Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

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Flack
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Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Post by Flack »



Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Minutes after the original source material entered the public domain, production began on Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. According to the film, the once friendly animals inhabiting the 100 Acre Woods fell on dark times after Christopher Robin went off to college and left them behind. During the following winter, the animals became so desperate for food that they killed and ate Eeyore, which turned them back into feral killing machines with a hatred for all humanity, especially one Christopher Robin.

Not long thereafter we meet a group of college-aged girls having a fun-filled weekend in those same woods. It doesn't take long for Pooh and Piglet to sniff out these uninvited guests and have them for dinner... and I don't mean as guests. Only one of the girls has any sort of back story, and they're all interchangeable. Even if you wanted to tell them apart, you couldn't.

Then again, that's not who the audience is rooting for. After one of the girls is abducted from the hot tub, she quickly finds herself hog-tied (no pun intended) in the driveway. After Piglet gives the signal, Pooh inches forward in a Dodge Charger until the front wheel slowly rolls over her skull, sending her brains in one direction and her eyeballs in the other. Of course there's no rest for the wicked, and in a series of murders that would make Michael Myers jealous, Piglet (armed with his trusty sledgehammer) and Pooh (a fan of knives) chase, torture, and slaughter most everyone they come across. And while I don't think we're supposed to be rooting for the killers, it's hard to feel sorry for the humans when they're all so dumb. When three of the girls run up on Pooh killing one of their friends, they stick around for several minutes to watch the action instead of running in the other direction. In another scene, two of the girls sitting inside a car with the keys in the ignition watch a five minute brawl before deciding it might be a good time to drive away. Imagine what actions you might take if two creatures showed up to kill you and your friends. Everybody in the film consistently does the opposite of what you just thought of.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey ventures into the realm of torture porn. There's no real plot and nobody worth rooting for. Even when Jason or Freddy slice their way through a film, somebody somewhere is planning a counter attack. Not here. The closest Pooh comes to meeting his match is in the form of a random hippy armed with a crowbar, who unfortunately gets his face karate-chopped off. The film desperately could have used more humor and camp and a little less blood; I doubt that's what we'll get in the sequel, which is already being teased with a 2024 release date.
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Tdarcos
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Re: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

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Flack wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:31 pm Minutes after the original source material entered the public domain,
It may seem that rushed, but according to the film's Wikipdia page, it was four months later.
Flack wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:31 pmproduction began on Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.
Quote Pooh, "Oh bother."
Flack wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:31 pm According to the film, the once friendly animals ... turned ... into feral killing machines with a hatred for all humanity, especially one Christopher Robin.
"A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys...
One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar ...
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave."
- Peter, Paul, and Mary, Puff, the Magic Dragon

Basically there are three ways you can go in explaining the end of a dream, story, or a situation (like the final episode of a multi-year TV series, or a well known book series), (1) you can have everything wind down/collapse (as is done in Puff the Magic Dragon, "St. Elsewhere," "Wizard of Oz," or the last episode of Newhart), (2) just end while the story continues (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Cheers," "The Sopranos," most films), or (3) you can go off on a wild tangent (the fact I can't think of any examples shows how rare this technique works well enough to be memorable). It appears this film chose the latter path.

It is possible to do this well, but it is very difficult, because, first, you have to break the audience's expectation of what they figure the characters would do, and second, you have to keep up the audience's willing suspension of disbelief that happens when a good story comes together. Again, this can be done well, but you have to know what you are doing. It is clearly obvious, they did not. I would have said i suspected this was the case, until I was convinced when I discovered this film was made, not on a small budget, but a miniscule amount, practically nothing, i.e. $100,000. This means there is very little money for a writer, producer, or director (let alone cast, crew, or shooting expenses) and it shows.

I've said you can get a reasonably watchable film even though the director has very little experience and you have nothing but unknown actors with little to no experience (John Carpenter did this very well when he and two friends financed the making of the gripping psychological thriller Assault on Precinct 13 out of their own pockets.) But the writing has to be there first. Reasonable performances and at least competent direction can make a good film out of a strong script, but start with bad writing and even a skilled director and superb acting won't turn it away from becoming a bad movie, any more than a usable building can be constructed on a foundation of quicksand. But in this case, the resources just weren't there, so the story wasn't there, and, as you noticed, it shows.
Flack wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:31 pm Not long thereafter we meet a group of college-aged girls having a fun-filled weekend in those same woods. It doesn't take long for Pooh and Piglet to sniff out these uninvited guests and have them for dinner... and I don't mean as guests.
As Hannibal Lecter said over the phone to Agent Starling at the end of Silence of the Lambs: I have to go, Clarise. I'm having an old friend over for dinner.
Flack wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:31 pm Only one of the girls has any sort of back story, and they're all interchangeable. Even if you wanted to tell them apart, you couldn't.
There. There's their weakness. The audience is given no reason to care about what happens to the people in the movie. We can't admire the bad guy, (as is done in Die Hard) and we have no empathy for the victims (as Die Hard also does, and is standard fare that most horror films offer us), so why should we care about anyone shown? So what can we watch the film for? Who or what can we root for? The scenery?
Flack wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:31 pm Then again, that's not who the audience is rooting for. ... [long description of] torture porn. The film desperately could have used more humor and camp and a little less blood; I doubt that's what we'll get in the sequel, which is already being teased with a 2024 release date.
I once said this, that if you can make films cheap enough, with the potential outlets available (which then was theatrical release and as a minor film for a TV network or local stations) you could make money even if they weren't very good. The producers of this film have discovered this since they made back 40x their initial investment (minus distribution costs). Absent some compelling reason not to, obviously a sequel has to be forthcoming, consodering how successful this film was.
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Re: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Post by AArdvark »

Well, I'm not watching it if Sterling Holloway doesn't do the voice!

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Re: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

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AArdvark wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:57 am Well, I'm not watching it if Sterling Holloway doesn't do the voice!
The one movie you pick not to watch on mute and it's this one.
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Re: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Post by Flack »

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:21 am I once said this, that if you can make films cheap enough, with the potential outlets available (which then was theatrical release and as a minor film for a TV network or local stations) you could make money even if they weren't very good.
Holy crap you should let someone in Hollywood know this!
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Re: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Post by Tdarcos »

Flack wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:20 am
Tdarcos wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:21 am I once said this, that if you can make films cheap enough, with the potential outlets available (which then was theatrical release and as a minor film for a TV network or local stations) you could make money even if they weren't very good.
Holy crap you should let someone in Hollywood know this!
They alredy do. This was the modus operandi of "The Roger Corman film school," otherwise known as New World Pictures. Also Golan-Globus' Canon Films. They made films cheaply, but they at least had some level of talent. (Death Wish 2 was effectively a "last stand western" set in 1970s The Bronx.) Corman had the knack of picking very talented people but who were unskilled, paying them little, and turning them loose to do some amazing things, at least, amazing from the standpoint of how they were able to get things done with not much money. Plus since they had to do multiple jobs they really learned their trade.

The difference being these guys knew what they were doing, even if much of what they did was produce films that were schlock, it was very profitable schlock.
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Re: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Post by Flack »

Well, don't sell yourself short. Hollywood would be a much more interesting place with you in charge!
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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