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The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From Ballerina to the return of Pulp: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
BallerinaOut now Ana de Armas (Knives Out, Blonde) stars in this literal spin-off of John Wick, pirouetting through events set between films three and four, as ballerina-assassin Eve Macarro. Anjelica Huston, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane and Keanu Reeves return in their respective franchise roles. Dangerous AnimalsOut now Following in the footsteps of the likes of Dead Calm and Wolf Creek, this horror movie pits a woman in a remote location against a serial killer intent on – in this instance – feeding her to sharks, in a genre movie that has the distinction of having just premiered at the Cannes film festival. Clown in a CornfieldOut now You can't keep a good clown down, or a bad clown either, for that matter. Capitalising on the cultural popularity of the demon clown (see also: IT and The Terrifier), this horror film fetures one called Frendo, and if you've read Adam Cesare's novel, you'll know already that with Frendos like this, who needs enemies. FrequenciesBarbican, London, to 31 August Dedicated to sound on the big screen, this cross-arts season includes cinema presentations of music videos by Chris Cunningham, the Daniels and Jarvis Cocker, celebrations of pirate radio, and relaxed screenings for neurodivergent folks curated by Lillian Crawford. Catherine Bray Waxahatchee8 to 11 June; tour starts GlasgowAlabama singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, AKA Waxahatchee, brings last year's critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated Tigers Blood album to the UK. Fusing Americana, folk and indie, Crutchfield's intricate melodies are anchored by a voice perfect for making increasingly larger venues feel intimate. Michael Cragg A Visit to FriendsSnape Maltings, Aldeburgh, 13 & 14 June The world premiere of Colin Matthews' first opera opens this year's Aldeburgh festival. With a libretto by novelist William Boyd, based upon a short story by Anton Chekhov and a play by Boyd himself, it is 'an opera within an opera, with music strongly influenced by Scriabin'. Andrew Clements Brighten the Corners festivalVarious venues, Ipswich, 13 & 14 June The five-venue Brighten the Corners shines a light on some of the UK's more eclectic music-makers. Headlining Friday are south London post-punk oddballs Dry Cleaning, while on Saturday it's punk duo Bob Vylan. Gruff Rhys, WH Lung and Richard Dawson are also involved. MC Clark Tracey Jazz ChampionsVerdict, Brighton, 13 June The flame of the late UK piano and composing maestro Stan Tracey burns on in the work of his drummer-bandleader son Clark, whose groups have long cherished the same wit, quirkily boppish grooving and improv punch. This fine lineup includes longtime Tracey sax heavyweights Art Themen and Simon Allen. John Fordham Liverpool BiennialVarious venues, 7 June to 14 September Ghosts of Liverpool's history, as a port that prospered in the age of empire, are likely to haunt this huge free art festival. Any angry spirits that are lurking will surely be summoned by spooky video artist Elizabeth Price. Other participants include Fred Wilson, Linda Lamignan, Sheila Hicks, Alice Rekab and more. Yoshitomo NaraHayward Gallery, London, 10 June to 31 August If you have a fear of art galleries full of kids who all stare at you with giant uncanny eyes, this may be unsettling. On the other hand if you're a fan of cute pop culture from Japan it is for you – a giant retrospective of Nara's striking multimedia oeuvre. Edward Burra – Ithell ColquhounTate Britain, London, 13 June to 19 October Two highly individual British artists from the age of surrealism for the price of one. Colquhoun painted inner visions of sex and magic, in which rocks and flesh merge in submarine sensuality. Burra is more external and satirical in his raw, even cruel depictions of the 1930s, when fascism rose. Sea InsideSainsbury Centre, Norwich, 7 June to 26 October The oceans that cover our planet are almost as mysterious as when medieval bestiaries portrayed their inhabitants as literal 'monk fish'. This exhibition enters the enigmatic undersea world through the imaginations of today's artists including Laure Prouvost and Marcus Coates, exploring human interactions with saltwater from