PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Tribal Season 1 2020

Tribal Season 1 2020 Written by Ron E Scott, Adam Frost, Adriana Capozzi, Tamara Moulin and Christina Ray, directed by Ron E Scott and Asaf Benny.

I watched the first season of Tribal today, all 8 episodes. It's a cop show from Canada about the Tribal police serving the 4 reservations around Calgary. The Tribal police and the regular police have been merged and not everyone is liking it.

Samantha "Sam" Woodburn gets placed in the Chief spot, replacing the suspended Chief. He's corrupt, everyone knows but there's little evidence on him. He's still not charged with anything but we know how corrupt he is via some flashbacks. Things get worse and worse for him as the series progresses and he's just the scum on top of the big bowl of rotten apples in the area.

There's an oil company that's run by a fake Native that cheated the government out of over $80,000,000 in grants intended for Native owned companies. There's a native run cigarette smuggling ring that's worth millions and millions of dollars. They'll kill you to keep the product flowing. There's missing natives and plenty of crooked and murderous cops. The animosity between the tribes and the cops is so thick you can hardly walk through it.

It's a dark bleak look at the horrible way people are. I enjoyed the show and see there 1s a second season I've not seen yet.

Friday Night Movies 1005

Roadkill 1989 Story by Bruce McDonald, screenplay by Don McKellar, directed by Bruce McDonald. It's the first film for both guys, they'd both go onto make a lot of films and TV episodes. We watch the movie before, it was at FNM 626 back in 2017.

Valerie Buhagiar plays Ramona, she works for a rude and greasy band promoter in Toronto, she gets sent to Sudbury to collect a band and their rental truck. The band had missed their last four dates and they can't contact them. Ramona can't drive a car so she is going to take the train. On the way to the station the stoned cabby insists he take her to Sudbury, it's only 250 miles. On the road Valerie gets separated from the cabbie leaving behind her suitcase and her money. She does find the band and learns that the singer decided to go find himself. She heads off after the singer.

Ramona has a series of adventures along the way, she meets some people, including a serial killer (Don McKellar), a hot dog vendor (he turns out to be the missing singer), and a film maker (Bruce McDonald). She even learns to drive. Ramona finds the band in Thunder Bay, she gets the singer to agree to sing and makes a deal with the manager of a pub. The band has a pretty bad show, they don't kill, in fact, just the opposite.

I thought it was pretty entertaining for the second time. I've got the Blu-ray on my Wish List. Last time we watched it the other film was a Canadian effort, the second film tonight is also a Canadian effort.

End Of The Line 2007 Written and directed by Maurice Devereaux. Shot in the subway of Montreal.

One evening religious zealots go crazy and start killing everyone. The zealots mission is to send the sinners to heaven with knives. The main characters are trapped in a subway in Montreal and they have to fight off the zealots. There's a lot of running and whimpering. A lot of people get killed on both sides.

I wasn't that impressed with the film and wouldn't need to watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 1003

The Breach 2022 Based the novel The Breach by Nick Cutter, screenplay by Nick Cutter and Ian Weir, directed by Rodrigo Gudiño. A Canadian Lovecraftian sort of story.

A boneless and mutilated body turns up near the town of Lone Crow Ontario. A backpack suggests he's a scientist called Cole who rented a house near the town about 18 months ago. It's an isolated house that's only accessible by boat. The Chief of police John heads up there with his ex girlfriend Amy and Jake, the local coroner. It's dark when they arrive, the house is empty. They decide to crash there and look for clues in the daylight. Why they wouldn't have waited to leave until the next day I don't know, just goofy choices by the characters.

During the night Cole shows up and all sorts of bad things happen. Sadly it just takes forever to get to the action. Turns out that Cole had built a device that connects to some other dimension or some such. Jake gets drawn to the machine, John pulls him out but he's been affected by the machine and starts to mutate. Cole's wife Linda shows up to complicate the night even more.

It's a nice looking film with plenty annoying cliches. It's John's last week at work before he leaves the town, Amy is his ex, she also dated Jake before John lived in the town, Jake still has bad feelings about Amy dating John and John breaking it off, Cole had caused the death of his daughter with the machine, his wife is damaged because of it. It all adds up to a lot of blather among the principles that slows down the story. I thought it was entertaining enough but it wasn't something I would bother with again.

