RKS 2024 Film: “72 Hours”: Rather Run of the Mill

“72 Hours” is more or less run of the mill. FBI good. Criminals almost all bad. The glory of a unified family. Suggested sexuality geared toward prime-time television. If you appreciate this type of film good on you mate and enjoy. If you are searching for something novel or intellectually challenging best forget this film.

There is an interesting twist. Sebastian James (Sam Trammel) is an FBI agent. His brother Alex James (Cam Gigandet) facilitates transfers of crypto currency into arms. So on the bad scale he is not off the meter as he is a Tekkie and doesn’t go around blasting the good guys. Sebastian catches Alex during a crypto transaction letting him flee. Later they punch each up heartily and then family resentment amongst brothers springs up.

The bad guy’s suspect Alex is not to be trusted and he has an incriminating hard drive to boot. The bad guy’s kidnap Alex’s 16-year-old daughter, Christina, holding her ransom for the hard drive. No hard drive in 72 hours a real nasty man (with abs of steel) Ty Revello (Pierson Fodé) high up in crypto ring promises to slice up Christina in front of Alex’s eyes.

In a “Dirty Dozen” mode Alex and Sebastian working in tandem recruit former bad guys into the good guy team and it is bang bang bang and predictably good prevails.

Directed by Christian Sesma.

Watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1O73TwZKeU

Now available on VOD/Digital.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 66/100.

RKS Literature: Napalm Nightmare (Bryce Courtenay)

“When I came to I was lying on a large raised platform together with several wounded Korean and Chinese soldiers. The bloke next to me was sitting up as if he was frozen into position, with his hands clasped about his knees. He was a blackish brown colour, the skin on his body so completely burned that only his eyes moved. Only napalm does that. It was only months ago that I’d held Bluey Walsh in my arms, ineffectually emptying a water bottle over his scorched body as he died. I recoiled inwardly at the horror of it happening to any human being. Despite my own condition, I felt deep sorrow for the poor bastard. I looked into his eyes but was forced to turn away-I could see the hatred for me in them. I felt ashamed and appalled that my side could do this to a fellow human being. He would have killed me, choked the life out of me, if he could have unclasped his blackened arms. Korea has left me with several recurring nightmares. Those accusing brown eyes watching me, never leaving me, is the one that still causes me to wake up sobbing.”

Bryce Courtenay, “Brother Fish”, 2004.

Penniless Pensioner Wines: The Under $15 Man Tries Morgado Silgueiros from Portugal’s Dão

Well in rapid succession the Penniless Pensioner has snagged a $12.95 wine from Portugal’s Dão’s region. His last wine we snuffled about was also from the Dão so he concludes this region cherishes penniless pensioners. The wine has seen no oak and is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Jaen, Tinta Roriz and Alfrochiero.

One reader remarked in an earlier article I had mentioned he was living in a swank condo in the uppity Forest Hill Neighbourhood of Toronto. That is correct and having been there on “official business” and for a cocktail party or two his dwelling is very posh! A couple of Warhols here and there doesn’t make a pensioner wealthy, does it?

Perhaps further clarification is required here. I have mentioned previously his gal pal is Svetlana ex-Russia. Had a beef with that bald hunk of a leader who rides topless on horses and was advised a vacation might be in order far away from the Kremlin. She sure as hell did not want to be locked up in a convent. She encountered Penniless Pensioner while changing planes in Schiphol and it was mad passion over a wheel of Gouda. Cheesy but true. So here they are in Toronto and Svetlana has all the dough…I think.

I will note, and this is strictly between you and me, after 6 Harvey Wallbangers at one of his riotous parties he told me he had an occasional suitcase of cash head his way from a “travel agency” in Kusadesi, Turkey that specialized in “excursions” to a couple of Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean. It was a one-way cash only business. I mean it was bad enough Interpol was snooping about Svetlana and now for an honest guy like the Penniless Pensioner!

Aroma: Black cherry, blueberry, black plum and blackberry.

Palate: A bit rustic and rough and spicy with blackberry and blueberry duking it out none winning instead creating somewhat of a sharp harmony. Short and spicy finish.

Personality: I have a backbone and won’t deny it.

Food match: Last time I was in Viseu, relatively close to this co-operative winery there were a few Tomahawk steaks appearing in our restaurant and Portuguese beef can be subliminal. A great match or with cozida à portuguesa.

Cellarbility: Drink now.

Price: $12.95 CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 88/100.

