The Chase is on with COCAINE BEAR on Bluray

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray, DVD and Digital from director Elizabeth Banks and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the VERY loosely based on the 1985 true story ridiculousness and savagery of the COCAINE BEAR.

After a drug runner throws tons of cocaine, and himself, in red bags out of a plane, it crashes. Investigating the incident is Officer Reba (Ayoola Smart) and Bob (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) who recognizes the runner.  In the forests of Georgia, scattered about are the bundles of cocaine and a 500-pound bear has found and ingested said white powdery substance.

Skipping school is Henry (Christian Convery) and his friend DeeDee (Brooklynn Prince) much to the dismay of Mom Sari (Keri Russell). Sari turns to Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) to look in the forest for the kids. The drugs are also wanted by Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and Syd (Ray Liotta).

So, Mom is looking for kids, drug dealers are looking for drugs, the cops are looking for drugs, the ranger just wants a little cuddle time with her crush, the hiker is just sad and it all falls under the category of ‘don’t do drugs!’

With so many people in the forest, its easy for the cocaine laden bear to go on a rampage because he only has one goal – more cocaine and clawing up anyone who gets in its way!

Russell as Sari is a Mom that is not going to let her kid get away with skipping school, even if she’s been kidnapped by a bear. Whitlock, Jr. as Bob the cop is doing his job and a bear isn’t going to stop that – someone else might, but not a bear.

Martindale as Ranger Liz had me cracking up every minute. She’s sassy and a badass all at the same time. Liz might need a few more weapons lessons but hey, stress is a bitch. O’Shea and Ehrenreich as Daveed and Eddie are trying to get their product back for dad Syd. Speaking of Liotta, he has always made an awesome bad guy and in this film he, as always, nails it.

Prince as DeeDee is talked into skipping school until she becomes a babysitter and Convery as Henry is a wise cracking kid who isn’t so wise when they find him up a tree!

Shout out to Allan Henry as Cokey the Bear, awesome job! Also, Kristofer Hivju as Olaf the hiker, dude, if you can take on White Walkers then you can definetly handle a cocaine induced bear.

Other cast includeAaron Holliday as Kid, J.B. Moore as Vest, Leo Hanna as Ponytail, Kahyun Kim as Beth, Scott Seiss as Tom, Hannah Hoekstra as Elsa, Jess Tyler Ferguson as Peter and Matthew Rhys as Andrew Thornton.

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 http://www.uphe.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 http://www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

Bonus Features include Alternate Ending, Deleted and Extended Scenes, a Gag Reel, All Roads Lead to Cokey: The Making of COCAINE BEAR, UnBEARable Bloodbath: Dissecting the Kills, Doing Lines, Feature Commentary with Director/Producer Elizabeth Banks and Producer Max Handelman and so much more!

COCAINE BEAR is based on the 1985 story of drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II who was dropping cocaine out of his plane. His parachute didn’t open so we all know how that ends. They 175 pound brown bear was found a few months later a bit dead and all that was found was forty plastic containers of cocaine – opened. If you care to see the bear, you can visit his display in the Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington.

If you are a fan of early 80’s films, then COCAINE BEAR is for you. It has the cheesy music, bad clothes, and slightly off acting with references that the tykes of 2023 might not get right away. Don’t worry, there will be someone in the room to explain it to you. Its hilarious, its bloody, it quirky

You take all of that and put it into the Elizabeth Banks mixer and COCAINE BEAR comes out. A mixture of ‘ewwwww’s’, laughter, jaw drops and righteous 80’s music means that this twisted tale of mayhem is going to be a good time had by all (without the cocaine side effects!) The cast is perfection and their interaction with ‘Cokey’ is hilarious.

So, get a big bucket of popcorn, turns the lights out and stay still when COCAINE BEAR comes on the screen!

In the end – get in line!

SOLO: A Star Wars Story

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theaters this week from director Ron Howard and Walt Disney Studios comes the story of a scruffy-looking-nerf-herder in SOLO: A Star Wars Story.

On Coreillia, a young Han (Alden Ehrenreich) is trying to get away from the miserable and abusive life on the planet. Wanting to bring the girl who has his heart Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), he devises a plan that will test his piloting skills. Mere steps from the transport that will take them away, they are spotted and Qi’ra pushes Han to leave without her. Pledging that he will return for her, there is only one thing he can do to make that happen and immediately joins the Imperial Navy who give him the name Han Solo.

Several years go by and Han still is having a difficult time. Kicked out of the Imperial Flight Academy, he ends up on Mimban fighting in a battle as an infantryman. That’s when Han notices Imperial Officer Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and Val (Thandie Newton) and follows him to discover that he is actually an imposter but not before Tobias has him arrested and thrown in a pit where he meets Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo).

