Another Shot (2017/Well Go DVD)/Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969/Sony/Columbia*)/Delicious: Series 3 (DVD**)/The Other Side Of Midnight (1977/Fox/*both Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)/Patrick Melrose (Blu-ray Set/**both 2018/Acorn)

Picture: C/A-/C+/B/B- Sound: C/B/C+/B-/B- Extras: C-/B/C-/B-/C+ Main Programs: C-/B+/C+/C+/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice and Other Side Of Midnight Blu-rays now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, are limited to only 3,000 copies each and can be ordered while supplies last from the links below.

The following dramas and melodramas have comedy, sometimes unintentionally...

We start with Larry Yang's Another Shot (2017) about a basketball player (real life star of the sport Stephon Marbury) wants to make it as a winner in the sport and unexpectedly gets the chance... in China! If he fails, his career is over, but if not, who knows what the additionally good results might be. Meant as a melodrama with some fish-out-of-water elements, the script is shockingly dull, has some formula, this is not well directed and just gets more and more dull with nothing new to offer.

Frankie Faison shows up, but that does not help, nor does a turn by Loretta Devine that has her playing the 'warm matron' we see her as on occasion. Would someone give her a more challenging script and role? A real miss of a film, only diehard fans of the sport or any participant should consider bothering.

A trailer is the only extra.

It's the late 1960s counterculture and the time of free love and drugs everywhere, Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) are an average American couple after attending a weekend 'seminar' have concluded that open honesty and relationships are key in a happy marriage. That having affairs and sex with others is only a physical thing and does not mean unfaithfulness. But when Carol (happily) tell their conservative best friends Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon) of Bob's recent affair, they are confused and conflicted with their own morals, relationships and philosophies in Paul Mazursky's Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969).

Bob is a film producer living in L.A. with beautiful wife and son. He recently had an affair on the job while filming and afterwards tells his wife about it, who then completely accepts it as perfectly normal for her husband to continue to attract (and sleep) other women. That it was a beautiful thing for not hiding, but telling her about it and she loves her husband even more for it. They tell their best friends, Ted and Alice who is shocked at first and they wonder why Carol doesn't even consider Bob is cheating on her or divorcing him, but they end up questioning their own marriage and if they are happy. As time goes on, Carol also has an affair (which shocks Bob at first), but then Bob realizes she was no different from him and it doesn't change their love or marriage.

Meanwhile, Ted and Alice get more and more sexually frustrated and they share their feelings and ideas with Bob and Carol. Bob and Carol then asks Ted and Alice to do a couple swap and join them in a foursome, saying they love them and want to help them be happy too. After the foursome, they walk out together and into a large diverse crowd of people symbolizing that everyone is same and the only thing difference is what rules/morals were holding them back.

This was definitely a movie about the '60s about free love, a time when females wore mini skirts and hippies were the trending pop culture/fashion. It challenges the viewers on some of the ideas and lifestyle of the '60s and in the end leaves it up to the audience to decide if open sexual relationship are a positive, negative or neutral to marriage and culture

See more on the film below.

If you like food, culture and drama, Delicious: Series 3 might be a show you might want to look into. The interesting part here is that U.K. Comedy legend Dawn French (also a longtime comedy partner of Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame, et al) keeping the Penrose Hotel and its reputation for fine food alive. It works as a drama and shows French can hold back and convince us she is her character fighting for the business with her friend (Emilia Fox) and those who like this kind of storytelling will want to give the show a try.

However, I had seen little of the earlier seasons and this runs a short four episodes. You are better off starting from the debut episode and working your way up to here, but it might be worth it to its audience. Obviously a hit, it is the kind of show you never see made in the U.S., so that's a plus.

A Behind The Scenes featurette at about 13 minutes is the only extra.

