Film Review: "All Quiet on the Western Front" ("Im Westen nichts Neues") (2022).

From the director of All My Loving (Geschwister) comes All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues). This German anti-war epic directed by Edward Berger, adapted by Berger, Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson, and based on the 1929 novel of the same title by Erich Maria Remarque. The film tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches.

In February 2020, it was announced that Berger was adapting and directing a new film adaptation of Remarque's 1929 literary classic with Daniel Brühl attached to star. This film has been in development hell for several years. Mimi Leder and Roger Donaldson were originally attached to direct with Stokell and Paterson penning the adaptation. Travis Fimmel was attached to star as Stanislaus Katczinsky. By March 2021, Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Thibault de Montalembert, and Devid Striesow were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in May. Filming took place throughout Liberec Region, Melnik and Nymburk District, Czech Republic, as well as Barrandov Studios in Prague.

The film stars Kammerer, Schuch, de Montalembert, Striesow, and Brühl. While in some ways the film speaks the visual language of a current-day glossy Hollywood production, the performances elevate the film to almost operatic drama.

With the film, Berger takes his audience on a perilous journey driven by a simple but tightly-wound story soaked in an unending tension. It’s a harrowing tale of heroism, friendship, and sacrifice. The filmmakers have taken a simple premise and gone with a "less is more" tactic. This allows for more focus on a beautifully shot film, and highlights the actors who give their all emotionally and physically. The film can safely be added to the list of movies that have expanded and enhanced our understanding of how truly brutal war can be. The film , under the talented hands of Berger, is one of the best war movies ever made and one of the best of 2022. Berger's quiet WWII epic is a cinematic masterpiece, a near perfect war film that appeals to even those of us who don't particularly enjoy war movies. To put it even simpler, this film is bananas. War is hell and Berger's hell is quiet and real and intimate and suspenseful and you feel it in your bones long after you exit your Netflix account. When the soldiers struggle through near-darkness in a collapsing tunnel, we suffocate with them. When a plane plunges from the sky towards them, it's an almighty effort not to leap from your seat. Although the film will not change your life, there's no doubt it's an audiovisual spectacle of the highest order. A cinematic experience that shakes my sensations at the time it moves me to the hell of a war that is constantly threatened by light and darkness.

Simon says All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) receives:

Film Review: "Wendell & Wild" (2022).

From the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline comes Wendell & Wild. This stop-motion horror comedy film directed by Henry Selick, adapted by Selick and Jordan Peele, and based on Selick and Clay McLeod Chapman's unpublished book of the same name. The film is the story of Kat, a troubled teen haunted by her past, who must confront her personal demons, Wendell & Wild to start a new life in her old hometown.

In early November 2015, it was reported that Selick was developing a new stop-motion feature with Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, based on an original story by Selick. Selick used Charles Addams cartoons, The Twilight Zone (1959), Ray Harryhausen's stop-mo monsters, The Night on Bald Mountain, The Night of the Hunter (1955), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) as inspiration for this movie. In mid March 2018, the film was picked up by Netflix. Pablo Lobato was hired to serve as the lead designer on the stop-motion puppets. In early November 2018, Netflix announced the film was scheduled to be released in 2021. In late July 2019, Key announced the film was planned to be released in late 2020. In early June 2020, Bruno Coulais was confirmed to compose the film's score. In mid January 2021, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos revealed that the film's release would be moved to "2022 or later", to meet Netflix's criteria of releasing six animated features per year. By February 2021, production on the film was ongoing in Portland. The production was being done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid March 2022, the cast was revealed by Netflix on YouTube.

The film stars the voice talents of Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Lyric Ross, Angela Bassett, James Hong, Ving Rhames, Tamara Smart, Natalie Martinez, and David Harewood. It's the performances and the stop-motion figures themselves who steal the show. They're so vivid and expressive, in both body and facial movements, that they cease being mere puppets and take on a life all their own.

The film is a weird and wonderful story, with stunning stop-motion visuals, and haunting music that really heightens the already eerie atmosphere. There's a lightness to every scene of their films, even the emotionally-scarring moments, which pulls you in deeper to the story. Insanely inventive characters and a generous helping of darkly macabre visuals permeate every facet. The film is imaginative, daring and intelligent filmmaking devoid of Hollywood manipulations and greeting card sentiments. It pitches the increasingly creepy dynamic that defines its fantasy world at a level that does not condescend to its children audience, nor seem too diluted for its adult audience. Entertaining, funny and surprisingly suspenseful a times, the film is the perfect movie for your little one and for the child in all of us. All involved in this production deserve praise for turning the film into a triumph of storytelling and cinematic technology. Whether you're young, middle-age or older, you'll adore it. A stunning visual delight, this beautifully-made animated adventure will thrill children of about eight and above.