fishing to migration. Jonathan Jones Suzi RuffellTouring to 23 NovemberMother, partner, daughter, friend, genial standup comedian: 39-year-old Ruffell's new tour show The Juggle is themed around the impossibility of excelling in all the roles her current life requires. Expect a rallying cry against perfection delivered with Ruffell's trademark goofy warmth. Rachel Aroesti StorehouseDeptford Storehouse, London, to 20 September This intriguing-sounding immersive show from new theatre company Sage & Jester unfurls across a huge storehouse in Deptford. The audience is pulled into a world where humanity's stories have been stored since the dawn of the internet. Will the defenders of Truth or keepers of Order prevail? Miriam Gillinson Come Fall in LoveManchester Opera House, to 21 June Sparky new musical comedy based on one of the biggest films in Indian cinema, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. A young British woman, Simran, embarks on a final summer of travel and freedom ahead of her arranged marriage in India – and promptly falls for laid-back lad, Roger. Directed by Aditya Chopra. MG Viva CarnivalSheffield City Hall, 12 June; The Glasshouse, Gateshead, 13 June; touring to 24 JuneOne of Strictly's very best, Oti Mabuse, launches her own carnival-inspired show, drawing on festival revelry from around the world, from Brazilian samba to Argentine tango to New Orleans jazz, and even the muddy fields of Glastonbury. She's joined by another Strictly favourite, and tango champion, special guest star Flavia Cacace. Lyndsey Winship Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion The GoldiPlayer & BBC One, 8 June, 9pmThe first series of this classy, evocative and thoroughly entertaining 1980s-set drama followed some of the small-time crooks who somehow orchestrated the notorious Brink's-Mat robbery. This time, police are searching for the other half of the bullion. Hugh Bonneville returns as the detective in charge. Flight 149: Hostage of WarNow & Sky Documentaries, 11 June, 9pm When a British Airways flight stopped off in Kuwait in 1990, its passengers were taken hostage by Saddam Hussein. Did the government know the plane was landing in a newly established war zone? This documentary covers the gobsmacking evidence. BethChannel 4, 9 June, 10pm The confusing technicalities of this thriller – it's Channel 4's 'first digital original drama' so will be broadcast on YouTube as well as linear TV – need not detract from the compelling premise: Beth revolves around a shocking mystery connected to an interracial couple who birth a white child. Abbey Lee and Nicholas Pinnock star. Not Going OutiPlayer & BBC One, 13 June, 9pm Over the past two decades, Lee Mack's knockabout comedy has quietly become one of our longest-running sitcoms (it's still a long way from overtaking Last of the Summer Wine, mind you). For series 14, the timeline jumps forward to chronicle Lee (Mack) and his wife Lucy's struggle to deal with their empty nest. RA MindsEyeOut 10 June; PC, PS5, Xbox From a former director of Grand Theft Auto comes this action techno-thriller about a former soldier with an unwelcome chip in his brain. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it comes across like a futuristic GTA (or less-futuristic Cyberpunk 2077). Dune AwakeningOut 10 June; PC, PS5, Xbox Reckon you could survive Dune's arid, pitiless hellscape of a planet? No, me neither, but Dune Awakening is built to support thousands of players fighting over spice and trying not to get eaten by giant worms. Keza MacDonald Pulp – More Out now After a 24-year break between albums, one of Britain's best bands return. Produced by James Ford, More features all the sly lyrical wit you'd expect from Jarvis Cocker, but also a hefty dose of gleaming pop as on the mighty Got to Have Love. Turnstile – Never Enough Out now After augmenting their hardcore sound on 2021's Glow On via appearances from Blood Orange and production from Mike Elizondo, the Baltimore band continue to broaden their horizons on this follow-up. On the title track the quintet add ambient textures, while Seein' Stars revels in an 80s synthpop strut. Addison Rae – Addison Out nowA TikTok star turned actor and influencer, 24-year-old Rae's debut single, Obsessed, was critically panned. Now she's one of pop's most interesting practitioners, skipping between Ray of Light-esque mood pieces (Aquamarine), trip-hop soothers (Headphones On) and sultry slow jams such as Diet Pepsi. Little Simz – Lotus Out now Ahead of her role as curator of the Meltdown festival in London, starting Thursday, rapper and actor Little Simz unleashes Lotus, an album focused on transformation and growth. While the playful Young dabbles in scratchy indie, the fiery Flood feels like the album's beating heart, Simz prowling around a sinister hip-hop beat. MC World Book ClubPodcast The longrunning BBC World Service series returns this week with a rare interview with pioneering sci-fi author NK Jemisin. Focusing on her new novel, The City We Became, Jemisin describes writing a futuristic New York. Trainwreck: The Astroworld TragedyNetflix, 11 June Largely pieced together through survivor testimony and individual video recordings, this unsettling film recounts how rapper Travis Scott's 2021 Astroworld festival performance resulted in a mass panic and crowd crush that left 10 dead. Not Another SnowflakeSubstack Journalist Nicola Kelly's weekly Substack posts are an illuminating insight into Britain's changing and often worrying political relationship with immigration. Combining original reporting and news analysis, Kelly charts Keir Starmer's ongoing attempts to implement hardline policies. Ammar Kalia
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ballerina Reviews & Rotten Tomatoes Are Good, but Not John Wick Level
Ballerina has garnered mostly positive reviews from critics and a pretty good Rotten Tomatoes score, though it's not as remarkable as some of the other entries in the John Wick franchise. The movie premieres in U.S. theaters on Friday, June 6, 2025, and follows Ana de Armas' Eve Macarro, a ballerina who starts training as an assassin in pursuit of revenge. Jonathan Sim of ComingSoon gave Ballerina a nine out of 10 rating and noted that it was 'yet another fantastic installment in this series.' Sim praised the movie's action sequences, adding that it fleshes out the 'sliver of a world we saw in John Wick 3, when Wick goes to the ballet to get help from The Director (Anjelica Huston), who ran the crime syndicate The Ruska Roma.' Screen Rant's Rachel LaBonte observed that while Ballerina might not have lived up to the 'high standards set by the previous movies,' the reviewer did have 'a good time watching it.' According to Brian Truitt of USA Today, 'There's no need to yearn for a female 007 or a woman Wick anymore – just hope for another film that's all about Eve.' TheWrap's William Bibbiani criticized Ballerina by writing that it was a 'cluttered mess with a boring storyline.' However, Bibbiani added that the action was 'amazing' in the movie and that 'there's a genuine sense of humor to all its weird duels to the death.' John Wick (2014) has an 86% approval rating on the review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes after 225 reviews. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) has an approval rating of 89% after 283 reviews. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) has also garnered an 89% rating after 357 reviews. John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) has a 94% approval rating after 383 reviews. The Continental, which originally streamed on Peacock in 2023, has a 63% approval rating for its first and only season. As for Ballerina (2025), it currently has a 78% approval rating after 80 reviews. That number will likely change after the movie premieres and more reviews are submitted.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ana de Armas' Ballerina keeps you on your toes in this action-packed thriller, writes BRIAN VINER
Ballerina (15, 125 mins) Verdict: Keeps you on your toes Rating: Nobody should be misled by the title of Ballerina into trying to take their eight-year-old daughter to see it. It's marketed as 'from the world of John Wick ' and is one of the most insanely violent films of the year. But if you like that sort of thing, and don't mind a plot so perfunctory that it's really only there to link one outbreak of murderous mayhem to the next, then Ballerina will keep you on your toes. It's propulsive, action-packed and quite thrillingly bonkers. A duel between a man with a whopping flamethrower and a woman with a thunderous hose is worth the price of admission alone. Keanu Reeves, as Wick, pops up only fleetingly, at the beginning and the end. He hasn't learnt to talk any faster since the last film, but