Under the Table and dreaming

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3—PARABELLUM

Show of hands, who loves the John Wick movies for their conversations?  Oh, really?  Way more than I would've thought.

2019

Directed by Chad Stahleski

Written by Derek Holstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Mark Abrams

Spoiler alert: mild

Predator Week, part IV: The day the Earth stood up, walked out of the theater, and asked for its money back

THE PREDATOR

So now I can see why I might have dragged my feet on finishing this particular retrospective—it must have been a premonition of utter shit.  Not only the worst film in its series, The Predator is quite probably the worst film of its whole year, and damned if I didn't expect much, much better from this franchise and from these creators than that.

2018

Directed by Shane Black

Written by Fred Dekker and Shane Black

Spoiler alert: high

Avengers forever

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

The best of the MCU's crossovers without even thinking about it too hard, Avengers: Endgame is even better than that fairly-faint praise implies, and it earns its place in cinema history (and our hearts) for at last giving some its various childlike empresses their names, and bringing some of their neverending stories to a highly satisfying close.

2019

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo

Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely

Spoiler alert: severe

Please Mr. Kennedy, don't shoot me into outer space

HIGH LIFE

Man, fuck this shit.

2019

Directed by Claire Denis

Written by Jean-Pol Fargeau and Claire Denis

Spoiler alert: moderate