Film Review: "Women Talking" (2022).

"Do Nothing. Stay And Fight. Leave." This is Women Talking. This drama film adapted and directed by Sarah Polley, based on the 2018 novel of the same title by Miriam Toews, and inspired by real-life events that occurred at the Manitoba Colony, a remote and isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia. The women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling their reality with their faith. Though the backstory, we see a community of women come together to figure out how they might move forward together to build a better world for themselves and their children. Stay and fight or leave. They will not do nothing.

In December 2020, it was reported that Frances McDormand would star in a film adaptation of Toews's 2018 novel, inspired by real-life events that occurred at the Manitoba Colony in 2010, with Polley penning the adaptation and as director. From 2005 to 2009, nine men in the Manitoba Colony, using livestock tranquilizers, drugged female victims ranging in age from three to sixty and violently raped them at night. When the girls and women awoke bruised and covered in blood, the men of the colony dismissed their reports as "wild female imagination"--even when they became pregnant from the assaults--or punishments from God or by demons for their supposed sins. According to a May 2019 BBC article by Linda Pressly, when the rapists were finally caught, they were arrested by Bolivian authorities. One fled from justice, but the other eight were tried and convicted. Seven were sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for the repeated, multiple rapes, and an eighth was convicted for providing the drug but then released. As of 2019, the elders of the Manitoba Colony were lobbying for the rapists' releases. By late July, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, and Ben Whishaw were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early September. Filming took place in Pickering and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with COVID-19 safety precautions in place. Costume designer Quita Alfred procured some fabric and prayer coverings from an actual Mennonite community store, using differing colors and patterns for each family to represent certain traits they held as a unit. In January 2022, Hildur Guðnadóttir was announced as the film's composer. Polley explained more about the colour grading of the film, explaining how they played with saturation levels to create a feeling of "a world that had faded in the past". This is why the film appears to be almost black-and-white, but not quite.

The film stars Mara, Foy, Buckley, Ivey, Whishaw, and McDormand. The cast as a rape afflicted community achieves the perfect psychological mixture of despair, mystery, rebellion against the male patriarchy that has been their lot in life as Mennonites, and an ultimate odd but eloquent personal liberation.

Polley displays a keen understanding of the sense of confusion and frustration that goes along with being a rape victim, and she handles it well, guiding the film with a warmth, humor, and heart.

Simon says Women Talking receives:

Also, see my review for Stories We Tell.

Film Review: "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" (2023).

"A horror retelling of the famous legend of Winnie-The-Pooh." This is Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. This British independent slasher film written and directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, in his directorial debut. The film serves as a horror retelling of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's books of the titular character of the same name. The days of adventures and merriment have come to an end, as Christopher Robin, now a young man, has left Winnie-The-Pooh and Piglet to fend for themselves. As time passes, feeling angry and abandoned, the two become feral. After getting a taste for blood, Winnie-The-Pooh and Piglet set off to find a new source of food. It’s not long before their bloody rampage begins.

In late May 2022, it was announced that a Winnie-the-Pooh-based horror film adaptation. The characters' rights had been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1966 and, while Disney retains exclusive rights to the depictions of these characters from their own franchise, the first Winnie-the-Pooh book went into the public domain in January 1, 2022. After the copyright lapsed, Frake-Waterfield began production on Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey the same year, with the film marking his directorial debut. The masks used for Pooh and Piglet in the film were created by the American prosthetic-mask manufacturing company Immortal Masks, which actually did the Winnie-the-Pooh-styled masks before the 1926 book entered the public domain. Frake-Waterfield was careful to avoid Pooh's iconic red shirt, as well as any other elements from Disney's depictions that could pose a copyright issue. By April 2022, Nikolai Leon, Craig David Dowsett, Chris Cordell, Maria Taylor, Natasha Rose Mills, Amber Doig-Thorne, Danielle Ronald, Natasha Tosini, Paula Coiz, May Kelly, Richard D. Myers, Simon Ellis, Jase Rivers, Marcus Massey, Danielle Scott, Mark Haldor, and Toby Wynn-Davies were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place in the Ashdown Forest of East Sussex, England, over a period of ten days. After the increased popularity of the film, ITN Studios gave the film an increased budget, leading to several days of reshoots. This would lead to the film being the most expensive film Waterfield ever directed and the most expensive film produced by ITN, with a budget of under $100,000. In July, Andrew Scott Bell was announced as the composer for the film. Bell drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco, with his manager Mike Rosen, to collect a honeycomb-filled violin from an experimental luthier to compose the film's soundtrack. The film was originally planned to be released in October 2022, but the increased publicity and reshoots motivated the change to a February 15, 2023 theatrical release date.

