s02e02. John Wick vs Keanuphobia vs action movies

It’s lights, camera, action movies for the MacGuffin Report in this episode, as co-hosts Raechel Wong, Walter Hong and Os Davis take a deep dive into John Wick 3: Parabellum (2019).

As a proper Wickan, Raechel drops a whole lotta information on the film’s preproduction as well as Halle Berry’s dog training and martial arts prep for the film. But is Raechel’s enthusiasm, even combined with Walter’s, enough to overcome Os’s Keanuphobia and convince him to give John Wick (2014)?

As always, the MacGuffins bring wider takes on American TV, movies and pop Culture, and so in discussing the action movie genre name-drop and/or contextualize films like Commando (1985), The Last Action Hero (1993), True Lies (1994), Armour of God 2: Operation Condor (1991), Police Story 3: Supercop (1992), Rumble in the Bronx (1995), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Rush Hour (1998), Top Gun (1986), Django Unchained (2012) and the Count of Monte Christo (2002).

Then, as though to bait Os, the MacGuffins attempt to answer the question “Can a movie with Keanu Reeves be good?” by debating the relative merits of River's Edge (1986), The Matrix (1999), The Replacements (2000), Something’s Gotta Give (2003), Always Be My Maybe (2019), and of course Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bogus Journey (1991) – but they ultimately figure his best work will be in Tortured Soul, scheduled for release in 2034 or ’35…