Film Review: "Take Care of Maya" (2023).

From the director of Tough Guys comes Take Care of Maya. This documentary film directed by Henry Roosevelt. When ten-year-old Maya Kowalski was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in 2016, nothing could have prepared her or her family for what they were about to go through. As the medical team tried to understand her rare illness, they began to question the basic truths that bound the Kowalskis together. Suddenly, Maya was in state custody – despite two parents who were desperate to bring their daughter home. The story of the Kowalski family – as told in their own words – will change the way you look at children’s healthcare forever.

Director Henry Roosevelt displays a dynamic presentation about a well-researched review investigation into the Kowalski family's battle against the draconian American healthcare system. Despite the lead family members acting as talking heads and driving the narrative forward, the film still offers an infuriating indictment of the American healthcare system by investigators and enough of the voices we need to hear from to make this urgent viewing. An angry piece of cinematic advocacy that doubles as a passionate ode to old-fashioned investigative journalism, the film takes a handful of harrowing real-life stories and slaps them with the streaming 'filter'. To call the film heart-breaking and infuriating is a massive understatement. This documentary will leave you angry beyond words, but you should watch it nonetheless. The film, which examines cases in which loving and caring parents are charged with supposed child abuse, is the rare entry whose revelations feel cogent, earned and memorable. The information is harrowing and disgusting, but it’s also inspiring to see how one family’s dogged battle shed light on a troubling pattern in the American healthcare system leading to actionable changes for the better. This documentary doesn’t offer much in terms of craft, but one could perhaps make the argument that the subject matter necessitates no-frills storytelling that soberly focuses on facts and video evidence. A revealing study on America's healthcare system: the hospitals and staff accusing parents of inflicting child abuse with evidence and sows disinformation, further stigmatising these parents; and investigative journalism that digs into minefields. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with sadness and empathy for the victims. Easy to feel proud that a family and a documentarian turned wrong into right. That takes courage. The film suffers from the Netflix brand of overproduction, looking just a little too flashy and sinking everything with voiceover and interview sound bites that have been scripted to death. A strong, powerful documentary that, despite feeling a tad neat and cold at times, benefits from Maya's presence. And most importantly: it is a film that will remain engraved in your memories for a long time. The film ends up being a vital and eye opening examination of widespread injustice that still leaves a lot on the table thanks to its strangely narrow focus. It’s all so very sober, so deeply sobering, that when actual emotion pops, that’s what jars. It shouldn’t be the case -- all of this should rattle us and move us into action.

Simon says Take Care of Maya receives:

Film Review: "Extraction 2" (2023).

"Prepare for the ride of your life" with Extraction 2. This action thriller film directed by Sam Hargrave, adapted by Joe Russo, and based on the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Fernando León González, and Eric Skillman. It is the sequel to Extraction (2020). After barely surviving the events of the first movie, Rake is back as the Australian black ops mercenary, tasked with another deadly mission: rescuing the battered family of a ruthless Georgian gangster from the prison where they are being held.

In May 2020, it was reported Joe Russo had been hired to pen the sequel, with the intention of both Hargrave and Chris Hemsworth returning to direct and star respectively. In December, the Russo Brothers stated that beyond the sequel they hope to develop a series of films set within the world of Extraction to not only explore some of the characters that were introduced in the first film but to potentially launch a cinematic universe. In January 2021, it was rumored that the Russo brothers were also working on an origin story for Randeep Hooda's character Saju. By late November, Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, and Adam Bessa were confirmed to reprise their roles, with  Olga Kurylenko, and Idris Elba rounding out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early April 2022. Filming took place in Prague, Czech Republic; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Vienna, Austria. The film was shot on the Arri Alexa Mini LF cameras and implemented the same long-take strategies from the first film.

The film stars Hemsworth, Farahani, Bessa, Kurylenko, and Elba. Hemsworth makes Rake a consistent, driven, intelligent, and yet vulnerable hero. It's too bad Academy voters will fail to notice his fantastic performance. As phlegmatic mercenary Tyler Rake, Hemsworth's svelte and photogenic demeanour is paraded with grace and pride. Hargrave loves his leading man, understands his appeal and shoots him accordingly as a killer on a catwalk.

