B.I.T.S. '19 Film Review - M.A.J.I.C.

Roswell, New Mexico,1947, A crashed weather balloon is mistaken for an alien spacecraft; so  Pippa Bernwood (Paula Brancati) starts her podcast The Alarm Clock a weekly wake up call from an internet dreamworld of lies and conspiracies. It all starts with Rosewell. Bernwood is an atheist, skeptical debunker but agrees to meet with Anderson (Richard Fitzpatrick) in a neutral setting. The latter hypes up the cold war espionage meter the moment they meet handing Bernwood a pen for her to keep on her person at all times ala a totem. Anderson is in his seventies seems confused not knowing that the current year is 2008. Burnside is doing research on M.A.J.I.C. or Majestic 12 as she knows it and Anderson has a story to tell. The bend in the timeline is introduced with a throwaway reference to former President Gary Hart launching the intricate but intriguing narrative forward.

Writer-director Erin Berry alongside co-writer David Pulscauskas' script is heavy on procedural dialogue in the first act. The recruiting agency that started out as a post-WWII Air Force maintenance contractor is introduced along with references to the Gemini project and N.A.S.A. alerting the audience that the film is headed deep into Sci-Fi / Spy Agency territory.

Bernwood follows the facts and discovers some supporting evidence for the one tangible document that Anderson provided to her. Her agent injects himself into the mix flogging a product that would lead to sponsorship of her podcast and money for them both. The downside, its mind-altering and she would have to ingest it. Bernwood dismisses him, goes to see a known true believer Fishburn (Anand Rajaram) to discuss the case over a game of chess. Later, she checks some old school microfiche, then turns to fellow skeptic Truckspoor (Debra McGrath) to go over what she has found out to date. A note under her door follows spreading an expanded nugget in her brain on the road to becoming a believer.

M.A.J.I.C. is a conspiracy Sci-Fi story that ticks as the request boxes plus a few additional ones. Paula Brancati shines as the hardcore skeptical debunker that finds her position starting to shift the more she digs into Anderson's story. Richard Fitzpatrick devours the role of Anderson the post-war era card-carrying Republican Government Agency recruit who has no history after his discharge from the Air Force in 1954.  Anand Rajaram and Debra McGrath add to the proceedings as a true believer and fellow skeptic receptively. It's a compelling watch with the best take on an alternate U.S. Presidency timeline since the repeated elections of Nixon in The Watchmen.

**** Out of 4.

M.A.J.I.C. | Erin Berry | Canada | 2019 | 83 Minutes.

Tags: Roswell, 1947, Skeptic, Debunker, Space Pen, Air Force, Republican, Podcaster, Hallucinogenic, 20%, Chess, True Believer, Dick Cheney, Obama 08.

BITS '19 Film Review - The Nights Before Christmas

Mr. and Mrs. Claus (Simon Phillips) who also has a writing credit for the film and (Sayla de Goede) are back resuming their roles from  2017's Once Upon A Time At Christmas. It's a year after the killings from the first movie and Courtney (Keegan Chambers) is under the watchful eye of the FBI after surviving the first massacre. At the films open her father Jim comes to visit as both of her parents are worried about her well being. After giving her some money and an agreement that Courtney will allow her parents to come and visit during Christmas he returns home encountering Santa ax in hand on a feeder highway. The FBI attends the scene to investigate and finding Naughty scrawled in blood in the snow alerting them that the Claus' are back and the killing are about to start again.

Director Paul Tanter returns to familiar ground this time to tel tell the back story of how Mr. and Mrs. Claus met in an asylum where they were known as Nicholas Conway and Michelle Weaver. The facility were treating their patients badly a recent theme in cinema thus here the audience gains a rooting interest for the supposed bad guys when they seek revenge on those that may require some form of punishment but maybe not to the extreme that the murderous couple goes.

The meat of the film is a cat and mouse battle between the Claus' and the FBI. Perhaps the best sequence in the film occurs in a church where law enforcement attempts to ensnare Nicholas and Michelle with mixed results. The events lead to part two of an institutional authority figure that definitely should be on the naughty list theme.

The film is a balanced mix of gore and narrative with a plain plot to follow a killer with a list. The Claus' are twisted and violent but those on the naughty list did have something coming. Nuggets about Nicholas' life before the asylum are revealed along with the pairs' ability to have compassion for those that did no wrong.  If thematic horror is in your lane then The Nights Before Christmas is worth the watch.