can still load and draw a gun twice as quickly as it takes him to complete a sentence. The star turn this time is Ana de Armas, who played a CIA agent in No Time To Die (2021) but as it turns out was only taking baby steps in the shooting-and-killing business. Here she plays Eve Macarro, whom we first meet as a child watching her brave poppa being bumped off by hitmen with sinister crosses branded on their wrists. Twelve years later, under the beady eye of Anjelica Huston's director, Eve is being trained as an assassin herself. She is also being trained as a ballerina, which seems like a curious blend of careers until you see how sharply she kicks men in the crotch. Nobody makes the gag in the film, so allow me. She is The Nutcracker. Having completed her apprenticeship by executing one of her coaches, Eve is launched into the outside world as a high-class minder for rich kids at risk of abduction. Cue a crazy martial-arts sequence at one of those New York nightclubs you only see in the movies, where everyone keeps dancing even after a dozen thugs have been shot or dispatched with ice-picks. But all this is just a rehearsal. More than anything, Eve wants to nail the international criminal gang who killed her poppa, which leads her (after a spot of mass murder in Prague) to a picture-postcard Alpine village, snowy home to a ruthless cove known only as the Chancellor, suavely played by Gabriel Byrne. With every single villager on his evil payroll, the Chancellor thinks he calls all the shots. But needless to add, killing Eve isn't easy. Apart from some gloriously unlikely family dynamics, and a couple of appearances from a waxy-faced Ian McShane, that's about it. If you're not into carnage, even when it's inflicted by someone as pretty as (Tom Cruise's girlfriend) Ana de Armas, you should pirouette well clear of Ballerina. Otherwise, Len Wiseman's film is a blast. Dangerous Animals (15, 98 mins) Rating: Verdict: Horror-thriller with bite Sean Byrne's Dangerous Animals holds human life just as cheaply but isn't what you'd call a blast. It's a horror-thriller set on Australia's Gold Coast that preys on our fear of serial killers, and our fear of the deep, to give us a murderer who knocks off young women by feeding them to sharks. This is what's known in the business as a genre mash-up: Jaws meets Se7en. I suppose we can count ourselves lucky there are only two genres mashed up. Jaws meets Se7en Brides For Se7en Brothers would be too much. Heather (Ella Newton), a nervy middle-class English girl on a gap year, cannot count herself lucky. She and a fellow backpacker, a Canadian lad, make the fatal mistake of boarding a boat skippered by Tucker (Jai Courtney), a brash Aussie who advertises 'diving with sharks' experiences. Soon, the boy is a goner and Heather is in chains below decks, where in due course she is joined by Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a savvy American surfer subdued and dragged off by the monstrous Tucker. Unlike Heather, Zephyr has a few tricks up her sleeve. She also has a steamy one-night stand behind her, with hunky local estate agent Moses (Josh Heuston), who won't rest until he finds out what has happened to her. Thus the stage is set for lashings of genuinely suspenseful action and properly stomach-churning gore, although the credibility of the plot goes overboard a few times, not least when we see just how many travellers Tucker has turned into shark bait without eliciting, as far as we can tell, the slightest interest from the Gold Coast cops. That's the thing with fictional monsters; too often, their stories don't add up. Goebbels And The Fuhrer (15, 135 mins) Goebbels And The Fuhrer, on the other hand, features a pair of real-life monsters whose stories are horribly, harrowingly true. But actually the whole point of Joachim Lang's tremendously potent German-language picture is not to depict Adolf Hitler (Fritz Karl) and his devoted propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (Robert Stadlober) as monsters, rather as human beings warped and twisted by their hatred of Jews and their love of power. The film cleverly fuses drama with actual newsreel footage and, as compelling as it is disturbing, is well worth seeing. All films reviewed are in cinemas now.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
When Is ‘From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina' Coming To Streaming?
