FILM REVIEWS:
40 ACRES (Canada 2024) ***
Directed by R.T. Thorne
Just as the recent hit SINNER plays with Black History and horror, 40 ACRES plays with Black History and the thriller genre.
Young filmgoers would likely not have heard of the term 40 ACRES nor realize the significance of the term. “40 acres” symbolizes both a moment of hope and a legacy of injustice regarding African Americans' fight for equality, land, and economic independence after slavery.
Origin: After the U.S. Civil War, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15 in January 1865.
What it promised: It allocated 40 acres of land (often confiscated from Confederate landowners) to newly freed Black families in the South. After President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, President Andrew Johnson reversed this order. The land was returned to white former owners, and Black families were evicted. This became a lasting symbol of broken promises of racial justice and reparations in the U.S.
The film begins with several sentences explaining the film’s setting. It is the dystopian future and farmland is scarce, and people will kill for it. The first segment shows intruders on one such farmland owned by a mismatched family. From the action sequences, each family member appears to be well trained in the art of killing, whether with the use of weapons or not (in order to save bullets).
Descended from African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the American Civil War, Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler) lives on her generational farm with her Indigenous partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) and their blended family of four children. Thanks to the farm, the family is surviving – and thriving – and Hailey will do anything to safeguard the land against those hell bent on taking it. Watch your six, shoot first,” she says. But her son (Kataem O’Connor) jeopardizes their safety when he secretly hides a beautiful young woman (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) on their property.
The film spends a fair bit of time establishing the family dynamics. It is a strict regimen with the mother always demanding a “Yes, Ma’am” and the stepfather demanding a “Yes, Sir” response. Of course, words hardly mean anything when rebellion is clear in the minds of the children.
With regards to production values, the film, being shot in rural Ontario, passes as credible dystopian surroundings. There are lots of forests and trees to suggest an enclosed and hidden farmland. But the film strains for the audience to feel sympathetic, less root for this dysfunctional family due largely to the stubbornness of each family member.
The film is Canadian and from Ontario all the way - a good film to watch, especially in the time of Trump’s tariffs. Support Canadian entertainment. The film marks the feature debut of Toronto director R.T. Thorne, known for his award-winning work on TV series (The Porter, Utopia Falls). Thorne co-wrote the script with Glenn Taylor, based on a story by Thorne and Lora Campbell. A Canadian production produced by Jennifer Holness, the film was shot in Northern Ontario’s Sudbury area – on a stunning farm in a remote location, far from roads, which creates an atmosphere of seclusion.
40 ACRES opens July 4 across Canada!
Trailer:
THE OLD GUARD 2 (USA 2025) **
Directed by Victoria Mahoney
THE OLD GUARD, made in 2020, had a troubled production with rewrites and a fired and rehired writer, but the film eventually enthralled audiences. THE OLD GUARD is led by Andy (Charlize Theron), who, with her group of immortals, saves the world. Ridiculous as it sounds, it is based on a comic book.
In OLD GUARD 2, Andy struggles to live out her life after losing her immortality, until she and her team—Nile, Joe, Nicky, and Copley—are drawn out of hiding when two powerful new adversaries emerge who threaten the world. Quỳnh (Vân Veronica Ngô), once a trusted comrade. After enduring centuries trapped underwater, drowning and reviving in isolation, she resurfaces with a burning vendetta against Andy for her perceived abandonment. Discord (Uma Thurman), revealed to be the world’s first immortal. Backed by Discord, Quỳnh channels her rage in a bid for revenge. Meanwhile, the group enlists Tuah (Henry Golding), a sage-like immortal with deep knowledge of their origins, to help confront these existential threats.
During the escalating conflict, a major turning point occurs when Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), in an act of sacrifice, transfers his immortality to Andy, regaining her regenerative ability at the cost of his own.
The action set pieces are well shot, but the film is a complete mess in terms of narrative and logic. No one even cares about these immortals or mortals, especially when they switch from one to another. Enough already!
The film has a cliffhanger ending, prompting a sequel.
THE OLD GUARD 2 opens for streaming this week on Netflix.
Trailer:
SHARK WHISPERER (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Juan Oliphant
A whisperer is a person skilled in taming or training a specified kind of animal, typically using body language and gentle vocal encouragement rather than physical contact. So, a shark whisperer is one related to sharks.
The SHARK WHISPERER in the doc is Ocean Ramsey, an ethologist, conservationist, author, filmmaker, and model. She operates One Ocean Diving, LLC, a company based in Hawaii that facilitates dives with marine life. The doc follows her as she gains international media attention for free diving with sharks, including great white sharks, to raise awareness about shark conservation and promote her business. Ramsey is based in Hawaii, and has dived with 47 species of sharks around the world as of 2019. While she has been praised for raising awareness of the species, she has been criticized for her actions in the footage.
The film is directed by Juan Oliphant and written by Ocean Ramsey. In real life, they are husband and wife.
As one watches SHARK WHISPERER, it would be grand to pay respects to a Toronto-born shark activist who spent his life saving the species while drowning in the process. This is
Rob Stewart (December 28, 1979 – January 31, 2017), a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and shark conservationist. He was best known for making and directing the documentary films Sharkwater and Revolution. He drowned at the age of 37 while scuba diving in Florida, filming Sharkwater Extinction. Stewart has also dived with sharks around the world, as can be seen in his documentaries.
SHARK WHISPERER begins with a diver swimming beside sharks. Then a shark advances. The scene is similar to SHARKWATER, where Rob Stewart also swims among sharks. Both celebrities prove that humans should have no fear of sharks. “There is something so magnetic about sharks. And that is what I am here for. It gives my life meaning and purpose.” These are the words of Ocean Ramsey.
One of the main species of shark featured is the tiger shark, a solitary, mostly nocturnal hunter. It is notable for having the widest food spectrum of all sharks, with a range of prey that includes crustaceans, fish, seals, birds, squid, turtles, sea snakes, dolphins, and others, even smaller sharks. It also has a reputation as a "garbage eater", consuming a variety of inedible, man-made objects that linger in its stomach. Tiger sharks have only one recorded natural predator, the orca. It is considered a near-threatened species because of finning and fishing by humans. This doc shows that the tiger shark is second only to the great white in recorded fatal attacks on humans, but these events are still exceedingly rare.
The doc also extends the story with a little bit of romance, one between Ocean and Juan. But with the good intentions of the husband and wife team, other shark experts interviewed warn of he dangers of the message proposed. ‘There is nothing to be afraid of sharks,” is the obvious message. But not everyone can be in synch with sharks like Ocean. And there is an accident waiting to happen. The doc does not shy away from one of these, on a surfer, Colin Cook.
SHARK WHISPERER is an insightful, educational and occasionally uplifting film on sharks, covering both sides of Ocean Ramsey’s story. The doc should be seen with Rob Stewart’s SHARKWATER for the message these two films out forward.
SHARK WHISPERER opens for streaming on Netflix this week on Friday, June 30th.
Trailer:
