Patriots Day

Liz is at the gym so there's an opening for another early evening Monday filler. .

This was an interesting one..  The last 2 Peter Berg films I'd seen were, at best meh.. I wasn't a big fan of Lone Survivor (apart from some pretty intense action in the middle) and Deepwater Horizon was... ok, I guess.. So as you can see I didn't have high hopes on this one.

Centering around the Boston bombing in 2013 it uses real, archive footage mixed in with Mark Wahlberg and the team (which also includes Kevin Bacon)..

It had some interesting idea's. I particularly liked the way the CCTV/Phone footage was used and how they re-created whole street in a disused warehouse.
It also had some humour (intentional and otherwise)
Overall it was an entertaining way to spend an early Monday evening..

***

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John Wick :Chapter Two (2nd viewing)

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The Great Wall

Ok, let's do this while it's still fresh..

In Yimou Zhang (House of Flying Daggers) latest directorial venture we find Mat Damon and chum on the Chinese border looking for 'black powder' and, instead finding a siege involving the Chinese army, monsters and of course the Great Wall of China..

Firstly this film looked pretty good. The colours of each division of the Chinese Army was clever and well done.  And of course the CGi was very good as in most blockbusters these days.  The plot itself was fairly mundane and went in the direction you expected.. no shocks or twists..
It was throwaway fluff... but enjoyable, throwaway fluff.

***.

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John Wick:Chapter Two

As IMDb put it .. "After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.."

Plot, like the first one, is immaterial..  Only in this it's self-defense... sort of.
Once again John Wick (Keanu Reeves) dispatches numerous bad guys with style and panache.
His suits are 'tactical'..
His weapons are functional..
His dialogue is one syllable..

This is a movie where style over substance works really well. Some of the old characters have also returned from the first one (Ian McShane's Winston and Lance Reddick's hotel receptionist to name two)

It was an enjoyable ride.. Didn't take itself to seriously..

Definite ****

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Fifty Shades Darker

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Lego Batman

I felt obliged to watch this after the excellent Lego movie.
Batman was one of the best characters in the Lego movie and he didn't disappoint here..

***1/2

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