The film stars Leon, Dowsett, Cordell, Taylor, Mills, Doig-Thorne, Ronald, Tosini, Coiz, Kelly, Myers, Ellis, Rivers, Massey, Scott, Haldor, and Wynn-Davies. Aside from Winnie and Piglet themselves, there was too many other characters, especially the girls, not to like in this film.

Just a one-note premise that might have made for an entertaining, viral short film, extended into a forgettable horror movie whose main accomplishment is cashing in on a dubious trend.

Simon says Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey receives:

Film Review: "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" (2023).

"Witness the beginning of a new dynasty" with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This superhero film directed by Peyton Reed, written by Jeff Loveness, based on the Marvel Comics characters created by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, John Byrne, Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, and Jack Kirby, and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the sequel to Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and the 31st film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Super-Hero partners Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope's parents Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang.

In November 2019, plans for a third Ant-Man film were confirmed with Reed returning to the director's chair and Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Douglas reprising their roles. By April 2020, Loveness was hired to pen the third installment, with development on the film beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In early December, on Disney Investor's Day, the film's title was announced as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. By late July 2021, David Dastmalchian, Randall Park, and Corey Stoll were confirmed to reprise their roles. Whilst Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, William Jackson Harper, and Bill Murray rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in November. Filming took place throughout Turkey; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Atlanta, Georgia; and at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. Filming was previously set to begin in January 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was previously set for a 2022 release date, before a February 17, 2023 release date was officially announced in May 2021. It was delayed to July 28, 2023, in October, and returned to the February 2023 date in April 2022, swapping places with The Marvels given the film was further along in production than that film.

The film stars Rudd, Lilly, Pfeiffer, Douglas, Majors, Newton, Harper, Murray, Dastmalchian, Park, and Stoll. Rudd is resourceful, self-deprecating and capable of making the most of the thinnest material. Though Rudd and Lily work like mad to get laughs and chemistry, they come up well short of optimal levels achieved in the previous films. Finally, the film has another problem: the existence of a formidable yet uncharismatic antagonistic character.

The film feels a bit like three underdeveloped stories playing all at the same time, none of them particularly tense or emotionally gripping I don't see the supposed entertainment, I am not excited by any scene, the characters are disposable, it is a childish one with a plot full of quantum gaps. The film isn't the worst Marvel movie ever, but it might be the most inconsequential... Eventually, repetition in action and tone neuter the film's creative energy.

Simon says Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania receives:

Also, see my review for Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Film Review: "Magic Mike's Last Dance" (2023).

"The final tease." This is Magic Mike's Last Dance. This comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh, and written by Reid Carolin. It is a sequel to 2015's Magic Mike XXL and the third and final installment in the Magic Mike trilogy. "Magic" Mike Lane takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse…and an agenda all her own. With everything on the line, once Mike discovers what she truly has in mind, will he—and the roster of hot new dancers he’ll have to whip into shape—be able to pull it off?

