With Blockbuster season in high gear, we’re playing catch up! Join us for this jam packed episode of reviews and rants! Can Toy Story 4 continue the franchise’s hit streak? Will the Hemsworth factor reignite MIB? John Wick has been killing the box office, but does that mean its any good? All this plus giant fricken monsters, super heroes turning bad and Samuel Jackson giving us the Shaft we didn’t know we needed!

As always we want to hear from you! With your movie reviews, ideas for show topics or just let us know what your watching by calling the voice mail number! 260-573-0015, email us at moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or post your thoughts on Twitter, Facebook or the Ultimate Movie Geeks community

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Verdict: * – – – –

First of all, there are some minor spoilers in this review. If you want to go into it completely unknowing of any plot devices, read no further!

I wanted to like this movie. Seriously, I did. The trailers looked awesome, and a couple of buddies said it was really good. So I figured it was a thinking man’s hitlist movie or something. Really good, to me, equaled great visuals and great plot!

Plus, if it wasn’t one of the signs in the back of the Bible already, it ought to be: Keanu Reeves showed some emotion! I know, I know. You don’t believe me, but in this movie he really does present a depth of emotion that astonished me. I mean, he smiled. He actually smiled! I didn’t even know he had teeth!

This movie started out pretty good. A gripping opening scene. Lots of metaphorical visuals and color. Meaningful balance of subject and placement. Everything you see in the first twenty minutes seems to mean something, so that when you see this movie twice, you are pretty sure you’ll see something different.

Then I saw Allstate’s Mayhem (Dean Winters) who played the unnecessary role of being the only American Accented member of the Russian mob and that’s where the movie sort of stopped asking me to think so hard. The movie started to follow a connect the dots pattern… and not just any connect the dots pattern; the one that looks like a snow man before you even start.

John Wick (Reeves), an emotionally vulnerable, retired ex-badass who just lost his wife (a small bit by Bridget Moynahan), gets his ass kicked old school by three Russian thugs who want his sweet ride for a quick chop shop yoink. And just to prove how ultimately small certain parts of their anatomy manly they are, they kill his puppy, given to him by his recently deceased wife.

Unfortunately, the kids work for the Russian mob… one is even the mob boss’s son… the same mob that contracted John Wick before he retired; the same mob who are now pissing their pants in fear because that weasel, loudmouthed, eff – up of a son robbed and puppy snuffed the wrong badass.

Now, me… being most certainly not a badass, I would have just called the humane society and filed a report. I’m pretty sure no one wants to yoink my Smartcar for a chop shop job. But Keanu’s a badass, so he has standards. Thus, he (probably) donated to the humane society, then went after the kid who killed his puppy with vindictive counterinsurgency that would make Navy Seals whimper.

Of course, the kids don’t care who John Wick is or that he used to be the baddest ass on the badass block. They wear shiny suits and are surrounded by bikini babes and have guns and shit. And despite all the older Russian mobsters warning them that they should be frightened, they continue to boast and brag and party their little parts of their anatomy butts off, come what may. This, of course, just makes us scream for their death sentences because weasel, loudmouthed, eff – up kids wearing shiny suits, surrounded by bikini babes need their heads rolled down a lane or two and John Wick is the man wearing the bowling shoes that’ll do it.

What I don’t like about movies like this is that it’s beyond my comprehension for a mob boss to protect his weasel, shiny suited, loudmouthed, bikini babe surrounded, gun toting eff – up of a son to the point where the boss’s entire unabbreviated empire and army of perfectly respectable mobsters is brought down, especially if he’s fully aware from the beginning John Wick can accomplish it. My first thought was,”Here! Take my weasel, loudmouthed, eff – up son for killing your puppy and leave us be!”

I know I’m in the minority on this, and I really wanted to like this movie. What I thought might be a thinking man’s hitlist movie turned out to be a rather unthinking action chain of events. And that’s cool, I like some flicks that ask you to check your thinking cap at the door… I enjoyed Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Pacific Rim, for goodness sake! But I just didn’t connect with John Wick. Keanu has some depth of emotion, I’ll give him that and want to see more of it. Unfortunately, all the other characters without exception are splashing around in the shallow end. The action was good, but man! The dialog seemed to be scrawled out on toilet paper in the bathroom of a 24/7 Shit n’ Git, and I just couldn’t connect.

Sometimes you have to go big! And thats just what we’ve done! Not our normal one, two or three reviews but eight!!! I’ll tell you if the fall and winter seasons keep delivering movies like these the year might just be saved! So grab your ear buds and listen in as we review the Christopher Nolan Sci-Fi adventure Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. The potential launch of a new franchise in Disneys Big Hero 6. What I think may be one of the best pure action movies I’ve seen in years John Wick starring Keanu Reeves. The ultra creepy Nightcrawler starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo and Bill Paxton. Usually we’re done by now but we’ve packed even more into this Mega Mini Review! We review the excellent WWII tank battle movie Fury starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman and John Bernthal. Rounding things out we have the family/courtroom drama The Judge starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall and our last two reviews to finally finish things off we review St. Vincent starring Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthey. And Dracula Untold starring  Luke Evans

Hey, send your movie reviews to moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call the voice mail # 260-573-0015 or post them to Twitter, Facebook or the Ultimate Movie Geeks community on Google+

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Action junkies unite! John Wick is easily one of the best revenge based action films in the last decade. With a minimum amount of plot and a maximum amount of empathy, directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski made a character with whom anyone can identify: John Wick.

Wick is a retired “fixer:” the man you call when you have an unsolvable problem, rather like “The Wolf” (Harvey Keitel) from Pulp Fiction. Only Wick tends to eliminate the problem, not just fix it and he does it with extreme violence.

Imagine John Wick, living a peaceful life following his wife’s death, being attacked in his home and losing the things he’s using to barely hold on. It is heartbreaking. Moments after the invasion, Wick (Keanu Reeves) is arming up, grabbing a stack of gold and preparing for war. Someone is going to pay.

At this point it’s easy to hearken back to the Death Wish franchise with Charles Bronson. Bronson is Paul Kersey, an architect whose wife is murdered by street thugs. Kersey begins a killing spree in New York City, any and all muggers better watch out. It is a passionate look at revenge and gets the audience really involved.

John Wick is a better film, but it brings out the same passion, kill everyone and let God sort them out. What makes Wick so much better is the absolute belief, developed by the writer and director, that Keanu Reeves’ character is that deadly. Even more amazing is the beauty and believability of the violence. The choreography of the action is brilliant and nothing seems gratuitous or unnecessary..

In some sense it was rather like The Bourne Identity: a minimum of movement leading to a maximum result. Every director should take notes. Realism is so effective…Kill Bill and The Matrix notwithstanding.

The directors also managed to leave acting to the actors and let Reeves stick with action.  Willem Dafoe, Michael Nyqvist and Ian McShane were rather brilliant. All three are acting work horses and shouldered the film adding depth and spice. The surprise was Alfie Allen as Iosef Tarasov. From spoiled brat, when he tries to bully Wick, to “deer in the headlights” when he gets caught, literally with his pants off, he was excellent. I wanted to kill him myself. I like him as Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, but in this he was so good I forgot where I’d seen him before. Thumbs up!

So much was done extremely well, that I would love to see some Oscar nods, something not usually given to this type of film. The directors deserve much of the credit, the minimalist writing also much, but the actors carried the load and made this an absolute pleasure to watch. Even John Lequizamo was a delight.

This is a film that you really need to see in the theater before it goes away. You will not be disappointed!

Rating 4.5 stars out of 5.