Ana de Armas in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina." From the World of John Wick: Ballerina — starring Ana de Armas and Keanu Reeves in a supporting role — is new in theaters this week. When will it be available to watch at home? Directed by Len Wiseman, Ballerina plays in Thursday previews before it opens in theaters in wide release on Friday. The logline for the film reads, 'Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Armas) who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.' In addition to Reeves, Ballerina also stars John Wick franchise cast members Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick, as well as franchise newcomers Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Norman Reedus. Currently, the only way you can see Ballerina is in theaters, so check your local listings for showtimes. When Ballerina pivots a home entertainment release, the first place it will arrive is on digital streaming via premium video on demand. New films on PVOD are generally available for digital purchase for anywhere from $19.99 to $29.99 and for a 48-hour rental for anywhere from $14.99 to $24.99. Ballerina's studio, Lionsgate generally has a three- to six-week window between the time its films are released in theaters and their arrival on PVOD. For example, the Lionsgate thriller Flight Risk opened in theaters on Jan. 24 and debuted on PVOD about three weeks later, on Feb. 14. After that, the studio released the family drama The Unbreakable Boy in theaters on Feb. 21, but it didn't arrive on PVOD six weeks later, on April 4. If Ballerina follows the same release pattern as the two titles above, it could conceivably debut on PVOD anytime between June 24 and July 15, since new films on PVOD generally arrive on Tuesdays. However, since the John Wick franchise is one of Lionsgate's most successful film series, it could take Ballerina a bit longer to arrive on PVOD. For example, John Wick: Chapter 4 made its PVOD debut on May 23, 2023, nearly two months after the film was released in theaters on March 24, 2023. If Ballerina follows the lead of the previous John Wick film's digital streaming release, then it should arrive no later than Aug. 5 on PVOD. Since Lionsgate has a deal with the platform, From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina will first be available on the STARZ streaming service when the film arrives on streaming video on demand. Generally, it takes four to four and a half months for Lionsgate films to arrive on STARZ. For example, Flight Risk arrived on SVOD on STARZ on May 24, four months after its Jan. 24 theatrical release. However, the movie adaptation of the hit video game Borderlands arrived on SVOD on the platform on Dec. 25, 2024, about four and a half months after it opened in theaters on Aug. 9, 2024. If Ballerina follows the same pattern, the film should arrive on STARZ anytime between Sept. 5 and Sept. 19. From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina plays in Thursday previews before opening in wide release in theaters on Friday.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina' Review: Dance, Killer, Dance!
With a title as cumbersome as its germinating mythology, 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina' is a stone-cold, self-infatuated effort to couple another boxcar to the franchise money train. I regret to report that Keanu Reeves's titular assassin does not appear in a tutu. He does pop in, though, ever so briefly, lest we lose interest before the promised fifth installment. Set during the events of 'John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum' (2019), 'Ballerina' is besotted with Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a lithe and lovely orphan who saw her father murdered and is obsessed with revenge. Inducted into the Ruska Roma, a cultlike clan whose ballet school fronts a contract-killer training facility, Eve practices pirouettes and punches with equal enthusiasm. Her toes are bloody, but her resolve is undimmed. A luxe orgy of mass murder, 'Ballerina' dances from one bloody melee to another, its back-of-a-matchbook plot (by Shay Hatton) driven solely by arterial motives. As Eve defies the ballet school's director (Anjelica Huston, more formidable than a roomful of Baryshnikovs) to pursue the well-protected head of a rival clan, the movie tends the franchise flame with a Wick-world checklist of familiar tropes. Like the impossibly creative, perfectly executed, utterly ridiculous fight sequences, which include Eve's father single-handedly overcoming a literal boatload of would-be assassins, or Eve laying waste to the lethal residents of an entire Austrian village. Outlandish weaponry is a given, and 'Ballerina' delights in deploying everything from expensive cookware to ice skates. There's even a hulking, Dolph Lundgren type wielding a flamethrower. From time to time, the feverish slaughter pauses respectfully to allow English and Irish acting legends to inject brief moments of gravitas. Ian McShane's menacingly dapper Winston is around to offer foster-fatherly advice and drop murky hints about Eve's true parentage, and Gabriel Byrne appears as the mysterious head of the rival family and the bearer of further familial secrets. It's all a bit much for Eve, who seems more relieved than scared when Wick himself shows up with a contract to stop her one-woman rampage. I suspect the audience will be equally thankful. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