(Morgado de Silgueiros Vinho Tinto 2021, DOC Dão, Adega Cooperativa de Silgueiros, Viseu, Portugal, 750 mL,13%).

RKS Literature: Life in the 1930’s at the Colored Orphan Asylum in Harlem (Bryce Courtenay)

“The idea of a black orphan aspiring to rise above his or her predestined station in life simply never occurred to them. Children such as Jimmy who were demonstrably bright were regraded as potentially dangerous. They would only become frustrated in later life and, as a consequence, turn to crime. It was better to subdue them when they were young so they didn’t aspire to achieve a status in society they would not be allowed to sustain. This was referred to as becoming ‘too big for their boots’.”

Bryce Courtenay, “Brother Fish”, 2004.

RKS 2024 Film: “Across the River and Into the Trees”: The Acheron River in Greek Mythology

Having recently returned from Thessaloniki, Greece attending the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival I was snagged by “Across the River” in this film’s title. I watched the short “Acheron” at the festival which is the river in Greek mythology crossed when traversing to the world beyond and hopefully not to Hades but the point is as a human on the banks of the Acheron you are dead waiting for the ferry that transports you to the other world. Digest this big hint while I review the film.

Colonel Richard Cantwell (Liev Schreiber) at 51 years of age is a veteran of two World Wars.  He is a legend for bravery and leadership. The film opens with him being diagnosed by a military doctor in Trieste as having cardiac thrombosis. He could drop like a sack of dirt at any moment so his physician urges him to immediately hospitalize himself. Strangely insists he must first go to Venice for the weekend to “duck hunt”. The Second World War is ending and Venice has been liberated from the black shirts but there are two of them hovering around Cantwell.

Cantwell is a grizzled heavy drinker and smoker and barely standing had not been for the nitro he downs with a copious amount of martinis and the contents of his ubiquitous flask. He is a tough guy but a man of dignity and honour haunted by implementing an order from an “army politician” that has never killed anyone except by his telephone. He is also haunted by the death of his son in the Italian campaign.

He meets Renata Contarini (Matilda DeAngelis) in Venice and she falls for this very much older man but being a man of honor, you know what doesn’t happen.

What does happen is Cantwell is shadowed by a couple of black shirts who beat him severely.

Near death after suffering a heart attack prior to his beating he meets a partisan who survived a Nazi mass execution who informs him of how his son died.

Back in Venice he nobly spurns the young girl Renata with her “pre-wedding jitters” and heads out in a small boat in a cinematographic moment of brilliance as he crosses the river to duck hunt. Is he crossing a mythological river to the other side which means you know what?

Schreiber is the grizzled military man infused with a deep sense of decency remarkably portrayed. DeAngelis excels as the starstruck Renata. Enzo Cilenti as the Gran Maestro is outstanding in his supporting role.

You may watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPHEG2x6YXA

Directed by Paula Ortiz.

Written by Peter Flannery.

Now available On Demand.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 88/100. The cinematography of Venice is more than worth the price of admission.

RKS 2024 Film: “Porcelain War”: Ukrainian Self Defence and Survival Through Art

“Porcelain War” is remarkably different from its Ukrainian relative “Honeymoon” I watched earlier this month at The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival”. “Honeymoon” was the story of two Ukrainian artists, newly married, trapped in their flat surrounded by the Russian army. It was a film of fear and desperation. “Porcelain War” is a story of defiance through both art and military action.

Slava and Anya are husband and wife artists in Kharkiv working with porcelain. Slava crafts the porcelain figurines while Anya paints them. Slava trains riflemen, all civilians, while with his unit named Saigon, he patrols the perimeter around Kharkiv and through drone usage fells invading Russian troops and destroys their tanks. The Russian military strategy is to consume its infantry like fuel substantiated by the recent Russian directed documentary “Russia at War” which was strangely subject to Ukrainian protest during the last Toronto International Film Festival.

Anya notes porcelain is fragile and everlasting with an analogy to Ukraine as it is easy to break but impossible to destroy. The porcelain figures of Slava and Anya are shown throughout the film both in combat and in peaceful and nonthreatening locations. Through animation on the porcelain figures themselves the stories of the Ukrainian war are told.    

Through actual footage the brutality of combat and the toll on both Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians is captured in a gruesome fashion. The destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure and the hellhole of Bakhmut is also captured.

For Slava and Anya art is resistance and through it the Ukrainian people can avoid elimination. If you destroy art in effect, you destroy a country’s identity.

