A Story of the Sea and THE KING’S DAUGHTER

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray and Digital from director Sean McNamara and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the story of THE KING’S DAUGHTER.

Marie-Josephine (Kaya Scodelario) is a handful and being raised in a convent in France. She loves the sea and often brings a little trouble with her for the nuns. Also in France is King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan), who begins to feel his mortality when struck by a bullet from an angry villager. His physician, Dr. Labarthe (Pablo Schreiber) tells him about magical properties that can be found in mermaids.

Sending Captain Yves De La Croix (Benjamin Walker), the King has one order, capture the mermaid creature and bring it back. Louis wants to perform a ritual during the coming eclipse that will make him immortal. Someone who is against what the King wants to do is Father Francois La Chaise (William Hurt).

But the good Father is on his own mission, to bring Marie-Josephine back to Versailles to play music. When she arrives, she meets Magali (Crystal Clarke) who fills her in on palace life. What Marie-Josephine does not know is that the King needs money and in order to do that he is willing to marry her off to Jean-Michel Lintillac (Ben Lloyd-Hughes).

Creating a friendship with the mermaid, Marie-Josephine and Captain De La Croix also see each other differently. As the eclipse draws near and with Father La Chaise unable to stop what is about to happen, a plan is formed to help the mermaid escape and rejoin her own family.

Scodelairo as Marie-Josephine is a young woman who is a tad defiant and very talented musically. She is excited to be brought to Versailles until she slowly uncovers the reasons. Befriending the mermaid, a bond is formed that pushes her do to whatever it takes to save her.

Brosnan as King Louis is a narcissistic man who thinks being immortal will keep France safe when I believe more that he just wants to be immortal. Even when his advisers try to sway him from doing the mermaid harm, he wants what he wants and after all – he is the King.

Hurt as Father La Chaise believes that the King could be such a good man if he would stop listening to others feeding into doing harm. Once he understands the mermaid, it is time to help both the lady of the sea and the young Marie-Josephine both find their true destinies. It is nice to see Hurt one last time on the screen and in this role as such a loving and caring person.

Walker as De La Croix is ordered by the King to bring back a mermaid, but he slowly sees what Marie-Josephine sees in the lovely sea lady. He also begins to have feelings for the lovely land lady as well. Now it’s the pull between the orders given by the King and what his heart knows is right.

Schreiber as Labarthe is just a sinister doctor in refined clothing. He is the reason for the plight of the mermaid and nothing or no one is going to stop him. Even as Marie-Josephine tries over and over to get the King to see the error of his ways, Labarthe twists everything. Schreiber has the demeanor of someone I would not want to mess with.

Clarke as Magali is a young woman who is thrilled to befriend Marie-Josephine. Together, she knows Versailles and its ways and helping her new friend becomes so important. Clarke is sweet and clever and plays this role divinely.

Other cast include Paul Ireland as Benoit, Terry Norris as Great Chamberlain, Kasia Kaczmarek as Sister Constance, Jessica Clarke as Madam Devereaux, Kaya Blocks and Bingbing Fan as The Mermaid.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

Gravitas Ventures is a worldwide film distribution company that connections the global audience of over a billion people. Celebrating 15 years, they have had the honor to collaborate with thousands of artists to share important films. Gravitas was one of the first companies to develop a global network of digital media platforms like Video on Demand with a simple mission to deliver ideas that could bridge filmmakers to audiences. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.gravitasventures.com.

Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes and Cast Reflections on THE KING’S DAUGHTER.

THE KING’S DAUGHTER is a fanciful adventure of love, relationships, mermaids and doing what is right no matter the cost. There are characters that are out for themselves and what serves them best and there are characters who know that that is no way to live.

It is a lovely story and, truth be told, my granddaughter loved it, especially the mermaid as that is what she so loves right now. The mythical beauty comes to the screen, and she could not have been any happier, well, unless it was actually swimming with a mermaid instead of Marie-Josephine.

That is what makes the story so lovely!

 

In the end – a King, his daughter and a hidden world!

RESIDENT EVIL: Welcome to Raccoon City

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray and Digital from writer/director Johannas Roberts and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment comes RESIDENT EVIL: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Living at the Raccoon City Orphanage is Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), brother Chris (Robbie Amell) and friend Lisa (Marina Mazepa). In charge is Dr. William Birkin (Neal McDonough) who uses each of them for his own personal experiments. When it becomes Claire’s turn to be part of it, she runs away.

Years later, Claire comes back to Raccoon City but watching a serious accident, a woman who is killed quickly turns into a zombie. Officer Kennedy (Avan Jorgia) also begins to notice strange behavior of the people around him. Getting away from that, Claire goes to look for Chris to tell him that Ben Bertolucci (Josh Cruddas) told her everything, but her brother does not believe her.

