RKS 2024 Film: “Out Come the Wolves”: Human Horror Intertwined with Animal Horror

The Canadian feature film “Out Come the Wolves” presents a combination and intertwining of both animal and human horror set in the remote Canadian woods.

Rugged and highly experienced hunter Kyle (Joris Jarsky) travels to a remote cabin in the woods to assist Nolan (Damon Runyan) in writing an article about  “the hunting experience”. Sophie (Missy Peregrym), also at the cabin, is a since childhood friend of Kyle and yes they were intimate once a mistake on their part. Nolan and Sophie are engaged.

Tension and jealousy overtake Nolan and liquored up he probes Kyle about intimate details about what he believes was a steamy romantic relationship between Sophie and Kyle. At least 30 minutes is spent at the beginning of the film building up the past relationship between Sophie and Kyle and viewers need pay attention to it. Is it worth murdering for?

Sophie is a skilled hunter but for “compassionate grounds” has abandoned the practice.

Kyle and Nolan head off into the woods as Nolan needs material for his article and Nolan simply can’t fire his rifle to kill a deer but Kyle makes the kill with his bow.

Then the big bad wolves attack leaving a trail of blood and gore. As Nolan falls to a nasty wolf mauling think murder momentarily as is it Kyle who is the jealous one so much more than Nolan?

Sophie then joins the fray and more blood and gore thanks to the nasty wolves.

The film is a combination of horror, misguided romance, a lesson on the ethics of hunting and is essentially a smart thriller.

Prosthetics are top shelf and the haunting soundtrack judiciously used along with spectacular cinematography will not disappoint. Who are the evil ones? The humans or the wolves? Are the wolves simply a didactic element about hunting turned on its head?

Directed by Adam MacDonald.

The film was released in Canada and the United States on 30August2024 with a VOD release to follow.

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 86/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: Shuffling Around in the Bargain Bin: 2021 Carro from Yecla Region in Spain

For $14, at least in Canada, you most likely are shuffling around like my friend The Penniless Pensioner, in the bargain bin. And in the bargain bin you never know what you may discover.

In this case it is a Carro 2021 from DOC Yecla in Spain.

From 30-year-old plus vines this wine is a blend of Monastrell, Syrah and Merlot.

Aroma: Lots of black cherry with some lesser notes of blackberries and blueberries with a dusting of cocoa powder and black coffee.

Palate: Brusque tannins that sucker punch and run off quickly. A bit peppery with a flash in the pan sweetness but no mistake here as this is a dry wine. Much blackberry. Longish finish. Well disguised acidity. Definitely a food wine and very well suited to just about any dish prepared with in season field tomatoes.

Personality: I am a down to business wine and a poster boy of wine that has developed to suit local cuisine.

Food Match: Eggplant parmesan with a sauce made from local field tomatoes and eggplant preferably. I bought a case some local eggplant and Roma tomatoes today and spent the afternoon making the sauce with herbs from my garden. Yes it smells like the best Italian restaurant in town here! Portuguese grilled chicken with Piri Pirri sauce would also be happy to mee the wine! I will be preparing some eggplant in oil and garlic Italian style in two days and wonder if this wine would suit that?

Cellarbility: Don’t go past the ball dropping in Times Square this year.

Price: $14 CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 86/100. Wine Align 88. Jamessuckling.com 90.

(Seňorío de Barahonda Carro 2021, DO Yecla, Seňorío de Barahonda, Yecla, Spain,750 mL, 14%).

RKS Literature: In the Mood of Money (Kurt Vonnegut)

“Quinn sat down in the booth next to the bandmaster. He was a bachelor, a small, dark, humorless man. He wasn’t a well man. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t stop working, he couldn’t smile warmly. He had only two moods: one suspicious and self-pitying, the other arrogant and boastful. The first mood applied when he was losing money. The second mood applied when he was making it.”

Kurt Vonnegut, “The Kid Nobody Could Handle”, 1955. 

RKS 2024 Wine: The Gentle Whites of Bordeaux?

When I think of white Vin de Graves from Bordeaux I think aromatic, gentle and at times high sophistication. Nothing shouts out to you but instead beckons.

This Château Des Perligues 2022 is a blend of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

Aroma: Honey, marzipan, mango, peach and lychee.

Palate: Smooth, muted acidity and loaded with peach and mango. Tropical with a moderately long finish!

Personality: No doubt about it I am a smooth operator making New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc resemble a bully.

Food Match: Simply prepared lake and ocean fish or veal and chicken in a cream sauce. No one will hold it against you if you enjoy with a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2025-year end.

Price: $15 CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Natalie MacLean 88.

(Château Des Perligues 2022, AC Graves, CIE Viticole D’Aquitaine, Beychac-et-Caillau, France, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS 2024 Film: “Charlie Tango”: Sympathy for The Devils?

The movie commences with some “active sex” in the washroom of a club between an angelic and prim rocker vocalist Kim (Stacie Mistysyn) and her ponytailed boyfriend Charlie (David La Haye) both in the “adulterer’s club”. Two morally bankrupt characters….devils?

With the smell of sex in the air Kim goes to her evening shift as an air traffic controller. A tragic midair collision occurs damaging a commercial airliner and bringing down and destroying a smaller plane. An investigation clears Kim of culpability but the investigation itself and threat of litigation lathers up Kim with stress. Kim’s cop husband Jeff (Bruce Dinsmore) urges Kim, without success, to obtain psychological assistance to weather the stress storm. Kim’s therapy would appear to be high risk behavior.

