THE FOREVER PURGE

 Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray, DVD and Digital from director Everado Gout, Blumhouse and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the dread that is about to happen with THE FOREVER PURGE.

It is 2048 and racial tensions are back with the New Founding Fathers of America and it is a day before the upcoming Purge. Juan (Tenoch Huerta) and Adela (Ana de la Reguera) crossed into the United States into Texas for a better way of life and Juan works at the Tucker ranch while Adela also finds work.

Ranch owner Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) wants Juan and his family to be safe and give them a little help. It is his son Dylan (Josh Lucas) prepares his family for it but there is tension between Dylan and Juan. That’s why the couple get aboard a bus that is supposed to take them to a safe place for the next twelve hours guarded by T.T. (Alejandro Edda).

Dylan is already experiencing intensity and scaring pregnant wife Cassidy (Cassidy Freeman) as the lights flicker and the guns need loading. As the night ends, everyone goes back to their ‘normal’ lives trying to be oblivious to the night’s bloodshed. Only…something has gone wrong, horribly wrong.

When Juan gets to the farm, he and T.T. (Alejandro Edda) discovers that the Tuckers have been taken hostage by a group that believe the Purge is now forever. This group led by Kirk (Will Brittain) is now going after the rich ranchers and the Tuckers are the first to feel their wrath. Getting Juan as close as they can to finding Adela, they are joined by Harper Tucker (Leven Rambin) who believes she owes a debt.

Waiting, Dylan and Cassidy are discovering what it is like out in the streets during a Purge. Believing there is no hope, Canada and Mexico open their borders for six hours to get people out of the Purge. Juan and Adela know that they have no choice but to advise the group to head to Mexico. Now, they are all being chased by gunman who do not care what side of the border they are on.    

When violence has gasoline poured on it – the purge spreads out of control!

Reguera as Adela is not one to sit back and not do everything to protect herself and those around her. It becomes clear that there is a reason she is so good at fighting and she’s not about to give up now. Huerta as Juan has one thing on his mind, finding his wife and getting out alive. Helping those who did not want to help them is a twist and it now becomes a struggle for all. His boss-beef gets put aside when survival for all becomes a group effort.

Lucas as Dylan is a man with his own issues, but two things are clear, one – he does not believe in the Purge and two, he is not a fan of Juan. One thing is for certain, opinions do not mean anything because trying to survive washes out petty differences. I enjoyed watching Lucas take on this role but then again, I enjoy Lucas period.

Rambin as sister Harper is another strong character because she is not afraid of anything in front of her and clever as all get out. Edda as T.T. is using what he knows to get the group moving forward. He also sees the strength of the group working together and what Harper and Adela are capable of. Freeman as Cassidy is following the group with not just her own survival but that of her unborn child.

Other cast includes Zahn McClarnon as Chiago, Gary Nohealii as Joaquin, Keenan Henson as Stan, Carol Cantu as Lupita, and Gregory Zaragoza as Xavier.

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.

Blumhouse Productions is known for producing horror films such as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, INSIDIOUS, SINISTER, THE PURGE, THE GIFT, GET OUT, HAPPY DEATH DAY and SPLIT. The films from Blumhouse have become instant classics and they continue to give us something to scream about! See more at www.blumhouse.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.

Bonus Feature include Deleted Scene and an Alternate Storyboard Opening, Collapsing the System: Behind THE FOREVER PURGE and Creeptastic Wardrobe.

This Purge film starts out with nothing but divide and ugliness, they come together not only out of survival but begin to understand one another. Surrounded by the worst of humanity, they refuse to give in to those who are so twisted by their own bloodlust.

As a group they continue to trust who they can and do what ever it takes to survive. Interesting how differences are voided out when killing means no one is safe, no matter who you are and where you come from. Once the violence begins and there is no control, it spreads like a disease and nowhere is safe – they can only keep running!

The film is intense, edge-of-your-seat and disturbing in its imagery. Yet that is absolutely the point. Something as heinous as the ideal of a purge, brings out everything brutal that inhumanity has to offer. From start to finish, THE PURGE is not going to let the viewer rest so be prepared to take the last stand.