Without Warning 1980 Written by Lyn Freeman, Daniel Grodnik,Ben Nett and Steve Mathis, directed by Greydon Clark. I bought the Kino Lorber Blu-ray from their current sale, I was interested in the commentary. I had seen the film before, I was just surprised it was in 2017 and a movie night. In that post I mention that the film has a 5.1 on the IMDb and it still has that rating. I gave it a 5 then and still feel the same way.

It's an alien encounter movie, the alien is in the woods hunting people with little fleshy discs that kill people, the alien stores the bodies in his larder, an old shack in the woods. Four young adults arrive in a van and a couple are killed pretty quick. The rest of the movie has the other couple try to survive. The locals are a lot of old actors, Jack Palance, Martin Landeau, Sue Ann Langdon, Ralph Meeker, Larry Storch and Neville Brand. The alien is played by Kevin Peter Hall.

I liked it better than the previous film and I'm listening to the commentary as I write this. Greydon has a fair bit of info about the film. I'm looking forward to the other bits on the disc. I might watch it again someday.

Science Fiction Sunday 800

Arctic Blast 2010 Written by Jason Bourque and directed by Brian Trechard-Smith. An Australian Canadian co-production that was filmed in Hobart Tasmania and Ottawa Canada. It was the first full length feature film to be filmed in Hobart.

Another low-budget disaster film that's more Fantasy than SF. This time it's a hole in the ozone layer that's causing drops in temperature as cold falls from space and freezes everything it touches. Science is something to put out of your head on this one. Plenty of goofs in the script that have to do with science.

The main character is the scientist that no one believes. Bruce Davison is the scientist that's in charge, he's later humbled when his plan, the one Bruce steamrollered through, doesn't work. He has to call on the main character who has family trouble. There's a huge death count as more holes open up. Despite all that there's a happyish ending.

It's pretty much a stinker for me. It's like an echo of all the other similar disaster movies that freeze people, even if it preceded them. At least the actors were working. I wouldn't want to watch it again, I wish I hadn't watched it the first time.

Dune 2 2024 Based on Dune by Frank Herbert, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spalhts, directed by Denis Villeneuve.

More adventures on Arrakis as the family Harkonnen take over. Paul is out int he desert with the Fremen and his mother. There's lots of scenes of the desert and plenty of battles.

It took a long time to get to the end of the movie, 166 mins, and I was starting to get bored near the two thirds mark. It piqued my interest when the Emperor came to Arrakis. I bet he didn't think he was going to be defeated. Sucks to be him. The movie ends with the promise of a holy war against the other house.

I enjoy watching David Lynch's Dune more than this production and I can say the same thing about the 2000 TV production with William Hurt.

Friday Night Movies 994

Eight Men To Kill 1962 Written by Tatsuo Honda and Kôji Takada, directed by Shigehiro Ozawa. The third in the Bounty Hunter series with Wakayama Tomisaburo. The three film Blu-ray box set is from Radiance.

Shikoro Ichibei takes on the job of getting a huge stock of gold back from some bandits. He's got til the day of the eclipse and that's only 4 days away. He chases down the members of the gang only to find them empty handed, someone else in the gang has taken the gold. No honor amongst those thieves. There are a good number of sword fights and plenty of horse riding, bodies dot the landscape.

Ichibei barely survives the mission but he gets there in the end. Most everyone else is dead. A constant reminder of the short and dangerous life in feudal Japan. All in all a good trilogy with plenty of action and stabbing. Highly recommended.

Neon City 1991 Written by Ann Lewis Hamilton (as Buck Finch), Jeff Begun and Monte Markham, directed by Monte Markham. A Canadian post apocalypse film that was filmed in Utah.

Bounty hunter Micheal Ironside captures Vanity in the out lands, she turns out to be a valuable captive, big reward offered for her capture. At the local town they tell him he has to take her to Neon City, that's where the warrant was issued, that's where the reward credits are payed out. It's a few days away but he'll go, he wants his credits. The local officer has Micheal's jeep blown up. That officer hates Michael and that forces Michael to take the stagecoach transport to Neon City. The movie is Hamilton's update of John Ford's Stagecoach. Instead of native braves the passengers have to fight off the local mutant raiders. They've been damaged by the residual radiation in the out land. 