Kim joins Charlie’s real estate investment firm and assumes control of incoming funds while Charlie handles mostly fictional outflows of cash. The investments are a “sure way” to earn high returns. Kim persuades husband Jeff to transfer family savings into this winner of an investment product in a meeting between Kim, Jeff and Charlie. Cheeky and daring and somewhat morally corrupt having a meeting with your squeaky-clean husband and your lover.

Jeff follows Kim to an overnight booze and drug tryst with Charlie who devilishly set up a porno blackmail trap with a sleazy mega obese Tonya (Diana Lewis) a former lover who carries a battery powered cat. Jeff confronts his raunchy hungover wife Kim who spills the beans and admits guilt. Kim also reveals her suspicions from watching and listening to Charlie that he is a fraudster and most of his real estate properties don’t even exist. Kim and Jeff have their money returned and then the fun starts with “crime crusader” Jeff showing he is as devious as Charlie in scamming. A major sting operation stickhandled by Jeff is implemented after a failed hit on Kim. Charlie meets his justice and Kim faces the rage of a man who lost family members in the crash Kim has escaped responsibility for.

David La Haye as a Charlie devil plays the role with both charm and quiet ruthlessness. A loser conning bigger losers than himself. Mistysyn is certainly not short on acting ability but as a rocker and adulterer she is just a bit too “Flying Nun” pristine both in wardrobe and appearance to be a totally believable she devil. Tonya is as “an idea” well cast and superbly wardrobed but her acting is weak.  “B list” casting. “A list” soundtrack.

The writer/director/producer of this Canadian film is Simon Boisvert.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMWXTEiFOjE

“Charlie Tango” will be released digitally 3September2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 73/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: Rosé from Tavel Rarely Disappoints: Tavel La Forcadière

Not a fan of those flinty pale and a bit too acidic pinkies from Provence? Well then in France look to Tavel for consistent quality. Instead of a washed-out pink expect a salmon colored pink where fruit refuses to hide behind acidity and the hype of Jolie/Pitt/Sarah Jessica Parker and Hollywood wine wannabees.

Grenache Noir 30%,Cinsault 25 %,Grenache Blanc15%, Mourvedre 10% and Syrah 5%.

Aroma: Raspberry, strawberry, watermelon and beet juice.

Palate: Cactus pear, lychee, black cherry all with some subtle tannins and minerality creating a wine of substance in the mouth. Good traction on the palate suggests whole cluster pressing.

Personality: Red wine drinkers will love this rosé and white wine drinkers in some acidic funk may prefer a less fruit forward rosé. I am proud of my fruit which is restrained enough to avoid some slander that I am a kiddie rosé.

Food Match: Shrimp Jambalaya.

Cellarbility: Slight improvement in the bottle through 2027.

Price: $25 CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 92/100. Wine Spectator 90. Wine Enthusiast 93.

(Tavel La Forcadière 2023, AOP Tavel, Domaine Maby, Tavel, France, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS Literature: Beauty and Restless Beagles (Kurt Vonnegut)

“Susanna’s feathery hair and saucer eyes were as black as midnight. Her skin was the color of cream. Her hips were like a lyre, and her bosom made men dream of peace and plenty for ever and ever. She wore barbaric golden hoops on her shell pink ears, and around her ankles were chains with little bells on them.

She went barefoot and slept until noon every day. And as noon drew near, the villagers on main street would grow as restless as beagles with a thunderstorm on the way.”

Kurt Vonnegut, “Miss Temptation”, 1956.

The Fourth Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Je”: A Devastatingly Effective Short

A young woman (Sabrina Campilii) sits at her desk writing her suicide note placing it in an envelope and then takes a razor blade to her wrist but the radio she had been listening to crackles with the voice of her soul asking her what she is doing.

Her soul (Cassandre Anaya) appears and surprisingly lambasts her for not being herself and trying to pretend happiness and contentment so she fits into the mold. What type of soul is this but thinking of Dicken’s “Christmas Carol” perhaps it is a case of tear down to build a new grateful to be alive person.

Her soul switches from negativity urging the young women to be herself as she is a beautiful and capable person that should be living now and not in the past but in the future. She ends up sobbing on the floor in far worse condition than when her soul started dressing her down. Her final act of her old self is to write “Je suis” ( I am) on a mirror above the desk she wrote her suicide note on. What is her final decision?

This gripping short will drag you down the rabbit hole with its haunting soundtrack and bleak black and white photography. An emotional trip that ends with death staring at you. Don’t expect “It’s a Wonderful Life” finish. Does death or life win? Hold onto to your chair and find out.

In French with English subtitles.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwLh9wnF31M

Directed by Zane and written by Cassandre Anaya.

The Fourth Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) plays in 11 Canadian cities both theatrically and on-line. To see when this short can be seen check https://gifft.ca  

RKS Literature: The Ethical Suicide Parlor Wants You (Kurt Vonnegut)

“The average citizen moped about around home and watched television, which was the government. Every fifteen minutes his television would urge him to vote intelligently or consume intelligently, or worship in the church of his choice, or love his fellowmen, or obey the laws-or pay a call to the nearest Ethical Suicide Parlor and find out how friendly and understanding a Hostess could be.”

Kurt Vonnegut, “Welcome to the Monkey House”, 1968.

RKS Literature: Brain Control in the Name of Equality (Kurt Vonnegut)

“Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts, and George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains.”

Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”, 1961.