The documentary is powered by the eccentric, bizarre, powerful and captivating music of Dakhabrakha. It will have a 6December2024 theatrical release in Toronto and Ottawa then move to Vancouver on 29December2024 and thereafter to other Canadian cities.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 85/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: Tired of that “farm to table” expression but the wine bearing that name?

Was it a decade or so I was reviewing a restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton Central Park South in New York and they were terribly excited about the “farm to table concept”. Sounds bucolic like a noble farmer carefully tending his plot or animals with his hands and lovingly of course, the tastiest fowl, lamb or heirloom tomatoes where it is delivered, with just the right amount of wholesome earth on it, the diners willing to fork out more for these wonderful farm to table products. Certainly, butter churned by a flaxen haired maiden in a drafty barn permeated by the sweet smell of freshly cut hay is superior to that produced in a butter factory on Route 66.

Here now is a Farm to Table Cabernet Sauvignon from Victoria, Australia. The wine has 7% Merlot blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon. It was fermented in stainless steel and then matured in a combination of new and old French oak.

Aroma: Heavy on the blueberry and black cherry with discrete bits of cassis, milk chocolate and raspberry.

Palate: Moderate tannins that fade mighty quick. The fruit is just a bit reluctant and doesn’t charge at you like so many Southeast Australian wines tend to do. Perhaps there is veracity here by Fowles Wine when they refer to their wines as “cool climate”.

Personality: I may be a good example of Vic wines but come to Victoria and make that determination for yourself. I am feeling just a bit tired these days.

Food Match: A no brainer of course. Free range chicken walked gently only in shady paths along the Strathbogie Ranges twice daily with the finest corn and grain imported from Wa Wa, Ontario. The chicken is tucked into the roost at bedtime and read “Jemima Puddleduck” every night. It was decapitated with the best Japanese stainless steel knife listening to Mahler.

Can you see that free range chicken being walked in the shady paths of the winery?

Cellarbility: Drink by Boxing Day 2024.

Price: $20 CDN.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 88/100. 90 Wine Enthusiast.

(Farm to Table 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Fowles Wine, Avenel, Victoria, Australia, 750 mL, 14.5%). 

RKS 2024 Film: “Sarogeto”: Succession Planning: Magnanimous or Creepy?

Grace (Ikumi Yoshimatsu) as a child in 1969 Japan suffered the death of her mother. Her father, unable to maintain the family home, sent Grace to live with a cousin’s family while he departed for Hong Kong in a search for employment.

Grace met Michael Stanton (Winsor Harmon), her future husband, at a celebratory dinner in Japan while a geisha.

Grace married extremely well residing in Los Angeles with Michael and their son. Grace visits her doctor, Dr. Langley (Eric Roberts) where an MRI reveals melanoma. Despite the urgings of Dr. Langley, she does not disclose her terminal illness to Michael. Anticipating her rapid decline she hires the very attractive Miki Endo (Ruby Park) as nanny and assistant and possibly a bit more. Miki is traditional Japanese. She has worked as a nanny in Japan and is well versed in the preparation of Japanese cuisine a very important skill considering Michael and her son hold food to be essential to a full life.

Grace turns to an old family friend Dr. Yuki Tano full of eastern spiritual musings advising Grace a soul’s journey is more about your interaction with the souls around you than your soul. While there is death the soul may after bodily death manifest itself in other ways.

Miki discovers medical reports detailing Grace’s melanoma and in anguish sobs to Grace how could you do this to me. An incident in Miki’s past causes her deep pain as Grace’s diagnosis does to Grace. In my corporate life in the 1990’s corporate speak was hyped up on the importance of succession planning for senior management. One wonders if Grace is in the process of succession planning for her demise. Anything is possible given Grace’s “moral dishonesty” in refraining from disclosing the cancer diagnosis to her family. Grace notes, and not with jealousy the way Michael looks at Miki is the way he used to look at her.

Grace dies of course and in just too much melodrama accompanied by soaring music walks in a forest to meet her departed father. Speaking of music impressive soundtrack by world renowned cellist and composer Martin Tillmann. The “modern tunes” are awkward considering the death focus and intended spirituality of the film. The film’s attempt at spirituality seems somewhat full of puffery.

There are enough hints thrown to the viewer to suggest Grace is grooming a successor and it is your decision whether that is creepy or magnanimous. Directed by Nico Santucci and cowritten by him and Timothy Michael Hayes.

Predictable but entertaining.

Opens on digital platforms 20December2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 75/100.