Managing to escape from prison, Han and Chewbacca make their way back to Tobias who sees potential and brings them aboard his ship. Getting help with his next job, Han learns that the leader of the Crimson Dawn, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), is expecting a shipment of something called coaxium and Tobias is going after it. The problem is there is someone else interested in doing the same thing which puts Tobias, Han and Chewbacca in danger.

The meeting with Vos is not something Tobias is looking forward to but Han is shocked to see Qi’ra there all grown up and Vos’ right hand woman. Feeling that their lives are in danger, it is Han who says that they can steal unprocessed coaxium from the mines on Kessel. Agreeing to the plan, Vos also sends Qi’ra with them and she locates smugger Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). In a game of poker brings them all aboard the Millennium Falcon to Kessel and once they get their bounty they have little time to get the unstable coaxium back to Vos.

But they is also the Cloud Riders led by Enftys Nest as the group learns that they are only trying to make a difference by aiding the rebellion against the Empire. When they arrive to delivery to Vos, he informs them that he knows what they’ve been doing and how he knows shocks Han and Chewbacca. Now Han must deal with the traitor, save a friend and make things right for the Cloud Riders – and he will definitely make sure all scores are settled.

Ehrenreich as Solo does a fine job as the young Solo. He has the look of someone who doesn’t take orders well and isn’t about to be told what to do, that’s important. He throws out the arrogant confidence and silly charm that I’d expect from Han Solo. That being said there is something not quite right – oh yes, it isn’t Harrison Ford. Look, I get that it’s hard to walk in on a role that has been made iconic by another actor, in fact I give Ehrenreich props for doing it, but I can’t make the leap in years between this young Han and the Han of 1976.

Clarke as Qi’ra is another character that I’m afraid will end up with its own film (gawd please don’t). Kind of broke my heart a little that Leia wasn’t Han’s first love but the more I got to know Qi’ra the less I worried about her. The chemistry between Clarke and Ehrenreich is good. Glover as Calrissian gave a charmer performance and he gave the character swagger and capes. His robot counterpart was far funnier and more interesting to watch however.

Harrelson as Beckett is a smuggler who is going to go with who ever is going to pay him the most. Being a traitor seemed to come naturally to this character and Harrelson gives it his smirk and calmness that ends up being some of the trademarks found in Han. Newton as Val has a small role that works with Beckett and is the smuggler with a heart.

Bettany as Vos is a bad guy who doesn’t give one wit of care who knows it or what anyone else thinks of it. In fact he only answers to one person (sorry, no spoiler for you!) so how he handles situations goes easily unchecked.

Big shout out to Suotamo as Chewbacca because I think this is the first film that I’ve seen him in where he’s “talked” so much! It must be said that seeing him on the Millenium Falcon was uber cool.

Other cast include Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37, Jon Favreau as Rio Durant, Linda Hunt as Lady Proxima, Ian Kenny as Rebolt, John Tui as Korso, and Warwick Davis as Weazel.

Now that I’ve given you background lets get right to it, SOLO: A Star Wars Story is just that and nothing more – a story. There isn’t anything in this film that makes me thrilled and may answer only one question that I hadn’t thought to ask. The rest is what I call Star Wars noise and that’s about it. There were laughs, action and plenty of symbolism and nods to the original Star Wars and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

I guess my problem is I wanted something more, something unexpected, something – something! It’s hard to explain it unless you can have a conversation with the 1976 version of me. I think the fact that Han is gone, Luke is gone and Leia is really gone, it is hard for me to care about this film because I never really needed to know the back story of characters. I trusted who they were from the beginning and was happy with that.

Now ROGUE ONE was cool because it didn’t involve the main three characters but instead the story of how R2-D2 got the Death Star plans. That took me in a direction that was where I wanted to go, SOLO just really doesn’t do that. I mean I go for the ride but I’m happy when it’s over.

This is another difficult Star Wars review to write because I am an original die hard fan, yes I stood in line every Saturday for months to go for the ride and I didn’t need any urging. That’s what I want from anyone who dares to take on the task of making these “A Star Wars Story” film and we all know there are more on the horizon (deep sigh).

I think I also feel a bit like someone is treading on my memories, on my love of the galaxy far, far away. I didn’t embrace these characters but instead wanted to offer them a cup of blue milk in a traveler cup and send them on their way.

SOLO: A Star Wars Story isn’t bad, it’s filled with a lot that fans love and that is going to have to be enough.

In the end – never tell him the odds!

Life When RULES DON’T APPLY Comes to Bluray

 

Jeri Jacquin

This week on Bluray and DVD from writer/director Warren Beatty and 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment comes a story of a man who tries to show the world that in his universe RULES DON’T APPLY.

