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Keanu Reeves - John Wick: Chapter 4
Keanu Reeves - John Wick: Chapter 4
The Gang of Four
(Cohen Film/Lino Lorber Blu-ray)
“Paris, late November-early December,” reads the brief note in the opening frame of The Gang of Four (1989). It’s like a stage direction in a play and the film revolves in part around a series of theater rehearsals as a group of young women are tutored by a demanding instructor, a once famous actress.
Director Jacques Rivette was central to the French new wave decades earlier and his work had evolved into an elliptical version of classic narrative cinema. Gorgeously filmed and composed, The Gang of Four gradually becomes intriguing when a mysterious stranger asks many questions and gives enigmatic answers. The young actors feel manipulated by their instructor, yet somehow bound to her. The Gang of Four suggests that everyone is acting some of the time on stage, on screen, in life. (David Luhrssen)
A Good Person
(In Theaters March 24)
Writer/director Zach Braff and actress Florence Pugh were a couple during the pandemic lockdown. Braff took inspiration from losses of his own while penning a screenplay meant to star Pugh. She portrays Allison, engaged to Nathan (Chinaza Uche) when she’s involved in a car crash that kills her fiancé’s sister. Allison emerges as an opioid addict. Eventually, she seeks help at a 12-step meeting where she comes face-to-face with Daniel (Morgan Freeman), father of the dead woman. An unlikely bond develops as each attempts to move forward. Braff, whose comedic instincts mingle humor with pain, examines Allison’s interactions with her busy-body mom (Molly Shannon), and looks at Daniel’s efforts to raise his teenage granddaughter (Celeste O’Connor). (Lisa Miller)
John Wick: Chapter 4
(In Theaters March 24)
It’s exhausting just reading about this fourth, action-packed John Wick film. Stunt-double-turned-director Chad Stahelski once again takes the helm with, turning in 14 notable action sequences. The story picks up after Wick (Keanu Reeves) was sentenced to die in chapter three. The reason? He broke rules established by “The High Table,” an organization reigning over the world’s elite assassins. Dozens of killers come for Wick, who has so far survived but never gets a moment’s peace. His only hope is challenging the organization’s leader to a duel and defeating him. That would be arrogant Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), who must accept but may have another fight in his stead. The Marquis compels lethal Caine (Hong Kong martial arts superstar Donnie Yen), to be his surrogate. Ian McShane returns as hotelier Winston, Laurence Fishburne reprises his role as the sarcastic Bowery King, and Lance Reddick once again shines as hotel concierge Charon. (Lisa Miller)
