Tim joined Tom Barnard and the morning show crew on the “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Friday to review the new theatrical releases “Moonfall” and “The King’s Daughter” He will also reviewed the films with Jordana Green on the “Paul and Jordana” show on WCCO-AM. Click to listen to below. All of Tim’s segments are brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11”.
Keanu Reeves’ killer franchise has been reignited again – with a blow torch – with “John Wick – Chapter 3: Parabellum,” the third and definitely not last chapter in the ultraviolent tale about a former hitman at odds with the criminal underworld that shaped him. And while the hotly-anticipated follow-up to the 2017 hit comes in a bit long at 2-plus hours, the film like its predecessors is ghoulishly entertaining with all of Reeves’ kill shots and brutal hand-to-hand combat skills and will surely earn enough at the box office to justify a fourth chapter.
AUDIO: Click above to hear Tim’s review of “John Wick 3: Parabellum” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ 92 Morning Show” on KQRS-FM.
Picking up virtually where “John Wick: Chapter 2” left off, “Parabellum” finds Wick roaming the streets of New York with less than a half-hour to go before he’s declared excommunicado. In the dark criminal underworld, that means Wick’s lost all his protection from the covert international assassin’s guild who placed a $14 million bounty on his head for executing a high-ranking member of the High Table on the grounds of The Continental hotel, which is a safe haven for criminals.
“Parabellum,” a Latin word which translated to English means “Prepare for war,” wastes no time in giving fans of the franchise what they want, with hyperkinetic action scenes loaded with inventive hand-to-hand combat, lots of gunplay and truckloads of dead bodies. Not surprisingly, the killing (how this film averted an NC-17 rating is a wonder), will induce endless cringes and bouts of nervous laughter as Wick indiscriminately wipes out every bad guy in his way, and director Chad Stahelski does his best to make sure each death is more gruesomely creative than the last.
Reeves, like before, is charismatic as the stoic assassin still hurting from the loss of his girlfriend to cancer and the puppy she gave him (yep, dogs still play a prominent role in the film series), but as important as he is to the film, he’s not required to do all the heavy-lifting.
Halle Berry is wonderful addition as a badass assassin from Wick’s past, as is Angelica Huston as a crime boss, and Asia Kate Dillion (“Billions”) dominates the screen as the Adjudicator for the High Table, whose job is to lay waste to all people complicit in Wick’s actions. Back for another go-round is the always great Ian McShane as Winston, who owns and operates The Continental, and Laurence Fishburne, who stole the show in “John Wick 2” as the underground criminal leader The Bowery King.
Perhaps the biggest difference between “Parabellum” and the previous “John Wick” chapters is that this new tale seems to take more time to breathe between the mayhem to give us a look into Wick’s past to help shape the story. Easily the film’s biggest downfall is its excessive scenes of violence – not in terms of content: bloody brutality is what “John Wick” is all about – but just in the sheer numbers of times we have to see it. With a 2-hour, 10-minute runtime, “Parabellum” is long in the tooth, and the clipping of some unnecessarily long fight and execution scenes that have little bearing on the plot would have gone a long way.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
AUDIO: Click to hear Tim review “John Wick 3” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on “Paul & Jordana” on WCCO-AM.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” (R)
Taron Egerton and Colin Firth are back but with less-impressive results in ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” another James Bond-on-steroids-type of tale following the out-of-nowhere success of “Kingsman: The Secret Service” in 2014. Skillfully adapted from the hit “Kingsman” comic book, the first “Kingsman” big screen adventure felt completely fresh and unexpected, while “The Golden Circle,” while entertaining, just doesn’t seem to possess the pizazz of the original.
Egerton is back as Gary “Eggsy” Unwin, a street-smart punk who was recruited in the independent intelligence organization The Kingsman to become a superspy. But since his mentor, Harry Hart (Firth), seemingly met his fate during “The Secret Service,” Eggsy had to quickly assume the mantle and code name (Galahad) left vacant by his superior, and complete new missions with his faithful support tech, Merlin (Mark Strong).
This time around, Eggsy and his fellow Kingsman are caught in the crosshairs of Poppy (Julianne Moore), the world’s most-powerful drug cartel boss who wants recognition for the illegal industry that she’s come to dominate. After Poppy virtually eliminates The Kingsman organization in one-fell-swoop, Eggsy and Merlin enact the organization’s “Doomsday protocol,” which leads them to America and the Statesmen – the U.S. version of the Kingsman – to uncover Poppy’s location and her deadly plan to change forever the U.S. war on drugs.
It’s evident from the very first scene that “The Golden Circle,” directed by “The Secret Service” helmer Matthew Vaughn, is going to employ the same, hyper-kinetic brand of filmmaking that made the first film such a blast. But in between, the story seems to stretch itself too thin and lulls as it introduces several new characters, namely the Statesmen – including Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Pablo Pascal and Halle Berry – to the fold.
While the film bills an impressive list of stars for the film, Moore, Berry and Pascal get the most screen time and make the best of it, while Bridges and Tatum are reduced to a handful of scenes.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is Elton John playing himself, kidnapped by Poppy as sort of a pet rocker whose sole purpose is to entertain the off-kilter criminal. He’s funny in every scene he appears in, and (via the help of stuntmen, naturally) has some action moves, to boot. Like “The Secret Service,” there’s no doubt inspired moments like Sir Elton’s in “The Golden Circle,” just not enough of them to justify the film’s overlong 2-hour 20-minute run-time.