*** Out of 4.

The Nights Before Christmas | Paul Tanter | Canada | 2019 | 10. Minutes.

Tags: Christmas, Santa, Mrs. Claus, Asylum, Massacre, Naughty, Nice, FBI, Sting, Witness Protection, The List.

BITS '19 Film Review - DEAD DICKS

Becca (Jillian Harris) has just received the offer of a lifetime. Acceptance into a prestige graduate nursing program. However, her thoughts turn almost immediately to her mentally ill brother Ritchie (Heston Horwin) she has been his main support system for all of her life for her medicated brother. As she decides how she will tell Ritchie the news she goes to a shift at the bar where she works during which discovers multiple urgent voice mails to his apartment . Fearing the worst she cuts out of work running into Ritchie's downstairs neighbour Matt (Matt Keyes) a corporate looking busy body who's push up regime her brother is apparently disrupting.  Becca enters the apartment to find Ritchie hanging in the closet. Mortified she goes to take him down when she hears her brother's voice behind her explaining that this scenario has occurred before.

Based on an intriguingly original idea, the narrative of Dead Dicks continues to twist and turn at each moment the audience things they have things pegged. Writer directors Chris Bavota and Lee Paula Springer pack plenty into their limited budget one main set production. The mechanism that allows Dick to keep coming back is plain to see and understand  but the different developing mutations of the process range from grotesque to surprising the latter in an Invasion of the Body Snatchers -John Carpenter The Thing type of way.

The viewers see the story mainly from Jillian Harris as Becca's point of view. She has to talk Ritchie off the ledge, is the one to get eyes on the full regeneration process and frustrates when she is slow to get in position to witness the rebirth. She's also the one tasked to deal with the multiple Ritchie's. Heston Horwin work is more on the physical side as Ritchie. He's doing the body horror as he navigates the conflicting messages in his mind.

Dead Dicks is at its centre a relationship between a brother and sister. As anyone can relate that has a sibling the relationship can be frustrating at times to the point where time apart can be the best remedy. The writer-directors show in the piece that it is O.K. to admit that frustration even if you are the sibling that is supposed to be the stronger supportive one. The opening warning at the start of the film directing those that need help to get it as what follows could be triggering is thoughtful. The film is a crisp narrative by a pair of fresh voices. The momentum for the film deservedly continues to grow as does the anticipation for the duo's next project.

***1/2 Out of 4.

Dead Dicks | Chris Bavota / Lee Paula Springer | Canada | 2019 | 83 Minutes.

Tags: Skype, Nursing, Graduate School, Mental Illness, Depression, Caregiver, Voice Mail, Suicide Attempt, Portal, Rebirth, Suffocation, Hanging, Electrocution, Medication.

BITS '19 Film Review - She Never Died

Woman of few words are hot topic in the film industry today. There was Margot Robbie as Shannon Tate in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood then most recently Anna Paquin's one line performance in The Irishman created quite a stir. In She Never Died  Olunike Adeliyi takes this concept to a new level as Lacy. She'd rather act than speak, does not want any company except for her one acquaintance who looks after the spot in the alley where she crashes and has a craving  for human fingers for the bone marrow that seems to fuel her incredible regenerative powers.

Lacy is seeking someone known to her as the man with the rings. The man's name is Terrence (Noah Dalton Darby) who is a mix of cruel and comedic as he toils in an industrial setting beating up people as he waits for the next shipment of women marked for trafficking. Lacy's friend tips her off to Terrance's location which she storms mutilates a loser associate but does not get to her target. Intrigued by her strength and power Terrence decides to reverse the tables and hunt her.

Law enforcement also has its eye on Terrence and the disappearances. Veteran cop Godfrey (Peter MacNeil) spots Lacy's handiwork. She is unorthodox but they both want the same thing so Godfrey extends the offer to team up in exchange for a roof over her head that includes a fridge to keep those appendages on ice. The last to the member of team is Suzi ( Kiana Madeira) who begins to follow Lacy around like a lost puppy after she inadvertently rescues her when storming into an apartment looking for a potential target. The trio all plays a role in going after Terrence and his sister Meredith (Michelle Nolden) who is the brains behind the siblings' criminal activities.