It is 1958 Hollywood, California as billionaire Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty) has his hands in a little bit of everything. Running a business founded by his father, keeping his employees hopping and finding the next beautiful actress is a full time job.

Discovering one such actress, Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) is a young woman who is beautiful, sings and is watched over by the discerning eye of mother Lucy (Annette Bening). Now under contract with Hughes, Marla is excited to finally be exactly where she’s always dreamed she’d be.

Driving the young woman and her mother around Hollywood is limo driver Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich) who is secretly and equally thrilled to be meeting Mr. Hughes. Coming into contact daily with Marla, they forge a friendship that borders on romantic. What keeps the seriousness at bay is Frank’s 7th grade sweetheart who pretty much believes the two are practically married.

Hughes is struggling as well but with practically everyone in his life. Believing that long time friend Noah Dietrich (Martin Sheen) is trying to have him committed, Hughes pushes back leaving Nadine Henly (Candice Bergen) and Levar Mathis (Matthew Broderick) left to keep an eye on Hughes. Eventually, the billionaire turns to Frank as a trusted employee to guard Hughes interests.

Their friendship blooms as Marla waits for Mr. Hughes to finally make arrangements to meet her. It puts a strain on both young people as Hughes has strict rule that none of his employees is to come near his contract actresses. When it becomes clear that the two need to back away, Lily has an encounter with Hughes that changes the course of their lives forever.

When you have billions of dollars you have billions of problems but love isn’t one of them!

Beatty as Hughes gives the persona of a man who knows what he wants and doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, in fact he really doesn’t take anything for an answer. His train of thought is so all over the place that it’s hard to get a question in edgewise, then again I don’t think I’d know how to ask him a question. Sound like I’m confused? Beatty gives Hughes a struggling nature that clearly affected every corner of his life. Mixed in with the sadness of this character I must admit to have the giggles a few times as his odd choices and Beatty makes most of it feel charming.

Collins as Lily is a young girl who just wanted to come to Hollywood and be a star. She has the look of the era and brings everything along with that in terms of attitude and beliefs. From a protective Mother to the guilt of passion, Collins is delightful and watching her character face the harsh realities is a cautionary tale to be sure.

Ehrenreich as Frank is a man on his own rise to glory. Finding the job with Hughes fascinating and challenging, he also sees potential for Hughes’ help in real estate development. Staying when most people surely would have left, Ehrenreich’s character comes to have a twisted understanding of his employer making it even more difficult to walk away.

Sheen as Dietrich certainly took his fair share of grief from Hughes and anytime Sheen is on the screen I’m all in. Bergen as Nadine is a woman who sees all but says very, very little. Broderick as Mathis is basically a Hughes ‘yes’ man or perhaps more of ‘it’s his life’ man.

Other cast includes: Paul Sorvino as Vernon Scott, Peter Mackenzie as Gene Handsaker, Dan Desmond as Gladwin Hill, Hart Bochner as Col. Willis, Madisyn Ritland as Bella and Louise Linton as Betty with appearances by Steve Coogan, Alec Baldwin and Ed Harris.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings award-winning global product and new entertainment to DVD, Bluray, and Digital HD. There amazing collection offers fans an opportunity to expand their own home libraries with the best films. To discover what other titles they have please visit www.fox.com.

RULES DON’T APPLY is a quirky tale of Hollywood love, Hollywood loss and a nutty billionaire in the middle of it all. It is such an interesting telling in that the love story between Frank and Lily is forefront and that is difficult enough for these two young people in 1958 Hollywood but to have Howard Hughes as your boss is nothing short of a huge fly in the champagne glass of love.

Seriously, Beatty steals the film with his portrayal of Hughes as one minute he is whimsical moved by a young girl singing to arrogance at finding no reason to meet with people face to face to literally flying by the seat of his pants lifestyle. I felt sorry for these two young kids dealing with a man who quickly shows that nothing else matters except banana bread ice cream (and I’ve never heard of it but would love to try it!)

The clothing, cars, home furnishings and settings of the era truly lend itself to quickly falling into the story with ease. Of course I may be a tad partial as a fan of most period pieces. The film didn’t over do it yet didn’t leave out the smallest detail, including granny panties – you’ll see.

RULES DON’T APPLY Bluray and DVD include the Special Features This is Rules Don’t Apply, Music Video “The Rules Don’t Apply” performed by Lily Collins and a Gallery.

If your ready for a little romance, a little twisted adventure, a couple of young people in love and a billionaire who is in the middle of it all then discover why the RULES DON’T APPLY.

In the end – sometimes you have to learn the hard way when rules don’t apply!