Ballerina

Ballerina Year: 2025 Rating: R Length: 124 minutes / 2.07 hours I can appreciate that the relatively new John Wick franchise feels that it already has enough lore to expand into spinoff territory. Ballerina (2025) attempts to expand on the classy, pseudo-religious world of organized crime families by focusing on someone other than John Wick (Keanu Reeves) for once. And while its execution doesn’t feel terribly original with some of the tropes it chose, Ballerina is still a fun action film that relies on fantastic stunt work, just like the other four movies in the John Wick franchise. While Wick can usually just muddle through all the violence he has to endure to achieve his goals, Eve (Ana de Armas) needs to be smarter with her engagements. While there’s sexism in the message that she’ll never be physically strong enough to subdue her targets, it feels fresher having the action be more about her speed and agility (because of course female assassins are all dancers)....

Leap!Year: 2016Rating: PGLength: 89 minutes / 1.48 hours In searching for movies to watch with my daughter, I figured Leap! (2016) was a good fit since she is actively interested in dance/ballet. She seemed to enjoy it, but I wasn’t entirely impressed. I’m willing to give animated films a try when they aren’t from big studios with lots of gravitas, but this one felt just generic enough as to be almost indistinguishable from the swath of cheap direct-to-streaming fare that clogs these services. I will grant that the animation looks pretty good for 2016, but visuals aren’t the only thing that makes these kinds of movies tick. The story in Leap! is mostly your generic “follow your dreams” fare that most movies directed at kids have done before. Common tropes of persevering and working hard are here, as usual, but with the slightly more troubling trope of lying to catch a break. Sure, gatekeeping isn’t a great way to discover new talent,...

Tag: Ballerina

MOVIE: Ballerina (2025)

MOVIE: Leap! (2016)