WARWICK SHOWCASE
BALLERINA * * * (Action-Packed Violence)
This is not about the Bolshoi Ballet, folks! It is about a sweet young girl who watches her father be murdered, is …
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BALLERINA
* * *
(Action-Packed Violence)
This is not about the Bolshoi Ballet, folks! It is about a sweet young girl who watches her father be murdered, is instructed in a school for assassins, seeks revenge and ends up wiping out an entire village.
Ana de Armus plays Eve, the grown-up little beauty who is a lean, mean killing machine. She can take on a dozen men at once but can’t pirouette to save her life.
The fifth in the John Wick series, “Ballerina” focuses on the brutal, exciting, violent life of Eve as she kills her way through a cult of bad guys and gals before reaching her final destination. Reeves appears briefly.
Eve uses her wits, guns, knives, dinner plates, swords, vases, legs and anything else at her disposal, never blinking as she shows no mercy. So, what’s new about the genre? Flame throwers! The final battle is about as violent as it can get as flame throwers and grenades are wielded. If this is your idea of entertainment, you will find it very exciting and super violent.
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME
* * ½
(Wes Anderson’s Latest Eccentricity)
With director Wes Anderson, either you are on board with his eccentricity or you are not. We are not, although I sat for an hour and 40 minutes at the Avon with a bunch of young fans who were definitely on board.
I just don’t get the stilted language, confusing plots and messages he sends to his fans. My attraction to his filmmaking lies in the way he frames every scene, like the masterpieces you see on the walls of many of his sets.
Anderson jumps around, goes off on tangents and leaves you hanging. His fans love the techniques, but he too often loses me.
His latest has Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) a rich, shady businessman flying around the globe making unscrupulous deals. His plane has mysteriously crashed six times, and he always survives. He has a house full of sons, but chooses his 20-year-old daughter Liesl to learn his business and become his successor. Liesl happens to be a nun but decides to follow her father around the world making deals with weird government people.
Anderson fills the cameo roles with the likes of Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston and many more.
Anderson has many fans who love his unique movie-making style and flock to his weird movies. We are not among them.
Janiyah (Taraji P. Henson plays a poor, Black single mom who is having a very bad day. She lives in a rundown apartment until her landlady evicts her and throws her belongings out in the rain. Her daughter is ill, and she can’t afford her medication or the school lunch fees. She gets fired. A policeman runs her off the road as she races to the bank to withdraw her meager funds.
Returning to work, she becomes involved in a robbery and deadly shooting. Making it to the bank as it closes, she tries to cash her check but is mistaken for a bank robber. Then the fun begins.
Janiyah snaps, holds everyone hostage as she tries to explain her situation, but the scene only gets worse as the cops arrive and she ends up on the local news. The bank teller and a female cop become sympathetic, but law enforcement gets carried away and the scene becomes extremely tense.
Tyler Perry has written some good dialogue and given the movie a good ending. While I hesitated to watch a Tyler Perry movie (Can’t stand those Madea flicks) I was glad I watched this different side of the writer/director.
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