. But this was pretty good, and the second half of the movie even went from pretty good to really good. Odessa A'zion grew on me as Riley, the recovering drug addict who comes into possession of the Lament Configuration, (a.k.a. the Hellraiser Cube) and who summons demons (or angels) known as Cenobites to haunt and torment her and her friends. Adam Faison as Colin is also quite likeable and Drew Starkey does what his character does pretty well. The Cenobites are really well made and the whole creature design and set design is just on an overall fantastic level, with the second half of the movie taking place in a very interesting mansion. Jamie Clayton plays The Priest/Pinhead and does really well in the role and had some big shoes to fill after Doug Bradley iconic take on the role. But I think she managed to do a great job here and really made the character fit THIS movie very well and make it feel like its own thing while also sticking to what Hellraiser is supposed to be. Or at least what I think it's supposed to be, as I'm by no means an expert on the franchise.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie - 8.5/10
Just an overall good time. Funny, decent voice casting and absolutely gorgeous animation.
