After a good film to watch at the cinema over the Easter weekend? Alex has been to see a few this week and this is what he makes of them...
With Dungeons and Dragons : Honour Among Thieves and The Super Mario Bros. Movie dominating screens over the Easter weekend, I've not managed to fit in Allelujah before it vanished from Cineworld to make way for Mario, which is a great shame. I'm hoping to pop to my favourite indie cinema to catch it.
A Good Person has had mixed reviews from the critics, but an audience approval score of 96 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. I really enjoyed this one. Morgan Freeman comes face-to-face with the woman whose life was shattered by a car accident that claimed his daughter's life, in the unlikely setting of a rehab meeting. He plays Daniel, a model railway enthusiast who is quietly grieving and trying to bring up his granddaughter as she discovers sex and illicit parties.
Meanwhile, Florence Pugh as Allison brings loads of emotion to her role as an addict struggling to get her life back on track, and I really believed in the characters and their journey. The script and story weren't perfect by any means, but strong casting more than made up for that. I'd honestly say Pugh should be considered for an Oscar for this one, although films released at this time of year will probably long be forgotten by the next awards season, sadly.
The mask is back as Scream VI relocates the action to the Big Apple. It's more of the same formula in a lot of ways, but the change of setting is a nice twist, especially the scene on a subway train. I really liked the storyline, and the fact it's still going strong after six films and three decades is remarkable. Unlike the Halloween franchise, which outstayed its welcome by several films, this still feels fresh.
A good plot propels this in the top tier of Scream films, with plenty of tongue-in-cheek and ridiculous moments among the gory stuff. Good to see the return of Courtney Cox as reporter Gale Weathers, and Hayden Panettiere stood out as Kirby Reed (she was in an earlier Scream movie, but it doesn't hugely matter if you've forgotten her character). Scary to think I was midway through University when the first "what's your favourite scary movie?" phone call happened in 1996!
And talking of knowing what you're going to get, John Wick 4 really was a bit too drawn out, but nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed it. The scene where Keanu Reeves' body double tumbles bone-crunchingly down the length of the Sacre-Coeur stairs in Paris, the aerial sequence moving from room to room as multiple bad guys are banished, the French traffic chaos as endless gun-toting miscreants are hurled into the path of cars...it's breathtaking, pulpy, violent, stylish stuff.
You don't watch these films for highbrow dialogue, but it's a worthy closing chapter for a franchise that began life in 2014 with the death of John Wick's dog, left to him by his late wife. This is also sadly the final appearance by Lance Riddick as the hotel manager before his death. Reeves dedicated the film to him.
The Wick franchise is as much about friendship and connections as it is about the fighting. Super stuff.
