Buzz Blog

Ballerina ***
“From the World of John Wick” promises the marketing title of this spinoff/“sidequel” to the action franchise, which is a pretty high bar to reach after the Keanu Reeves films spent a decade setting the standard for crunching action choreography. This story follows a different quest for righteous vengeance, as Eve (Ana de Armas)—an orphan raised by the Ruska Roma and their Director (Anjelica Huston) in the ways of armed and unarmed badassery—risks everything by picking a fight with the cultish leader (Gabriel Byrne) responsible for the death of her father. As de Armas demonstrated in her supporting role in No Time to Die, she’s got the chops to make a convincing action star, and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) does a yeoman job of providing the creative carnage, finding deadly use for everything from flame-throwers to ice skates, and inserting wonderfully goofy bits like the search for a gun under a pile of dropped plates in a restaurant. The dense mythology that provided so much of the fascinating foundation for that “world of John Wick” isn’t nearly as present here, and it perhaps doesn’t do this story any favors that all the other characters from the John Wick movies—including the Baba Yaga himself—keep reminding you that you’re not really watching a John Wick movie. It’s still a satisfying bit of genre craziness, of a quality that wouldn’t make it so surprising to see another future movie advertised as being “From the World of Ballerina.” Available June 6 in theaters. (R)

Dangerous Animals ***
A B-movie that understands how to optimize its intrinsic B-movie-ness is a rare thing indeed, so all credit to director Sean Byrne (The Devil’s Candy), screenwriter Nick Lepard and company for understanding how to package all their ingredients just so. It’s the story of Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), an American surf-tourist in Australia who finds herself in the clutches of Tucker (Jai Courtney), a madman with a fondness for feeding his victims—alive—to the sharks. The narrative is mostly an enclosed-space survival thriller, which requires some creative thinking to keep the tension high before running out of steam, and the filmmakers keep finding new (and squirm-inducing) tricks up their sleeve set to a terrific score by Michael Yezerski. They also oversee an impressive battle of wills—and various sharp implements—between the two principals, with Courtney leaning into his menacing physicality and Harrison pulling off an impressive twist on a young-Jennifer-Lawrence brand of ferocity. There are a few stumbles along the way, from a not-particularly-convincing romantic interest (Josh Heuston) for Zephyr, to an excess of Tucker monologuing, to a “game recognize game” moment between human and wild animal that’s a bit too silly for the general vibe. Mostly, though, you get 90 minutes of satisfying genre action of a kind that grasps the simple math of “serial killer + sharks + appealing heroine” that can turn a B-movie into a B+. Available June 6 in theaters. (R)

The Phoenician Scheme ***1/2
See feature review. Available June 6 in theaters. (PG-13)

Predator: Killer of Killers ***1/2
I can’t ever recall a situation where a franchise that has existed for decades—and has almost never been more than passable—suddenly became fascinating thanks to one person taking charge. But that seems to be what has happened with the Predator brand, after Dan Trachtenberg oversaw the terrific 2022 prehistoric prequel Prey, and now has given an animated spin to everyone’s favorite mandible-faced, dreadlocked, occasionally invisible extra-terrestrial hunters, and it’s an absolute winner. Co-directing with visual-effects veteran Joshua Wassung, Trachtenberg presents an omnibus narrative capturing three individuals who battle with Predators across time—a 9th-century Viking warrior (Lindsay LaVanchy); a 17th-century ronin (Louis Ozawa); and a World War II-era American pilot (Rick Gonzalez)—before finding themselves pitted against one another in a life-or-death tournament. As is generally true of episodic films, there’s a risk of one segment ending up overwhelming the others, and the mostly-wordless Japan-set story definitely offers the most arresting images and terrifically-choreographed action. Yet every one of the segments is effective in its way, employing the stylized animation to give both the graphic violence and the story beats a genuine pop. The “Easter eggs” involving previous installments are an unfortunate reminder of our fan-service era, but with another Trachtenberg-directed live-action Predator feature on tap for this year, the revival of this franchise now feels like a promise rather than a threat. Available June 6 via Hulu. (R)

The Ritual *1/2
I suppose it makes a certain kind of sense, presuming the Catholic rites of exorcism are consistent over time, that movies about those rites would demonstrate a certain sameness. But making sense doesn’t make something interesting, and this “based on true events” thriller just never makes a case for why it needed to exist. The 1928 case of Iowa woman Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen)—whose attempted release from demonic possession was overseen by parish priest Fr. Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens) and Capuchin friar Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino) over several well-documented weeks—feels like it’s just ticking off all the boxes of every component The Exorcist established as de rigeur. Younger priest experiencing personal trauma and a crisis of faith? Check. Projectile vomiting and bouncing bedframes? Check. Guttural voices in languages unknown to the victim? Jawohl. Director/co-writer David Midell sets his shaky-cam on “Richter Scale 7.3” in an attempt to artificially manufacture tension, and throws in obligatory jump-scares whenever that isn’t quite working. Nothing, however, generates an actual feeling of dread, or that bone-deep sense that you’re in the presence of evil. Pacino and Stevens may have been directed like they’re performing in completely different movies—the former dialing things down to the level of chamber drama, the latter going full bug-eyed exploitation pic—but this ultimately still feels like a dozen similar religious-horror tales you’ve seen before, only less so. Available June 6 in theaters. (R)