It does not take long before Chris sees for himself what is happening to all the people and Claire gets her brother away from it. The police station has the Alpha team headed up by Chief Irons (Donal Logue), Chris, Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Richard Aiken (Chad Rook), Brad Vickers (Josh Cruddas) and Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper) who are now headed to a place called Spencer Mansion.

The problem is the mansion is now over-runned by the undead and Wesker is not honest with the team. As everything begins to fall apart, Birken takes one last opportunity to use something called a G-Virus before an unexpected visitor shows up.

Scodelario as Claire is the amazing bad-ass of the film who does not take nothing from anybody – even if they are not exactly alive. Getting grungy and protective is a great combination for Scodelario giving Claire what is needed to jump into the story.

Amel as Chris does not quite believe his sister until he sees it for himself. I mean really, the undead have to be seen and experienced right? (insert wicked smile) McDonough as Birkin is a scientist who does not care about anything except his experiments. The one thing that makes this character is that all McDonaough has to do is grin and stare and its kind of scary in itself!

Other cast include Lily Reid as young Claire Redfield, Holly de Barros as Sherry Birkin, Janet Porter as Annette Birkin, Daxton Gujral as young Chris, Dylan Taylor as Kevin Dooley, and Lily Gao as Ada Wong.

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.

Special Features include Replicating the DNA, Cops, Corpses and Chaos, Zombies, Lickers and the Horrors of Resident Evil.

Anyone who knows me probably can feel the tingle of excitement vibes I have for anything zombie, zombie like, undead, reanimated, walkers, etc. RESIDENT EVIL: Welcome to Raccoon City gives me that and a whole lot more. Along with the creepy and scary (especially on a 75” television with an amazing sound bar) creatures, there is intensity, a few jaw drops, and very loud action which makes for an amazing night in front of the television in the dark!

Writer/director Roberts made sure that nothing was left lame because, and it is true, there are some of that type in the genre. It was a wild ride dodging and weaving the undead with a story that means there is more to follow. The cast does their job but not without getting messy or bloody, but I am good with that.

In the end – witness the beginning of evil!

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Jeri Jacquin

Jack is back this week in theatres as directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg along with Walt Disney Pictures is PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) is a young man who wants one thing – to see his father Will Turner permanently returned to dry land. What he needs is Poseidon’s Trident and the map that will lead him there to break the curse holding his father deep in the ocean.

Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) is a young woman who holds a map to the where the trident is and only she can read it. Basically it’s because she can read the stars where as most pirates can’t, well, read.

Someone who can help them is Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) but he’s not having the best lucky with a crew lately. As if that’s not enough, Henry tells Jack that a ghost named Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) pretty much wants his head on a platter.

Unphased by the prospect of losing his head, Jack is more focused on what he’s always focused on – getting his hands on the Pearl! When Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) comes upon the hair flowing Captain Salazar, a deal is struck to find Jack together.

Jack, Henry and Carina try to stay one step ahead of Barbossa and Barbossa tries to stay two steps ahead of Salazar. As they all get closer to the prize, there are still scores to settle and a few surprises for them all.

This is the life of a pirate!

Depp as Jack Sparrow puts a period at the end of his time as a pirate. His usual throwing caution to the wind and not being upset by much, Depp throws out lines and facial reactions that will make the audience laugh. Jack Sparrow is endearing and even to the very end he seems to be able to come out with what he truly wants.

Thwaites as Henry Turner is a young actor that is able to pull off the role of a kid who just wants his Dad back. Becoming somewhat of an expert on the legends of the sea, Thwaites is charming, caring and daring all rolled into one. Scodelario as Carina is a smart young woman who is misunderstood by, well, pirates. Looking for the trident is her mission to finding her own family.

Rush as Barbossa is his usual peg-legged self who wants to keep the money rolling in and going up against Jack is just topping on the cake. Bardem as Salazar is kind of creepy but then again he is a tad upset at Jack so we have to let him get out his frustration.

Other cast include Kevin McNally as Gibbs, David Wenham as Scarfield, Stephen Graham as Scrum, Adam Brown as Cremble, Orlando Bloom as Will Turner and Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann. There is also a cameo appearance that had the audience cheering so look out for that!

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a fantastical journey’s we have all enjoyed with Captain Jack Sparrow. Although the film isn’t really a stretch in terms of a storyline (meaning kind of predictable or else I’m just getting really good at this) but the special effects are cool. Of course they would be in a Disney film right?

It has been an adventure from 2003 until now with characters that are memorable and have become iconic. Disney has done a good job in wrapping up this series of films (I hope it’s a wrap!) in such a way that I don’t think anyone will be disappointed.

Everyone jumps on board for another adventure and a few surprises as well. This is fun for the family for the holiday weekend with laughs, adventure, action and characters that once again having us cheer for our favorite pirate.

In the end – it is the final tale of a pirate’s life!