The film does exactly what good sequel should: it replicates aspects of the original while also expanding its mythology through a measure of novelty and one-upmanship. If the element of surprise has gone, there’s plenty for genre fans to soak up in the film , not least Hemsworth’s impeccable, graceful presence as the world’s best mercenary. As ever, it's the action that dazzles. Hargrave choreographs the killer action sequences with brutal elegance and the flick contains genuinely tense and unpredictable moments. The elegance of this action packed sequel is marvelled and celebrated in its brutal violence. While it struggles to reach the heights of its surprisingly entertaining predecessor, the film certainly raises the bar for action films. The creative team blows open the doors to this secret world and allows viewers inside this dark world where Rake (the appropriately manly Hemsworth) made his home, and boy, do they make it fun again. The film delivers action, plenty of guns and a hint of class, providing the necessary action and narrative to develop this growing franchise.

Simon says Extraction 2 receives:

Also, see my review for Extraction.

Film Review: "The Flash" (2023).

"Worlds Collide" in The Flash. This superhero film directed by Andy Muschietti, written by Christina Hodson, and based on the DC Comics character created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino. It is the 13th installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

Development of a film featuring the Flash began in the late 1980s, with multiple writers and directors attached to the project through 2014. The film was then redeveloped as a part of the DCEU, with Miller cast as the title character. Multiple directors were attached to the film over the following years, with Seth Grahame-Smith, Rick Famuyiwa, and the duo of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein all departing the project over creative differences. In July 2019, Muschietti and Hodson were hired as director and writer, and pre-production began in January 2020. At the 2017 San Diego Comic Con, it was confirmed that the film would be influenced by the comic book storyline Flashpoint, featuring multiple DC Comics characters, including both Ben Affleck and Keaton, reprising their respective versions of Batman. By late April 2021, Sasha Calle, Ron Livingston, and Maribel Verdú were cast with Michael Shannon, Kiersey Clemons, and Antje Traue reprising their roles. At the same time, with a budget of $200 million, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late October. Filming took place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden; Hertfordshire; Lincolnshire; and London, as well as Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland. The film was originally scheduled for a March 23, 2018 release date, when Warner Bros. first announced their slate of DCEU films, before it was moved to March 16. In July 2019, it was then moved to July 1, 2022 after Muschietti was hired. It was then moved up to June 3, 2022, before being delayed to November 4, 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was once again moved to June 23, 2023 before it was finally moved forward to June 16, 2023.

The film stars Miller, Calle, Shannon, Livingston, Verdú, Clemons, Traue, Affleck, and Keaton. Muschietti's take on Miller's speedster and others is totally goofy, endlessly inventive and often makes no sense.

Once separated from its shortcomings, the film may not be the most clean-cut or composed comic book movie and crumble beneath its own creative consequences but vows that there is more to the multiverse yet to be discovered.

Simon says The Flash receives:

Also, see my reviews for It Chapter Two and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Series Review: "The Playing Card Killer" ("Baraja: La Firma Del Asesino") (2023).

From the director of Last Street and Entre Vinyes comes The Playing Card Killer (Baraja: La Firma Del Asesino). This Spanish crime documentary film directed by Amanda Sans Pantling. Playing cards left at crime scenes connect a string of slayings perpetrated by a serial killer known as "Asesino de la Baraja". In the present, the killer contemplates his past crimes in jail.

