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!

INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming from writer/director Geeta Malik and Bleecker Street is the story of going home to INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES.

Ending the school year Alia Kapur (Sophia Ali) is dreading going home to her Indian family. Not home five minutes before dad Ranjit (Adil Jussain) suggests she help at his clinic and mom Sheila (Manisha Koirala) tells her it would be rude not to go to a family gathering. The only one she really wants to see is bestie Neha (Anita Kalathara). Going around the room serving samosas, she gets a peak back into the home gossip.

The next day mom Sheila sends Alia to the store and there she meets Varun (Rish Shah) who are the new owners of the grocery story. Mom wonders why she would do that and now her nerves on edge. The night of the party, Varun and his family arrive, and they feel a tad out of place. What makes it more interesting is that Varun’s mother Bhairavi (Deepti Gupta) went to college with Sheila. 

Immediately they are all uncomfortable but there is obviously a story between Sheila and Bhairavi. The other aunties cuddle up to her to get any information they can about the situation. Rahul (Ved Sapru), Vahru and Alia watch the adults dancing but its what they see at the top of the stairs that is not worth dancing about.

Alia can not seem to get past it, Rahul wants to act like nothing is happening and Vahru just wants to be supportive as much as he can. Each gathering brings the secret out more and more because the Aunties can not stop talking about it!

Ali as Alia is a young woman who has a life off at college but when the real-world hits back home, she must learn about the past in order to understand.

Koirala as Sheila is a woman who has gone in the opposite direction of the life she once knew. There is so much in her past that is now coming out and she continues to act as if she is embarrassed. Koirala is beautiful in playing the role of a woman who comes from a difficult culture. 

Gupta as Bhairavi is a woman who has stayed to true to herself. Imagine her surprise at seeing Sheila again and the second surprise at seeing her be someone completely different.

Shah as Varun is a young man who helps his parents with their store and is ready to go to university himself. There is an attraction between he and Aila that is lovely as they learn there is more to their parents than they could have imagined.

Jussain as Ranjit is a bit of a narcissist and does not seem to understand why his family is having difficulty. He is the cause and does nothing to fix it. Sapru as Rahul also does not seem to want to deal with the issue. He plays the game just as good as the others in the community.

Other cast include Christina Burdette as Mindy, Kamran Shaikh as Kamlesh as Dutta, Richa Chandra as Swati, Thomas Kasp as Sterling, Moses Das as Nitin Varma, Raj Kala as Gurvinder Singh, Krishna War as Shilpa, Ashritha Kancharla as Reema and Rupal Pujara as Bina.

Bleecker Street is a New York City film company that has brought outstanding films to the public. Their library includes TRUMBO, DENIAL, THE LOST CITY OF Z, BEIRUT, HOTEL MUMBAI, ORDINARY LOVE and THE ROADS NOT TAKEN. For more information on the titles from Bleeker Street please visit www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com.

INDIA SWEETS AND SPICES is a story of family and the pasts that parents have that their children have no clue about. It is also a story about the culture Aila and Varun’s family, but they are not so different than our own. We all have our shortcomings and images that we do not realize until too late that it has a ripple effect.

The story of each of these main characters are presented because it is time for the past to be forgiven, the present to be celebrated and the future to be whatever it will be. In the mix are the rich traditions of the Indian community filled with food, aunties and everything that comes with it. I love that about this film.

In the end – let the aunties talk!