THE MASK OF ZORRO Returns

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to 4K Ultra HD, Bluray and Digital in SteelBook from director Martin Campbell and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the 25^th Anniversary release of THE MASK OF ZORRO.

Nobleman Don Diego de La Vega (Anthony Hopkins) fights against the Spanish in 1821 but not as a regular man, but as Zorro, a masked man who helps the peasants of California. His rival in life and love is the corrupt Governor Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) who wants Zorro taken down by holding a public execution of innocent peasants.

Of course, Zorro is going to be there but also, two brothers Alejandro and Joaquin Murrieta who take on Montero’s soldiers. When Montero begins to suspect who Zorro is, de la Vega’s home is barraged by soldiers wanting to arrest him. During a sword fight, chaos happens as Montero steals de la Vega’s daughter Elena and sends the man to prison.

The two boys, Alejandro (Antonio Banderas) and Joaquin (Victor Rivers) have become bandits and have a bounty on them both. Their nemesis is Captain Harrison Love (Matt Letscher) who also happens to work with Montero who has returned to California with daughter Elena (Catherine Zeta Jones). Now it is Alejandro’s turn to have Montero’s murderous happenings fall on his family.

When de la Vega hears of Montero’s return, he finds Alejandro and takes him on as a protégé to become the new Zorro. Taking on a stunning stallion named Tornado, de la Vega makes it clear that he is no longer a thief but a standard for the people he will be helping. Now, the transformation is nearly complete as Alejandro becomes Don Alejandro del Castillo y Garcia and with his loyal servant Bernardo.

Attending a gathering at Montero’s hacienda, Alejandro meets Elena and is struck by her but that is not the goal this particular evening. He learns that Montero’s plan is to basically steal California from the other Dons and buy it from General Santa Ana. When wondering where the money would come from for such a purchase, the nobles are taken to a mine called El Dorado.

That’s when Zorro makes his move because once it is known that slaves and peasants are being used to work the mines, de la Vega and Alejandro know what must be done. Now the swordplay and revenge meet one last time!

Banderas as Alejandro is absolutely perfect for Zorro and you will never hear me say otherwise. He is dashing, roguish, charming, swoon-worthy, and has a comedic sense of timing when it plays perfectly. From the moment he is on screen, Banderas is in high action mode, even when kissing the girl! Playing opposite Hopkins and Jones, this actor uses the energy to bring life to the Zorro I grew up watching. There is a little more humor but it is all in the context of a man coming into his own Zorro, call it Zorro 2.0 if you will.

Jones as Elena is equally charming and has the right amount of sass and skill that makes her the perfect match for Alejandro and Zorro for that matter. She is the good and devout daughter until she realizes she no longer has to be and then its game on. I enjoyed her portrayal as it comes at a time when women in film are beginning to find their power through these characters and Jones does that thinking credit.

Wilson as Montero is just plain bad to the bone but then anyone capable of doing what he did in the first 10 minutes of the film, could you expect things would change? Wilson is as dastardly as I would expect and he does it deliciously well. I enjoyed watching his character feel free to come and go into being every persons worst nightmare of a politician without so much as a scratch – well, almost.

Let us talk about Sir Anthony Hopkins as Don Diego de la Vega and can I say – wow. He carries himself with the world charm and grace of the Zorro I knew growing up. Yes, there was a Zorro in black and white on television people, come on now. Yet, this Zorro has a family and that is one step beyond the television character. He is not only dedicated to the people but now equally dedicated to the life he has created with Esperanza and Elena. Hopkins gives us a further look into that life of a character that has his own plans to make things right, well done sir.

Other cast include Julieta Rosen as Esperanza Del La Vega, William Marquez as Fray Felipe, Tony Amendola as Don Luiz, Pedro Armendariz Jr. as Don Pedro, Diego Sieres as Young Joaquin, and L.Q. Jones as Three-fingered Jack.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment encompasses motion picture production for television, digital content and theater releases. The studios include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films and Sony Picture Classics. To see what is coming to theaters and to home entertainment please visit www.sonypictures.com.

THE MASK OF ZORRO is available in 4K Ultra HD, Bluray and Digital in a stunning SteelBook that would look amazing in any home entertainment library shelf.

MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on Movies Anywhere please visit www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

Bonus Features on 4K Ultra HD include Feature Presented in High Definition, 5.1 Audio, Commentary with Director Martin Campbell, “Unmasking Zorro” Documentary, Two Additional Deleted Scenes and Music Video by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena.

