Now I'm watching Jack Reacher, and the fight scene halfway through was the most hilarious I've seen to date. Just the two guys getting in each others way and doing more destruction to the room around them than to their target. But choreographed well enough as to not devolve into slapstick.

Okay, so who else has seen John Wick because we need to talk about how fucking great it is. I agree with this entire review. The action scenes are creative and kinetic: John is very focused on maneuvering his enemies and his environment in order to most efficiently kill people. It's hard to pick a favorite kill but I am especially fond of hitting a guy with a car and then shooting him through the fucking roof. But what elevates the film is how smartly written it is: it masterfully implies worldbuilding and character history with very little in the way of direct exposition. Credit also goes to the many talented actors in small roles. It's bloody and violent but it also gets plenty of crowd-pleasing laughs. This is a movie that reduced the entire audience to uncontrollable laughter with the word "Oh." Plus, it has way cool subtitles.

If John Wick looks like the kind of movie you want to see, you definitely want to see it.

Wow, really? The ads were not making me want to see it at all, but you are making it sound right up my alley.

The trailers made it look sort of silly in a "Keanu Reeves kills a bunch of people because someone killed his dog" kind of way but it's the CUTEST DOG IN THE UNIVERSE and also it has personal significance that makes his actions make sense. It's still pretty ridiculous at times, but it manages to be over-the-top without becoming a parody of itself (as opposed to, say, Shoot 'Em Up, which was not grounded at all). And the worldbuilding is so solid; you can tell there's so much more to this world and these characters than what we see. Just in the way characters address each other, you can tell what their relationship is immediately. You hardly get any real details about anyone's past, but it's all so clear anyway, just based on their interactions and dialogue.

It's the sort of movie that reminds you that, dammit, we do deserve better from our action movies. It can be done. (Granted, we do yet again have a male character being motivated by a dead wife, and some more of the mobsters could have been women [Adrianne Palicki is having a badass time these days, though], so there's always room for improvement.)

If John Wick looks like the kind of movie you want to see, you definitely want to see it.

Everything I've read about it makes me want to see it and you just sold me P-C. Got to see Gone Girl first though because I just finished the book and am dying to see some of those actors in their roles (I'm looking at you, Kim Dickens).

(I'm looking at you, Kim Dickens).

She's so good.

Any fan of Sherlock or Elementary (or Holmes variations of any kind) should see Zero Effect. That's the first time I remember seeing Kim Dickens in anything and I've looked out for her in roles ever since.

I love Zero Effect. Also one of the few movies I enjoyed Ben Stiller in.

I remember really disliking Zero Effect but I can't remember why.

Kim Dickens I mostly know from Deadwood. Where she was wonderful.

Did anyone else see Book of Life? I thought it was pretty cool, what did you think?

We enjoyed it. My friend and I were talking about how even though Joaquin isn't, "Our" hero, and he was backed by the evil guy they didn't make him a villain. Kind of not even an anti-hero. Even though his character was kind of a caricature, you never hated him. Maybe because he never twirled that moustache he was so proud of.