The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Karate Kid Legends & John Wick Ballerina Double Feature
Grab your popcorn and settle in for a double feature that delivers exactly what movie fans crave! This week, we're diving into two action-packed films that might be flying under the radar but deserve your attention.
First up is "Karate Kid Legends," the latest installment in the beloved franchise starring Jackie Chan as Mr. Han and Ralph Macchio returning as Daniel LaRusso. Following kung fu prodigy Lee Fong as he navigates challenges in New York City, this film strikes the perfect balance between honoring its legacy and forging its own path. What makes it special? It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel—instead, it focuses on telling an inspiring story with heart, humor, and satisfying martial arts sequences. And don't leave when the credits roll—Cobra Kai fans will be rewarded with a delightful surprise!
Then we shift gears completely with "From the World of John Wick: Ballerina," starring Ana de Armas as Eve, a Ruska Roma assassin on a revenge mission. While the acting occasionally ventures into cheesy territory, the film delivers the spectacular, brutally choreographed action sequences that John Wick fans crave. When Keanu Reeves appears on screen as the legendary hitman himself, the movie kicks into an even higher gear. Both films earned a solid 4.5/5 rating, not because they're revolutionary cinema, but because they confidently deliver exactly what they promise.
What's puzzling is how both films are struggling at the box office despite their entertainment value. Have we become too demanding of our popcorn movies? Sometimes pure entertainment is exactly what we need. Have you seen either film? I'd love to hear your thoughts—and if you're passionate about movies, reach out about joining me as a guest on a future episode!
The weekend's here. It's time to unwind. Grab your snacks, leave the week behind. Blockbusters classics, they're all on the way. Let's kick it off with Cinema Saturdays.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to another Cinema Saturday episode of the Couch Critic. I am your host, nathan, and that's right. This is a Cinema Saturday. I promised because I missed last Saturday. I promised I was going to do one this Saturday and here I am, and it is a double feature.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be talking about two movies Karate Kid Legends, the world of john wick ballerina. Let's talk about karate kid legends first. Before I can talk about the movie, I have to go over the synopsis. After kung fu prodigy, lee fong relocates to new york city, he attracts unwanted attention from a local karate champion and embarks on a journey to enter the ultimate karate competition with the help of Mr Han and Daniel LaRusso. Karate Kid Legends stars Jackie Chan as Mr Han, ben Wang as Lee Fong, joshua Jackson as Victor Lapina, sadie Stanley as Mia Lapina, ming-na Nguyen as Dr Fong and, of course, ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso.
Speaker 2:So this is a movie that my wife and I did go see. We saw it at a not new theater, but a new to us going to see movies regularly theater, but a new to us going to see movies regularly theater had recliners, it was nice, it was great and we actually really liked this movie. Was it something boom, brand new? No, it delivered exactly what you would expect from a karate kid movie, and what I actually liked about it Is that it didn't really mention the remake Karate Kid With Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. It just had Jackie Chan in it, and seeing Jackie Chan In this movie was fantastic. He was funny, he was great. Daniel LaRusso, ralph Macchio, was a great fit in this movie. They didn't lean too much into the past a little bit, obviously, they mentioned Mr Miyagi and things like that, but they didn't rely too much on the past, which I liked. But they did do something that my wife and I really, really enjoyed, and I'll talk about that in a little bit, because it is slightly not slightly, it is a spoiler of sorts, but this movie has not really done that well in the box office.
Speaker 2:I think people are expecting too much. Sometimes a movie just delivers pure entertainment. It doesn't need to be anything new, it doesn't need to add anything, it just needs to tell a good story, an inspiring story, a fun story, and that did happen in this movie. This movie did all three of those things it was inspiring, it was fun, and I forgot the third one already, but it just was a good popcorn movie. Nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible. It's a short movie. Movies need to be short. They don't need to be almost three hours long. Okay to be entertaining. This movie delivered. I like that joshua jackson was in it. I like how they didn't spoil that part of the movie in the trailer as a boxer who gets trained by Ben Wings character. I thought that was a fun twist. It was just a really, really good movie. It was a fun time. I highly recommend it. I will give Karate Kid Legends a 4.5 out of 5. I thought it was a great time. Go watch it. If you can watch it in theaters, go support it. If you have to wait for it to stream, support it when it comes to streaming.
