Dark Matter (serial)

Season 3

Space Opera a la Firefly and Killjoys, this group of scoundrels woke up on a ship without their memories. The first two seasons developed the new personalities (they didn't remember, so they created a new history and crystalized into a family/team). In this third season, we pick up with the burgeoning corporate war and our crew navigating how to "do good". I really enjoyed the storytelling and the world created, but lost interest in the characters along the way. I think they have run their course for me, without enough depth to sustain my care for any longer. So interesting, but ultimately succumbs to formula (read boring).
2 stars

Free Fire

A gun deal gone wrong. In an out of the way warehouse, a gun dealer is making a sale when, due to a series of character idiosyncrasies, the deal falls apart and both buyer and seller need to extricate themselves from the sale... via gun battle of course. So effectively, this is the warehouse version of Everly, but without the unknown motivation. Here everything is out in the open, and the gun battle takes the entire film. Character depth (such as it is) needs to be developed between bullets. An interesting challenge, I am sure, as a filmmaker, and therefore I would say this is definitely an "art film", in the grindhouse tradition. I kept with it, wondering where it would go. Alas... nowhere...
2 stars

Wheelman

The getaway driver for a heist is contacted mid-heist via "the guy who hired him" and told to drive away with the goods. So he does, double crossing his partners in crime. And now he needs to find out what is going on (since "the guy who hired him" was connected to him through his crime broker friend). This feels like a cross between Locke and Baby Driver. Though not as good individually as either film, it has a look & feel that I like with the driver (and hence viewer) effectively tied to the vehicle throughout. Picking up and dropping off passengers, we are always from the point of view of the car (mostly) and it makes for a fun perspective on the action-drama.
4 stars (out of 5)

John Wick 2

Again, this is an extremely effective film in its genre. Keanu Reeves reprises his role as Wick, maintaining the same cold, brutal demeanor as the first. Wick is basically indestructible, by bullet or by impact as he continues to exact revenge on everyone who challenges him. Here he refuses to honor a debt from his days as an assassin, so a bounty is put on his head. He needs to basically kill everyone to stay alive (but never an innocent civilian). Dark, moody, brutal, and persistent.
3 stars (out of 5)