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Trained by the Ruska Roma, a lethal ballet troupe and the home of John Wick (Keanu Reeves), young Eve (Ana De Armas) finds herself torn between serving as a ward to various subjects as her Director (Angelica Huston) instructs, or, hunting down her father’s killers who stem from a cult of equally lethal killers. Choices will have to be made. Written by Shay Hatten and Derek Kolstad and Directed by Len Wiseman this dive back into the ultra violent cloak and dagger world of assassins thieves hits the ground running at a slightly more metered pace in terms of action frenzy, but takes an abrupt turn mid-plot to accelerate into hyper-violent space successfully achieving a rightful place in the John Wick universe. Albeit, thinly plotted and obnoxiously telegraphed plot points do draw eye rolls amongst several big “reveals.” But beyond that, De Armas has clearly put in the work, physically and training wise to pull off some of the more interesting pulp action smash sequences of the year. After all, we’re here for the chaos and carnage in a Wick based film, not the wit, prose, or thoughtful discourse. To that end, the sheer number of adversaries reduced to pink dust is high as this tiny dancer slings grenades and flamethrowers like peanuts at a baseball game. Running two hours and five minutes, audiences definitely get their dollar’s worth and a bit more, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is rated R.

In hiding for several months following the last run in with a deadly A.I. known as The Entity, Ethan (Tom Cruise) and the rest of the I.M. team find themselves called back in to action as their old nemesis, Gabriel (Esai Morales) has resurfaced with The Entity in tow and sinister intentions for humanity. Stopping the annihilation of all life on earth is the impossible mission for the final reckoning, this message will self destruct in five seconds. Written by Bruce Geller, Erik Jendresen, and Christopher McQuarrie and Directed by McQuarrie this final installment of this version of the I.M. franchise aims to go out as big and as bold as possible offering set piece action sequence after set piece action sequence punctuated by a handful of rather droll lulls and convoluted plot points– end result, an oddly balanced but enjoyable romp through the franchise’s greatest hits, multiple call backs from the last 30 years, and of course, lots of Tom Cruise running, lace up those track shoes for your eyes, you’re going to need them. Meanwhile, perennial favorites Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg return again to put the family bow on top of the tree along with relative newcomers Pom Klementieff and Hayley Atwell to add extra punch. But, action and callbacks be damned, the two hour forty nine minute runtime definitely feels long in the tooth by act three, and that seems to be the hardest pill of all to swallow, bloat for bloat’s sake. It’s as though the editors were instructed to specifically NOT trim for length, woof. That said, pace yourself on beverages going in and get ready for hair raising stunts, to that end you can’t go wrong. Mission Impossible–The Final Reckoning is rated PG-13

Average suburban guy, Craig (Tim Robinson) meets his new neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd), a local weatherman oozing charisma as the quintessential of cool. But when their single serving friendship comes to an abrupt halt, it’s anyone’s guess just how far Craig will go to hold on. Written and Directed by Andrew DeYoung, this slip stream cult classic, leans heavily into the comedic stylings of Robinson and his knack for the awkward, absurd, and down right uncomfortable; an acquired taste which may be hard to swallow on first watch, but, similar to Napoleon Dynamite (2004), has potential to become an instantly quotable celebration of all things bromance gone sour. Meanwhile, performance from Rudd is hauntingly familiar to his time as the intrepid field reporter and ladies man Brian Fantana in Anchorman (2004), no stretches were made in the making of this film. That is to say, the cringe factor of this film is comedically high which inevitably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who are familiar with and enjoy Robinson’s body of work, the result is limitless, and particularly re-watchable. Tonally the film does seem to lack some direction, but then again, thanks to both Robinson and Rudd’s ability to pivot on a dime, this seems to go largely unchecked. This weekend, enter the slip stream and find the absurd, running one hour and forty minutes, Friendship is rated R.