Based on an early Sidney Sheldon book, Charles Jarrott's The Other Side Of Midnight (1977) is a mature, adult melodrama that is not always great and gets as plastic as the best of them from the 1950s, but cable TV was in its very early years and they could get away with more sex and serious themes on the big screen then they could on TV of the time. Such books were selling very well when people read books more often and the desire for nighttime soap operas were about to catch up to the new cycle of TV movies (they only arrived in the late 1960s) and TV mini-series (that was brand new when this film went into production) that Fox had another hit on their hands.

Set in WWII and its aftermath, Noelle (Marie-France Pisier) had a torrid love affair with an American soldier pilot (John Beck), but he left her behind pregnant and alone. Now, she won't take it and even lands up in Greece with a wealthy tycoon (Raf Vallone) as his mistress, then Susan Sarandon shows up as the pilot's wife, apparently unaware of Noelle.

Running a long 166 minutes (!), I expect many might get bored or be so shocked this ever got made that they would keep watching just to see how they filled up the time. The film certainly looks good and it has a solid cast, but whatever was shocking and living up to its R rating now seems tame and almost like PG-13 material. I can see why it had a following and was a hit (Andy Warhol enjoyed it for his own reasons), but it plays just one level above an early Dynasty episode. That's not an awful thing, but don't have high expectations and more energy than usual if you take this one on.

See more on the film below...

Finally we have Benedict Cumberbatch playing bad in Patrick Melrose (2018) as a troubled man trying to resolve his past and not doing so well. He is upper class, but not a total dolt, yet he has little regular for anything good and is self-destructive. I can see why he would want to do this limited series, especially after all of his successful hero and biographical work, based on a successful series of books.

He is, of course, good here, but the show was on and off for me, some of it too predictable, other parts just were ones I simply did not buy. I think he is a great actor, though I should note his Sherlock Holmes never worked for me either, but I can see why this has been a critical and commercial success, so fans will want to mark it down as a must-see work. Hugo Weaving, Blythe Danner and Jennifer Jason Leigh (as his mother !?! I had trouble buying this too) also star.

Extras include a surprisingly good 36-page booklet and 5-minutes Behind The Scenes piece.

Now for the playback quality. The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on both Bob and Midnight look great, new exceptionally impressive video masters supplied to Twilight Time by their respective studios. Color is impressive in both cases, you can see the detail, depth and range of how well each film was shot. Both images are also warm and authentic looking like a great 35mm film print issued in its original release. They look the best of all the releases here.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Patrick Melrose has some motion blur and detail issues at times that get in the way of its presentation, but it looks good, has good color and is stable more often than not.

That leaves the two anamorphically enhanced DVDs with the 1.78 X 1 image on Delicious looking as good as it can for the older format, butt the 2.35 X 1 image on Shot is softer throughout and has some detail and blur issues.

As for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on both Bob and Midnight look are as good as can be expected for older optical monophonic feature film releases, though our one writer was particularly impressed with Bob. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Patrick Melrose is not badly mixed and presented, but is not the home run I expected with some soundfield limits and just moments in each show where it is just a bit off.

The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Delicious DVD set are just fine for a mostly dialogue-driven TV show, but the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Shot is not as loud or clear as it should be, whether it is this transfer or issues with the original soundmaster. To be on the safe side, be careful of high playback volumes and volume switching.

Extras on Bob and Midnight look include more well-illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and yet another excellent, underrated essays by the great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while both discs add Isolated Music Score tracks with select Sound Effects and Original Theatrical Trailers. Bob also has two feature length audio commentary tracksL one with Film Historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman (who we sadly just lost) and the other with Director/Co-Writer Paul Mazursky, and Actors Robert Culp, Elliott Gould & Dyan Cannon and the featurette Tales of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Midnight adds a feature length audio commentary track with Producer Frank Yablans, Director Charles Jarrott, Author Sidney Sheldon, and Film Historian Laurent Bouzereau, who does his usual excellent job of interviewing and getting to the facts, as well as many untold stories.

To order the Bob and Carol and Ted and/or Alice and Other Side Of Midnight limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at these links:

www.screenarchives.com

and

http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/

- Nicholas Sheffo and Ricky Chiang (Bob....)