Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the bullet ballet of “Ballerina,” fishy thriller “Dangerous Animals” and the horror comedy “I Don’t Understand You.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic anchor Stephanie Tsicos to talk about the the bullet ballet of “Ballerina,” fishy thriller “Dangerous Animals” and the exorcism flick “The Ritual.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 28:18)
I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres this week including the bullet ballet of “Ballerina,” fishy thriller “Dangerous Animals,” the horror comedy “I Don’t Understand You,” the animated “Predator: Killer of Killers” and the exorcism flick “The Ritual.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the Bell Media Radio Network national night time show “Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift” for “Booze & Reviews!” This week I review “Ballerina,” the latest film in the “John Wick Universe” and tell you about the place where real and fictional hitpeople hung out and an assassin’s cocktail.
Listen HERE as Shane and I talk about the celebrity tattoo regret and Sydney Sweeney, celebrity entrepreneur.
Click HERE to hear my Booze & Reviews review of “Ballerina” and learn about the bars hitmen hang out at.
I join CP24 to talk about the big movies hitting theatres this week including the bullet ballet of “Ballerina,” fishy thriller “Dangerous Animals” and the Netflix series “Sirens.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the bullet ballet of “Ballerina,” fishy thriller “Dangerous Animals,” the horror comedy “I Don’t Understand You,” the animated “Predator: Killer of Killers” and the exorcism flick “The Ritual.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: Taking place between the events of “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Ballerina,” sees Ana de Armas as a newly minted Ruska Roma assassin looking to exact revenge for her father’s death. “Your childhood was taken from you,” says her mentor (Anjelica Huston), “It’s that pain that drives you.”
CAST: Ana de Armas, Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Anjelica Huston, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves. Directed by Len Wiseman.
REVIEW: A sequel ready spin-off of the “John Wick” movies, it’s a shame that “Ballerina’s” storytelling isn’t quite as agile as its main character.
The origin story of Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), “Ballerina” begins with childhood trauma. After witnessing the murder of her father at the hands of a killer cult, she follows in the footsteps of John Wick to become a highly trained Ruska Roma assassin.
With vengeance on her mind, and “Lux in tenebris,” a Latin phrase that translates to “light in darkness” tattooed on her back, she vows to hunt down the man responsible for the father-sized void in her life.
The story of rules and consequences—”When you deal in blood there must be rules or nothing matters,” says Ruska Roma Director (Angelica Huston)—borrows the framework of “John Wick” but forgets to bring the fun.
The first Wick film was a masterclass in restrained filmmaking. Well, perhaps that’s not exactly the word, the body count is too high to be considered restrained, but it was economical in its approach. The stripped-down storytelling eliminated any excess. From its set-up to blood-soaked finale, it was uncompromisingly lean and mean.
“Ballerina’s” approach feels overstuffed and yet slack by comparison. Director Len Wiseman allows the story to get tangled up as he interweaves the tale of Eva’s vengeance with Wick’s Wild World of Assassins.
Our introduction to Eva should come with high stakes. If John Wick is willing to reign holy hell down on the men responsible for the death of his dog, imagine what Eva could do to avenge her father. There will be blood, but because we only see the father at the beginning of the film, the stakes don’t seem all that elevated. Instead, “Ballerina” is a series of Wickian set pieces supervised by Chad Stahelski that provide the appropriate amount of gun-fu and face stomping, etc that you would expect, but apart from two standout sequences the action has a sameness that made me agree with Gabriel Byrne’s character when he said near thew end of the movie, “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
Two of the action scenes, however, deliver the kind of inventiveness you expect from a Wick movie. A high kicking set piece in a restaurant features a plate smashing scene that is funny, a bit ridiculous and creative and a literal fire fight adds visual pizazz but much of the action looks like generic video game violence.
“Ballerina” delivers on the franchise’s promise of a high body count but suffers from low stakes and a serious case of “off-shoot-itis.” Stuck somewhere between trying to replicate the vibe of the Wick films and forging a new path within that universe, it’s mired in the mushy middle.
Quentin Tarantino what have you wrought? Every now and again a movie comes around by one of Tarantino’s acolytes that tries to emulate the master, but, instead, slips into parody. “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” is such a movie. The only thing that prevents director Troy Duffy’s follow up to the original cult film from being an out-and-out send-up of Tarantino’s tough guy revenge genre pictures is the absence of Leslie Nielsen.
Ten years after the first installment the pious but deadly MacManus brothers, Connor and Murphy (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) are back on American soil after a long exile in rural Ireland. They had been living a quiet life, tending sheep (I’m not kidding) and letting their hair grow to unruly lengths, but when their favorite Boston priest is killed they leave the sheep behind and return to their former lives as vigilante Mafioso killers. Joining them are new recruit Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.), Southern belle and FBI special agent, Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz) and Poppa M (Billy Connolly). Bullets, bad accents and religious iconography abound as they bring their own brand of justice to the mean streets of Boston.
Duffy hasn’t made a movie since 1999 and it shows. “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” plays like a bloated 1990’s Mötley Crüe music video, complete with slow motion sequences and Julie Benz in FBI issue dominatrix heels. The only things missing are dry ice and a drum solo, and I’m pretty sure those will be in the director’s cut.
Story wise it has all the depth of a UFC match and is just about as well acted. Everyone from the above the title credits does their worst work here, and Peter Fonda actually hands in a career ending performance as The Roman, an enigmatic figure who appears at the end of the film. And when, exactly, did Billy Connolly become a Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins impersonator? Even Clifton Collins Jr, a gifted actor who shone very brightly recently in “Sunshine Cleaning” doesn’t fare very well, although, to be fair, it’s hard to shine when you have to recite lines like, “This isn’t rocket surgery, you know.” Ouch. That line would make Ed Wood Jr. proud.
Maybe I have it wrong. Maybe Duffy meant to make a tough guy parody, but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels more like fourth rate Tarantino. All the trademarks are here. There’s the movie references—QT cites an exotic blend of kung fu movies, Goddard and 70s exploitation; Duffy references “Panic Room,” a middling 2002 Jody Foster thriller. Then there’s the “hip” soundtrack—Tarantino mines a deep well of soundtrack and pop music, Duffy doesn’t. It just all feels like warmed over leftovers.
In what may be the defining scene of “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” Judd Nelson, as mafia boss Concezio Yakavetta, reenacts the famous Al Capone baseball bat scene from “The Untouchables,” only this time, instead of a Louisville slugger he uses a salami to make his point. And that choice pretty much sums up the entire movie—ham-fisted and meat headed.
