Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins are great, and Dracula's character design is cool, but the movie is still way too cheesy.

I liked Bram Stoker’s Dracula slightly more the first time I saw it. Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins are still good, and the costumes are cool. But the rest is a little weird. It's way too cheesy and over the top.

Johnny Mnemonic

I'm too much of a William Gibson fan to not like Johnny Mnemonic, even if most of the acting is horrific. There are so many cool ideas, costumes, and characters, you just have to look past the line delivery.

I loved William Gibson's books in high school, although I don't actually remember them anymore. This was the second time I've seen Johnny Mnemonic. I did remember the book the first time I saw it, 11 years ago. I gave it a 3/5 then. I don't think I recognized how terrible *all* the acting was. I knew Keanu was bad, but this time I saw that everyone else was, too.

I still like the atmosphere and idea of it, the characters, and the costumes. They should do a remake with good actors. Keanu and Henry are atrocious. Everyone else is just flat. And some of the CG is really cheesy.

It definitely works a lot better if you've read the book. I still think all the stuff about implants and enhancements is cool, and the idea of the low-tech underground counterculture, and the whole "ghost in the machine" digital consciousness concept.

John Wick: Chapter 2

John Wick 2 doesn’t hold a candle to the original. The action is boring, the plot doesn’t make sense, and it’s all just a setup for the next one.

I didn’t see John Wick in the theater, and when I watched it, I wished I had. So I was determined to see John Wick 2 in the theater (and I did). There were only two other people there, so that was nice. The opening scene was great. I loved the view of New York, even though I had no idea that’s what city it was. And the opening car chase was cool, too. But it was all downhill from there.

John Wick

John Wick is a lot of fun. The soundtrack adds just the right energy, the composition is interesting both in terms of lighting and blocking, there's some cool stuff going on with the action, and Keanu doesn't have too many opportunities to ruin scenes with his signature brain-dead delivery. 

John Wick looked like a cool movie from the trailer; there were some standout action sequences that made it seem like it would be unique, and I was hoping Keanu Reeves' acting wouldn't ruin this movie like it did Johnny Mnemonic. His delivery in the trailer was pretty terrible. One of his first scenes in the movie is with Willem Dafoe, and the contrast between their levels of acting is crazy. It's like Keanu is reading off of cue cards and Willem is just an actual person saying something.

Luckily Keanu doesn't have a lot of dialogue. He's primarily just doing stunts, most of which he apparently performed himself, so that's cool. I always get a little lost with close combat. It's tough to tell what's going on, and these fight scenes were no exception. I wish I could've seen it in the theater; a bigger screen might have helped, but it didn't come to the cheap theater. It seems like they only get kids' movies anymore.

The soundtrack was great. It sounded good, it fit what was going on, and it added just the right kind of energy. The composition was great, too, both in terms of lighting/colors and blocking/framing. The sets were gorgeous, and the neon overhead shots of New York were cool. John's house was actually designed to be an art gallery, so it had lots of windows and light, and it looked perfect. The art director said he wanted something everyone would want to live in, and he really hit the mark.

Everything was super sleek and opulent for the whole movie. John's suit looked great. The wacky subtitles were a misfire. I don't know if they were going for a comic-book feel or just trying to do something different, but it was just annoyingly distracting. The different sizes and placements just weren't necessary. There's nothing wrong with regular subtitles.

The Matrix Revolutions

This redeemed the series for me. I like how they spent more time in the real world than in the matrix, and it was more gruesome than I was expecting.

The Matrix Reloaded

One word: boring. Action, plot, costumes, everything. It tried way too hard to be flashy, and the only interesting part is the last 15 minutes.

Johnny Mnemonic

Gibson did a great job writing this screenplay. The costuming/art direction was good too, but Keanu's terrible acting nearly ruined all of it.

Thumbsucker

Keanu's cameo was the best part of this movie.

The Matrix

Completely engaging and absolutely unbeatable.

Dracula

My Own Private Idaho