Arctic Blast (2010)

Solar eclipses are effecting the atmospheric layer causing a gigantic drop in temperatures. Jack Tate (Michael Shanks) leads a climate science team based in Hobart, Australia. Unbeknownst to them, their research ship gets flash frozen when a jet of cold air blast through the atmosphere. Jack is facing a divorce from his wife Emma and his daughter Namoi is not happy. He is shocked to see their ship run aground. Institute head Walter Winslaw (Bruce Davison) is reluctant to alarm the public. Jack can't get a warning out and he has to rescue his kid.This is pulling from similar junk-science as "The Day After Tomorrow". The difference is that nobody cared about the science in that movie. It was just an excuse to see NYC get CGI destroyed by a tidal wave. There is no such fun in this movie. The CGI in this one is pretty weak. The other problem is the way the situation is solved. It is basically a lot of computer modeling. I do have to say that this is some of the best fake computer modeling around. :) The action is mostly badly conceived. When Jack gets to the beach, he should grab her kid and yell "RUN!" Instead, he spends time to explain science to the kids and stand around waiting for them. It's an opportunity to amp up the tension. He should be raving mad which would inject some excitement. Worst of all, Jack takes off in the middle of a world wide catastrophe to go to the drug store. It's a pretty bad TV movie.

...with neither a bang nor a whimper but another dreadful film. This is the standard apocalyptic plot, done so many times with minor variations. The world is threatened by a rogue asteroid/alien invasion/epidemic/biblical flood/change in orbit --- in this case a cold front (really!!!)--- maverick young scientist takes on the establishment --- solves the problem, saves the world --- and they all live happily ever after so humankind can make yet more dreadful movies about averting the end of the world so that humankind can make even more dreadful movies about the end of the world... It never ends. There also are a couple of standard clichéd sub plots --- a floundering marriage, a rebellious teen ager and a death defying mission to retrieve needed insulin. The movie is refreshing in one way. It was a reassuring change to watch Australian trash rather than the American variety. (Although the movie was done in Australia, it was partially funded by the Quebec film fund.Go figure! Yet among the many jumped up stock footage scenes of Rio, Philadelphia, San Francisco, London and Paris being engulfed by ice and cold, there was no Montreal scene. Hell, Montreal is regularly engulfed by ice and cold. You don't need special effects!

Lately since I have been streaming movie from a company I will not name I am seeing a lot of movies I would never look at. Also lately I have noticed Bruce Davison has been in a few of these disaster flicks. So I wasn't sure if I saw this before I watched it. Because I said to myself I might have saw this because Bruce Davison was in some type of earth coming to a end movie not to long ago. Well it wasn't the same movie technically. I was thinking of Mega Fault. Same movie except this one dealt with ice and the other dealt with fire. The movie was entertaining in its own unbelievable way. See I have learned a long time ago to suspend all of the science I accumulated leading to a Chemistry degree and just go with the flow.Seems like the ozone level was destroyed because of a lunar eclipse and ice pockets are forming at first in the Australian area of Hobart. So of course the best meteorologist in the world works there and he is the first to see what is going on. He seems to be working for a NOA type of agency which looks like it is headquartered in Philadelphia. This is when Davison comes in He seems to be the head of the agency. Now I am not sure if he was suppose to be a bad guy but he turned into one in the middle of the movie when he ignored the guy from Hobart who had the solution to stop this, and decided to keep him out of the loop. Why I do not know. But he had his own plan and that is what they were going to use. All I have to say is he turned into a good guy with a tragedy I saw coming befell his wife. I am not going to tell you the end but all you need to know that there is a bratty 16 who is the meteorologist daughter, a young co worker who is a diabetic and does not believe in bringing anything sweet with her to work. Just look what bad science that was used when she got sick. And the meteorologist whom all hold the fate of the world in their hands.Also we have the usual wife mad with hubby because of his job, but realizing at the end that he saved the world so she will keep him. I have seen worse. And I am sure all of you who have read this have. The movie looked like Stephen Kings Fog. With the movies low budget they probably used the same fog and made it wider. Next time suspend any belief that any of these movies is based on good science or else you will be blinded by it and the movie.

I rarely review films, but that was so dreadful it deserved a moment of my time (even though I had just wasted 90 minutes of my time watching it) to write and say...absolutely dreadful! No need to say anything else, but I will elaborate a little.The special effects were terrible - the same effect appeared to be used in several locations and when it's supposed to be minus one hundred degrees, i'm sure it would be possible to see your breath. The not so good acting was getting me down...I was getting irritated with the characters - they were so dim (although the direction could have something to do with that). The plot - how far fetched? There were also so many errors and goofs, along with holes in the story. Absolutel dreadful! I had to give it one star, because I could'd give it 0.