RKS 2024 Film: “The Heirloom”:  A Somewhat Comedic and Dramatic Thriller

Having some 55 years of dog ownership there was immediate resonance with the Canadian film “The Heirloom”. It is a movie about making a movie which fits perfectly with my attendance early this month at The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival where amongst 21 other movies I watched three Greek movies about making a film about making a film. Is this genre now sweeping the globe?

Eric (Ben Petrie) and Allie (Grace Glowicki) are pandemic Torontonians. Eric has been labouring over a screenplay for five years caught up in a vicious unending swirl of revisions. Eric the vegan has been persuaded by Allie to bring a dog into their lives. Reluctantly he agrees but as a matter of principle he insists it be a rescue dog of which they obtain from a rescue society. Milly is a two-year-old Whippet from the Dominican Republic and she requires “some serious TLC” code name for traumatized.

Eric keenly listens to “dog rearing” advice and is convinced he must be leader of the pack. Like a big level narcotic deal as in “Easy Rider” Eric and Allie pick up Milly close to midnight at a deserted near the airport parking lot.

Gradually Eric and Allie acclimatize themselves to Milly, probably the true leader of the pack! Progress is made but Milly has her fears particularly of a tree with CD’s hanging on it. Yes, rescue dogs, and for that matter all dogs, have their peculiarities.

Eric has an abrupt about face frustrated with his eternal screenplay and decides, blessed by Allie, to make a film about Milly at which point in the film one finds it difficult at times, but not unpleasant, to determine what is reality and what is film.

A crisis strikes when due to a sudden switch of food from raw chicken to vegan Milly vomits blood and is rushed to the veterinarian at which point blame is shunted back and forth to a near point of dissolution of their relationship. Milly has a mighty poop without blood or mucus and a pile of poop viewed aerially and majestically concludes the film.

Those viewers who have never raised a dog might find the film largely comedic or even absurd while dog lovers will (pardon the expression) lap it up identifying themselves throughout the film.

Ben and Grace adopted real life dog Dilly as a rescue and this film emanated from their actual true life canine relationship. There was a personal bittersweet connection with this film for me as my dear West Highland Terrier who went to the Land Beyond just over a year ago had as his favoured nickname Dilly.

What a sensitive portrayal of Milly by Cherry!

Written and directed by Ben Petrie.

The film has a Canadian theatrical release starting 29November2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 74/100.

RKS 2024 Film: “Meanwhile on Earth” (Pendent ce Temps Sur Terre)

At some point in time, you must have watched on the screen astronauts tumbling into the darkness of space never to be seen again. In “Meanwhile on Earth” Franck Martens and his crew suffer a mishap and all spin off into the blackness. Martens is a national hero in France.

 Martens’ sister Elsa (Megan Northam) suffers this tragic loss but one evening near a cell tower she hears the voice of Martens explaining that he floats in space and they are watching me and that I will die here they say unless you can create a path to bring me back. Elsa is told if she puts a seed in her ear which she sees glowing on the ground in front of her looking like a human sperm she will be better able to communicate with Martens. She inserts the glowing luminescent seed into her ear which turns to goo when she attempts to remove it causing a severe nosebleed. And one of them now speaks to Elsa saying tell no one about this. Elsa’s actions are not controlled by them but the voice continually “guides” her.

They speak to Elsa who is to assist them in establishing this all-important path to earth. The deal, if I can call it that, is for Elsa to select five humans who will follow the path and return as they left but are in fact these aliens who will come to earth with less than benevolent intent. Martens will then be returned to earth. Elsa has scant time to select the “victims” for transport along the path. In the process the victims will feel nothing. A painless death.

Who does Elsa choose to be dragged into space on this path? What are the criteria for her selection? Is it those who have no path in life like herself? Is it the aged with a path leading to proximate death? Is it depraved criminals? Is it the addiction ravaged?

Elsa struggles with the momentous decisions she must make. A standout performance by Northam in a style reminiscent of Romanian actress Ilinca Manolache in the 2024 Film “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”.

A sophisticated alien plot not full of wild cinematography but a quieter intellectual journey.

Haunting and chilling music from the Beethoven Academy Orchestra of Cracovie and occasional and innovative use of animation from Xilam animation studios in France.

Directed and written by Jérémy Clapin who was nominated for an Oscar in 2020 for Best Animated Feature Film “I Lost My Body”.

You may watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAW_VTc6qTA

RKS 2024 Film Rating 93/100.