Ana de Armas – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “Eden”

A star-studded affair to relish (then forget)

Frederick (Jude Law) and Dore (Vanessa Kirby) scowl at newcomers.

The “Galapagos Affair” is a fascinating and troubling true story. Multiple eyewitness accounts have been published, as well as a documentary and non-fiction books, about the incident. Director Ron Howard, no stranger to the “based on a true story” aspect of filmmaking (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon, Thirteen Lives, among others), depicts the “Galapagos Affair” in his new film, Eden, a thriller set among paradise-seeking settlers on the island of Floreana in the 1930s. Eden is a star-studden affair, a sexually-charged collision of characters unfolding in a harsh natural environment, but the crucial “why” behind the proceedings is never explored, resulting in the film’s inability to be anything more than a diverting thriller. Continue reading “Film Review: “Eden””

Film Review: “Ballerina”

Ballerina effortlessly (and violently) pirouettes into the John Wick universe

Gun fu is back! After 2023’s spectacular finale (for now), John Wick: Chapter 4, and a disappointing television series, The Continental, the John Wick universe is once again aiming to expand with Ballerina, marketed as From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, in case you didn’t know. If you also weren’t aware, Keanu Reeves reprises his role in Ballerina, a seemingly desperate inclusion by the producers to feed the fan base and add extra gravitas. Reeves is slightly overused in Ballerina. His initial cameo adds emotional weight to the titular ballerina’s plight, but the film could’ve stood solidly on its own without his reappearance in the third act, which isn’t much of a spoiler if you’ve seen any of the trailers. Ballerina is the first promising piece of John Wick universe expansion, and though the film contains plenty of flaws in its narrative logic, Ballerina is still a slick, exhilarating actioner with a bright future of potential sequel chapters. Continue reading “Film Review: “Ballerina””

Film Review: “No Time To Die”

All the Bond we love and don’t love, shaken, not stirred

Looking back, Bond considers his life choices.

Nearly fifteen years ago, the world was introduced to Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale, the sixth actor to portray the iconic British secret agent (I’m not counting David Niven). Casino Royale portrayed Bond as a gritty, brutish, and most importantly, emotional character. It was a product of the time, a post 9/11 world where terrorism was no quipping manner and audiences desired “realism” over campiness, hence the popularity of the Bourne movies leading up to Royale. And now, the Daniel Craig era comes to a close with No Time To Die, his fifth film as Bond. No Time To Die is the perfectly fitting end in just about every manner, tying in all the familiar role-players from the previous films while finally bridging Craig’s emotional brutality with the campy, spy game action of previous Bond films. The opposing sensibilities don’t always gel. So the question is — will all audiences enjoy the precarious balancing act that director Cary Joji Fukunaga squeezes within a bloated 2 hours 45 minutes? No, definitely not. Like me, many will leave the theater entertained but also confusingly disappointed. However, No Time To Die’s value will appreciate over time. Even a week after viewing it, my acceptance and understanding of the film has grown.

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Film Review: War Dogs

**Arms and the bros: Hangover director brings incredible true story to the screen**

Efraim (Jonah Hill, center) and David (Miles Teller, r.) inspect some choice merchandise in an Albanian warehouse.

The economy of war and the audacity of youth brilliantly collide in writer/director Todd Phillips’s new picture War Dogs. A heavily fictionalized dramatization of Guy Lawson’s 2011 Rolling Stone article (and later book), the film details the spectacular rise and fall of two 20-something young men from Miami Beach who became major international arms dealers during the heart of the Iraq War.
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