From January 4 - March 18, 2003, Spanish serial killer, Alfredo Galán Sotillo, killed six people and wounded three. He grew up unremarkable and introverted. In September 1998, he joined the Spanish Army and became a corporal in the 31st Mech Regiment "Asturias" of Madrid and participated in humanitarian missions in Bosnia. He was diagnosed with neurosis and anxiety and continued drinking. On January 24, 2003, Galán shot fifty-year-old Juan Francisco Ledesma in the head in front of his two-year-old son. On February 5, the body of twenty-eight-year-old airport cleaner Juan Carlos Martín Estacio was found shot in the head. An ace of cups was left nearby. Later the same day, Galán entered Bar Rojas in Alcalá de Henares and shot three people: the bar owner, thirty-eight-year-old Teresa Sánchez García survived multiple gunshots; her eighteen-year-old son Mikel Jiménez Sánchez and fifty-seven-year-old customer Juana Dolores Ucles López were killed. On March 7, 2003, twenty-seven-year-old Santiago Eduardo Salas was shot in the face by Galán, but survived. Salas's friend, twenty-nine-year-old Anahid Castillo Ruperti, was able to escape unharmed. A two of cups was dropped at the scene. On the evening of March 18, 2003, Galán shot and killed a husband and wife, Gheorgi and Diona Magda, as they walked home from work. Galán left two more tarot cards — the three and four of cups — at the scene. It was not originally his intention for playing cards to be his "signature". He only began leaving cards after the media sensationalized the fact that a card had been found by a victim's body. On July 3, 2003, while severely inebriated, Galán surrendered at a police station and confessed to being "The Playing Card Killer." His confession included details about pen markings on the cards that were not public. Upon sobering up, he recanted, but ballistics irrefutably linked spent cartridges in his residence to the murders. The weapon was later found at his father’s home. It was reported that in some of the murders, Galán had wished his victims good morning and ordered them to kneel before shooting them. He had smuggled the gun, a Tokarev 7.62-caliber TT-33, into Spain by hiding it in a television set. He will be released in 2028 after twenty-five years in prison.

An absorbing documentary that follows the capture of Spain's most famous serial killer while exposing the flaws of the country's legal and judicial systems. Within a genre that tends to thrive in sensationalism, the series is a rigorous documentary that is especially respectful of the victims and their relatives. A zesty doc that walks right up to the edge of dark thriller, peers over the cliff, and takes a psychological plunge into something weird and fascinating.

Simon Says The Playing Card Killer (Baraja: La Firma Del Asesino) receives:

Series Review: "Arnold" (2023).

"One man. Three lifetimes." This is Arnold. This documentary series directed by Lesley Chilcott. This three part documentary series chronicles never before seen footage & stories of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s journey from rural Austria to the highest echelons of the American dream. In the series, there’s unprecedented access to the most candid interviews from Schwarzenegger, his friends, foes, co-stars and observers. We see many talk about his days pumping iron to his triumphs in Hollywood, all the way to his time governing the state of California. The joys and the turbulence of his family life are unveiled in a tale that matches his larger-than-life persona. 

Born on July 30, 1947, Austrian and American actor, businessman, filmmaker, politician, and retired professional bodybuilder, Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, was born. He is best known for his role in high-profile action movies and he served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Schwarzenegger began lifting weights aged fifteen and won the Mr. Universe title aged twenty, and subsequently the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, and has written many books and articles about it. The Arnold Sports Festival, considered the second-most important bodybuilding event after Mr. Olympia, is named after him. He appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977). He retired from bodybuilding and gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action star, with his breakthrough in the sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian (1982), a box-office hit with a sequel in 1984. After playing the title character in the science fiction film The Terminator (1984), he starred in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and three other sequels. His other successful action films included Commando (1985), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), Total Recall (1990), and True Lies (1994), in addition to comedy films such as Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Jingle All the Way (1996). He is the founder of the film production company Oak Productions. As a registered Republican, Schwarzenegger chaired the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports during most of the George H. W. Bush administration. On October 7, 2003, he was elected Governor of California in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. He received 48.6% of the vote, 17 points ahead of Democrat runner-up Cruz Bustamante. On November 17, he was sworn in to serve the remainder of Davis' term, and was reelected in the 2006 California gubernatorial election with an increased vote share of 55.9% to serve a full term. In 2011 he reached his term limit as governor and returned to acting. Schwarzenegger was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" or "Schwarzy" during his acting career, and "the Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator") during his political career.

The show is absolutely one of the better documentaries on Netflix that explore the life of one of the most successful action heroes of all time and does so in a way that's creative and inspiring.

Simon says Arnold receives:

Film Review: "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (2023).

From the producers of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This computer-animated superhero film directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, in their feature directorial debuts, written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and David Callaham, based on the Marvel Comics characters, and produced by Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel Entertainment. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga, an epic adventure that will transport Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man across the Multiverse to join forces with Gwen Stacy and a new team of Spider-People to face off with a villain more powerful than anything they have ever encountered.

