Maze Runner

Actors:  Dylan O'Brien, Aml Ameen, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, and Ki Hong Lee.

Rating: 8 out of 10, This is apparently another one of those “young adult” series of books cloned from the DNA of the Hunger Games.  I was pleasantly surprised by the flick which was well edited and boasts a plot that keeps the action and tension taut enough to ignore the obvious inconsistencies and plot holes. The story revolves around a group of teenaged boys thrown into the middle of a maze with their memories wiped out. The door to the surrounding maze opens each day which allows the boys to explore before nightfall when menacing robotic creatures called “grievers” wander the maze to kill. This was an updated take on the Lord of the Flies with the millennial youth doing much better with their isolation than their predecessors, or so it appears on the surface.  The movie is carried by the young cast, especially Dylan O’Brien in the lead role, who was so good in last year’s The Internship. This kid’s got a real future, someone to look out for.  I know this movie was aimed for the young fans of the books (if the teenybopper mutterings from the last row of the theater were any indication) but the film got my attention as well. I really liked this movie.

MVP:  O’Brien as Thomas the central character who easily carries the movie

John Wick

Actors:  Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, Willem Dafoe,

Rating: 9 out of 10, A cross breed of Shoot ‘Em Up and Payback with Keanu Reeves as a very dangerous hero.  He plays a retired mob hit man who, shortly after the death of his wife, is wronged by the son of a former associate. Reeves then spends the rest of the movie relentlessly chasing Theon Greyjoy all over New York City with legions of double tapped Russian mobsters in his wake. This is exactly what you expect going into an action/revenge flick; it doesn’t apologize for the cartoon level of violence but revels in it.  The pace is outstanding and Reeves is surprisingly good even though he only says six or seven words for the entire movie (probably a correlation there).  There’s a very cool vibe to this movie, a real win for Keanu, thoroughly enjoyable, as long as you can stomach multiple head shots and a dead puppy. One of my favorite films of 2014.

MVP:  Reeves in the title role as the completely bad ass John Wick