Yes, Anakin, you're right to be outraged. Luca, I get your point about Stalin, but as Anakin says, while it was a holocaust, it does not seem to be about being white.

Gravity was pro-socialist? it had a point beyond that Sandra Bullock is loveable?
Interstellar, do I mean Armageddon, has a point beyond what? Meh.

Let's get back to swooning!

@LucaM - yeah, it was about getting rid of the undesirables by killing them. But they were undesirable for reasons unrelated to their race - if they hadn't been white, Stalin would have still killed them - unlike with the Jews where their race itself was what made them undesirable, and if they hadn't been Jewish, they would have been much more likely to be allowed to live. So the example doesn't work in the context of the blog post, but does in how it was basically a holocaust involving white people.

The way I saw it, Gravity was trying too hard to make a point of Dr.Ryan-my-father-wanted-a-boy rediscovering the gravitational pull of humanity and finding her way home by being born again in faith. Sort of. But to me, the brush strokes were too thick.

Good start.
... and yet... he didn't get it. the reviewer, I mean.

First, to establish the obligatory geekcred all discussions like this must have, I'll state for the record:

Constantine is my favorite Reeves movie.
I think the last thing Neo should have said to Agent Smith in Matrix Revolutions was "the name is NEO" -- to bring all three films full circle.
And, it's true. Chicks DO dig scars.

Ok.. So, what did I miss? What didn't I get?

if you were asking what didn't the reviewer get, the answer is the movie; the layers of the story and of the Wick character.

I don't know what you 'got' or not, or about what. It's not clear in your post.

The last thing Neo says to Agent Smith in Revolutions is 'You were right, Smith. You were always right. It was inevitable.' (Agent Smith's line to Neo, in the subway station, in the first Matrix movie, being ' Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your death. ')- which does bring all three films full circle. My opinion, at least.

Later edit: in fact, the 'inevitable' was mentioned two times more in the movies. In Reloaded, when the Smiths overcome Neo in the Matrix (Burly something scene). 'Smiths: It is inevitable.', and in Revolutions, when Smith/Bane fights Neo Neo: It's impossible. Bane: Not impossible. Inevitable. Goodbye, Mr. Anderson. .

And round and round and round we all go, and it ends with You were right, Smith. You were always right. It was inevitable.
Neo goes from rebellion and trying to separate Thomas Anderson from Neo, to full understanding, full acceptance. Full circle :)

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What didn't I get?

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One part was what I said in my previous post - the fact that Wick wasn't an unstoppable killing machine, which I vaguely remember another reviewer highlighting as one of the great things about the movie. He did get shot, a few times (so it wasn't one of those movies where all the bad guys have impossibly bad aim), and towards the end especially was significantly injured to the point of possible death.

The movie was also a tongue-in-cheek, borderline parody take on the whole revenge-shoot-em-up genre, and that thing with everybody knowing and being terrified of John Wick was part of that. But then I had the advantage of reading interviews with the directors and Keanu. :P

3. John Wick
Why It Should Have Sucked: Another limp Keanu Reeves action flick sticking to the revenge template, substituting the usual kidnapped or dead daughter or wife shtick for a dead dog. In fact, John Wick even appeared on this author's own article about movies which might score 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why It Was Awesome: As it turns out, Wick racked up a super-strong 84% on the website and near-tripled its budget at the box office, likely leading to the production of a sequel in the future. So, what makes John Wick work against the odds, then?

Aside from the fact that this is Reeves' most lively performance in quite some time ("Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back" has instantly entered the One-Liner Hall of Fame), it does just enough to toy with the revenge movie template to feel like something different from another Death Wish retread.

In addition, the action is superbly shot, lingering on long, steadily-filmed takes rather than quick cutting, allowing audiences to savour the carnage in "real time", and impressively, Reeves appears to do much of the stunt-work himself. Wick racks up a considerable body count in his quest for vengeance, and all of the set-pieces look like a million bucks.

With fine supporting work from the likes of Willem Dafoe, Alfie Allen and John Leguizamo, John Wick is an uncommonly involving, thrilling action flick sure to reignite fanfare for its star.