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In The Damned, Surviving Winter is Never Kind

Sometimes, being in the right mood helps make The Damned all the more haunting, and with regular cold nights being the norm for this reviewer, it’s certainly very chilling!

Available on Amazon Prime

The best way to experience Thordur Palsson’s The Damned is to turn off the heat! Whether at the theatre, where it continues to play, or at home, this wonderfully eerie film delivers solid chills when the viewing environment is perfect! That way, viewers can feel the cold as it settles. At the time, I had the temperature unintentionally dialed low.

In this remote 19th century village, Eva (Odessa Young) is now in charge and works hard to keep the fishermen from deserting. She was a wife to a fisherman who unfortunately perished in a shipwreck during their last fishing journey. While I’m not entirely sure how many people live in this hamlet, I suspect that the initial bunch of twenty something dwindled down to eight by the time this movie starts, and pretty soon, even those people are dying because there’s no food left.

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A Knight’s War Never Ends When A Soul Needs To Be Saved!

What makes A Knight’s War feel real is what each soldier must overcome on a spiritual level. But when there’s real evil afoot, is rescuing a fair maiden enough?

Now Playing At Select Theatres and VOD

Chivalry is not dead in Matthew Ninaber’s movie, A Knight’s War. When not everyone lives by that code, I wonder how Bhodie (Jeremy Ninaber) is going to survive. He’s off to save not a princess, but a woman said to reshape the world.

When Avalon’s (Kristen Kaster) morals are not up to the code, just what she represents has everyone quaking in their boots. Even the soldier has his own problems. Although she’s no lovely lady-in-waiting, she has a fire I like. He’s trying his best to show her “how to be nice,” and thankfully what’s presented isn’t like in Shrek. Instead, it concerns how she can be tamed than trained. She’s certainly a spitfire, and Kaster is great at showing it.

When the new gods fear what she can represent because she has red hair, that’s because they are concerned about an age-old prophecy which will spell doom for them. And so, they have “whispered to the hearts of men is to burn any child matching the terms of the words uttered.”

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To Put A “Panda Bear in Africa” May Be Hazardous For This Cub’s Health

Although Panda Bear in Africa is not one of Richard Claus’ finest, this movie is worth the watch for its messages.

Shout! Studios and Shout! Kids
Digital Release Date: Jan 28, 2025

Richard Claus’s love for all things little is front and centre in Panda Bear in Africa. It’s a Spanish-animated film that’s now seeing distribution outside its country. When it purposely borrows from Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and Lion King, I’m hoping this filmmaker has not run out of ideas.

After delivering well-meaning tales like The Little Vampire (2017) and Ainbo, Spirit of the Amazon (2021; movie review), this latest work isn’t all that original. Even then, I still enjoyed the overall message about how Pang (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing), a young panda, loves to play with others outside his species. While others are not as kind, his behaviour is worth learning from. No one should be judged because they are from another species. Even when his pal gets kidnapped, he doesn’t listen to the advice of his elders and is determined to rescue his bestie.

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Where’s “The” Instead of “A Legend” Hiding in Stanley Tong’s Latest Action-Comedy-Adventure?

When there’s “A Legend” in the making, maybe the word “Chinese” needs to be added, in order to be recognized.

Box Art - A Legend Starring Jackie Chan — **Available to pre-order on Amazon USA**

Well GO USA
Minor Spoiler Alert

Chinese filmmaker Stanley Tong may well be running on fumes when it comes to coming up with fresh ideas. While there are minor elements to like in A Legend, which has been out for a while now and is finally available in North America, the people on the Internet have already spoken–this director relied on too much CGI tomfoolery to finish this movie. He really should have done a casting call to find a young-looking person who almost looks like Jackie Chan instead of relying on computers to de-age the actor.

Not only is most of the digital set design apparent in higher resolutions, but also pixels covered most of Jackie Chan’s screen time! As General Zhao Zihan in the flashbacks, he is 30 something years old rather than 70. We see this younger incarnation enjoying a moment in the grassy foothills of Central China, with Huajun (Lay Zhang) before a lady in distress arrives!

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So Which Popular Artist/Illustrator, Do You Want “Story & Pictures By” Under the X-Mas Tree?

To fill in the blank in the documentary, Story & Pictures By, can be tough. That’s because to finish that phrase on who is best at crafting the perfect children’s picture book is difficult to answer.

ROCO Films
Available to view on Apple TV+

Some folks might say the market for children’s picture books is dying, and I have to say no. What Story & Pictures By reveals is this type of publication continues to be popular and when educational content is attached, much more so! And unlike those works that I read growing up (Curious George), what’s different now is a better representation from a group of authors who say it’s better than ever! Christian Robinson, Yuyi Morales, and Mac Barnett are the focus on Joanna Rudnick‘s excellent documentary.

Also, balancing well-known past illustrators with current leading artists must have been a hard task for the filmmakers. The talents who stand out are those who illustrate their own work and will talk about what helped define them.

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Beware The Soul Eater, A New French Alpine Threat!

Not to be confused with the anime, The Soul Eater is a French thriller set to warn kids not to play alone on a cold, winter’s night.

Available to stream on VOD
Original title: Le mangeur d’âmes

When cold evenings are keeping me home for most nights, I better hope that there’s no creature like The Soul Eater nipping at my toes. This film screened at Fantasia 2024, and although I didn’t get to see it then, I waited for its eventual theatrical run. This French alpine monster is most likely made up and the creators did a good job at making the folklore feel real, but as for who is kidnapping the children in the remote community of Roquenoir, only two constables are at it!

Elisabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) heads there because the grisly death of a family–with only the kids surviving–is cause for concern. The local enforcement can’t do anything. And joining her is Franck De Rolan (Paul Hamy), who says he’s also on the case. I suspect he has a personal connection when, during the opening act, he’s seen running down a road and screaming! Continue reading “Beware The Soul Eater, A New French Alpine Threat!”