In the end – one night is not enough!

 

 

 

 

SICARIO: Day of the Soldado Brings Deception to Bluray

  

Jeri Jacquin

This week on Bluray/DVD and Digital from writer Taylor Sheridan, director Stefano Sollima and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is an escalation of a drug was and SICARIO: Day of the Soldado.

After a suicide bombing in Kansas City, Federal Agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) receives orders to find a way of stopping terrorists coming to the United States. The government suspects that the Mexican drug cartels are responsible and wants something done about it. The plan is to instigate a war between the big cartels starting with kidnapping the daughter of a kingpin.

Graver knows who he needs to help with this mission and seeks out Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro). After creating a kidnapping-rescue to win the young Isabel’s (Isabela Moner) trust, her father ups the game even further by using Mexican police for a double cross on Graver, Gillick and the other soldiers. Returning fire is what also turns the game.

Isabel runs and the U.S. government is furious over the deaths of the Mexican police fearing it will cause more problems. Especially when it is discovered that the bombing suspects are not who they thought. To clean up the mess, Graver is ordered to stand down and do what is necessary to make everything that happened go away – and anyone involved.

Gillick decides he is not about to do what Graver asks and works his way to the border with Isabel. The only way they can enter is by become illegal immigrants. Unfortunately Gillick is recognized and meets his fate at the hands of a kid. Graver finds Isabel and goes against orders bringing her to the United States.

But this isn’t over – for either Graver or Gillick!

Brolin as Graver jumps right into the assignment knowing what it will take to get the job done. Given the information about the mission he proceeds by finding the best to work with. Jumping from plan to plan, things become complicated when the information shifts and the cartels are infiltrating those who are suppose to protect them. I actually enjoy Brolin in these roles; he has the straight face needed to never let his hand show. Also, when he’s done being used, he is done being used!

Del Toro as Gillick is the perfect person to call on for the mission. The problem for him is that he doesn’t like it when the plan makes a U-turn and he’s on the other side of the fight. This actor has the same abilities as Brolin in that he can be as crazy as you want him to be but there are moments when he just takes a deep breath as if to warn the person he’s talking to that it’s not wise to push him further. Taking an interest in Isabel’s welfare also puts a target on his back – literally.

Moner as Isabel is one tough teenager, when she’s in school slapping around a fellow student. The minute the bullets fly and there isn’t a moment to think, she becomes exactly what she is – a vulnerable and terrified teenage girl who can’t smart mouth her way out of trouble. Now, she sees the horror of the business her father is a part of and it isn’t pretty. As the mission escalates, she has to learn what she is capable of and who to trust. Moner does a good job in what is needed to keep her character moving forward.

Other cast include Jeffrey Donovan as Steve Forsing, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Gallo, Shea Whigham as Andy Wheeldon, Elijah Rodriguez as Miguel Hernandez, Howard Ferguson as Troy, Catherine Keener as Cynthia Foards and Mathew Modine as Secretary of Defense James Riley.

Sony Pictures 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 Bluray/DVD include the Special Features of From Film to Franchise: Continuing the Story, An Act of War: Making Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and The Assassin and the Soldier: The Cast and Characters.

SICARIO: Day of the Soldado is a continuation of the story that started with the 2015 film SICARIO also written by Taylor Sheridan. The film was a big hit and with Brolin, del Toro and Blunt at the helm of the story, it makes sense that this film would come to be.

This time director Sollima jumps in the director’s seat and knows exactly how to make the story come to life. Using the countryside as another character in the story, it brings a depth to the film. He is responsible for the 2012 television series A.C.A.B. and Gomorroah.

What makes this film work are the twists and turns in the plot as, like with Isabel, you aren’t always sure who to trust. The case is made that the good guys might not be so good and the bad guys can have a conscience too (as with Gillick).

From beginning to end, SICARIO: Day of the Soldado is go, go, go with not much time to catch it’s breath but I like it that way. Even when walking through the desert, I found myself waiting for the next cactus to fall.

I am on board with this thriller to bring Gillick and Graver back for a showdown because there is no way this is over – no way.

In the end – no rules this time!