In late November 2018, before Into the Spider-Verse's release, Sony began developing a sequel with the writing and directing team attached. It was set to focus on the relationship between Moore's Miles and Steinfeld's Gwen. In November 2019, the sequel was officially announced with an April 8, 2022 release date. However, in April 2020, the film's release was shifted to October 7, 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, design work for new characters had begun. In early June, animation work began with a different visual style for each of the six universes visited by the characters. It was revealed that Lord and Miller told Sony the sequel would be the same size as Into the Spider-Verse, but it ended up having the largest crew of any animated movie ever with around one-thousand people working on it. They added that it has 240 characters and takes place in six universes. In December 2020, Daniel Pemberton confirmed that he would return to compose the sequel's score. In late May 2023, production on the film was completed thirteen days before its release. With a runtime of one-hundred and forty minutes, it makes it the longest animated film ever produced by an American studio.

The film stars the voice talents of Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, Oscar Isaac, Shea Whigham, Mahershala Ali, Andy Samberg, Amandla Stenberg, Rachel Dratch, Jorma Taccone, Kimiko Glenn, Elizabeth Perkins, and Taran Killam. There will never be a better take on Spider-Man characters. This film is better than 90% of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that Disney has put out in the last fifteen years.

Perhaps the most important animated sequel to come out in the last decade, the film was a renaissance of sorts for the artform. Over one-hundred animators combined computer animation with a hand-drawn style to mimic a comic book look. Inventive visuals, fresh storytelling and embracing the comic books' wackiness helped make the first non-white Spider-Man one of the best. It's an absolutely delightful watch and one of the finest examples of the excitement and joy of which cinema is capable. Another resoundingly successful experiment that will open countless doors to the weird, wonderful world of comic books.

Simon says Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse receives:

Also, see my reviews for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Morbius.

Film Review: "Blood & Gold" (2023).

From the director of Blood Red Sky comes Blood & Gold. This German action war film directed by Peter Thorwarth and written by Thorwarth and Stefan Barth. On his way to find his daughter, deserter Henrich is stopped by SS troops and hanged from a tree. Courageous farmer Elsa saves him just in time. United by their common enemy, the two fight for justice and for their families. A thrilling and bloody search for stolen gold treasure begins, revealing bitter secrets along the way.

The film stars Robert Maaser, Marie Hacke, Jördis Triebel, Alexander Scheer, Roy McCrerey, Florian Schmidtke, Simson Bubbel, and Stephan Grossmann. Perhaps surprisingly given the campy premise (and some genre staples, like the cry), the character drama keeps you attentive, particularly thanks to the performances by Maaser, Hacke, Scheer and Schmidtke.

It may draw from obvious influences, but it is its own movie, standing alone as a suspenseful, moving, and surprising film from start to finish. The film is a victim of its own pacing but it still delivers everything you're looking for in a good Nazi war movie (not to mention a good action movie). With a mediocre second half and a film running a little too long, and perhaps some predictability, the film still delivers an action-packed violent thrill ride in a WWII setting that creates an engaging action story. The film is a welcome bloody violent treat, a proper Nazi war story whose outrageous protagonists are more in line with the savage beasts of Inglourious Basterds than Schindler's List. With nail-biting tension and plenty of bloody violence, it practically writes itself. There's a good mix of genre favorites like Inglourious Basterds and Kelly's Heroes. There may not be much deeper thought going into the film, but this is a thrilling, nasty war movie, roaming the German countryside, causing havoc on a small German town. It delivers on its premise, so your enjoyment hinges on whether "Nazis searching for gold" sounds like great trash or irredeemable nonsense. Thorwarth splatters the screen with gore while tossing in surprises, delirious preposterousness and even a few touching moments. It's grand fun. As it is, the film is a perfectly fine action war film, bathed in blood and accentuated with explosions. It won't surprise you, but it'll keep you entertained for most of its runtime. It's an intriguing dilemma - one that a better film would have done more to contrast against the Nazis craven inhumanity - but the film fails to coagulate that conflict into action. One of the most original movies of the year comes with a premise that sounds too ridiculous to be good. Not quite as emotional as it would like, but still a lot of fun. The film is a European rollercoaster that blends action, excitement, and unexpected sweetness into what sounds like any Saturday night SYFY headliner but is so much more. It's the type of plot that screams action-war spectacle, yet this WWII thriller defies expectations from the start. A beating heart of humanity pumps through the veins of this intense action-thriller with a vicious take on Nazis.

Simon says Blood & Gold receives:

Also, see my review for Blood Red Sky.