Olunike Adeliyi drives the narrative forward as Lacy. She is a human flesh eater but Adeliyi plays her in an understated, quick-witted manner that firmly plants the audience in her rooting section. She wants to be left alone, act practical and spend time in her favourite diner ordering oatmeal. Peter MacNeil grounds the film. His work alongside Director Audrey Cummings eye gives the production a serious look and feel. He looks the part, asks those police detective question and is willing stray from procedure if  his choices help to crack the case. The brother/sister , braun and brains dynamic between Noah Dalton Darby and Michelle Nolan drips with mischief and sarcastic banter.

She Never Died is a suspenseful tale with a gritty look dotted with several instances of short extreme violent bursts. Director Cummings does a lot with a little backed by a cast that contributes greatly to the production. The narrative is funnier than expected and full value for its 90 minute run time.

***1/2 Out of 4

She Never Died | Audrey Cummings | Canada | 2019 | 89 Minutes.

Tags: Rings, Human Trafficking, Interrogation, Bone Marrow, Live Feed, Fridge,  Red Room, Oatmeal, Tooth.

imagineNATIVE '19 Film Review - Red Snow

Your Nation can be a very complicated phrase. Dylan (Asival Koostachin) is Gwich'in from the Canadian Arctic and a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan. Aman (Shafin Karim) is the patriarch of a Pashtun family a teacher turned translator caught in Taliban territory working for the Canadian Army while trying to protect what's left of his family. His educated daughter Khatira (Mozhdah Jamalzadah) clad in a full burka tries to study quietly knowing that teaching  females got her mother killed. They are wary of their cousin Ramiz  (Kane Mahon) who leads the local Taliban cell forcing Aman to participate in an ambush that results in Dylan's capture.

Once captured and thrown into a dimly lit concrete room Dylan moves inward for solace to his spiritual upbringing, memories of the forbidden love he shared with his cousin Asana as a teenager and his strong connection to his grandmother Ruth (the great Tantoo Cardinal) and past family matriarchs before her. Aman and his family are also in survival mode. They join forces with Dylan knowing each is the others only way out then begin the three day journey across the difficult desert landscape dotted with Taliban forces and rival tribes to Pakistan.

Writer/Director/Producer Marie Clements looked to showcase native peoples and their land with the film. Crane shots supply the visuals of the vast seemingly endless desert, snow covered arctic and green mountain on the journey to Pakistan. Cinematographer Robert Aschmann particularly shines capturing the shots where desert, meets mountain, meets snow at the Afghan-Pakistan border.  Taliban Cell leader Ramiz calls Dylan an unwanted invader on his land during the latter,s interrogation. Dylan remembers his Inuit village and his teenage love Asana wandering across the blinding beautiful Canadian arctic terrain changing it's colour a droplet of red at a time in the titular and emotionally centric sequence  of the film.

Survival is the theme of Marie Clements Red Snow. Survival of culture, survival of the family, survival of tradition, language, religion, traditional way of life and the individual. Asival Koostachin embodies many aspects of the theme as Dylan a captured, interrogated Gwich'in Canadian soldier. The narrative explores several layers of conflict and resolution in a tight 93 minute package that is well worth the watch.

*** 1/2  Out of 4.

Red Snow | Marie Clements | Canada | 100 Minutes | 2019.

Tags: Canadian Arctic, Inuit, Gwich'in, Afghanistan, Canadian Army, Panjwayi, Taliban, Prisoner, Interrogation, Kandahar, Pakistan, Motorcycles, Notebook

Planet in Focus '19 Film Review- Tiere Und Andere Menschen (Animals and Other People)

A series of  animals bumping along in cages in the back of a vehicle greets the viewer at the opening of Tiere Und Andere Menschen (Animals and Other People). The outside sounds of wind and the traffic can be heard as they travel along to an unknown destination. The motion stops followed by the titular card then the first of what will become a series of animal entry triages to the  Wiener Tierschutzverein (Viennese Animal Protection Society). A crane is first up. Three staff inspect it for injuries, obstructions and foreign bodies determine if it can stand or if an X-ray is required then ask the driver where it was found and what happened to it. A small rabbit follows then an even smaller cat where we first see eye ointment is used for the first time mainly to see if there is any blinking in the animal.