Simon says Wendell & Wild receives:

Series Review: "Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi" (2022).

"Sometimes silence is the worst crime". This is Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. This Italian crime documentary series written and directed by Mark Lewis. Rome, 1983. After leaving a music lesson, fifteen-year-old Emanuela Orlandi vanishes — embroiling the Vatican in a decades-long mystery.

On Wednesday 22 June 1983, Orlandi called home to explain why she was not home yet. According to some reports, Orlandi allegedly met with the Avon rep shortly before her music lesson. At the end of the lesson, Orlandi spoke of the job offer with a girlfriend. Orlandi was allegedly last seen getting into a large, dark-coloured BMW. At 15:00 on Thursday 23 June, Orlandi's parents called the director of the music school to ask if any of their daughter's classmates had information. She was officially declared a missing person that day. Over the next two days, announcements of the disappearance were published with the telephone number of the Orlandi house in two Italian newspapers. At 18:00 on Saturday 25 June, a phone call was received from a youth who claimed to be a sixteen-year-old boy named "Pierluigi". He reported that he and his fiancée had met the missing girl in Piazza Navona that afternoon. On 28 June, a man calling himself "Mario" called the family and claimed to own a bar near Ponte Vittorio, between the Vatican and the music school. The man said that a girl called "Barbara", a new customer, had confided to him about being a fugitive from home but said that she would return home for her sister's wedding. On 30 June, Rome was plastered with a large number of posters displaying Orlandi's photograph. On Tuesday 5 July, the Orlandi family received the first of a number of anonymous phone calls. Emanuela was supposedly the prisoner of a terrorist group demanding the release of Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish man who shot the Pope in May 1981. In the following days, other calls were received, including one from a man with an American accent, who played a recording of Orlandi's voice over the phone. A few hours later, in another phone call to the Vatican, the same man suggested an exchange, of Orlandi for Ağca. On 8 July, a man with an alleged Middle Eastern accent phoned one of Orlandi's classmates saying Orlandi was in his hands and that they had twenty days to make the exchange with Ağca. On the morning of 14 May 2001, the parish priest of the Gregory VII Church near the Vatican discovered a small human skull and lacking a jaw in a bag with an image of Padre Pio in a confessional. Although, it has not been identified as Orlandi's skull, the discovery generated suspicions that it might be Orlandi's. Orlandi's disappearance sparked an intense media frenzy in Italy that has resulted in the case being called "Italy’s most famous unsolved mystery", as well as marking one of the few known disappearances of a Vatican citizen.

The series struggles to convey a cohesive message, painting an inconsistent portrait of its central victim.

Simon says Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi receives:

Also, see my review for Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer.

Film Review: "Black Adam" (2022).

"The world needed a hero. It got Black Adam." This is Black Adam. This superhero film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani, and based on the DC Comics character of the same name crested by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck. It is a spin-off from Shazam! (2019) and the 11th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Nearly five-thousand years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

In the early 2000s, New Line Cinema began the development of a Shazam! feature film. In 2006, Dwayne Johnson was approached about portraying Captain Marvel. By November 2007, Johnson was also interested in the film's antagonist, Black Adam. In January 2009, development on the film was placed on hold, but had begun again by April 2014 when Warner Bros. and DC began planning a slate of superhero films for its shared universe, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). That August, Johnson said he was still attached to the film but had not yet decided if he would play Captain Marvel or Black Adam. A month later, Johnson announced that he would portray Black Adam. In January 2017, following that meeting with DC's Geoff Johns, they decided to split the project into two films: Shazam! (2019) and Black Adam, with the latter starring Johnson as the title antihero. In October, Sztykiel was hired to pen the script. After the successful release of Shazam!, the film became a priority for New Line. By June 2019, Collet-Serra was hired to direct the film. In August 2020, the film was scheduled for a December 22, 2021 release date. In mid-April 2020, Johnson stated that filming had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By September, Haines and Noshirvani had written a new draft of the script. The next month, Warner Bros. adjusted their upcoming release schedule due to the pandemic, leaving Black Adam without a release date. The film was given a new July 29, 2022 release date. By early April 2021, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, and Pierce Brosnan rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in mid August. Filming was delayed from an initial July 2020 start due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The film stars Johnson, Hodge, Centineo, Shahi, Kenzari, Swindell, and Brosnan. It's worth focusing your attention on Johnson's amazing, physical, and enthusiastic performance. However, the film can't be saved by Johnson's unique performance and there's so much here that doesn't work, it makes for frustrating viewing and is a complete and utter disappointment.

Ultimately it’s the script and some pretty uninspired action that left me feeling a bit deflated. Sadly a good Dwayne Johnson, Collet-Serra's edgy ambition, or even a killer mid credits scene can’t quite keep the film from disappointing.

