Jun 1, 2025

Without Further Ado, Here's Keanu


Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This weekend at the drive-in was two nights of double features starring one of my favorite actors, Keanu Reeves.  Friday night was dedicated to his sci-fi flicks while Saturday highlighted two of his most popular action films.


The first movie of the weekend was my favorite Keanu Reeves film, the 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix.  I was obsessed with this movie after I saw it for the first time on home video, and although I missed it during its first run in theaters, I managed to catch it on the big screen last April for its 25th anniversary.

I've written about this movie a few times before so I don't have too much to say about it, but it's still one of my favorite science fiction movies ever made.  I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it before, but I strongly suggest skipping over the sequels.  There's a few decent ideas in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but it's a huge drop off from the first film, and while The Matrix Resurrections started off strong, it devolved into an absolute mess after about the first twenty minutes.  The Animatrix is very good, but aside from that, I'd suggest sticking with the original and letting your imagination take over from there.


The second half of the double feature on Friday night was the 1995 sci-fi flick Johnny Mnemonic.  This has been on my watchlist for many years, and unfortunately, it still is.  It can be difficult for me to stay awake on Friday nights at the drive-in because I wake up at 5:00 am for work.  I can usually make it through the second movie with no problem as long as I'm sitting outside, but it started raining during The Matrix and it started coming down even heavier for Johnny Mnemonic.  The kiss of death was the fact that it was about 45 degrees and I had to turn the heat on in the car.  I don't think I could have stayed awake if I had an intravenous drip of Red Bull.

It looks like a pretty interesting movie from what I saw in the first 15-20 minutes.  I'm pretty bummed out that I ended up sleeping through it because I can't imagine it'll come back to the drive-in any time soon.




Our friend Wayne (left) promised Kate that he was going to show up on Saturday in "full fish" after she commented on his fish flip flops.  Unfortunately, Kate wasn't feeling well so she didn't get to see this outfit in person, but we did send her a photo.

Tom and Jen (right) may have the record for the most raffle wins at the Mahoning, so I had to snap a picture of the two of them performing the ritual of using the light on their cell phone to see if they had the winning ticket.  They didn't win this time.


Saturday night kicked off with an action film that was released in the summer of 1991, Point Break.  I've never watched this movie before, and didn't even know what it was about or who else was it it besides Keanu Reeves, so I was going into this screening with a totally blank slate, which is my favorite way to see a movie for the first time.

The action movie genre falls into kind of a weird place with me.  When I hear that a new action movie is being released, or when somebody recommends one to me, I'm usually not all that interested in it.  However, when I do manage to sit down and watch an action movie with no distractions, I usually end up loving it.  You would think after this happening numerous times that I'd realize that I really enjoy a good action flick and that I'd make more of an effort to check them out, but I don't seem to be able to clear this mental roadblock.  The new Mission Impossible movie is in theaters right now and I have no interest in going to see it (nor have I ever watched any of the other movies in the franchise) despite the fact that I'd probably like it.

Point Break was no exception to this pattern.  I loved every minute of it!  The concept of the Ex Presidents gang who rob banks in 90 seconds without ever touching the safe was brilliant.  Keanu Reeves was excellent as always, as was Gary Busey, Patrick Swayze, and Lori Petty, all of whom I had no idea were even in this movie if that tells you how little knowledge I had about it going into this screening.  On a brief side note, Lori Petty is one of my favorite actresses of all time.  She's incredible in everything I've ever seen her in.


The final movie of the King Keanu weekend was the 1994 action blockbuster Speed.  I saw this movie for the first time when it was still on the new release wall at Blockbuster Video, and I don't think I've ever seen it since.  It didn't really make too much of an impression on me.  I thought it was pretty good when I first saw it, but the countless pop culture references and parodies that it inspired, and the ridiculous sequel on a cruise ship that was released three years later have tainted my memories of this film a bit.

Seeing Speed on the big screen at the Mahoning served as a reminder of why this film was such a hit.  It's a damn good action flick that keeps the audience engaged from start to finish.  The only thing that I found schlocky was the last scene where the subway track is unfinished.  I mean, come on!  He's in another vehicle with a road that's incomplete?!  Still, this is a very enjoyable movie, but if I'm being honest, Point Break was my favorite of the two films by a wide margin.
 

And that's a wrap on King Keanu.  The folks at the Mahoning suggested that this may come back as an annual or semi-annual event.  There's enough content in the Keanu Reeves filmography to keep this going for years without showing the same movie twice, so I hope they do bring it back next year.