There's some action scenes and a bit of dull time before the action picks up again. They get to Neon City where Michael has to kill one of the passengers for murdering another. He lies to the authorities when he tells them Vanity died on the road. Michael and Vanity leave Neon City with Lyle Alzado.

It's pretty much average, nothing too new or exciting. Richard Sanders as the comic relief machine reminds one how sad it is when the apocalypse wipes out all the really talented entertainers. That's why I'm saving DVDs. Hope I can get some electricity and a working DVD player.

Snow Beast 2011

Snow Beast 2011 Written by Brittany Wiscombe and directed by Brian Brough. An American horror film set in Canada. Some of the movie is shot in Quebec and other bits in Utah and New York City.

A Yeti is roaming around a ski resort. He's killing animals and people. John Schneider is a wildlife researcher, Danielle Churchran is his daughter Emmy, and Jason London is a local forest ranger. The Yeti proves to be a formidable opponent. Many die.

It's got some nice scenery but the story is familiar. There's nothing new or interesting here. It gets a 3.5 on the IMDb. I gave it a 3 and 40% of the votes were 3 and below. I don't think people liked it very much. I know I wouldn't need to watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 982

Santet 2 1988 Written by Naryono Prayitno and directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra. An Indonesian sequel to Santet. It's part of a double film Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome. 

Having killed off the baddie in the first movie Katemi tries to give up the black magic life and settle back into village life. She's forced back into the black magic lifestyle by Nyi Loreng, the ghost of the long dead master of Katemi's recently dead master Nyi Angker. Nyi Loreng puts a curse on Katemi which turns her into a tiger. At night she terrorizes the village as a tiger. Nyi Loreng wants revenge for the murder of her pupil but Katemi doesn't want to kill anyone.

The son of the baddie in the first movie is a drug smuggler in Jakarta. The same actor plays father and son. The son moves to the seaside village to run his business. The local police are rather dim but the Jakarta police are there to wreck the son's drug smuggling operation. Luckily the local Muslim teacher helps Katemi fight the bad influences. Eventually things are sorted out and Katemi gets to marry the local Muslim teacher.

It wasn't as much fun as the first but I did get a few laughs. There's not as much black magic stuff going on in this one. It's more a comedy with a large bit of on screen time devoted to the local comic relief machine constable and his wife. It's pretty lowbrow and only marginally funny. I was laughing at the film making more than the jokes. The effects are fair to poor with the tiger suit getting plenty of laughs.

Infinity Pool 2023 Written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg. A science fiction movie that's heavy on the drama.

The movie is set in the fictional country of Li Tolqa. Tourists have to stay in the resort as the locals are a bad lot. A writer and his rich wife are befriended by a couple who convince them to take a trip to a beach outside the resort. On the way back the writer is driving the car, he hits a local who dies. They leave the body there and run away after the husband of the other couple convinces the writer that the police are corrupt and it will go bad for them once they fall into the police's hands. It's astonishing to me that people would pick that country for a vacation.

The next morning the police come and arrest the writer and his wife. They know everything and the writer is given the dead penalty. He's also given a tourist out option, for a large pile of cash the police will provide a clone for the dead man's family's eldest son to kill. It's a pretty old school, an eye for an eye, sort of country so you know there's plenty of opportunity for corruption. He takes the option and pays for the clone. They have sit and watch the son of the dead man kill the clone.  His rich wife is horrified and really wants to leave.

It's just the start of a downhill slide for the writer. He becomes a complete piece of shit joining some other tourists who have been cloned before in beating a local police man. More badness follows. Eventually he finds out his new pals are just fucking with him, trying to turn him into another murder tourist like them. They break his brain and he winds up sitting in the monsoon rain staring out to sea across the infinity pool. 

I certainly didn't care for the pieces of shit that the writer got involved with and for the man the writer became. I can't see spending time with that sort. The movie is a good reminder to distrust the rich and powerful. It's not hard to imagine many of them turning into murder tourists and killing for fun. I didn't care much for the movie despite it being well made and the cast doing a great job. I wouldn't need to watch it again.

Science Fiction Sunday 776

Cold Zone 2017 Written by Hannah Davies and Ivan Hayden, directed by John MacCarthy. A US disaster film shot in Pemberton British Columbia masquerading as Alaska. I watched it on Amazon Prime, it's also on Tubi.

