I’ve finally determined that I’ve just been too dang busy to make any real dent in my movie list. Which is a shame, and I am going to be trying really hard to remedy that this month. But anyway, here’s what made the cut this weekend.
Ballerina – Marketed with a super long and silly name just to let you know it’s part of the John Wick universe. Though, those who had seen the trailer even just once saw him pop up. Anyway, I suppose slapping the John Wick name on it there somewhere makes it more marketable. What I did learn just prior to heading into the theater was that this particular spin-off was taking place between the events of the third and fourth John Wick films. Truthfully, I don’t really recall a lot of the details in those last two films, so that bit of knowledge really didn’t mean much to me except that it does kind of explain how Wick is able to show up. In this film, Eve loses her father tragically to a ruthless cult and is then made part of the Ruska Roma. It’s not until she’s much older that she encounters that cult again and is dead set on exacting her revenge. The story ends up being a little more complicated than that, but the actions scenes scattered throughout here were much more fun to sit through than the most recent Mission Impossible. Sorry, Tom. With all that said, I really enjoyed my time in the theater watching this film and I know I wouldn’t be mad if Eve got some more future screen time.
The Phoenician Scheme – I love Wes Anderson, so I was absolutely tickled to learn of his new film releasing only just a little over a month prior. I felt like a failure for not realizing that he had a new film in the pipeline for 2025. This film is perhaps the most Wes Anderson-y film that Wes Anderson has ever made. It’s quirky, detailed, blunt, and bright. The dialogue is quick and witty, and the plot was fun and chaotic. In this particular film, Benicio del Toro plays Zsa-Zsa Korda, an industrialist with a few illegal habits, who is intent on opening up several large projects much to the chagrin of many world governments. They make it their mission to shut these projects down, but Korda plans to win more favor from his investors before everything falls to bits. He brings along his eldest, and only daughter, studying to become a nun, along this journey to try and convince her to take over his business should he meet an untimely death. The cast of characters here are super A-list, and they are all magnificent. Another main cast member in Michael Cera is so perfect that it almost doesn’t make sense that he hasn’t been in an Anderson film before. While this wasn’t my favorite work from Anderson, I still enjoyed it very, very much.