THE LAST WINTER (2006) Blu-ray Review

The Last Winter (2006) d. Larry Fessenden (USA)

An unscrupulous American oil company, hell-bent on drilling into the fragile Alaskan tundra, hires renowned environmentalist James Hoffman (James LeGros) to supervise and (hopefully) endorse their efforts. When the "greenie" takes a little long for comfort and profit margins (due to increasingly erratic temperature fluctuations), company man Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) is dispatched to expedite matters, specifically to get the ice roads approved so that heavy equipment can be brought in. Camp leader Abby Sellers (Connie Britton) is caught in the middle, involved in a romance with Hoffman but intent on getting the project up and running. Just as the imminent war of wills begins its opening salvos, a supernatural presence begins to exert itself over the health and sanity of the various skeleton crew members on site, including resident mechanic Motor (Kevin Corrigan), Pollack's nephew Maxwell (Zach Gilford), cook Joanne (Dawn Russell), go-to guy Lee (Pato Hoffmann), and tech assistant Elliot (Jamie Harrold). Is Nature rebelling against its most potent enemy at long last?

COLD IN JULY (2014) movie review

Cold in July (2014) d. Jim Mickle (USA)

One hot summer Texas night, professional picture framer Richard Dane (Dexter’s Michael C. Hall) is awoken by the sound of someone breaking into his home. Spooked, the mild-mannered husband and father creeps downstairs and, accidentally firing his pistol, mortally wounds the intruder who turns out to have a criminal record a mile long. An instant small-town celebrity, Dane is applauded by the local lawman (Nick Damici) for bringing down “a really bad guy.” But when the burglar’s jailbird father (Sam Shepard) comes to town looking for revenge, it sets in motion a mysterious chain of events, revealing that nothing is as it appears to be.

THE LAST WINTER (2006) movie review

EDIT 11/12/2015: CLICK HERE FOR FULL BLU-RAY REVIEW

Last Winter, The (2006) d. Larry Fessenden (USA)

Via his breakthrough films, Habit and Wendigo, NYC indie director Larry Fessenden fashioned multi-layered characters dealing with supernatural situations...subtly informing viewers what we’re really scared of. In his largest scale effort to date, he approaches a much broader and overtly political canvas (that of global warming).  Unfortunately, by placing the fate of the Earth itself center stage, his usually reliable storytelling techniques lose some of their potency.