The disaster is caused by a super storm that has tendrils of intense cold. The tendrils freeze everything they touch. The intense cold kills animals and humans by freezing them solid instantly. The intense cold breaks machinery and causes buildings to fall part.

We follow the exploits of a family, parents are on their summer work trip to Alaska, dad's a scientist, mom's a doctor and the son is there against his wishes. There's the usual typical local types you'd find in a small town. Most all of them die.

There's plenty of running about as the freezing to death gets going. Sadly, the story is rather like other movies. There's plenty of made up science and physically impossible things to make me sigh. At least the dialog is competently delivered. It gets a 3.6 on the IMDb and that's about all it's worth. I got through it but didn't think there was anything new or interesting presented. Not something I would need to watch again.

Snowmageddon 2011 Written by Rudy Thauberger and directed by Sheldon Wilson. Another disaster movie from Amazon Prime. This time with plenty of commercials. I'm less likely to continue to watch AP as commercials start popping up.

This mixes fantasy with disaster as a strange snow globe appears on a family's porch. It depicts the center of the tiny Alaskan town they live in. When a button on the globe is pressed a disaster starts. Cracks in the earth, spikes from the ground, the opening of a volcano. Wow. Plenty of stuff going on, supported by average at best CGI. The story is fair and the actors a mixed lot. Laura Harris and Lorne Cardinal are the only one's I recognize. Laura has been in plenty of other TV shows but I first ran into her on Dead Like Me playing Daisy, Lorne was a regular on Corner Gas, both are good actors. The rest are less than that level.

The townies have to deal with the weird disasters, many die before they figure out they have to toss the snow globe into the volcano. I think it scores a 3.8 on the IMDb because it has so many familiar story hooks and plot points. I got through it, it was mostly enjoyable but I wouldn't need to see it again. You can watch it on YouTube without ads.

Friday Night Movies 971

Ashfall 2019 Written by Lee Hae-jun, Byung-seo Kim, Tae-Yoon Kim, Jeong-deok Kwak and Joon-hyung Lim, directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo. A South Korea disaster movie.

An active super volcano on the North Korea and China border is causing earthquakes. Scientists estimate it will blow repeatedly over the next 4 days, the final eruption will destroy most of Korea. Scientists and government officials have taken up a plan to nuke the volcano using mining tunnels, they are hoping to relieve the pressure in the magma pools and dampen the seismic activity.

A military bomb expert called In-Chang is due to retire that day, his retirement is put on hold and he's assigned a mission to extract the uranium from some old North Korean ICBMs hidden away in a bunker. He needs a guy to lead him to the site and that guy is in prison in North Korea.

In-Chang is really the technician on the job, there's a special ops team of soldiers who are supposed to get them to the ICBMs and to the mine. That team's plane goes down right away and In-Chang's team now has to survive and get the mission done. Of course there are plenty of obstacles in their way.

The action scenes are fast paced, noisy and filled with dirt. It's a wonder their cars would work the air is so dusty. There's plenty of near impossible escapes and stuff on fire. It's pretty predictable and filled with cliches. I gave it a 6 for the effects but I couldn't rate the script that high. I don't feel the need to buy a copy, I doubt I'd get back to it. You can see it on Amazon Prime, free with ads.

Lifechanger 2018  Written and directed by Justin McConnell. A Canadian movie shot in and around Toronto.

A story told from the POV of a shapeshifter that murders people when it takes over their identities and personality. I don't want to be sharing a monster's life choices. I want to see a monster get destroyed. It's another well made film with a poor script. This is so disappointing I can't be bothered to go on. Don't watch it.

Starhunter Redux Season 2

Starhunter Redux Season 2 Created by G Philip Jackson, Daniel D'or and Nelu Ghiran.

I did watch the second series, it was a few months ago. Just never got to mentioning it. I don't get around to everything, especially some TV shows, I also don't want to spend as much time on blogging some shows or movies.

I did enjoy watching the series, it was odd to see Caravaggio in instead of the lady who was on the original season 2. Sadly Murray Melvin past away last April. He was 90, so good on him.

I'm glad that they put the series out, a bit sad they never got a longer run, I'd rewatch it again.