THE MASK OF ZORRO is just an action-packed film from start to finish leaving very little down time (except for maybe a kiss or two). It is a story of love, family, betrayal, revenge, change and revelations that make for an amazing time for a home family night at the movies.

What I enjoyed the first time I saw the film in theatres was the ease in which these wonderful actors drew me into a world of so much action, tension and adventure that I remember hardly eating any of my popcorn! I saw the film with my daughter who was then in her mid-teens and she loved it then. Sitting down to watch the film on 4K Ultra HD, she remarked how it was such a great memory we were repeating at home on a comfy sofa but this time we planned to finish the popcorn.

That’s what film excellence is all about, bringing a story that endures as THE MASK OF ZORRO has. You can easily say it has been 25 years since its release but watching it today, it stands tall, colorful, proud and still frakken amazing. Banderas, Jones, Wilson and Hopkins are responsible for making it so. These actors of quality made the adventure big, saucy and fun while director Campbell put it all in a neat stunning film.

In the end – when freedom is a memory and justice is outlawed, then just must become outlaws!

 

 

 

It’s an Adventure with UNCHARTED

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray, DVD and Digital from director Ruben Fleischer and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment comes the adventure with UNCHARTED.

As young boys, brothers Sam and Nate are out to steal a map from the explorer Magellan which is in a museum. When Sam gets thrown out of the orphanage where they live leaving Nate behind, big brother promises to come back. To make sure the younger boy has something to hang on to, Sam gives him a ring that has “Sic Parvis Magna” written on it.

Yet, fifteen years goes by with only postcards from Sam and Nate (Tom Holland) it working as a slick serving bartender. Watching him is Sully Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) and is also looking for the Magellan treasure. Sully tells Nate that he worked with Sam to find it by steal a diary belonging to Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Sully also tells Nate that they have to get the golden cross that is set up to be auctioned because it has more clues to the treasure. Nate is all in and does what he does best – get into trouble but slick in getting out of it. He also meets Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas) who believes that the treasure belongs to his family.

Now the traveling begins, and Nate meets Sully’s partner Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali) who has another cross. The problem becomes that the three absolutely do not trust one another so when not running from Moncada’s men, they are trying to outsmart each other.

Who will find the treasure?

Holland as Nate is so dang funny, cute and adventurous in this role that he actually looks like he is having a good time. His character is a young man who is just as much as of an adventurer as his older brother as finding Sam is a sad adventure in itself. Watching him go from escape to escape was the most entertaining of all. Can we make Holland the youngest James Bond because I’d be okay with that!

Wahlberg as Sully is sneaky, sly, deceitful and yet as their adventure moves on, this character seems to find a space in his criminal heart for Nate. Then again, Wahlberg has the ability to play both a real good guy and a real slimy guy with equal furor. As Sully, it is kind of a mixture of both as this character has good moments and really cruddy ones. I don’t mind that at all really, because mixed in with that is his humor delivered as only Wahlberg can.

Banderas as Moncada is an elegantly dressed bad guy who does not mind having other people do his dirty work. Trying to recapture his role in the family, he really does not have a problem with stepping on anyone who gets in the way of his finding the treasure. Banderas has the same ability as Wahlberg to be a really good, good guy and really slick bad guy.

Ali as Chloe knows one thing about all the characters in this film – you can not trust any one of them. That is not to say she is totally trustworthy but consider when you are surrounded by all these guys who wouldn’t tell the truth if their life depended on it and only one guy that is trying to be truthful, but you have trust issues. Did you get all that? Ali gives us girl treasure hunter from start to finish.

Other cast include Steven Waddington as The Scotsman, Pingi Moli as Hugo, Georgia Goodman as Sister Bernadette, Joseph Balderrama as Carlos, Serena Posadino as Goldie, Alana Boden as Zoe and Tati Gabrielle as Braddock.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment encompasses motion picture production for television, digital content and theater releases. The studios include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films and Sony Picture Classics. To see what is coming to theaters and to home entertainment please visit www.sonypictures.com.

MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on Movies Anywhere please visit www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

The Bonus Materials include Deleted and Extended Scenes, Behind the Scenes Featurettes, Becoming Nathan Drake, Big Action Breakdown, C-17 Globemaster, Charting the Course: On Set with Ruben Fleischer, Never a Dull Moment: Stunts & Action, The Buddy System, Villains, Backstabbers & Accomplices and Commentary with Director Ruben Fleischer.

