Keanu Reeves

Speed(1994)

Great Movie Re-Watch

Speed(1994)

Director:

Jan De Bont

Writer:

Graham Yost

Starring:

Keanu Reeves

Dennis Hopper

Sandra Bullock

Jeff Daniels

Blurb:

A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.

Thoughts:

Speed is an obvious movie that I would own. I honestly remember where I was the first time I watched it. I was thirteen or fourteen and I watched a TV recording of it on my grandmother’s little 19 inch TV/VCR. The rest of the summer I went around telling people they were crazy, freakin crazy. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I found out that is not exactly what was said there.

At the time I loved the movie because Keanu Reeves was freaking hot. Now I love it because he’s freaking hot and it’s a legitimately good action movie. It’s the first 90s action movie I’ve watched, that I own, that has that 90s action movie feel. If that makes sense.

You’ve got the explosions and the need to not slow down. You’ve got a pretty boy that isn’t too muscular. You’ve got an attractive and capable woman, who does become a damsel in distress at some point. You’ve also got an unsaturated/filtered look at LA. Putting on my old lady hat for a second, but movies nowadays are all about that blue/brown/green filter and I’m over it.

Speed has a psych-out ending, where it comes to what you’d think is the logical conclusion, but nope there’s even more. You get automobiles and trains, maybe we’ll get an airplane in the sequel (you do not, it’s not worth owning, but I still occasionally watch it).

In conclusion, Speed is a great 90s action movie.

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Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)

Director:

Peter Hewitt

Writers:

Chris Matheson

Ed Solomon

Starring:

Keanu Reeves

Alex Winter

William Sadler

Joss Ackland

Blurb:

A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.

Thoughts:

I almost didn’t watch Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. Like Excellent Adventure I’ve watched it pretty recently and it’s not my favorite in the series. I put it off while I debated, but ultimately decided since I’d already written a post for the first one it wasn’t fair not to do one for the second.

So here we go. Bogus Journey is the darkest of the trilogy, even with the end of the world happening in the third movie. Bill and Ted actually die and there’s a scene in hell where they deal with their worst nightmares. The nightmares aren’t scary, but they are a little trippy.

The movie as a whole is a bit out there and adds a supernatural element to the series that wasn’t there. We had time travel, but it was assumed to be science based. Now we’ve got Death playing bass and losing Battleship. There’s even a conversation with God and an alien species. They went all out.

It still ends fairly positive, but it doesn’t have that same upbeat feeling throughout. In the original the stakes weren’t as high and death certainly wasn’t involved. Death was the best addition to the movie, though. His scenes were always funny and I’m glad he returned in the last movie.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Director:

Stephen Herek

Writers:

Chris Matheson

Ed Soloman

Starring:

Keanu Reeves

Alex Winter

George Carlin

Blurb:

Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine.

Thoughts:

I’ve watched Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure relatively recently. Still, I re-watched it. It’s such a feel-good movie that it’s hard to resist. It has a lot of quotable lines. It’s funny. There’s also time travel. It was made for me.

Surprisingly, it was a hit at its release. So many of my movies were slow burns, not finding their audience until years later. It’s nice to know that Bill & Ted have always been enjoyed. Hollywood, why can’t you make more lovable stoners?

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)

Director:

Peter Hewitt

Starring:

Keanu Reeves

Alex Winter

William Sadler

Plot:

A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.

Review:

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is still fairly fresh in my mind, but the movies are SO different I’m not sure you’d be that lost if you’d never seen the first.

Bill and Ted still have their princesses, they are still pretty stagnant in life, and their band is still what kicks off a future utopia.

Unknown to them evil robot doppelgangers have been sent back in time to stop them so that the future can be less excellent and much more serious and boring. What ensues is a seriously trippy bizarre trip through hell limbo with Death.

The ending is what you’d expect and shows the beginnings of their band. It’s funny and optimistic and sometimes exactly what you need.

BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER!

4/5

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Director:

Stephen Herek

Starring:

Alex Winter

Keanu Reeves

George Carlin

Plot:

Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine.

Review:

This is the second time I’ve watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and I’m so happy to say that it’s as awesome as I remember. Yes there was a moment where they used a word that is offensive now, but it was such a minor moment and you know they would never intentionally hurt someone, so it was easy for me to let it slide.

Bill, Alex Winter, and Ted, Keanu Reeves, are teenage boys that want to start a band. They know they will be excellent when it finally all comes together, but they have to first tackle the hurdle of passing history class. Introduce Rufus, George Carlin, with the gift of a time machine and hijinks ensue.

The movie takes somewhat dumb high school boys and takes them throughout history. There aren’t really any positive female representation which is a bit of a bummer, but it’s really a sign of the time it was made in so I accept it. Hopefully, if a third is ever made we will get to see some better female characters. Though, it’s possible in Bogus Journey things are better, I just don’t remember.

If you haven’t seen Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure it’s definitely worth a watch, at the very least because you get to see a young Keanu Reeves before he became an action star.

Be excellent to each other!

5/5