It may be a bit of a surprise when the most satisfying feature film to premiere in a given week is only available to stream rather than shown in theaters, but it happens. Case in point: The pirate-themed action movie The Bluff, which premiered last Friday on Prime Video. Meanwhile, second seasons of the TV shows Hijack and Paradise have successfully broadened the scope of each series. And a local club that helped launch San Francisco’s punk-rock scene in the 1970s is experiencing a rebirth, while the annual Noise Pop festival offered a wealth of elevated performances at various local music venues.
Bluffing against the odds
The Bluff — the title of the lively new swashbuckler from director and coscreenwriter Frank E. Flowers — refers to a geological point on the Caribbean island where most of the movie is set and also nods to a strategic maneuver utilized in conflicts from card games to criminal activities to warfare. If the odds don’t favor you, a bluff is sometimes necessary to gain the upper hand. The deck is certainly stacked against the lead character in The Bluff — retired pirate queen Ercell, who is played by limber, likeable Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Ercell, once known as Bloody Mary when she sailed the 19th-century seas in search of treasure, has since led a quiet life in a peaceful village on that Caribbean island with her husband and legitimate ship captain T.H. Bodden (Ismael Cruz Cordova), and their physically challenged son, as well as her rebellious sister-in-law Elizabeth (Safia Oakley-Green). It all comes crashing down when Ercell’s old partner in piracy, the ruthless Captain Conner (Karl Urban), arrives with his vicious crew to get revenge for a perceived betrayal.
Conner attacks the island with a full complement of buccaneers brandishing swords and pistols, so it’s up to Ercell to save the day and rescue her family, even though she is wildly outnumbered. To do that, she’ll have to revert to her pirate persona and lean on the deadly fighting skills that made her reputation as Bloody Mary. As outlandish as it may seem, The Bluff plunges forward with verve and a jubilant willingness on the part of the cast (which includes the delightfully gruff Temuera Morrison as Conner’s second-in-command) to embrace and subvert the clichés and familiar chicanery of the genre. The result should shiver your timbers … in a good way. It’s considerably more view-worthy than the sole high-profile theatrical release this past weekend — Scream 7, the latest and least installment of the spooky, occasionally amusing horror movie franchise about serial killers who wear ghost masks inspired by the figure in Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream. On the basis of her accomplishments in The Bluff, the lithe and resourceful Ercell could probably take out a brigade of Ghostfaces — and not a movie too soon!
The Bluff is available for streaming on Prime Video.
Terrorism now, apocalypse soon
In science and medicine, it’s sensible to repeat a successful formula. In television, that same approach can lead to creative stagnation and, even worse, audience boredom. Two TV programs of recent vintage that impressed with their debut seasons have found ways to continue the adventures of their respective heroes while freshening up the situation and storytelling. Hijack — with the commanding Idris Elba as business negotiator Sam Nelson on a hijacked flight from Dubai to London — seemed like a one-and-done. Sam’s task is to somehow save the crew and passengers on the flight. To do that, he needs to negotiate with the hijackers who have targeted his estranged wife and son back in Britain as a way to have leverage over Sam. Regardless of how that season of Hijack ended, it didn’t seem like a premise that could be successfully revisited with Elba returning as the focal point of Sam. Yet, there’s a Season 2 of Hijack that logically continues Sam’s tale with another hijacking — this one on a subway train in Berlin. And it works, bringing Elba and a few key players from the first season into play again and adding the ubiquitous, reliable English actor Toby Jones as a shady U.K. operative alongside a slew of fine German performers.
The final Season 2 episode of Hijack will premiere March 5 on Apple TV.
The premise of Paradise is apocalyptic. In its first eight-episode season, a global catastrophe drives a city-sized population of the wealthy and powerful — including the president of the United States (James Marsden) — into a massive bunker with an artificial sun under a mountain in Colorado. Although there is an attempt to keep the U.S. government functioning in the hope that some semblance of normal life can continue, the president is murdered. Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown), head of the president’s Secret Service detail, is under suspicion, and he needs to find the real murderer and clear his name. To complicate matters, Collins has his children with him in the bunker, but his wife was caught in the extinction event, and he wants to somehow find her out in the rubble. Plus, tech billionaire Samantha Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), who oversaw the financing and construction of the bunker, has her own agenda. So Paradise is a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a post-doomsday science-fiction drama. A Season 1 cliffhanger suggested we’d get to see more of the state of the world outside. Even though there’s more bunker intrigue to come, Season 2’s initial emphasis is on how things played out for survivors who did not have access to shelter — and that expansion of Paradise bodes well for its continuation.
New episodes of Paradise premiere every Monday on Hulu.
Fab and frenetic
The music scene in San Francisco has received a palpable boost from the recent string of live concerts that were part of the annual Noise Pop festival — among them a stunner of an all-instrumental set from highly-influential, Chicago-forged experimental rock ensemble Tortoise at the Great American Music Hall and a room-shaking blast of vintage rock and soul from Los Angeles party band supreme Tom Kenny & the Hi-Seas at the Kilowatt. Apart from Noise Pop, a positively enthralling birthday tribute to George Harrison happened a few days ago at the Chapel, with various S.F. musicians — including venerable Flamin’ Groovies leader and guitarist Cyril Jordan, powerhouse vocalist Shannon Shaw of Shannon and the Clams, and up-and-coming singer-songwriter May Powell — backed by a super-tight and versatile group specifically assembled for the occasion to cover classic and beloved Harri-songs.
Perhaps the most exciting music news is the reopening of the Mabuhay Gardens a.k.a. the Fab Mab, the legendary punk-rock showcase at 443 Broadway in North Beach, somewhat cleaner and brighter now than the dark, dank incarnation of the club in its heyday. It’s been ramping up of late with sharp-toned rock ensemble The Dogs from Detroit (introduced by the ever-snarky Jello Biafra, front man of the original Dead Kennedys) and garage-rockers Th’ Losin Streaks from Sacramento playing there two Saturdays ago. This past Saturday was an even bigger deal as the Mab celebrated 50 years of San Francisco punk-rock by hosting a sold-out punk-stravaganza in two parts with a number of the luminaries that were there at the start of it all. Penelope Houston of the Avengers and Hank Rank of Crime were in attendance, as was Gina Schock of the Go-Go’s, who played the Mab early in their ascent to stardom. In the late afternoon, the reconstituted art-punks the Mutants threw down a roaring set, followed by an evening barrage featuring Flipper & Friends, Frightwig, Fang, and more, upstairs from the Mab in the On Broadway performance space. The pogoing-room-only crowd spilled out onto Broadway. Apparently, punk lives!