In late November 2021, a sequel to Magic Mike XXL and the third installment in the Magic Mike trilogy was announced to be released on HBO Max, with Channing Tatum once again reprising his roles of Mike Lane and Soderbergh, who directed the first film in the series, returning to direct. Thandiwe Newton was initially cast in an unspecified role and even started filming as some set pictures were leaked on the internet but later dropped out citing personal reasons. She was ultimately replaced by Salma Hayek Pinault in April 2022. In July 2022, Soderbergh announced that there are developments ongoing for additional installments in the franchise for stories centered around other characters unrelated to Mike Lane. In September 2022, it was announced the film would now be released in theatres, receiving a February 10, 2023 release date.

The films stars Tatum, Hayek Pinault, and Caitlin Gerard. Tatum and Hayek in particular are clearly having a terrific time. It's no Toy Story 3, but as threequels go, the film is a pony worth climbing on for the third time.

If you're really expecting more from Magic Mike than gyrating and pulsating, then you're really going to be disappointed. This is not a movie to watch with someone you are not comfortable with. This is why it makes the perfect movie for a girls' night out. This is one of those sequels that make the mistake of wanting to be bigger only in the most superficial aspects behind their success. Plot-free, significance-free, character development-free and crotch-in-face heavy, the film is a cheerful, inconsequential bit of jiggle and thrust, buoyed by a few strong performers. In a summer dominated by reboots and superhero movies, the film is at once a thoughtful throwback and a gleeful example of how to cater to audiences without pandering to them. The biggest problem with the film is that from the very start, the film doesn't find its footing and never manages to. When the film doesn't take itself seriously, it's actually kind of funny... Unfortunately, most of the time the film tries to take itself way too seriously. The film is a sex-positive comedy that invites the audience to talk about sex in a productive and provocative fashion.

Simon says Magic Mike's Last Dance receives:

Also, see my review for Kimi.

Film Review: "Knock at the Cabin" (2023).

"Save your family or save humanity. Make the choice." This is Knock at the Cabin. This apocalyptic psychological horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, adapted by Shyamalan, Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, and based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay. While vacationing at a remote cabin, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. With limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.

In late 2017, Tremblay signed an option with FilmNation Entertainment for a film adaptation of his 2018 horror novel prior to its publication, and had to keep the project a secret until July 2022. The initial draft by Desmond and Sherman was listed as one of the most popular unproduced screenplays of 2019 by the Black List and GLAAD List. While another director was briefly attached, Shyamalan read the original screenplay and grew interested in producing. Shyamalan later rewrote the script and came on board to direct the project as part of the two-film partnership between Universal Pictures and his production banner Blinding Edge Pictures. In July 2021, the first draft was halfway completed. In October, the film's title was revealed as Knock at the Cabin. Shyamalan said the script was the fastest he had ever written in his career. By late April, Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, Rupert Grint, and Kristen Cui were cast. Shyamalan cast Bautista after he was impressed by his performance in Blade Runner 2049 (2017). At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early June. Filming took place in Burlington, New Jersey, USA, and was shot on 35mm film with the Arriflex 235 and Panavision Panaflex Millennium Falcon XL2 film cameras. Shyamalan shot the film with 1990s lenses (the Panavision C-Series and the Panavision Primo Lenses) to give it an "old-school thriller" look. The film was originally set for a February 17 release date before being brought forward by two weeks as to avoid competition with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).

The film stars Bautista, Groff, Aldridge, Amuka-Bird, Quinn, Grint, and Cui. With genuine terror and memorable moments, the cast holds attention despite mishmash acting and weak dialogue.

The film sees Shyamalan once again blending the supernatural with the real world to make something that’s uniquely his own. Not everyone will be onboard, but I was. The film is wildly inconsistent, preventing it from ever being genuinely as good as some of the director's better works such as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, or Split. At least I wasn't bored. But it wasn't great. I at least had fun laughing at the nonsense. It didn't feel like a cash grab or truly lazy, except for the writing. While far from a masterpiece, the film is an entertaining thought exercise from one of Hollywood's most invigorating filmmakers.

Simon says Knock at the Cabin receives:

Also, see my review for Old.