Rejoice! JOHN WICK 2 Is Really Actually Happening!

Some days, the world is a glorious place.  Today is one of those days.

John Wick is easily one of the greatest pure action movies of the past decade, and while all the cool kids instantly agreed that this was something special, I kind of thought that it wasn't quite financially successful enough to spawn the franchise that it deserved.  But fear not!  The fine folks at Lionsgate have seen fit to get the band back together, re-signing Keanu Reeves, directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski and writer Derek Kolstad for John Wick 2 which literally cannot get here fast enough.

My love of John Wick is real and true.  Not only am I overly fond of Keanu Reeves, but I appreciate any action movie that goes out of its way to stage impressive and exciting action sequences and purposefully shoots them in such a way as to distinguish the badassery of the stunt team.  That what happens when you hire stunt coordinators as directors and we're all the better for it.  I also maintain that the brutal puppy death that kicks off the film is one of the best parts, though I understand why people have some serious trouble with it.  There's no way they kill another dog in the sequel, so you really have no excuse not to get for this one.

If we're REALLY lucky, we'll also get that rumored Hotel Continental spin-off.  I'm ALL ABOUT the continuing adventures of Ian McShane's ascot and Lance Reddick's accent.

Somehow That COWBOY NINJA VIKING Movie Just Got More Awesome

Yesterday I mentioned that every studio wants newly minted movie star Chris Pratt to headline their potential franchise pictures.  One of the first such projects to snag Pratt is the magnificently titled Cowboy Ninja Viking.  It's the story of an assassin who utilizes his multiple personalities to kill folks in what I can only assume is a series of increasingly hilarious manners.  There is no word yet on whether the ninja personality is in fact named Johnny Karate.

I'm basically already in love with this movie, but I'm even more smitten now that Universal is negotiating with John Wick directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch to come on board the fledgling project.  Woo hoo!

I loved John Wick.  Like, really REALLY loved it.  It is, quite frankly, some of the best down and dirty fight choreography I've ever seen, plus it's easily the best character Reeves has been given since Constantine if not The Matrix.  And while my wife had some serious problems with the film's brutal depiction of puppy murder, I actually respect the film even more for treating Wick's dog the same way many inferior versions of this type of story have traditionally treated the hero's wife or child.  It's not only a novel approach, but it actually provokes a much richer emotional response from the audience.  Besides, it's hard not to love a movie with that many point blank headshots.

Stahelski and Leitch are former stunt men/coordinators and I cannot wait to see what kind of insanity they dream up for Cowboy Ninja Viking.  I'm imagining Pratt headbutting dudes with a Norse helmet and stabbing dudes in the face with his horns.

In the words of Veruca Salt, "I WANT IT NOW."

Podcast Episode 36: JOHN WICK And The Dubious Merits Of Puppy Murder

That puppy sure is cute, ain't he?

Don't get attached.

John Wick is not a movie for everybody.  Specifically, it is not a movie for lovers of dogs.  It is, however, a movie for lovers of well choreographed action scenes, pulpy crime stories and Keanu Reeves being Keanu Reeves.  I fucking loved this movie.  Bart was fairly unimpressed.  Jamie almost walked out of the theater in a rage.

We recorded this podcast last Sunday, but due to an overwhelmingly busy schedule I wasn't able to finish editing the thing until late Thursday night.  As a result, much of our attempt to parse the first trailer for Avengers: Age Of Ultron was rendered moot a few days after recording when Marvel announced their full Phase 3 slate and the upcoming Infinity War storyline.  I suppose this kind of thing comes with the territory.

That being said, it is gratifying that a number of our speculations were confirmed on stage at the El Capitan Theater, particularly the announcement of Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther.  Rest assured we cover a lot of this material in the next episode of the podcast, which we recorded last night.  With any luck, I'll have it published before Paramount abruptly shelves their Terminator remake, thus negating another major portion of our recording.

Next Week: We take to the skies with Michael Keaton in Birdman!

Keanu Reeves Will Avenge This Puppy In The JOHN WICK Trailer

Keanu Reeves is that special breed of actor who does not have a whole lot of range, but who shines like a supernova when given the right role.  If we're lucky, John Wick might be just that kind of role.

Reeves plays a former hitman in search of bloody vengeance after Theon Greyjoy and his Russian mafia friends steal his Mustang and murder his beagle, seemingly by punching it to death.  I was supposed to be a beagle.  I like to think that Keanu Reeves would avenge me too.

Watching Reeves kill dozens of people over a dead dog sounds AMAZING, but when you through in Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Adrianne Palicki, John Leguizamo and Lance Reddick's Accent, well I'm positively intrigued.  This trailer gets bonus points for turning "Wick" into "Wicked," which I chose to interpret not as an adjective one might use to describe a witch, but as the verbal form of the name Wick.  I now expect Reeves to glower at a room full of goons at some point and yell, "Prepare to get Wicked!"

Director Chad Stahelski is a prolific stunt guy, having worked on the Matrix films, Serenity and Catching Fire, for which he also served as second unit director.  John Wick is his directorial debut and I hear the flick is a preposterous amount of fun.  I really wish I could see it at Fantastic Fest next week.  I imagine it'll play like gangbusters down in Austin.

Sidenote: Can we all just agree to stop titling movies with generic dude names?  How have studio marketing departments not figured this out yet?