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Norman Reedus Joins ‘John Wick’ Spinoff Film, ‘Ballerina’

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Studios are all about the game of building out franchises or cinematic universes for the current landscape of film and television. It’s hard to believe that when John Wick was released, that Lionsgate knew they had a franchise on their hands. After three films, an upcoming fourth and an origin series about the Continental hotel, a spinoff film, Ballerina is in the works, and it’s added to its cast yet again.

According to an exclusive from Deadline, Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead, The Boondock Saints) will join Ballerina. Reedus joins an already exciting cast that includes John Wick mainstays such as Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston. The Ballerina that the title alludes to will be played by Ana De Armas, who was just recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in Blonde where she plays iconic actress Marilyn Monroe. Keanu Reeves is also expected to make a cameo as the franchise star, John Wick within the movie. Ballerina will be written by Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Army of the Dead) and directed by Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard, Underworld). Franchise creator Chad Stahelski will remain on as a producer.   

Reedus is best known for being in another popular franchise in the world of television, The Walking Dead where he played the beloved motorcycle riding tough guy, Daryl Dixon. Reedus appeared in over 170 episodes of the series before it commenced earlier this year. He’s currently shooting this film in addition to a spinoff Walking Dead series set in France. 
The actor also just wrapped filming on The Bikeriders, which is directed by Jeff Nichols.

Reedus is joined by an all-star cast in the crime drama that also features Michael Shannon, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer. The John Wick franchise has amassed over $800 million dollars for the studio and will hope to build off that success with Ballerina as well.

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Godzilla Minus One | Official Trailer #2

Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb

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Genre:

Action, Adventure, Drama

Release Date:

December 1, 2023

Director:

Takashi Yamazaki

Cast:

Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada

Plot Summary:

Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb

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The Continental Review: Not The Prequel We Needed

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Ever since Lionsgate greenlit this series in early 2017, fans of the franchise have been eagerly anticipating to see how the John Wick universe expands. 4 movies in, the John Wick franchise is widely known as one of the greatest action movie franchises of all time with our titular character (a.k.a Baba Yaga) becoming one of the most iconic and bad-ass figures ever in Hollywood. The Continental: From The World of John Wick is a prequel series that tells the story of Winston Scott and how he became the manager of New York’s The Continental branch.

 

The miniseries was developed by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward and Shawn Simmons. It is executive produced by Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, the director of all four John Wick movies. It is structured as a 3-night event told through three 90-minute episodes. The series was originally supposed to air on Starz, but the network sold it to Peacock in 2022. After 6 years in development, it finally aired on Peacock this September.

A lot has been made of the subtitle of the project ever since it was announced. The fact that the makers needed to include it says a lot about the show. It almost felt like the prime marketing asset for it many times as the other promotional material didn’t necessarily create a lot of hype for the show. Albert Hughes directed the first and third episodes, while Charlotte Branstrom directed the second, and disappointingly both directors do not bring the same novelty or creative prowess that Chad Stahelski managed to bring in the John Wick movies.

The Continental [credit: Peacock]

The show also surprisingly lacks any real star power. This franchise is one of Lionsgate’s most prized assets, so you would imagine that they would make sure to get a big cast and crew for this prequel miniseries, but they didn’t. Colin Woodell as Winston Scott is the clear standout among the cast despite delivering only a decent performance, which says a lot about the acting standards in this 3-episode miniseries. Many have criticized the casting of Mel Gibson in the series, but I personally had no issue with his performance and he’s also the most recognizable member of the cast despite having no real audience pull anymore.

 

The writing doesn’t offer too much to ponder upon or any seriously shocking turns in the story as most of the focus is on making the product as epic, badass and action-packed as possible. Some of the characters had some interesting layers to them, especially Charon (Ayomide Adegun) and Lou (Jessica Allain). Lemmy (Adam Shapiro) provides some much-needed comic relief with his witty dialogues. The structuring of the story works really well as a 3-night event which sets the high stakes and sets a standard of intensity for the narrative.

The Continental [credit: Peacock]

But the thing that people were most looking forward to, was the action and how it fared against John Wick. Unfortunately, that department was inconsistent as well. Ben Robson’s fight sequence in the early part of the first episode was great and it makes you optimistic that the action would get better from here on, but it never does. Most of the action blocks here involve explosions and guns rather than the hand-to-hand combat John Wick franchise is known for. Some of the action was awesome and some of it sadly wasn’t.

 

The Continental: From the World of John Wick brings a lot of glamour as it tries to expand its world but fails to engage with its paper-thin plot. The characters are mostly dull with a formulaic villain and misses the presence of a magnetic protagonist like Wick. A prequel about Wick’s backstory would’ve been much more interesting than this inconsistent prequel event saved by its style and some great action. It has almost enough to be its own thing but doesn’t quite have enough to match its parent movies.

 

The Continental: From the World of John Wick premieres on Peacock in the US and Prime Video in the UK and Australia on 22 September, with new episodes weekly.

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Silent Night | Official Trailer

A grieving father enacts his long-awaited revenge against a ruthless gang on Christmas Eve.

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Genre:

Action

Release Date:

December 1, 2023

Director:

John Woo

Cast:

Joel Kinnaman, Kid Cudi, Catalina Sandino Moreno

Plot Summary:

A grieving father enacts his long-awaited revenge against a ruthless gang on Christmas Eve.

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