Simon says Black Adam receives:

Also, see my reviews for Jungle Cruise and The Batman.

Film Review: "Halloween Ends" (2022).

From the creators of Halloween Kills comes Halloween Ends. This slasher film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Green, Danny McBride, Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier, and based on the characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. It is a sequel to Halloween Kills (2021), the final installment in the H40 trilogy, and the thirteenth installment in the Halloween franchise. Four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham, is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

In July 2019, Bloody Disgusting reported that a third film was in development along with the then-untitled Halloween Kills, with Green returning as director. The site also claimed that the studio was considering releasing both films in October 2020. Green, McBride and Jeff Fradley had initially planned out a two film story arc, but would ultimately opt for a trilogy after realizing they had more material than originally thought. Later that month, Universal Pictures revealed the titles and release dates of the two sequels: Halloween Kills, set to be released on October 16, 2020, and Halloween Ends, set to be released on October 15, 2021. Green was officially announced to direct both films and co-write the scripts with McBride, while Jamie Lee Curtis would reprise her role in both films. Scott Teems was confirmed as a co-writer for Halloween Kills, while Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier were announced as co-writers of Halloween Ends. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Universal Pictures moved Halloween Kills to 2021 and Halloween Ends was moved to October 2022. By late January 2022, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle, Will Patton, Kyle Richards, and Omar Dorsey were confirmed to reprise their roles. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early March. Filming took place in Wilmington, North Carolina and Savannah, Georgia under the working title Cave Dweller. It was originally planned to film Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends back to back, but did not occur due to the "intense schedule". Filming was expected to take place in 2021 in Wilmington, North Carolina, but was quietly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film stars Curtis, Matichak, Courtney, Castle, Patton, Richards, and Dorsey. The kill count is high, and the kills are brutal, but that still can't make up for everything this movie does wrong with its characters.

Like Kills, Ends takes the respect earned by it's predecessor and squanders it for buckets of gore. Myers continues to be a standout as he tears through a series-high bodycount. The script and characters; however, are the movie's biggest fatalities.

Simon says Halloween Ends receives:

Also, see my review for Halloween Kills.

Series Review: "The Midnight Club" (2022).

"Death is a Rite of Passage" in The Midnight Club. This horror mystery-thriller streaming television series created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong, and based on the 1994 novel of the same title by Christopher Pike. At a hospice for terminally ill young adults, eight patients come together every night at midnight to tell each other stories – and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the beyond.

In May 2020, it was announced an adaptation of Pike's 1994 young adult novel would be created for Netflix by Flanagan and Fong. Flanagan revealed that he was profoundly inspired by Nickelodeon’s horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992-96). Pike drew inspiration for the novel from a true story. In 1993, a young cancer patient asked him to write a story about her and the kids in her ward, who had started a "Midnight Club". "They would meet at midnight and discuss my books," Pike said in a Netflix press release. Pike gave Ilonka Pawluk a Polish name in honor of the young patient, who also had a Polish name. In the series Ilonka is not Polish. By mid March 2021, Flanagan confirmed the cast in a series of tweets on Twitter, which included Iman Benson, Samantha Sloyan, Zach Gilford, Heather Langenkamp, Emilija Baranac, Daniel Diemer, William B. Davis, Henry Thomas, Alex Essoe, Rahul Kohli, and Michael Trucco. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early September. Filming took place in Burnaby and Vancouver, British Columbia. In October 2022, on the series' release, Flanagan confirmed that the series would also adapt all "twenty-eight books" of Pike's, having pitched the series as "The Midnight Club — but the stories the kids tell [each other] will be other Christopher Pike books", planning for multiple seasons. However, in early December 2022, Netflix canceled the series after one season. Following its cancellation, Flanagan revealed what was planned for later seasons on his Tumblr, including the ultimate fates of the various characters and answers to the show's lingering mysteries.

The series stars Benson, Sloyan, Gilford, Langenkamp, Baranac, Diemer, Davis, Thomas, Essoe, Kohli, and Trucco. Flanagan and the cast always put the characters ahead of the stories. It's an approach that adds depth and insight to a finished product, especially here.

An interesting take on this kind of show that was supposedly dead. This shows we need to wake up some ghosts that are asleep. Far from just an opportunity to cash in on the name, the series respects and loves its audience, as they used to be that audience and know what a show like this means to them. The series is well-done and pretty scary for preteens and teens. And if you watch it with your kids, you may get pretty creeped out, too. It stands out as a show that is just as enjoyable for the young horror geeks as the nostalgic horror geeks looking back on where they came from.

Simon says The Midnight Club receives:

Also, see my review for Midnight Mass.

2021 Rugby World Cup: New Zealand Black Ferns v Australia Wallaroos.

New Zealand Black Ferns 41 - Australia Wallaroos 17