UNCHARTED is a fight to the finish from beginning to end. There is plenty of action, adventure and a story that keeps it all together. This is the genre of film that is fun for the entire family whether in the theatre or on the big home theatre screen, a fluffy sofa, popcorn and sharing it all together.

Make sure you stay past the credits because there is a little surprise in store!

In the end – fortune favors the bold!

LIFE ITSELF Reminds Us We Are All Connected

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres this Friday from writer/director Dan Fogelman, Stage 6 Films and Amazon Studios is a look at the connecting we all have to LIFE ITSELF.

Will (Oscar Isaac) and Abby (Olivia Wilde) are New Yorkers who have a love that is enriched with laughter, love and the arrival of their first child. That’s what makes it all the more difficult for Will to handle Abby leaving him. Dr. Cait Morris (Annette Bening) is treating Will to help him deal with his life since leaving the hospital by talking about how they met.

Javier (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) is a worker on an olive farm who captures the attention of owner Saccione (Antonio Banderas). Taking Javier under his wing, it changes life and allows him to bring a good life to wife Isabel (Laia Costa). Raising their young son Rigo (Adrian Marrero), a trip to New York would change his world entirely.

Rigo (Alex Monner) is thrilled to be going to college but soon discovers that his mother is not well. The young man must decide whether to give up on his dream or continue learning about the olive business to be with her.

Dylan (Olivia Cooke) is a young woman being raised by grandfather Irwin (Mandy Patinkin). As the years pass she tries to find herself in different ways much to the worry of Irwin. After a night of feeling that life has treated her a bit unfairly, Dylan meets a young man and life begins to find its center.

Finding love, understanding, life as well as the humanity to bear it all knows no bounds.

Isaac as Will almost killed me in this role. Of course I realize that writer/director Fogelman is responsible for the hit television series This is Us which also kills me so I should have expected it. That being said, Isaac in this role just knocks me around emotionally and then leaves me to deal with the aftermath. Strong, powerful and brilliant is all I can say.

Wilde as Abby is sweet, very funny, endearing and quick. I love the relationship she has with Isaac’s character because it doesn’t feel forced but in fact seems easy. The banter these two actors shares gave me a lot to laugh about.

Bening as Dr. Morris has a short role but one that goes deep inside what is troubling Will. Her concern comes through as not only genuine but thought out.

Peris-Mencheta as Javier is a quiet spirit who doesn’t believe he needs to share his story – with anyone. That is the problem with his relationships with both his wife and boss. Staying quiet when he should be speaking up is what brings him the biggest pains of his life.

Banderas as Saccione is opposite of Javier in that he is happy to share the story of his life and in great emotional detail. Discovering what is missing in his life, he is unsure how to get it without hurting those he loves.

Costa as Isabel tries her best to make a good home for husband and son. Even when Javier closes down more and more, Isabel moves forward attempting to keep their family together. Costa is lovely, endearing and more importantly – must make a choice she never asked to make. Monner as Rigo is a young man who clearly loves his mother and the life she has given him. Now it is his time and the decisions are now one an adult must make.

Patinkin as Irwin wants what’s best for his granddaughter and when wife Linda (Jean Smart) can no longer be a part of that, he takes it one event at a time. I have to admit that Irwin is the grandfather we probably all wish we had. Cooke as Dylan is an angry young woman who hides it in the changes from year to year. Rebellious teen to uber rebellious young woman, she squashes her emotions in sarcasm and raw humor.

Other cast include Isabel Durant as Shari Dickstein, Lorenza Izzo as Elena, Jake Robinson as Henry and Samuel L. Jackson as Samuel L. Jackson.

LIFE ITSELF brings the world a little closer together in that our paths criss-cross in both time and place. This is a theme that Fogelman seems to have found his niche in writing. This Is Us is all about life, love, understanding, misunderstanding, insecurities, family, restraint, sadness, hopes and the emotions we all struggle with. LIFE ITSELF embraces all of those issues as well.

There are no special effects, no car chases, no action sequences and no super heroes. Instead, it is the story of people who are just trying to figure out how to be good people in a world where the word ‘good’ holds different weight for everyone. The films story puts the weakness and human frailties we all have forward and let us feel it with the characters.

In the end – we’re all part of a greater story!