Speaker 2:So let's move right to movie number two, and that is From the World of John Wick Ballerina. This is a spinoff, obviously, of the famous John Wick series with Keanu Reeves. Let me start right off the bat by saying you do not go see a John Wick movie for good acting. You just don't do it. That's not why you go see these movies. But before I can dive deeper into why I say that and what that means for my thoughts, I have to go over this ellipsis. An assassin trained in the traditions of the ruska ruma organization sets out to seek revenge after her father's death. From the world of john wick, ballerina stars anna de amaris as eve keanu reeves that's right. He's in this as john wick. Ian mShan that's right. He's in this as Winston. And Angelica Houston as the director Going into this movie.
Speaker 2:You don't go into a John Wick movie with high expectations. Now, I know there's going to be some people listening and they're going to say, of course you do, because the action yes, the action you expect to be awesome. What I mean is you don't go into this with high expectations when it comes to acting. A lot of the star of the movie, eve, a lot of her lines came off as cheesy. She didn't really deliver them that well, but that was like the beginning of the movie. I will say this also.
Speaker 2:This movie reminded me, even though it was a lot more entertaining. It reminded me of the Boba Fett TV show. I don't know if anyone's ever seen it. It was very boring. It was very boring the first couple episodes and then like episode six or episode seven, that's when they bring the Mandalorian on, like I believe episode six is strictly basically a Mandalorian episode because Boba Fett is nowhere to be seen, and then after that that's when the show gets good and interesting. This movie felt a little bit like that, even though the action in it I thought was a little more violent than the John Wick movies. Like there's some brutal stuff in this movie and it was very entertaining. It was just a brain in this movie and it was very entertaining. It was.
Speaker 2:It was just a brainless action movie. You don't go in there expecting brilliance, you just go in there expecting people to get beat up in in just the most awesome ways, and that's what this movie does. But I will say it picked up when keanu reeves goes onto the screen, when John Wick shows up. That's when you're like, oh yeah, it's about to go down and she goes to this village and every single person in this village it's kind of like a cult and he's like the head honcho and so everyone in this village follows this guy and so they're willing to die for this guy. And so there's all this epic fighting with almost every single person in the village except obviously the children, but everyone is just coming out of nowhere. Kind of reminds me of the movie Hot Fuzz If you've ever seen, of nowhere. It kind of reminds me of the movie Hot Fuzz. If you've ever seen that movie, it kind of reminds me of that. Well, everyone in the village just comes after these guys.
Speaker 2:It was just a fun forget-about-everything, just-watch-a-movie-action movie. That's what this was. And this movie is not doing well in the box office either, and I don't know if it's because it's a female-led John Wick movie. I don't know, I honestly don't care, because it was just such a fun time for me and I really really did enjoy it. But going back to my spoiler for Karate Kid Legends forgot to mention, at the end of the movie there's like a post-credit scene and if you've watched Cobra Kai, that was for Cobra Kai fans. Johnny shows up and it's like a really short but sweet post-credits scene and it was funny, it was fun. My wife and I really, really enjoyed that, because we really enjoyed Cobra Kai and we thought that show was fantastic and it was awesome that they acknowledged Cobra Kai in that movie, as opposed to them not acknowledging Jaden Smith's Karate Kid movie. I thought that was funny that they didn't even mention it. As far as I know, they didn't mention anything except the fact that Jackie Chan's character was in the movie, but both movies were fun.
Speaker 2:I gave a 4.5 to karate kid legends. I'm gonna give a 4.5 to from the world of john wick ballerina. I think it was a fun action film. I don't. I don't understand what people are expecting. You know, I it was, it was just a fun time. And then I go see movies where that people love and I'm like this is stupid. I usually give it like a 2.5 because I don't get what people. I don't tend to agree with majority of people and I have friends who might be listening to this who are probably shaking their heads. They're like, yeah, you do not, you do not. So thank you for listening everybody. If you are listening to this episode right now when this episode, I'm on an episode and talk about a movie. That'd be awesome. I would love to have guests on because, as you know, sometimes my good friend Katie can't come on the show. So I would love to have people come on and talk about movies, cause I don't want to be the only couch critic where every movie gets its close up.
Speaker 1:It's time to stay. Let's escape with Cinema Saturdays. So grab a seat, let the credits play. We'll see you next for Cinema Saturdays.