The relationship between animals and humans is explored through a rare behind the counter view of an animal shelter. The staff take calls from the public, answer owners' questions, treat the injured, take in rescues, along unwanted hoping that adoptions balance out the arrivals. It's more about matching up humans and animals for the best chance of success. Do you have any small children? Other animals at home? Are you in the heart of the noisy city? Any height or weight restraints where you live?

The most interesting inhabitants are the long term apes. They are the alphas of the facility with staff often sitting outside of their cages paying them extra attention. Some employees become too attached which can be an issue at triage through to dealing with those that have passed the one year mark signifying an extended stay. The outside green spaces and pens along with quite large indoor quarters for the larger animals serve to avoid that cramped puppy mill feel so prevalent in North America.

Regular team meetings occur to review the status of each animal similar to what would occur in a hospital. Are any medications taken? If its a dog is being discussed, how does it react to people males vs females? children? other animals? Any physical changes or behaviour that may require further attention when the vet comes to visit. School kids come though on class trips to learn about the animals, everyday dangers to be aware of plus there are classes for adults looking to adopt that give clues to what an animal is trying to communicate through gestures, body language, and eye movement.

Everyday life at an animal shelter is tactfully explored in Tiere Und Andere Menschen (Animals and Other People). The staff treats every animal from the cutest bunny to a slithering snake with love, dignity, and affection. Strong connections are formed but never cross the line to cloud better judgment. It's a quiet insightful look at the facility where director Flavio Marchetti often just set up a stationary camera and let the bustling activity in shelter effectively tell the story.

*** 1/2  Out of 4.

Tiere Und Andere Menschen (Animals and Other People) | Flavio Marchetti | Austria | 2017 | 88 Minutes.

Tags: Vienna, Animal Shelter, Triage, Animal Rescue, X-Ray, Diagnosis, Adoption, Surgery, Feeding Time, Release.

Planet In Focus '19 Film Review - Artifishal

Human beings tendency to treat nature as a warehouse is the root idea behind Patagonia Films Josh Murphy directed Artifishal. The belief that nature exists to take what you want while dumping your waste anywhere you feel fit. The narrative splices in horrific scenes of frontier men posed with mountains of animal bones  juxtaposed to newsreels of streams and rivers full of fish.  Establishing the myth of endless resources until the government decided that it needed to insert itself to protect them as civilization was advancing to natures peril.

The theory was that with the advance of civilization dams needed to be built therefore fish hatcheries  were needed to mitigate for the loss of habitat.  The working logic as presented on queue by Brett Galyean Manger of Coleman National Fish Hatchery near San Francisco: population is going up water is a concern so if you want to still see salmon hatcheries are required as there is not enough water or environment to support salmon. Propaganda that dates back to the post U.S. Civil War era.

Spencer Baird as U.S. Fish Commissioner was the father of the practice starting artificial propagation with a hatchery bearing his name in 1873. Geneticist Dave Phillip explains that they were not scientist but instead, agriculturalists calling it Wildlife Management, Fish Propagation, birthing the agricultural mentality that still rules today. Its a farm; you raise, put them out you harvest them.  Questions began to be asked in the '70s and not until now are some of the most damaging practices set to be reversed.

Director Murphy highlights two key events that debunked the practice. First, Madison River Montana where they did a study in the seventies to stock one out of three fishing creeks. The non stocked locations doubled the number of fish while the stocked one halved leading to no more stocking of waters with self-sustaining populations in the state. The other Mount St. Helen's eruption of 1980 that decimated the surrounding river basins. No hatchery fish were put in a a result; 5 years later the fish were back at higher levels than before, doubling  two years after that showing what wild fish can can do even under the harshest conditions when not constrained by or forced to intermingle with hatchery fish.

Artificial documents the negative impact when a country becomes dependent on a multi -billion dollar industry. Hatcheries and Fish Farms provide jobs, create projects, justifies the existence of certain government agencies and a bump for politicians that have them built in their constituencies. Mother nature can do it better, have been doing it for thousands of years and for free. The wild method produces larger, healthier, sustainable numbers as opposed to smaller, diseased,weaker engineered fish. The empirical data supports this and its time that governments do as well.

**** Out of 4

Artifishal, Josh Murphy,  U.S.A. | 75 Minutes  | 2019.

Tags: Yvon Chouinard, Salmon Spawning, Dams, Spencer Baird, Ecology, Fish Hatcheries, Fish Farms, Fish Propagation, Washington State, Oregon, Montana, Biological Diversity, Protests, Government Legislation