Monday Movie Mania a Day Late - Ballerina

After the insanity of the last few weeks, DH and I went to two movies this weekend. The first was the 25th Anniversary remastered Dogma, which I contend is one of the funniest movies ever made. It's amusing how the re-release didn't attract the Christians to protest outside of the theater this time.

The second movie was the brand-new Ballerina, which is part of the John Wick universe. And frankly, I'll take that universe over this one any day. Why? Because there are rules!


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SPOILERS


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PROS
1) Ana de Armas delighted me as the innocent nurse in Knives Out, but here, she seriously kicks as Eve Macarro, a member of the Ruska Roma. (For those new to the series, the Ruska Roma are a criminal organization of assassins to which John Wick formerly belonged to.) However, Eve is a member of a side group of bodyguards known as the Kikimora, who are just as deadly when protecting their charges.

2) It was lovely to see Lance Riddick one last time in the Ruska Roma universe. Charon was always my favorite character, yes, even beyond John, because he cared for John's second dog.

3) Sharon Duncan-Brewster was criminally underused as the Director's second-in-command and Eve's mentor Nogi. Sharon has kicked ass in some of my favoite franchises (Doctor Who, Dune (2021), and Star Wars), and I'd love to see a Nogi-centered film!

4) In addition to Lance Riddick, Kenu Reeves, Ian McShane, and Anjelica Houston were back as their in-universe personas, John Wick, Winston Scott, and the Director.

5) The soundtrack was awesome, especially Evanescence front woman Amy Lee's "Fight Like a Girl"

CONS
1) My only gripe is Norman Reedus has a minor cameo as Cultist Daniel Pine, basically in a similar position as Eve's parents who tried to save their daughter from an assassin's life. However, I am thankful the writer Shay Hatten didn't try to force a romance between Daniel and Eve! (Goddess, I hate that trope! And it sure wouldn't fit in the Ruska Roma universe!)


Overall, Ballerina was a fabulous addition to the Ruska Roma universe and an awesome movie in it's own right. I give it 10 out of 10 stars!

Movie Mania Monday

Sorry, folks!  No movie reviews this weekend.

After seeing previews, DH and I thought Rise of the Planet of the Apes would be a little too intense for GK.  And the kid had no interest in seeing Conan. So we ended up watching The Big Bang Theory most of the weekend. (It's Texas and it's a hundred freakin' degrees. Not even the critters want to be outside right now.)

If I can get the book I'm currently formatting done by Wednesday (unfortunately it's freelance project, not my book), I'll head over to the theater by myself for a little ape action.  Besides, I'm a sucker for John Lithgow no matter what movie he's in.

Tuesday Movie Mania

Yes!  We made it to see Cowboys & Aliens last night!

First of all, if you want some intellectual discourse movie, well, this ain't it.  C&A is good ole' fashion B-movie pulp fun.  Director Jon Favreau treated the material with the seriousness he's treated all comic book material he's headed (Ironman, anyone?).  But that doesn't mean he and the cast didn't have a good time on the set, but they definitely don't play this campy.

I'll try not to put in spoilers, but if you haven't seen it, then STOP READING NOW!

Okay, you've been warned.

The line from the trailers about good men doing bad things and bad men doing good things was delivered by vetern Clancy Brown (Highlander, Earth-2).  He played totally against his usual type as the town preacher.  I can't say more other than his character was the proverbial hero's mentor.

More depth was given to Harrison Ford's Civil War-vet cattle baron than to Daniel Craig's man-with-no-name stranger.  But the reasoning for The-Man-With-No-Name act totally makes sense in the context of the movie.

The only bad thing I can say was the predictability in some spots.  This could have been the type of adventure story Mark Twain wrote if he had taken more of a sci-fi  bent in the 1880's (or at least more than just A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court), except I'd like to think he would have had a few more surprises.

Overall, I'd give Cowboys & Aliens a solid B+.

Movie Mania Monday

We took GK to see Captain America for his birthday.  As far as Marvel movies went it was . . .okay.

Chis Evans as Johnny Storm was one of the bright spots of the Fantastic Four movies, and he successfully downshifted for the role of Cap.  Unfortunately the bright spot in this movie was Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Phillips, who definitely did not have enough screen time.

And for the fangirl in me, the guest appearance by the Howling Commandos was a treat, except . . . where the hell was Sgt. Fury!  Seriously, I know Samuel L. Jackson's character couldn't be a ninety-year-old man, but you could have made this movie's Sgt. Fury, Col. Nick's grandpa or something. Geesh!

Yeah, yeah, I know the real U.S. armed forces weren't integrated until after WWII, but you still put Howling Commando Gabe Jones, a black private from the comic book, in the damn movie. I could have dealt with a black Sgt. Fury, and was half expecting it.  Frankly, you dropped a nice mythological connecting ball on this one, movie people.

Overall, the movie watches like the first few issues of the original Captain America series reads with some minor updates.

NOTE: In a interesting switch, the producers debuted the trailer for The Avengers movie at the END of Captain America (so if you've seen it and left before the credits go back and see it again), rather than showing it at the San Diego Comic-Con. I'm hoping the movie folks pull out all the stops on this movie, because frankly Cap isn't interesting to me unless he's butting heads with Ironman.