KEANU REEVES - RAZZIE & RAZZIE REDEEMER? 
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE BEST & THE WORST
by Raleigh Welch


This year Keanu Reeves is on a winning streak, hitting the ground running with John Wick 3, Toy Story 4 and a cameo in Netflix’ Always Be My Maybe.  In contrast, he stumbled out of the gate at the beginning of 2019 with the cinematic mess, Replicas, giving himself a shot at Hollywood’s most humbling award, a Razzie.  How can someone be Razzie worthy and worthy of our Razzie Redeemer Award in the same year?    
Let’s take a look at the best and the worst of Keanu Reeves.
 
THE BEST:
The Matrix (1999) – While its sequels would earn some Razzie nominations, there's no denying that this film is a masterpiece. This is still the Reeves film against which we measure the others. There are so many iconic moments in this film: the red and blue pills, the dojo fight, and—of course—the bullet dodge. Keanu cemented himself as one of the world's leading action stars, continuing even now that he is well into his 50s.
Bill and Ted (1989) – This movie is timeless. Alex Winter as Bill remains, to this day, Keanu's best on-screen pairing. Theodore "Ted" Logan is probably Reeve's most quotable role to date, and this film's fun take on time travel and colorful cast of characters keep it rockin'. We hope that Bill & Ted Face The Music will be “most excellent.”
John Wick (2014) – John Wick relaunched Reeves' career. It's hard to find a better role for him than this. Every special feature or behind-the-scenes commentary shows that he put a lot of work into and had a lot of fun making this film. The fight choreography is out of this world, and a welcome return to form to his Matrix days. But you don't need us to tell you that, you probably just saw John Wick 3: Parabellum. 
Speed (1994) – Keanu plays alongside Sandra Bullock, another critically acclaimed actor who's well known at the Razzies. It's hard to believe that this movie came out a year after Much Ado About Nothing, and a year before Johnny Mnemonic and A Walk In the Clouds. It really proves that with Keanu it's all about where you place him. And if you place him on a bus with a bomb, you're bound to have a great picture.
Point Break (1991) – It's like watching Ted Logan grow up and join the FBI. This movie could have easily been a comedy or a parody with the premise of "FBI surfer agent", but it takes itself completely seriously and it just works. Reeves is perfect here, toeing the line between lovable goofball and gritty action star.
 
THE WORST: 
Hardball (2001)- This swing-and-miss was released the same year as Sweet November, both of which together earned Keanu a Worst Actor Razzie nomination. Lots of Reeve's worst movies have something in common: they're run-of-the-mill carbon copies of other films. Here, this sports genre picture almost reaches Dodgeball levels of parody.
Chain Reaction (1996) – Even though Keanu is the most sought-after action star in the world right now, he's not the secret ingredient to every action movie. Here he plays a Harrison Ford-type, wrongly accused and out of his depth, in-universe and out. 
The Watcher (2000) - It took a while for Keanu Reeves to perfect his performance as cold hard killer. What could have been a nice cameo for Law & Order instead forced itself into a feature film. Here, he follows a trend of charismatic serial killers…and was convincing as neither.

A Walk in the Clouds (1995) – Keanu has a lot of trouble with period pieces. And romance pieces. A Walk in the Clouds plays to all of Keanu's weaknesses, but Hollywood will probably never be done trying to cast him in romantic leads. 
Sweet November (2001)– This movie proves that the only onscreen pairing for Bill is Ted (isn't he Ted?). It's hard to think of a movie in which Reeves and his costar have strong romantic chemistry. As handsome as Reeves is, he isn't believable in romantic roles. 
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)– Before The Matrix reinvented cyberpunk, Johnny Mnemonic nearly sunk it. This sci-fi action romp shows just how much skill goes into making good cyberpunk movies. This one screams cheese, which is fun if you're into that sort of thing (and we certainly are). It has an outlandish premise that leads to a lot of inadvertently hilarious line deliveries(? A bit awk). Keanu is not at all believable in it, but little did we know that he would actually be the "future's most wanted man".
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) - Angelica Jade Bastién wrote that Reeves "missed his calling as a silent film actor". By that metric, Shakespeare is the absolute worst place you can put him. This may be Keanu Reeves' most infamous role as it tortured a generation of High School English students forced to watch it. 

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Ten 2019 Movies to Watch Out for at The 40th Annual Razzies® 
by Raleigh Welch

Turns out the revolution will be televised! The 40th Annual Razzie Award Show will blast off one night before the Oscars to every ivory tower, every little mudhut and iWatch on earth.  Now the stakes are higher than ever!  So, what’s racing to the Razzies this year? 
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Hellboy: Hellboy just isn’t the same without Guillermo del Toro, and the fans (and critics) noticed. This film crowned itself as the first bomb of the year, falling short of its $50 million dollar budget at the box office. 
Dark Phoenix : What was supposed to be redemption for the X-Men franchise was instead a nail in its coffin. Dark Phoenix butchered one of the most iconic comic storylines, along with the good will fans had for the series. X-Men fans were dying for a reason to love these films, but Fox wasn’t ready to hand them one just yet. 
Replicas: Ironically, this movie about a man trying to recreate his family feels itself like a clone of some other movie. Not even Keanu Reeves at the height of his fame could make audiences watch this. Unfortunately it’s not quite bad enough to venture into “so bad it’s good” territory. Keanu is no stranger to the Razzies, with seven nominations total and a Razzie Redeemer nomination--he’s a regular here. So maybe he’s trying to earn both Worst Actor for this film and the Razzie Redeemer award for John Wick 3? That would be a first!
A Madea Family Funeral : Tyler Perry is the Razzie gift that keeps on giving. At this point, we wonder if he can stop making these films. This could easily be a contender in any and every category: Worst Screenplay (Tyler Perry), Worst Director (also Perry), Worst Actor (Perry again), Worst Actress (yep, Perry again), and/or Worst Screen Couple (a two-fer -- Perry & Perry!). Allegedly, this may be the final Madea movie…but we here at the Razzies sure hope not. 
Hustle – This female-led remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was as rotten and scoundrelous as fans and critics attested. We’ve gotten reports that some members find this one so amusingly bad that they’ve actually subjected themselves to seeing it more than once!
Glass : With a combined nine Razzie Nominations, M. Night Shyamalan will always make our watchlist. While Glass isn’t The Last Airbender, it’s also not The Sixth Sense. Superhero films that don’t quite fly are always a smash at the Razzies, and with MNS at the helm, what could go wrong…did go wrong.
Wonder Park : This film has no credited director. That’s right. For the first time in Razzie history, the title of Worst Director might be “won” by…literally nobody.
Serenity: Mathew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway have won a lot of awards, but neither have won a Razzie… yet. That may change with this box office bomb, which crashed before it even left harbor. Critics and audiences alike panned it. The greatest mystery of this film is how it attracted such starpower.
Godzilla: This monster of a movie didn’t make as much of a smash at the box office as it would have liked. With so many other franchises out there, there doesn’t seem to be room for the Warner Brothers Cinematic Monster-Verse. This Godzilla hasn’t been able to ignite the series, but maybe Zilly can make a big splash at the Razzies this year.
Rambo: Last Blood - we can't say enough - just see it!

We’re halfway to the finish line and already there’s a lot of Razz to contend with -  Let us know your favorite potential 2019 Razzie contender in the comments.