Ed's Review Dot Com

Mission Pictures International, Gabriel Productions,

Alexa PenaVega, Carlos PenaVega, Randy Wayne, Chelsie Hightower, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, Steve Bond, Rene Rivera, Melanie Nelson, K. Danor Gerald

Laura (Alexa PenaVega) left her home in Utah leaving behind her Father, her love of dance, and the memory of heartbreak as her husband who has died. Now working for a property management company, her boss has purchased a new hotel and assigned her to manage the upgrade project and to have it finished before Christmas Eve. To her horror, the hotel is actually the Enchanted Hotel in her hometown where she used to dance in the Christmas Program every year. So now she’s home to make amends with her Father, try to manage an impossible task, and when they lose the lead dancer in the program a few days before the program, Laura has to fill in for her. To her surprise, her ex-boyfriend is her partner. The pressure is enormous as she tries to make everyone happy but it all falls on her shoulders. Worse, her feelings for the old partner Ricardo are coming back, and it seems like the Dec 24th deadline is impossible.

So far this year it seems Hallmark has been hitting it out of the park this year. Not one clunker so far. This is a really romantic tale, though it’s filled with the details of business and grown up things like that, the heart of the movie is the romance. It’s nicely done, really simple with only a few diversions. The script is well done, and the actors do a really good job. This is a worthwhile addition to the Hallmark Christmas Movie tradition. The ending is well put together, and brings it to a fun conclusion. Catch this one if you can.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Industrial Entertainment, Nazz Productions, Primary Pictures,

Abigail Breslin, Sean Bean, James Purefoy, Alexa PenaVega, Lew Temple, Jake Busey, J.D. Evermore, Ritchie Montgomery

Hannah Lee Baker (Abigail Breslin) is a smart teenager, but living in the sticks with some rough people. She lives with her sister and her addict uncle and sets off to be a carrier for an awful crime boss Uncle Frank (Sean Bean) who is extremely ruthless and runs the family with a strong hand. Hannah’s outlet is chess, which she plays with passion, but when she falls for Wild Billy (James Purefoy) who is a enemy of Uncle Frank, things get pretty dangerous for Hannah in a hurry.

This was an underwhelming movie. I have no idea what Abigail Breslin is doing in this film. It’s overly violent and vicious for no good reason, filled with highly unlikable people all around, and after about the first 25 minutes I was wishing the Feds would roll in and carry off this entire bunch to put us all out of our misery. I really thought this was a meaningless story, mostly annoying, and just not fun. I never got into the story, as it was so disjointed and all over the place. I just couldn’t care about the characters or the story. I am not sure how the title “Wicked Blood” fits in here, as it sounds like a horror film. Blood may refer to relatives as there were some really wicked uncles and cousins in this sucker. But I would have titled it Effed Up Family to give you more of an association to what it’s about. If you can imagine the Dukes of Hazzard if they all ran meth labs and sold drugs. I just really didn’t like this movie, and I’d say avoid it like the plague!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

AR Films, Aldamisa Entertainment, 1821 Pictures,

Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Mel Gibson, Amber Heard, Sofía Vergara, Demián Bichir, Jessica Alba, Charlie Sheen, Antonio Banderas, Zoe Saldana, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alexa PenaVega, Lady Gaga, William Sadler

Machete (Danny Trejo) and Sartana try to bring down a Mexican cartel but are interrupted when a group of bad guys show up, kill Sartana, and Machete is arrested for the murder. But the U.S. government breaks him out on the promise that he will take down a crazy billionaire revolutionary. This guy is trying to launch a weapon into space to gain control of the power and take down the U.S.

When the original Machete was made, they knew they had a fun movie on their hands, but they needed a bit more to the length, so they filmed a trailer and did a “Machete returns in:” and previewed the upcoming sequel “Machete Kills”. They didn’t really expect to make a sequel, but they really had to when they saw what happened to the first film. Machete is the baddest of bad guys, and a real hero. Much the the Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill “Trinity” films of the 70’s this is a nod to the Spaghetti Westerns of the 70’s which launched Clint Eastwood into superstardom. Machete is certainly a throwback to those days, but it’s got all the technique and special effects of the day and are really modern looking. Much like other parody movies, this one is a parody of many other films, but unlike most, it’s not only humor. Yes, everything is much larger than life, and there are some really funny moments, but it’s a good adventure story certainly comparable to the first. Machete is just plain fun. There’s a gaggle of stars here, and that is mostly because everybody wanted to be in it. It wasn’t hard to get stars to do cameos in this movie, as it had to be a lot of fun.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog